by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 13, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Marketing Monday is a weekly installment talking about a person, business, or website doing something cool online. If you have an idea, let the BE Blog know!
I recently ran into someone at a local coffee shop who was telling me how he was motivated to reopened his Second Life account. “I’ve been getting gigs to Second Life parties to play my guitar and people actually pay me like $40/hour to do it!” he was saying. Yes, this is a video game character playing the guitar and yes, he is playing for actual US dollars.
As someone who’s never gotten past level three of Super Mario, I was intrigued, and maybe even slightlyjudgmental about people who play computer games like this. I was about to tell my man friend Dan how weird this conversation was when I found out he’s a gamer.Dan has been playing World of Warcraft on and off for three years. I decided to pick his brain about virtual worlds, and how and why they are so popular:
What about WoW makes it more interesting to you than something you’d play on a gaming system (Playstation, Wii, etc.)?
You can’t beat the game so the game has more replay value. There’s always something more you can do, which is motivating.Every two to three years, the developers add on an expansion, raising the maximum level of characters, adding new maps/quests, etc.
There is a group element to the game, encouraging user interaction. When you start playing WoW, you join a guild. The guild has their own chat, and there are options for guilds to get together and help each other out. You can talk to people individually or in a group format.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 7, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To join the fun, check out Facebook at www.facebook.com/toocutetuesday. To see archives of past TCT evenings, see www.toocutetuesday.com. And to start your own chapter or join ours, contact Nicole.
This craft was sent to us by Dorrie, who couldn’t make it to see it through. But overall a great idea using 1) inexpensive materials and 2) good design.
Materials
Plastic-y tablecloth (what Martha would call ‘oil cloth’)
Scissors
Pins
Measuring tape
Sewing machine
Cocktail of the Night: The Wolf Pack (invented by Chef Dan)
Irish cream (3/4 oz.), irish whiskey (1 oz.), 1 oz. heavy cream, 1 oz. milk. Mix and add splash of soda water and whipped cream on the top.
1. Beg on all social media outlets for an air conditioned place to sit at during the day. Have boyfriend’s mother see Facebook post and offer to lend you her spare AC for the summer. Decide you love social media (and your boyfriend’s family) even more.
2. Have boyfriend (AKA Chef Dan) show up at Craft Central right before the fun with a surprise. Install in window and press start.
3. Since you can now cook without the fear of melting yourself, cook up some apps while Dan makes the night’s cocktail.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 6, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, Breaking Even Communications profiles an individual, business, or non-profit doing interesting things online. If you have an idea, please let me know about it!
Pecha Kucha is Japanese for ‘chit chat’. It’s a short presentation format (20 slides, 20 seconds per slide) that allows anyone viewing it to see a presentation to see a variety of topics instead of just one.
Midcoast Magnet has been sponsoring these events in the Midcoast for about a year but a few area non-profits have banded together to bring them to Downeast Maine.
Get together with other groups to make a one time event happen more than once.
Pecha Kucha is a ton of work to organize, with all the different presenters, setting up the venue, etc. If you are organizing an event, why not stage it a few different times?
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 30, 2010 | Too Cute Tuesday
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. See all the posts at www.toocutetuesday.com or join the fun on Facebook at www.facebook.com/toocutetuesday.
Let me start off by saying that my real-life friend Jen is supportive about most things in my life. Two things she doesn’t usually do are 1) read this blog and 2) attend Too Cute Tuesday. “I just don’t like it,” she says. Of Too Cute Tuesday, not the blog.
When I told her we were making ribbon belts and it would be easy, she decided to come. She made not one but two crafts. “Hey, this is kind of fun.” Yeah, Jen, that’s why we do it! “You should put this on the blog.” she said, as she added a ribbon to my dog Gidget’s neck. Yup, that’s the idea…
So if you want a craft that 1) takes 15 minutes. and 2) will convert a skeptic, this is your week. Remember it doesn’t have to be a belt. I can be a bracelet or one of those luggage straps.
Materials
Ribbon (Enough to go around your waist plus a few inches for sewing error and/or future fluctuations
Needle and thread (we used white)
Scissors
Loop things (if the hardware store doesn’t have D-rings… it’s near the bungee cords, ropes, and other items in the ‘holding stuff down on a car’ section)
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 28, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, the BE Blog profiles an individual, business, or non-profit doing something cool online to promote themselves. If you have an idea, please let me know!
The owners of Affordable Acadia are great about updating their blog with information about area activities, festivals, local issues, events, and history. They even have their posts by category like “Day trips” and “Good eats” so readers can find the information they are looking for.
From a design standpoint, the blog is also easy to skim.They post great, large format paragraphs for easy skimming. The font is large with good contrast and overall, the appearance (clean and professional) matches what’s written on the page.
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To join the fun, check out Facebook at 
