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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Welcome to a Special Christmas Issue of the Newsletter for members of "The Creative Networks"
'Creative Networks' at Birmingham City University's Technology
Innovation Centre (tic) is
about bringing together all parties involved in sound
and screen-based media in the West Midlands. 'Creative
Networks' seeks to promote both successful business development
and collaboration. It also seeks to contribute to the establishment
of a strong, long-term, sound and screen-based Creative
Industry in the West Midlands. The tic
achieves this through increasing knowledge sharing and use of innovative
technologies, creative practice and business processes.
Regular monthly networking events are held at tic.
They offer opportunities for individuals and companies
to network, make pitches and identify the resources they
are seeking or support for the projects they are planning.
Visit our online portal www.creativenetworksonline.com
for up-to-date news, funding, business support, training
and tender opportunities.
In This Issue:
1. COMING UP -
January's Creative Networks Event
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:: The MIDEM Report An update from the Music Industry equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival |
2. Event Reviewed
- December's Creative Networks Event
- A Memory Masterclass
3. The Music Network - Monthly Networking Event held at tic
4. i4 Skills - Courses NOW Available |
We’d also like to hear from you!
Contact Scarlet Scardanelli, the Creative Networks coordinator
with any feedback, case studies, success stories, interesting projects, collaboration opportunities or news:
:: phone
0121 331 5400
:: email
creative.networks@tic.ac.uk
:: or
post to Technology Innovation Centre, Millennium
Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG
:: or online at www.creativenetworksonline.com |
| 1. COMING UP - January's Creative Networks Event *DONT MISS OUT* |
Thursday 31st January - From 6.00pm until 10.00pm at tic, Millennium Point
The Collaborative Networking Event for Creative Industry Professionals
The MIDEM Report
An update from the Music Industry equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival
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MIDEM is the Music Industry’s equivalent to the Cannes Film Festival, attracting 10,000 music and technology professionals from over 90 countries. Delegates from the recording, publishing, live, digital, mobile and branding sectors will be doing deals, networking and seeking new talent.
For those unable to get to Cannes for this year's event, Creative Networks will provide you with the full MIDEM low-down from Ninder Johal. |
Ninder is the Managing Director of the long established Nachural Records, the label that released the biggest Bhangra tune of all time, in terms of mainstream success, 'Mundian To Bach Ke', reaching No.Five in the UK charts and No.One in nine other countries. Awards from MTV and MOBO followed.
Having gained a degree in Finance, an MBA and a well paid job in management consultancy, Ninder gave it all up to start Nachural. He spent the next 10 years developing the label which has now diversified into a communications company specializing in live event production, whilst also working as a tabla player with a top Bhangra band.
A tie up with Microsoft has taken the label and the Bhangra genre even further, featuring on the X BOX game 'Project Gotham Racing 3' and synchronization deals for TV ads ranging from cars to cooking sauces.
This event is free to attend. If you would like to join us, please email creative.networks@tic.ac.uk, or phone 07969 226 693. Alternatively, you can register online via the Creative Networks portal www.creativenetworksonline.com.
You’ll be very welcome. |
| 2. Review of December's Creative Networks Event |
Wednesday 12th December - From 6.00pm un till 10.00pm at tic, Millennium Point
Train Your Brain For Business Gain
A warm welcome to this, the 38th Creative Networks and, our final event before Christmas. We would like to thank everyone who attended on what was a very dark and frosty evening. It’s thanks to you and others that have come along each and every month that Creative Networks is as successful as it is. We hope that you will keep attending in 2008 and that you continue to enjoy the events as much as we do. The countdown has begun. This time next year Creative Networks will have reached the big 50!
As usual the evening started with networking and chat in the café, with 90 delegates sharing ideas, exchanging contacts and exploring potential leads. Our collaboration area was also buzzing with people using the highly technical, state of the art fluorescent 'Yellow/Green/Pink' post-it system to post their requests on our notice board. This provided our ever diligent Julian Moore with a busy evening, populating the Creative Networks website with all the ideas and work opportunities you wanted to announce.
After surviving the extra hot chicken 'Spicy Wings of Fire'(not for the faint hearted) which were included in our festive buffet, delegates moved up to the Lecture Theatre where the evening’s main event was ready to begin.
We had 3 people pitching during the evening. David King from Solar Pictures showed us a superb trailer for his new up and coming film 'Veiled Existence'. Next up, Jim Simpson from Big Bear Music talked about his company and also about Music West Midlands and the trip to MIDEM in Cannes next month. If you would like to attend there is still time to register your place and there are still spaces available. MIDEM is the biggest event in the music industry calendar and runs between Jan 27-31. If you cannot attend, don't despair because next month's Creative Networks event will feature feedback and 'hot off the press' reports from MIDEM.
Our final pitcher was Ravi Sian from RRS Finance. RRS specialises in all forms of finance and covers all areas from Student Loans to other funding and advice for anyone starting up their own business.
Open Floor Pitches provide opportunities for individuals and companies to pitch and identify the resources they are seeking or support for the projects they are planning. If you wish to pitch at a future event please email creative.networks@tic.ac.uk
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Solar Pictures is a media and film production company run by David King. David is a film maker and director, and also works freelance as a cameraman and Director of Photography if the project interests him. He has just finished a feature film called 'Veiled Existence' which was shown at Cannes in 2007 and had a preview in Birmingham on 14th December. David has worked as a cameraman for ITV / CITV and worked on the features 28 Days Later / Wilde and Land Girls. He also worked on the ground breaking TV Series This Life. His Digital Short African Brummie won an award at the tic's Cenematic Film Festival during 2006.
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Big Bear Records, probably the longest-established independent recording company in the UK, have worked with jazz, blues and swing attractions, as well as West Midlands groups, since 1968.
Named Big Bear by legendary radio presenter John Peel, the label grew out of Jim Simpson's production company which steered Black Sabbath through their first three and best albums.
Big Bear have organised the Birmingham International Jazz Festival since 1985, and seek new projects, partnerships and collaborations for the July 4th to 13th 2008 festival. The company has an extremely open policy and welcome involvements with art, photography, dance, theatre, spoken word et al, design folk, illustrators, web design are welcome, as are work placements in marketing, event organisation, press and PR.
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Ravi Sian
Company: RSS Finance
phone 0121 236 6252
fax 0121 236 6250
mobile 07951 012484
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RSS specialises in all forms of finance for SMEs and covers all areas from funding to advice for anyone starting up their own business. With over 30 years experience, RRS can provide you with the advice you may need to get your finances in order. |
After all the pitches, it was time to move onto this month's Speaker – the 'unforgettable' Dave Turner, who kept everyone wide awake with his superb presentation on the theme of training your brain for business gain with his 'Memory Masterclass'.
NOTE: If you would like to pitch your own company in this way and get you message across to all the attendees at CN (as well as getting a mention in our monthly newsletter) then please contact Scarlet on 07969 226 693 or email creative.networks@tic.ac.uk |
| Guest Speakers - Train Your Brain for Business Gain! |
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With a great interactive presentation – a 'Memory Masterclass'– our speaker Dave Turner provided three fascinating ways to improve your memory and guaranteed that during the course of the evening he could improve the audiences' memory skills by a staggering 200%! He proceeded to coach us and with some audience participation, proved his claim by measuring our ability to recall a list of 20 items at the start of the evening and at the end – it did indeed increase by that amount for everyone.
Dave's presentation explained why people experience 'CRAFT' (Can't Remember a Flippin Thing) moments; to providing great examples of how your business can benefit from your ability to remember and recall names, dates and agendas at a drop of a hat; to explaining the importance of a 'Hook' that can be used to recall information; to the need to visualise and use your imagination when trying to recall things. Dave demonstrated that the more creative you are by adding things like colour, vibrancy and even making your visualisations as wild and sexy as possible, the easier it becomes for you to recall the information you need.
As well as enhancing your imagination, Dave also explained the need to organise your thoughts and to go through the filing cabinet of your mind in order to assemble the data and information you might need. He explained that the best way of combining imagination and organisation for increased memory capacity was the Journey Method, where you place unfamiliar objects into a familiar context such as putting names, faces or a list of objects into a virtual fly through of the rooms in your house.
Dave also talked about other methods of recall such as the 'Number Shape System' whereby you visualise numbers as objects. This method was demonstrated in an impressive way by Dave, who was able to recall and reel off the first 100 decimal places of Pi, for which he got a huge round of applause.
The final method was the 'SLUG' (Slow Listen Use Go Over) method. Dave explained that this is a great solution for recalling business contacts and most importantly what each of them does. The SLUG method requires slower initial introductions to give you more time to digest the details. The next most important thing is to listen to what is being said. Dave explained that a lot of the time people switch off and this is why it's difficult to retain the information. The need to listen is vitally important and should be combined with the repetition of the use of names and dates, or information that you need to learn. Finally, Dave explained that by combining all these three elements and taking the time to go over the information you have learnt, you will increase, considerably, your chances of putting that important contact or potential sales lead’s name to their face.
The evening's fantastic presentation was a great way to finish off this year's run of successful Creative Networks events. The invaluable information that Dave provided will help assist everyone with the ability to keep and recall all those important names, contacts, clients and potential sales leads that are necessary for improving your business. So whether it's data, presentations, names or numbers, Dave's entertaining and fascinating look into the world of recall and memory may help you with the skills you need to grow your business.
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In the spirit of Christmas, we ended this month’s event with a Prize Draw! Our guests had been asked to submit a completed 'Feedback' Questionnaire as their entry. Dave Turner obliged us by making the Draw and the lucky three were as follows:
| 1st Prize - iPod Nano |
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2nd Prize - Mono Laser Printer |
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3rd Prize - Bottle of Wine |
| Adrian Kimberlin |
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Lawrence Constantinescu |
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David Loney |
NEW YEAR PRIZE DRAW - DON'T MISS YOUR CHANCE!
To get next year off to an auspicious start, we will be holding another Prize Draw at our January event, BE THERE FOR A CHANCE TO WIN. The prizes are:
1st Prize is an iPod Nano
2nd Prize is a DVD Recorder
3rd Prize is a Bottle of wine
It only remains to say that everyone involved in Creative Networks appreciates the enthusiastic attendance and support that exists for these events – we’d like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and look forward to seeing you all again in 2008 for another exciting and prosperous New Year. |
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| Event Feedback - Find out what some of our attendees had to say... |
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"I’ve heard some great inspirational speakers and networked with some lovely people. I’ve gathered ideas more than contacts from attending."
Gary Seeney - Melting Ice Ltd
"By introducing potential employers from the Media, and attracting them to network more, Creative Networks has benefited me. I have been commissioned by Digital Birmingham to produce a video to promote its activities."
Carlos Dos Anjos - Freelance Videographer
"I met a person who I later employed as a project manager– very successfully. Keep up the good work."
Bob Boyd - UKita
"The speaker was great, because after all memory tips are useful to everyone, whatever your business! I hope to come to more of the CN's next year, especially if the topic is as good as last night's."
Elaine Winters - Birmingham City University
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The Music Network leads a monthly networking event at the tic for all music related businesses from the West Midlands region.
Running successfully for over five years, their meetings have proved inspirational in the support, development and promotion of thousands of music related activities.
If you have news to report, events to promote, points for discussion or a pitch to make, the Music Network will be useful for you.
They offer access to contacts, opportunities, help, advice and guidance - and even free tea and biscuits.
The Music Network is a voluntary, not for profit, social enterprise organisation seeking charitable status. Meetings take place on the last Thursday of each month, 4-6pm at Birmingham City University's Technology Innovation Centre (tic), Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG.
email info@birminghammusicnetwork.com
web www.birminghammusicnetwork.com |
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LOW COST Short Courses Currently Available
i4 Skills courses at Birmingham City University's Technology Innovation Centre (tic) provide a low-cost way to realise the full potential of your creative talents.
| Enterprise Courses |
Course Start Dates |
Days and Times |
Market-Led Diversification for
Media Business |
10th January 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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6th March 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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1st May 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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3rd July 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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Business Essentials for Media
Start-Ups |
7th February 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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3rd April 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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5th June 08 |
Thursday x 3 (9.30 - 17.00) |
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| Technical Courses |
Course Start Dates |
Days and Times |
Introduction to Website Design
and Production |
12th January 08 |
Saturday x 4 (10:15 – 16:00) |
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4th February 08 |
| Monday and Thursday evenings x 4 (18:00 – 21:00) |
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29th March 08 |
Saturday x 4 (10:15 – 16:00) |
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21st April 08 |
Monday and Thursday evenings x 4 (18:00 – 21:00) |
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12th July 08 |
Saturday x 4 (10:15 – 16:00) |
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| Further Website Design and Production |
2nd May 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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19th July 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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Introduction to Multimedia Authoring |
Dates to be confirmed |
Thursday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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| Graphics for Web & Multimedia |
7th January 08 |
Monday and Thursday evenings x 4 (18:00 – 21:00) |
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26th April 08 |
Saturday x 4 (10:00 – 16:00) |
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20th June 08 |
Friday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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| Introduction to 3D Modelling |
13th May 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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8th July 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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| Multimedia Scripting |
31st January 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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| Introduction to Computer Animation |
11th January 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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11th April 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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| Desktop Publishing |
1st April 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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10th June 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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| Introduction to Digital Photography and Image Manipulation |
26th February 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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8th July 08 |
Tuesday x 4 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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Camera, Sounds and Lights |
25th April 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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6th June 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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Digital Video Editing and Production |
30th April 08 |
Wednesday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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21st May 08 |
Wednesday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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11th June 08 |
Wednesday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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2nd July 08 |
Wednesday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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Broadcast Editing |
16th May 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
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27th June 08 |
Friday x 3 (09:30 – 17:00) |
All courses are delivered at Millennium Point in Birmingham City Centre.
For more information or to book a course phone 0121 331 6400 email course.enquiries@tic.ac.uk or visit www.i4skillsonline.com. |
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© Technology Innovation Centre (tic) 2006
Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7XG
phone 0121 331 5400 fax 0121 331 5401
email enquiries@tic.ac.uk www.tic.ac.uk
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