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

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?