Corey Graham 2.0N Biz Blog

This Blog has been Moved!!!

corey — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:25:25 -0200

This blog is now hosted at www.coreykgraham.me/bizblog - As you can expect I am ever evolving and when its time to move its time to move.

Now if you are reading this message in an RSS Reader it would mean that you are not subscribed to my feedburner feed. This means that when I change feeds you would not have a seamless transition and you will have to subscribe to - http://feeds2.feedburner.com/coreykgraham.

Subscribe to my feedburner feed! It helps me to know who is reading which is certainly a motivation to keep writing.

This move is going to be a pretty silent one, no big splash.

Subscribe in a reader

Another Simple But Powerful Google Idea

corey — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:20:50 -0200

A few of my recent posts have been about ideas and getting them to spread. Interestly, enough a friend shared this link with me recently that I had to make sure I share with ya. I could not have planned a better example of how a simple idea can really create something rather powerful...

And to add to it had to be another Google idea. Got to like Google they are expanding into everything look ...they even help me write posts! Literally

THE IDEA (taken from article on makeuseof.com)

Let’s say that your email address is ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’, basically everything sent to any of the following email addresses will be forwarded to your primary email.
GeorgeBush@gmail.com
G.eorgeBush@gmail.com
Ge.orgeBush@gmail.com
…
…
GeorgeBus.h@gmail.com
GeorgeBush@googlemail.com
G.eorgeBush@googlemail.com
Ge.orgeBush@googlemail.com
…
…
GeorgeBus.h@googlemail.com
And that’s not all, you can place as many dots as you want, it can be even something like ‘G.e.o.r.g.e.B.u.s.h@gmail.com’ and you’ll still get it on ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’

See the full article at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/1-awesome-gmail-tip-you-dont-know-about-seriously/

Now this one really blew me away, Its so simple and yet so practical and useful!!

Its good to be quietly blowed over by a new idea every once in a while! Especially when its good for business!!!

Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com
feed : http://feeds.feedburner.com/coreykgraham

Brewsters Road Taught Me A Marketing Lesson!!!!!

corey — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:05:16 -0200

Brewsters Road Crew reinforced a valuable marketing lesson I learnt at the start of this 2008 summer period during my time under "house arrest".

Summer didn't quite turn out as I had envisioned it. As a Vincy Mas Virgin, I was looking forward to my "first experience" of Vincy Mas 2008 then I was anxious to return to St. Lucia Carnival 2008 for a second consecutive "first experience" lol.... but it was not meant to be.
Without any warning I was reduced to BirdMan 2.0, just 2 weeks before Vincy Mas final weekend. I officially had Chicken Pox and was confined to my bedroom for 2 weeks!!!!
Those trips to Vincy Mas and St. Lucia Carnival morphed into distant dreams, the shadows of a former reality .... into just another episode of 'wishful thinking'.
I could really appreciate how those Olympic hopefuls feel, when they manage to injure themselves just before the Olympic Games. Their dreams crushed. Well hmmm, maybe its 1000 times more magnified for them.. Anyways I made the most of my appointment to the BirdMan 2.0 post, once I had that a lifeline to the internet I was happy! Once I could communicate and blog.

BIRDMAN 2.0

Illustration by D 2.0 FX - Jaryd Niles Morris
http://www.behance.net/Jaryd540

(Backstage manager - stop rambling and "showing off" - just get to the blasted point - Corey Graham 2.0 or whatever u call yourself.. )

CG 2.0 - Alrite!!!

During my daily online sweep as Birdman 2.0, I came across a speech delivered by one of my favourite bloggers & marketing gurus, Seth Godin at TED : Ideas Worth Spreading.
(TED is an annual conference brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)Click here for more info on TED)

Seth Godin's speech, on making ideas spread really hit me hard, and got me thinking. I posted almost immediately to this blog. And then I saw it play out with Brewsters Road Crew extraordinary success over the Crop Over 2008 season.
Let me share the perspective with you.

It would help alot if you watch the video first,

Click here for video of Seth's speech

I strongly recommend that you take the time to watch the video. Its highly recommended by Corey Graham 2.0.

Brewsters Road Crew (www.brewstersroadcrew.com) are known for their hardcore partying during carnival season. This was what fueled their concept for their events. They wanted to create events that hardcore partiers like themselves would enjoy.
The party would not end till 8, 9, 10, 11 am the next day, it was to be wall to wall soca. All soca, and All Party. There was even a cage made to lock up people who did not party hard enough.

Brewsters Road Crew focused on the people on the fringes. They focused on those people who are passionate about carnival, they focused on hardcore party people. They didn't try to be mass market. They chose a niche market and focused on it. I am sure that those persons enlisted to assist them, were clear on the vision for the events. And it spread...
Their idea spread. It caught on like wild fire, like the ipod or the blackberry. They were able to cross over into many different markets and age groups simply because they had something which was REMARKABLE. They had something worth talking about.

It was definately worth talking about. It was REMARKABLE. I would never forget going to Brewsters Road this year.

Its packed from 11 pm and the crowd just kept coming.
At 3 am - 4 am when you usually expect the crowd to lessen, it just thickened. People left other events and went to Brewsters Road after.
Door closed at 2 am, with tonnes of people still outside, and the venue is big!
Event organizers had big headaches just trying to get artistes slated to perform through the mob of people outside trying to get in.
Waiting outside in a line to go in a fete at 2 am is something foreign to Barbados, but for brewsters road, closing the door at 2 am as a standard

Brewsters Road the best thing since sliced bread? Maybe .. spread the idea.

Brewster Road On BoomTribe.com
Video Interview With Brewsters Road Spokespersons

Review of Launch Event

Photogallery of Launch Event

Photogallery - Brewsters Road Paint D town Red

Photogallery - Soca and Water

CG 2.0 Reviews New Crop Over Website Ahead of Its Official Launch

corey — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:11:16 -0200

Early in the morning when ah just wake up.... says Mad Dog in his big tune for Crop Over 2008. Its been mashing up the fetes here so far.

Yesterday morning though, I found myself previewing the official Crop Over website soft launched on a brand new domain www.CropOverBarbados.com.

I know what ya thinking! That's ridiculous Crop over is just over a month away and the site only now launching!! West Indian people boi!
Let me try and save the NCF (National Cultural Foundation) before the public criticisms have them singing " Hard Times hit we, Hard Time hit we, we gine and drink something now."
Its was only after the Barbados General Election on January 15th, that the NCF were once again commissioned the responsibility to produce Corey Over 2008. I'm going to leave it at that. I not writing ah calypso. This is just a new blog post.

Right so I found myself wearing my "Web 2.0 / Entertainment Blogger hat" looking over the new and improved Crop Over website. The site was engineered and constructed by the same web architect behind this blog and www.coreykgraham.com. Stan Armstrong of Amitage. Stan is the Man.
In his words,

Honestly, I hope I play my part in enhancing the festival experience to all who the site touches

Overall the site is good, I like the way things have been arranged and alot more information available from the website.
Stan boi, you got real props for the inclusion of a "festival blog" into the site! As a blogger its good to see that the governing body of a major Caribbean carnival is going to blogging. Yeah i all for that! Blog and wuck up. Hmmm, that sound like a good hook for a Crop 2008 tunes. lol,. right so I am all for the the festival blog. Its a godo way to get information out on the festival and there is the opportunity to build a relationship with Crop Over fans worldwide.
(read my recent post on why start a blog? To learn more the whole notion of blogging).

I think it would be even better if the rss feed has the body or the articles in it, then it will be a winner, well at least in CG 2.0 book,

Before I go on you can to take a look at the old site here - Old CropOver Site

The new site is definitely more eye catching and also easy to use. Most of the info on the site you can get to easily directly from the homepage. The homepage also has a summary of the latest news, latest photos, latest announcements and even streaming audio of the latest Crop Over tracks. ITs impressive stuff. NCF Launches its own online Radio station? And listen pod for new tracks?
This is interesting though as Bajantube.com now the new hot spot online for anyone wanting to listen to Crop Over 2008 music, in fact BajanTune is boosting of being #1 Bajan website accordiing to Alexa. Check it out here

I don't want to say too much on the actual content. As I understand there is still much to be added, as the site starts to take shape. However based on what I am seeing I am wondering if NCF would be able to keep up getting all these articles, photos and video on the site. Time will tell.
Based on what I am seeing now, the content seems a little bit more of a general entertainment site, than that of a governing body for a festival

Media accreditation forms
Rules for competitions, application forms for artiste
Press Releases
Prominent Links directing persons to book tickets and reserve their accommodation

The press releases and media accreditation are the bigest ones for for me, because
you want to get the maximum exposure for the festival.
Having the press releases available on site would make it easier for journalists around to work to write compelling and accurate news articles on the Crop Over Festival.
Having a clear media accreditation process outlined,is an open invitation for media companies to and cover Crop Over 2008. The more media entities that come to cover Crop Over, then the more exposure the festival will get.

All in all the site is looking good do far, with some the fine tuning and more relavant content, I think it will be a bit hit.

Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com/blog

Launching My Caribbean Entertainment Search Beta

corey — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:24:19 -0200

Bring out the food and drinks to this nice cocktail party on my blog. This is the time for the Beta launch of another Corey Graham 2.0 innovation. Its an invitation only launch party. Lots of important and influencial people attending. These are my blog subscribers. Also appreciating the value of your time I am going to keep this launch within 5 mins. So let's get started.

Meet and Greet and Getting seated (1 sec)
Most of you are already sitting

Opening Remarks - (2 sec)
Hi

History Behind this Moment - (2 mins)
The Caribbean Entertainment Search started out as a personal tool which I developed to make my job easier. Its really a personal tool that I created around Trinidad Carnival time (February 2008). The list of websites to check for the info I wanted was getting a little long. I am good an google search but it was a bit annoying when searching for certian thing especially names of people in the Caribbean entertainment world. It was a bit of a pain sometimes to find some info you wanted quickly. Accomodation, car rentals, music producers, artiste managers etc. were definately not always the easiest thing to find. I used the Google Custom Search to tweak my search results so that I could see all the things I really want to see, in a single search.
After a little testing, it proved to be worth its salt from there I essentially built my own personal Caribbean Entertainment Search Engine. I only shared it with a few people who might ask for my help to find Caribbean Entertainment related info.
These ranged from people in the entertainment business to persons planning trips to Carnivals and other Festivals. One person who I gave the site to contacted me about a week ago ranting and raving about how useful the search was. It was then it hit me that I should share this search engine with other people wanting to find Caribbean Entertainment Information.
After all it will be one of the things which could go a long way in creating a more tangible Caribbean Entertainment Community, by allowing people to find the relavant information more readily.

Feature Presentation (1 mins)

It took some time to package up, and it not perfect however its a useful tool. And I am constantly refining.

And now I present to you

The Caribbean Entertainment Search

Give it a try right now and add your comment !

Its also available at

http://caribbeanentertainmentsearch.googlepages.com

Click here to add it to your iGoogle here

Vote of thanks (1 min)

I would like to thank you for attending this launch. I hope that My Caribbean Entertainment Search make life easier for you. I would like to also thank Out Of The Box Thinking for their continued support of my blog and different initiatives.

Thank you for coming see you at another of Launch Event before 2009! I just know there is going to be some other idea.

Corey Graham 2.0
http://www.coreykgraham.com/blog
http://mobile.coreykgraham.com

Summer Time 2008 - What's De cool?

corey — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:08:40 -0200

Yeah, yeah

Well summer is officially here.

My research department tells me that we in the Caribbean have 2 seasons, a dry season and a wet season. The dry season is from November - May and the wet season is from June - November (when we are likely to have tropical depressions, storms or hurricanes which generally means ALOT of rain!

Looking at this you would think that conventional wisdom would dictate our the summer falling somewhere in the dry months of the year especially when there is not much of a possibility of a hurricane. Another angle might be to argue that the longest days of the year must be summer. This would mean out summer is in the right place May - July months. Its possible though that the summer comes from a learned habit from our past European colonial masters? All the students in the caribbean have their longest vacation period during these months ... My research department is digging deeper. I will let you know if we uncover anything else...Something to think about.

Right so as I was saying summer is here, and lots going on Vincy Mas, St. Lucia Carnival, Reggae Sumfest (JA), ATI weekend (JA), Great Fete(Tobago), Crop Over (Barbados), Antigua Carnival, Spice Mas (Grenada) and tonnes of other shows and parties. I feeling the theme song "Out on De Road" by Zan

"I out on the road...
I dey with my friends
If you looking for me
You will find me again
I right round de bend"

There is alot of buzz going on about this years summer, there are going to lots of new events and new chunes in abundance. My personal phrase for this summer is

Whas de cool?

Click here for the first Corey Graham 2.0 Podcast -

It that simple,

Oh I have to give it a meaning?
hmmmm let me see

How are you toning down all this summer HEAT?

For those of you who might want to use this coooool idea - email me and get your cheque book ready we can talk.

Let me know what you think of my first real effort at a podcast

Corey Graham 2.0
http://www.coreykgraham.com/blog

Cruise the Summer Carnivals of the Caribbean - From Vincy Mas to Spice Mas!

corey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:56:44 -0200

It has come to my attention that there is going to be a new option available for those of you planning to vacation in the Caribbean this summer. A grouping of Caribbean Tourism ministers, some of the major cruise liners along tour operators in the world have come together to offer cruises this summer which will see the packaging the summer festivals of the Caribbean into a range of cruises.
Caribbean Summer Festivals of Interest

Vincy Mas - St. Vincent & the Grenadines
St. Lucia Carnival - St. Lucia
Crop Over - Barbados
ATI - Jamaica
Great Fete - Trinidad and Tobago
Antigua Carnival - Antigua
Reggae Sumfest - Jamaica
Spice Mas - Grenada

Yes, yes I couldn't believe it! Can you imagine that? Ok let me paint a picture for you....
After parading in the Streets of Kingstown for Vincy Mas with the music of Zoelah, Jamesey P, Skinny Fabulous and crew. You stumble to your 'hotel room' on a cruise liner and the next morning you step out into Castries with car pasing blairing the sounds of Ricky T, Kakal and Alpha. Hitting the road for J'Ouvert and Pretty Mas with the bands Just 4 Fun and Red International. The next stop is to the Soca Bowl (Soca Monarch) on the East Coast Road in Barbados climaxing on Kadooment day with the sounds of Hypa Daug, Krosfyah and Alison Hinds. Down behind the Baje International or Power By 4 music truck.....
I think you get the picture.
Alrite, now let me make your blood boil now (esp. The Yankees DEM). This cruise will have what they call the "Premium Carnival Experience".

No, no! this is not just getting VIP tickets to the major events. I am talking about no hassles.

No calling 10 people to secure tickets for your crew for the fetes.
No saving scalpers numbers in your phone. And paying a lot more money for your tickets just cause you have a foreign accent.
No getting lost for an hour of your valueable liming/party time.
What about your costumes? Ladies do I really, really need to get into the mis match horror stories. Many of you know about jumping and not looking your best!

The Premium Carnival Experience
All passengers on the cruise will never have to touch a single event ticket!!!! Ever!
Every passenger will be banded once they get on the bus, wait let me re-phrase that! When the fully air conditioned coach arrives at the venue each passenger will be banded and will enter the fete in a special line. No lines and no designated drivers or navigators needed! Sorry!!! For you who look forward to being awarded that responsibility.
As far as Playin' Mas goes....Mas Bands, will be invited on board the cruise ship to deliver costumes and to ensure passengers are 'road worthy'.

Where did this all start?
Apparently this idea came up during talks regarding ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 held in the Caribbean....
....It came back to the basic rule all major promoters know. Its better to build up an annual event over time than run after a one time opportunistic events. The risk is just so much larger.....
So why just stop at cricket?
It didn't turn out so good but some of the Cricket World Cup discarded partying ideas made it into the Summer Festivals and did pretty well in that forum. This was the first indication that this idea has something to it.
Ok look lets at it

tourism ministries and tour operators will now have a product with tremendous credibility and appeal to many more persons. No Hassles, less unknowns, no local connections needed.
festivals will grow, with some cruise ships with a capacity of approx 3000 people, that is 3000 more people to experience the festival... Ok let me put to you like this way. If you put together the largest mas bands in Crop Over and St. Lucia mas you cannot fill 1 cruise ship!
Cruise ships companies can now add another package to their current offering.
Mas Bands and Promoters would have confirmed sales from much earlier and so they can invest more into producing a quality show and costumes.
lots of other small businesses will benefit from the increased visitors on the island.

I understand that the details of the package still need to be worked out. However, the initial market research indicates that these cruise packages are expected to attract alot students, graduates and young professionals who have very few responsibilities.(e.g. children, Mortages etc).
Marketing Campaigns will be directed to the universities in the caribbean (UWI, SGU, etc). Also those in the diaspora McGill, York, Toronto, CUNY, Miami International, Howard and a few more. Its also expected to have a good response from the groups of Stella's out there looking to get their groove back on! Lol. And of course a good wine or wuk-up!
My take on it is that it will be a tremendous benefit to the economies of the Caribbean esp. the 'Carnival Nations'.
Now for those news reporters reading this, let me save you a call or email by giving you a quote now.

'Its a paradigm shift in tourism in the caribbean. Its a very innovative and very creative product which is well positioned to grow rapidly in the coming years. It embraces the new trend of cruising and carnivals worldwide, while leveraging the close proximity of isles of the Caribbean and the similarities of the cultures along with the great diversities in the cultures. You couldn't want it Better than that!' Said Corey Graham 2.0 'Also of course it is April Fools day and I just got you!' Laughed Corey Graham 2.0

Or did I really get you? Is this not an inevitable step? Maybe its just a conversation we have not got into as yet as a Caribbean Community.
I have started it here on my Blog. Now my question to you is ..... Will you join me in this conversation?

Who is Corey Graham 2.0? (CG 2.0 Celebrates 1 Year Full time in Entertainment)

corey — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:28:52 -0200

I made a step to go into entertainment full time last year after I returned home from my pilgrimage to Trinidad Carnival 2007. Trinidad was where it all started for me in entertainment along with exploring my creative side much more deeply.

My launch into entertainment as a career, or should I say a "source of income" became official on Sunday Feb 2nd 2003 via a fete called Bikini Wrap, poolside the Ambassador Hotel in Maraval. This event was the very first event by my new company Drenalin Productions. It was to launch Drenalin Productions and generate some cash. It didnt quite work out the way i hoped financially, but it certainly announced Drenalin Productions. The biggest memory from that event was Rupee performing for my patrons and bigging me right thought is performance. Now that definately created alot of word of mouth for Drenalin Productions.

Faster than I could realise I was into lots and lots of things, from Dance Theatre Committee to Nite Club Committees - Club Coconuts Committee, Base Committee. The next year I had Fire Brigade - A Drenalin Productions & UWI Dance Theatre - Campus Carnival Band 2004 (UWI St. Augustine) ..... dare i say the first private entity to have a Campus Carnival Band. This was a follow up to a very successful Tropical Storm Fete.

Oh, and I was also managing VTM a DJ group with alot of talent . I was at the same time launching Drenalin Clothing line - Drenalin Apparel, Drenalin Website(www.drenalinproductions.com)

I had some good hits but I also had alot of misses too. Most of all there was tremendous amount of learning to be had.

I moved back to Barbados, my homeland, where I was faced with a bit of blatant irony. After being able to carve out a little space in the entertainment scene in Trinidad, I was back in my homeland as an unknown on the entertainment scene... and with a few major personal challenges to overcome. I moved from having a constant ringing phone to having no calls coming in at all.
I was slightly amused by all this, but somehow I felt positive about it. I think I was a bit glad to be out of the hot seat. I was glad for the time to think clearly. It was a period in my life I called "research and study". And Very appropraitely so. The next 2 years I took the time to seek to understand all the reasons for the misses I had so far. I took some time to interview some of the successful persons in the Entertainment business that I knew for Drenalin Productions website. Those interviews offered tremendous insight to me and lead me to find answers to many of my questions. Some of the people I interviewed were Rupee, Signal 2 Noise, Blood, Mikey of Krosfyah, Richard Haynes of Baje International and DJ Malcolm X. Also with an equal quest to learn more, was a very good friend Richard Weekes who conducted most of these interviews with me.

During this time I met Ryan Davis of Alt Ententertainment Inc., the parent company of BoomTribe at a networking club that Richard and I had formed. We would meet up pretty often and talk and exchange ideas on various topics, alot of them either falling under Business and or Entertainment. Ryan found out about my love for photography and offered me to be a photographer for the BoomTribe section on Kadooment Day. Yip, just like that I was the Official Photographer for the BoomTribe section "African" of Baje International presentation Crop Over 2005 Band. View the Gallery here.
I definately was not complaining about that!! Actually that day I grew to appreciate Mas alot more.

A few months later I accepted the offer to be part time with BoomTribe Mobile and TxT Pay as the Marketing manager. This was in the world of mobile technology, ringtones, wallpapers, games and more. A few months into it we realised we needed to put that on hold for a bit. It was during this that I took some initiative just to every fete i could with my camera snapping up a storm. I like photography, meeting people and entertainment that was the perfect Threesome for me. In a few months things started to happen for the website, we took a trip down to Grenada for a Christmas Eve fete. That Ole Year's night 2006 covered 3 parties Desire, Selacious and Vahalla. I had a blast the next big assignment brings us right back to where i started this blog at TT Carnival 2007!!! When I returned to Barbados I was .... "Ready to Flyyyy" inspired by Machel Montano's tune "Higher Than High".

I took the step to a higher level when I made the decison to work full time in entertainment under Alt Entertainment Inc. as the Web Content Marketing Manager for BoomTribe.com.

From the first day I was way more energised to do more and learn more about myself and entertainment. My creativity was going wild. Ideas were my Red Bulls.
For example, I taught myself some of video editing so that I could do some editing to the video I had taken of Trinidad Carnival. One of the first clips I made was of Machel Montano HD performing at UWI Splash at in Trinidad Carnival 2007. Taking that fete to a Higher Level.
During the year I also got introduced to the idea of new media marketing or social network marketing. I got a chance to experience St. Lucia Carnival 2007, (let me point out that I called Ricky T's "Pressure Boom" as a mega hit. If you don't believe me talk to DJ Hoodini.) I also got into some project management and scheduling. Also planning and leadership, trend spotting and business development. I started the transition to using GTD, reading rss appreciating blogging and it place in the world. Learnt alot more about the behind the scenes of the industry.

I must say its been a very very interesting and eye opening first year in Caribbean Entertainment and also learning more about the Internet, technology and of course, Blackberry. ahahahaha. Anyone that knows me knows I love my blackberry. lol. Seriously though with the internet and technology Alt Entertainment and myself have switched to a situation where I can work from anywhere in the world on any computer with a good internet connection.
Hence, Corey Graham 2.0 More Connected - More Integrated.

As I look forward to a new year in entertainment, our Soca Nurse captured it when she wrote on my facebook wall ..

"Happy Anniversary Corey. You've accomplished so much in your one year. Looking forward to seeing what new levels you'll reach as you continue to carve out at a career for yourself in the entertainment world. Congrats!!!"

Thanks Karen. I am glad to have met good people like you! .... I know you didn't pay but here is your plug. Sorry was looking for a photo to go with it

Karen L. Richardson
a.k.a "Nurse Karen"
Entertainment Writer
Visit my soca blog (Nurse) Karen (Etc) at http://mustardseedmedia.blogspot.com
Subscribe to "The Rounds Podcast" http://www.socatherapy.com/podcast/therounds.xml

So I have gone into realm of 2.0 and into year number 2 in entertainment. I want to focus this year on having a plan and planning better, the dollars and sense of it all. and to invest more time in Self Expression. I realised this important, losing my camera over the last year, I realised that it is that form of self expression I missed most.
This blog is definately the solution for that. I am planning to grow as it grows!

Year 2 here I come!