Disconnect from the mundane from September 27th – 28th, at Unplugged Expo 3.

We had a great time at the UX3 — it was well organized and filled with friendly volunteers, a variety of event choices, and cosplay everywhere! We’re looking forward to UX4!

Star Trek Improv

We had temporal distortions, Ferengi bombs, Amish barns, and Tribbles in our two days of Star Trek silliness. Our a capella show intro was included in Northern Panic‘s wrap-up video! Yeay!

Social Media Prime Directive

We facilitated a panel at Unplugged Expo this weekend. This is the summary of the panel, as listed in the UX3 schedule:

Whether you are a performer, artist, author, or designer, you need to be connected with your fanbase. This panel will share some successful strategies to reach existing and new fans. We will also discuss how to minimize burnout and how to maintain social boundaries.

We thought people might appreciate these four reminders when trying to increase your presence in the Federation:

1. Join The Community

Integrate into the community through your shared similar interests rather than trying to assimilate them into your world. Don’t try to integrate into a community that doesn’t make sense for your content, or that you aren’t going to feed often enough. Engagement is more effective than sales pitches. It is good to share things from a centralized location (your website, Facebook, etc.) but it will be more engaging to have some content reserved specific to each community. Share mid-process behind the scene thoughts and images. Share information on the tools you prefer and where to get them. Seriously, share.

2. Collaborate.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, to engage your friends and acquaintances in working toward a mutual goal — to get your art/music/message out there. Reciprocate writing feature articles of/with your favourite local artist. Share exhibitor tables, or have their art available at your event; play their music in your podcasts/videos. Do for others what you hope done for yourself, but do it because you love it.

3. Balance

This will be a constant struggle. Balance your “sales” versus “interpersonal” messages. Balance your managing your publicity and sharing versus interacting with your real life family/friends/community versus making your art. There are publication schedulers available — sometimes in the form of friends stealing your phone so you spend time with them.

4. Protect Your Boundaries

You have and make friends online. However, you don’t need to be friends with everyone who follows or interacts with you. Don’t feel the need to keep toxic feedback on your site out of a sense of neutrality. Don’t let fear of the trolls stop you from engaging, interacting and creating.