Altoona Baseball

The Altoona Rail Kings were a minor league baseball team that lasted two seasons, starting in 1996. They moved to West Virginia before folding. As I remembered it, the Rail Kings never even played a game, so I have to attribute the facts here to Wikipedia. Although I’m a baseball fan, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Altoona, I never got to see a Rail Kings game. The Altoona Curve baseball team started playing in 1999, and I didn’t get to one of their games until last summer (that’s the photo here).

I have good friends, Joel and Barb, who have lived in Altoona since the mid-1970’s. Whenever I needed a break from the insanity of Penn State, I’d just take a ride down Rt. 220 to what we all agreed was the “Rest Home”.

Since I never got to a Rail Kings game, I never got any branded merchandise. Generally, I’ll only get something (shirt, glass, etc.) if it represents something I’ve seen, or somewhere I’ve been. Nevertheless, getting a Rail Kings jersey became a running joke with Joel and Barb since about 1997.

Once a year or so, I’d check EBay and Craig’s List to see if anyone was selling a jersey. No such luck. And, as it happens, the last time I checked was just a few days ago.

Yesterday, the mailman delivered a small box, and it had Joel and Barb’s return address. My first thought was that the Rail Kings jersey had finally arrived. But when I opened the box, it was actually a Rail Kings jacket! That was a really cool surprise.

Of course, I immediately called Joel and Barb, telling the story about having just checked EBay, and it was probably the day they sent it. Barb asked if there was any time limit on my request, and was 11 years too long to wait.

WPPI Conference

That’s the Wedding and Portrait Photographers Conference, held in Las Vegas, and I attended to represent The 4EVER Group and our membership. We shared booth space with the conference organizers during the trade show, and we presented a video program during the educational time. In addition, I shot some footage for the highlights video, which was being assembled by a friend.

Our original program presenter asked to be excused, and we had an even better seminar as a replacement. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented LaDonna Moore from leaving Dallas, so I had to step up and replace her. I had a two-hour time slot to fill, which I did with a combination of the Video Critique and an instantly-developed program highlighting the cross-marketing opportunities between photo and video. Our official VIDEO 08 photographer was in attendance, and Sara Frances (http://www.photomirage.com/) graciously provided the images here.

We used four DVD’s in the presentation. Two were ours, and two associates each provided one. An AV technician handled the DVD’s during the program. Immediately after my presentation, while I was talking to several attendees, the tech left the DVD’s on his table and came up to retrieve the microphone. In that 30-or so second time, someone stole those DVD’s. That was a ridiculous blemish on an otherwise excellent experience.

WPPI draws about 10,000 attendees, and more than 350 trade show vendors, so it’s pretty impressive. There are as many as 16 programs going on at once, so that’s really quite an effort to pull together.

Four City Trip Starts

These crazy few days kicked off with a trip to Boston, for an industry show on March 7 and 8. We (The 4EVER Group) were one of the exhibitors at the Camera Company Pro Video show, which was held on the campus of Stonehill College. In addition to the show, I was a panelist for the Vista Awards, presented by the local video producers group, the National Professional Videographers Association of New England (NPVA-NE).

The show itself was fairly uneventful, and it was run well. They’ve had some practice: this was the 18th year of the show, and the second time that we’ve participated. Unlike the last time we participated, the show has been geared almost totally toward industry professionals. That meant that the foot traffic was lighter than we figured.

Day two of the show, Saturday, figured to be busier. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t really cooperate, as there was quite the downpour. The show was held in the school’s gym, which was next to the main athletic field (W. B. Mason Field), and there was a lacrosse match that morning. That had to be an unpleasant experience, out in the cold rain.

At the show’s conclusion (5pm), I packed up and grabbed a quick dinner with a couple of associates. Then I hit the road, bound for State College. Seven entertaining hours later, I arrived in my old home town for the PA ABC meeting. But you should have already read that story.

The four cities? Boston, State College, Davenport IA, and Las Vegas.

PA ABC Meeting

PA ABC Meeting

So there will be a couple of posts that are out of order. It happens.

This past Saturday, at the conclusion of the Camera Company event, I drove from the Boston area to State College, PA, for the meeting of the PA chapter of the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC). This would be my second presentation for the PA ABC, and the last one had been about five or six years ago.

The drive featured some lousy weather, with serious rain from Boston to Hartford, CT, and a mix of light snow and ice for the last 100 miles of the trip. It didn’t help that I left Boston about 7pm, but the program didn’t end until after 5pm, and then I stopped for dinner with a couple of associates. I made it to State College almost exactly at 2am, and that’s when Daylight Savings Time took effect. I figure that simply meant that I lost an hour of awake time, rather than sleep.

Consultants did come in from all over Pennsylvania, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Of course, there were a few from the State College area, as I noted in an earlier post. As a Penn State graduate, I’d be really happy to cover a wedding there, but I haven’t really pushed it before now.

My goal was to give the consultants something of a status update on the state of the video production business. Although two of the attendees had seen my presentation at the 2007 national ABC conference, this was new information to everyone else. We discussed Same Day Edits, Memorial Videos, and HD video, among other topics.

Since I had anticipated arriving so late, I was able to get scheduled to speak after lunch. The ABC did have two other speakers in the agenda, so that worked in my favor. I did get to sleep in a little, and then grab breakfast at the Waffle Shop, a favorite spot in State College. It was spring break, so town was unusually quiet.

On the ride home, I took a little detour through Altoona, to visit with friends there. So after another long drive, I finally got home about midnight.

Penn State Weddings?

Yesterday, I did a presentation for the PA chapter of the Association of Bridal Consultants. I’ll blog more about that later. First, though, I wanted to mention a useful and fun site for any fellow Penn Staters getting married in the Centre region.

One of the meeting attendees was Kerri Smith, the “quarterback” (their term) for Nittany Weddings. Her business card resembled a sports card, and the photo was of a bride in her gown, with a blue sash, about to throw a football. And she has lamp black under her eyes.

That football theme was consistent in their material, and I liked the branding. I have to figure that it plays well up in Happy Valley. Check them out at www.nittanyweddings.com.

Changes at The 4EVER Group

4EVER Group Focused on Membership Growth as Co-Founder Departs


Contact: Levi Rabinowitz
Redzone News Management
443-280-1911
levi@redzonenews.com
Or: Scott Broom
Redzone News Management
443-562-0112
s.broom@redzonenews.com

Feb. 26 2008 (Philadelphia, PA) The 4EVER Group, the leader in education and resources for the event video industry, today congratulated co-founder and former Director of Education Tim Ryan as he took leave from the organization.

“All of us who have worked with Tim wish him the best as he refocuses his efforts on growing his already-successful video production business,” said The 4EVER Group’s Director of Development Steve Wernick.

Ryan, along with his wife Lee Ann, own Treasured Memories Video in Massapequa, New York. He announced his leave from The 4EVER Group due to personal and private reasons February 25.

Wernick and Ryan established The 4EVER Group as the premier resource for event video production firms seeking professional development opportunities and access to networks of fellow event producers and the vendors that serve them. Event DV Magazine named Wernick and Ryan of The 4EVER Group to its inaugural Top-25 list of contributors to the industry in 2005. Since it’s founding in 2005, The 4EVER Group has hosted professional events and conferences attracting an international host of video professionals and vendors.

“We appreciate all that Tim has done with The 4EVER Group,” said Wernick. “The 4EVER Group was founded for the promotion and benefit of event video production companies exactly like Tim’s.”

Under Wernick’s continuing leadership, and with the assistance of a strong team that includes Ed Wardyga, Ken Ehrhart and LaDonna Moore, The 4Ever Group remains focused on growing its substantial membership and expanding the events, services, vendors and professional networks critical to assisting members in growing their businesses.

At The 4EVER Group’s most recent annual international conference, VIDEO 08, in Orlando Florida, members indicated expanding demand for newer areas of event production services such as the creation of video biographies and memorial productions for private clients, as well as sports- and school-based productions. Traditional areas of business include wedding video productions, corporate video productions and the production of photo montages for corporate and private clients.

In addition, The 4EVER Group’s 2007 Artistic Achievement Awards attracted global interest with entries from event video producers in Austria, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Canada, and the Philippines.

The 4EVER Group is the leading resource for video producers, especially those in the social event industry. For more information about the events and activities of The 4EVER Group, please visit www.4EVERGroup.org, or call 1-888-4EVERG1.

Why Get A Wedding Video?

An associate from California posted this Youtube clip;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP0UHCVyvtU&mode=related&search

In it, a couple discusses their wedding, and their decision to not have a video recording of the day. It's worth spending the 5 or 6 minutes there is you're unsure about hiring a wedding video producer.