San Diego Comic Con is Coming - by Mark Schulze

These are assorted photos showing the outside environment at San Diego Comic Con where our broadcast video production crew covers the show for our various clients.

A view across the street from the San Diego Convention Center; San Diego Hard Rock Hotel on the right where the limo is parked

San Diego Comic Con Conventioneers crossing the street

San Diego Comic Con is kid- and family-friendly

Whoa, remember the Hot Dog Mobile?

Photographs by Patty Mooney

San Diego Comic Con is Coming - by Mark Schulze

Do not mess with this guy

Do not mess with the green guy either


A glimpse of the San Diego Comic Con convention floor; it's tight

Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connolly appeared on a panel for 'The Day the Earth Stood Still," 2008

Photos by Patty Mooney

The Cytower - THE blog for corporate events professionals!: The Most Interesting People I Know

The Cytower - THE blog for corporate events professionals!: The Most Interesting People I Know

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San Diego Comic Con is Coming - by Mark Schulze

Welcome to the second installment of San Diego Comic Con photos from over the years. This batch is from 2008, inside the San Diego Convention Center. But in the next days and weeks I will devote my page to some vintage photos that will take you way back!

These three handsome guys are all serving in the Marines and volunteered to be ushers at the various panels at Comic Con

Sign posted outside the lavatories; unfortunately non-humans cannot read

Two Avators in the hallway

More fun and frolicking with photogs and avatars in the hallway

These photos were all taken by my partner, Patty Mooney who serves as producer and/or sound technician on broadcast video shoots.

San Diego Comic Con is Coming - by Mark Schulze

San Diego Comic Con is coming, and it's coming fast. After a quick glance at their website, one can see that Friday and Saturday (July 24 and 25) are already sold out; these are the times when you will see the most costumed characters in every corner of the San Diego Convention Center halls. These are the two days that Comic Con fans spend the year preparing themselves for. If you position yourself in the right place at the right time with a camera, the crowds will slowly shuffle on by, providing great photo ops.

Thankfully we have press credentials in hand, and so we will be on our way into the maelstrom once more, just as we have done for over a decade, as an elite broadcast video production crew, gathering images from the convention floor and beyond!

San Diego Convention Center, street level

Check out the Caped Crusader's double chin; looks like he picked up a few things for the bat cave

Actor Hugh Jackman makes a surprise appearance in 2008

Actor Beau Bridges talks about Stargate: Continuum on the flight deck of the USS Midway, 2008

Stay tuned for more Comic Con photos taken over the last ten years, in the days and weeks to come, as our way of gearing up for San Diego's largest convention.

These photographs were taken by Patty Mooney

Ten Ways to Stay Motivated While Building a Business - By Otto Schmidt

I found this article at http://www.ezinearticles.com/ where I write various articles and post them both for the edification of readers and to get my links out there into the world. I really liked this and wanted to share it with you. - Patty Mooney

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Any independent business owner who works alone knows that there are times when it is very difficult to be motivated to do one's best. Motivational speakers can help by charging up an audience and creating a gung-ho attitude. Motivation, however, goes up and down and tends to return to original levels. This is a problem because motivation must be there consistently in order to get things done and move forward.

Here are 10 valuable ways to keep yourself motivated positively and consistently every day:

Find Business Buddies Find other independent business owners - even one - who don't compete against you and share similar interests and problems. Knowing you're not alone helps keep up the motivation. As well, these people can provide different perspectives on problems and issues and help generate fresh, new and different solutions for each other. Form or be part of a group of "go to" people that motivate and challenge each other.

Share Your Expertise Share your knowledge and expertise wisely, freely and willingly with fellow business people and with those in social, neighbourhood or community groups. You will be respected. As well, people will remember you. Over the years, you will be more and more recognized and well thought of. Then you will be motivated to keep that reputation as your business grows.

Mentor Others, Especially Young People If you have kids, teach them some of what you know. "Hire" them to help when you do presentations. You will want to do your best in front of family. Guest speak at business classes in high schools or universities to tell them about what you do. Mentor young kids in business courses. Tell them how difficult it was to get started and how active you have to stay. By motivating others to do and be their best, it will rub off on you too. This is almost a form of self-therapy as you hear your own story and value the successful steps you have taken.

Motivation Chart Draw a chart or graph that shows progress - yearly income changes, number of clients, new contacts, new referrals, increase in the territory you cover, events attended, presentations completed. Is there a payoff at the end of each line? If yes, you will be motivated to go on. Dare to dream and imagine how things will be different or better. Keep your motivation chart where it can be seen regularly. Add to it. Your success is visible and shows how your business improves.

Live Your Truth Don't do stuff to impress others. Be yourself. Do YOUR best. When you stop having fun, motivation vanishes. If you are passionate about what you do, you will do everything you can to get the message, service or product out there.

Dare to Dream Use positive visualization to see yourself being successful in different ways: financially, influence, recognition. Be motivated to dream BIG and go for the challenge of achieving it. You may not get to the top but will in all likelihood land at a spot higher than where you started.

Less Talk, More Action Failure is easy; do nothing or have empty wishes. Success requires hard work on a regular basis. Hard work usually means you are acting on your ideas. Be careful you're not just being busy instead of productive. Productivity boosts self-esteem and motivation.

Go to New Places Take university courses, read related publications, attend business meetings and conferences, network regularly, go to totally unrelated meetings and learning sessions. You will be surprised who you meet and may be of value to you. (at a networking meeting I met a woman whose husband was in the music industry. He was a contact for my daughter who just graduated college and was looking for a music-related job). These new environments will all give you new food for thought. You may be motivated to try some of the ideas out in your business.

Seek Higher Meaning of Your Work Don't just do a job for money or survival. Be motivated to do things for loftier reasons. Think about the impact you make on society, the difference you make in peoples' lives, the expertise you have to offer, the contribution you make within the whole scheme of things. Notice how your skills, talents and abilities are affecting others.

Keep an Idea Bank As you read newspapers or magazines, watch TV, surf on the internet, listen to the radio, ideas may pop up that you can use for future use. An idea bank - folder or large envelope full of good ideas - gives you the satisfaction of knowing you will never run out of ideas. Another door awaits to be opened. I write a monthly newsletter and have dozens of topics and articles waiting to be analyzed and used as the bases of future articles.

Otto Schmidt, Education Consultant, speaker, author - "Accent on Essential Life Skills" - http://accentonskills.com/aelsbook.htm

Contact me for professional development with a difference. I specialize in skills training. Participants in my workshops WILL be more creative, perceptive, better communicators.
Accent on Skills Consulting, Toronto, ON 416-226-2332 o.schmidt@accentonskills.com Visit my website http://www.accentonskills.com/ for further information on booking custom-designed workshops for your team, employees, administrators. Choose from 48 personal, empowerment skills.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Otto_Schmidt

Men Want It Fast, Women Want It All - by Jason Lee Miller

"Happy Couple" - A photograph by Patty Mooney

An interesting view on how to market your website to men and/or women, and how they see the same situations differently. Kind of a Mars versus Venus thing.



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Adventures at the Landfill - by Mark Schulze

Mark Schulze on camera at Otay Mesa Landfill - Photo by Patty Mooney

Johnnie Perkins, Allied Waste Services Director, and Mark Schulze, Director of Photography - Photo by Patty Mooney

Video production has been my way of life since when I left college in 1981 and started my video production company, Crystal Pyramid Productions. One thing I love about the business is that no two productions are ever alike. Each one has its own special demands and features a whole new roster of people who are involved, as well as its own location or set of locations.

We have recently shot on various occasions for our local waste management company, Allied Waste Services. These shoots have been interesting in that they have also provided an education to all of us on what happens to our garbage once we dispose of it and cart it out to the street curb. My wife and partner, Patty Mooney, has blogged about it herself, as she accompanied me several times as a sound recordist at two of San Diego's landfills, and she edited the award-winning video, "Operations at Sycamore Landfill."

Adventures at the Landfill - by Patty Mooney

Check it out - it's really quite fascinating.

Women Prefer Blogs/ Facebook to Twitter - by Jason Lee Miller

Losing interest in traditional media Women keep their personal lives and business lives very separate when it comes to social media, according to the 2009 Women in Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage, and Compass Partners. While women consider blogs great sources of information, especially regarding purchases, the vast majority of women use social networks solely for keeping in touch with family and friends. Over half (55%) of the women surveyed in said they participate in some kind of blog activity (publishing, posting comments, reading), and 53% use social networks. But here's the kicker: Women use social networks in the purest sense only; 75% use them to keep in touch with friends and family, and not so much as information sources or for making purchase decisions. That's a major insight considering this is the half of population making 85% of purchase decisions in the US.

In contrast, women rely more on blogs for the business of life, and are twice as likely to use blogs than social networks as an information source (64%), for advice and recommendations (43%), and opinion sharing (55%). Women are 50% more likely to use social networks merely as a means of keeping in touch. A third of those participating in social networks are loyal to just one and do no other social media activities on a weekly basis. There are likely infinite reasons for that, but it sheds a rather harsh light on why only 20% of women appear to use Twitter. It could mean that most want all of the networking under one roof for convenience, and only desire one-to-many communication if it involves people they know and trust. It could also mean that Twittering is still considered a medium for celebrities, politicians, and digital hipsters; the survey found that women who themselves blog are significantly more active across all forms of social media.

"Bloggers have a broad reach in the social media population and the survey demonstrates that women who blog are the most actively engaged social media participants -- constantly seeking out new ideas and ways to share their opinions about those ideas," said Susan Wright, president of Compass Partners. And other women are listening, perhaps more than they are to traditional media. Thirty percent are watching less TV, 31% are listening to less radio, 36% are reading fewer magazines, and 39% are reading the newspaper less. Numbers like that indicate a huge shift in the media landscape: the sex making the most purchase decisions are rejecting traditional media in favor of online sources. Forty-five percent of women in the survey said they decided to purchase an item after reading about it on a blog; among the women in the more digitally savvy BlogHer network, that number is 85%. Women bloggers are twice as likely to share a positive purchase experience on blogs and/or message boards and about 40% more likely to share a negative experience.

So it's a good idea to be very, very nice to women bloggers, especially since they are likely to carry significant influence with non-blogging women. "At a time when the economy is top of mind for more than 70 percent of these active social media participants, women who blog are turning to online resources, including blogs, to help them make their day to day purchasing decisions," said BlogHer cofounder Elisa Camahort. The results of the survey are concluded according the answers of 2,821 women in the general US population, 1,008 women in the BlogHer network, and 788 women in the iVillage network.

Jason Lee Miller is a Staff Writer for WebPro News at http://www.ientry.com/

Photo Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com