The Reel Deal column - I Have An App For That! by Kris Malandruccolo
I've been asked by several bridal consultants if I could compile a list of apps that would be helpful to consultants and couples as they plan their wedding day. I created a list of 50 wedding apps. This is my personal compilation of helpful wedding apps. My criteria for downloading apps to my iPhone is that they must receive a review of at least three stars (out of five). Read the article here
EventDV magazine Oct. 2010 - The Reel Deal: The Power of Praise by Kris Malandruccolo
Marketing our businesses is something that all of us should do on a continual basis. In this Great Recession, we need to be creative and thrifty in our marketing. So I'm going to share a marketing tool that doesn't cost you any money, yet it's priceless: a heartfelt testimony from a happy client or a fellow wedding professional. We can talk until we're blue in the face about how great we are, but a client or colleague testimonial will mean much more to a potential client. Let your clients and fellow vendors do the talking (and the selling), and your business will reap the rewards.
After taking some time off, I'm back with my latest Reel Deal column - The Power of Praise
EventDV magazine review: The Untouchables - IVA Brings World-class Filmmakes to Chicago for Midwest Expo.
The IVA Midwest held its third annual Midwest Expo on May 20, 2009. Editor-in-Chief, Steve Nathans-Kelly, came down for the event. Read his entire review.
I was a presenter at the IVA Midwest Expo in 2006. This year, I was on the IIllinois Videographers Association (IVA) board that helped bring in three outside speakers along with three home-grown Chicago speakers. Even so, I was mentioned in the opening paragraph - Thanks Steve for the nod!! I took this group photo at Giordano's Pizza (we wanted to treat our speakers to the famous Chicago stuffed pizza). Thanks again to our speakers (in pic): Michael Wong, Patrick Moreau, Kevin Shahinian, Keith Kelly, Steve Zagata, Chris Chibucos
Kris Malandruccolo wrote "The Success Principles for Videographers" for the May 2009 issue of EventDV magazine. While the column was written with videographers with mind, the article really applies to anyone!
I want to especially thank Jack Canfield (that's us in the pic) for making it possible for me to write this article.
I have been a fan of Jack Canfield's Success Principles book for over two years, so it was great to finally meet Jack in person!
The Reel Deal: Success Principles for Videographers
Are you where you want to be in life? If not, who or what is holding you back? Think about that seriously for a minute. "Stop with the excuses!" says Jack Canfield (www.jackcanfield.com), motivational life coach and best-selling author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Canfield is also the author of The Success Principles, which has 64 chapters that can help take you from where you are to where you want to be. Recently, I attended one of Canfield's all-day Success Principles workshops, and I want to share a few of these success principles with you.
Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life and Your Results. Canfield says, "You have to stop blaming others, complaining about circumstances and events, justifying your lack of results, and defending your position. Hold yourself accountable." Practice Persistence. Jack told the story how the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book was rejected by 144 publishers. What if Jack had given up after 144 rejections? He would not be where he is today. Do not give up on your dream! When you're working on your dream, get used to the idea that there will be a lot of rejection along the way. Just because a bride or another client says "no" today, it doesn't mean she won't say "yes" tomorrow. Unleash the Power of Goal Setting. You need to know what it is you want before you will get it. What are your goals? High-achievers have unusual clarity about what they want. A goal is something that you want that is measurable in time and space. For example, don't just say, "I want to make more money in the coming year"; say, "I want to bring in an additional $2,000 per month or sign two extra weddings per month for the next 12 months." Practice the Rule of Five. You need to do five things every day to get you toward your goal. You can do the same things every day or do something different every day, but make sure you are doing five things to help you reach your goal. If your goal is to get more business, then some of your action steps could include signing up for a networking or association group, joining a social network site (i.e., Facebook, LinkedIn), following up with a lead, calling a prospective bride or calling a local business with a business proposal, taking a bridal consultant (or other wedding professional) to lunch, updating your website, sending out marketing materials, or participating in a bridal show. Build Up Your Network. In networking, visibility leads to credibility, and credibility leads to profitability. Networking is not just showing up, handing out your business cards, and waiting for the phone to ring. Networking can take months, even years, to see results. Once you help another company with their business, you have earned credibility. In turn, they'll want to help you, so it leads to profitability. When you help others find jobs, it comes back to you. I experienced this recently with two new photographers I had just met at a networking function. Instead of calling them and asking them to refer me to clients, I called them with a potential job lead. Both photographers thanked me and then invited me to their studio so we could discuss working together in the future. I also ask all brides who call me what other services they are looking for. Even if they don't end up hiring me for videography, I have still given them the name of several colleagues. Some networking associations for videographers include the Wedding & Event Videographers Association International (WEVA), National Association for Catering Executives (NACE), Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC), Association for Wedding Professionals International (AFWPI), Business Networking International (BNI), as well as your local videographers association, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Lions Club, etc. Ask! Ask! Ask! Asking is one of the most powerful success strategies there is, yet many people are afraid to ask for things due to fear of rejection. When you meet with a bride, do you ask her for her business before she leaves? After you ask once, do you stop asking if you haven't gotten a commitment? I read a marketing statistic that shows that 60% of all sales are made after the fourth call. Yet 94% of all salespeople quit after the third call. Think of all the business that is left sitting on the table. Express Gratitude. Expressing gratitude opens up the door for more blessings to come into your life. Before going to bed at night, think of five things that you are grateful for. Even in hard times, it helps to ask, "What is the opportunity in this (bad time)?" One thing on my list is to thank Jack Canfield for giving me a free press pass to his event. Want to know how I got it? I asked for it. Kris Malandruccolo (kris@elegantvideosbykris), an EventDV 25 honoree and 2007 WEVA Hall of Fame inductee, is the owner of Chicago-based Elegant Videos by Kris and Elegant Storybooks by Kris. She is a certified Master Wedding Vendor through the Association of Bridal Consultants, WEVA Public Relations Chair, an international speaker, and past-president of the Illinois Videographers Association. |
EventDV magazine, January 2009 - The Reel Deal: The Shift to Thrift by Kris Malandruccolo.
For most of us, 2008 was a wild ride, financially, and I hope 2009 will be better. However, as a small business owner, you need to be prepared for less income as our clients think twice about what they spend. What you can spend on your business is related to your personal finances just as what you can spend in your personal life is related to your business income. In this column, I share money saving tips to help you in both your business and personal life.
*In my blog post below is the list of personal financial books that I reference in this column. Read my Reel Deal column - The Shift to Thrift
In my January 2009 column, The Reel Deal: The Shift to Thrift, for EventDV magazine, I talk about how reading personal finance books can help your financial situation. I am listing some of my favorite books here. You should all be attending "The School of U" by always reading! It is important to read books that improve YOU. I'm always on the look-out for these types of books, so if you have a favorite that isn't listed here, please share it with me! Here's to YOU!!
Kris' Recommended Reading List
The Snowball: Warren Buffet & The Business of Life – Alice Schroeder
The Success Principles – Jack Canfield
Harmonic Wealth – James Arthur Ray
The Speed of Trust – Stephen Covey, Jr.
Think Big & Kiss Ass – Donald Trump
Women & Money – Suze Orman
The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke – Suze Orman
The Laws of Money – Suze Orman
The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
The Tipping Point – Malcom Gladwell
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff About Money – Richard Carlson
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff About Work – Richard Carlson
The Secret – Rhonda Bryne
The Millionaire Next Door – Dr. Thomas Stanley
Who Stole My Cheese – Ilene Hochburg
Think & Grow Rich – Napolean Hill
5 Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me – Richard Paul Evans
The Attraction Factor – Joe Vitale
Acres of Diamonds – Russell Conwell
As A Man Thinketh – James Allan
The Four Pillars of Investing – William Bernstein
Unlimited Power – Anthony Robbins
Rich Dad/Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
Rich Kid/Smart Kid – Robert Kiyosaki
How To Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie
The Travelers Gift – Andy Andrews
The Passion Test – Janet Attword
The Right Words At The Right Time – Marlo Thomas & friends
The Daffodil Principle – Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards
Discovering The Laws Of Life – John Templeton
Ordinary People-Extraordinary Wealth – Ric Edelman
Motley Foots Money After 40 – Tom & David Gardnere
The Must-Have Customer – Robert Gordon
Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days – Jay Levinston
The Automatic Millionaire – David Bach
Smart Couples Finish Rich – David Bach
Nice Girls Don’t Finish Rich – Lois Frankel
I’ve Seen Famous People Naked and They’ve Got Nothing On You – Jake Stenfield
Debt-Proof Living – Mary Hunt
Over The Top – Zig Ziglar
A New Earth – Eckhart Tolle
Reading People – Jo-Ellen Dimitrius
The Bible
**and other books by the above authors!
Happy New Year from Elegant Videos by Kris--Chicago Wedding Films!
In 2009 I am celebrating 21 years in business!
I stay current in business by continually keeping up on trends and attending educational seminars. If you read my December 2008 EventDV editor's pick, you know that I picked Facebook as a big social trend for videographers in 2008.
I invite you to join my Facebook business page. You can find me on Facebook under Friends of Elegant Videos by Kris (Chicago Wedding Films). You can see where I've been in the news, articles I have written, view photos and videos. While there, take a moment to become a "friend" Once you become a friend, stop back often to see what's new!
Kris Malandruccolo wrote the Reel Deal column: "The Road to Financial Freedom" for the June 2006 issue.
I am reprising one of my EventDV columns since I feel it is timely. Back in June 2006, I was writing about ways to save money. Now, everyone is writing about it. Back then, the stock market had yet to peak, and we didn't start a recession until December 2007 (Geez, I would have never known that had it not been announced by government;)
Now, being thrifty is "in" again and people are looking for more ways to save money. This past column address some of those issues. If you like reading about personal finance (I do!), then you will like my upcoming January 2009 EventDV article on "The Shift to Thrift". Until then, stop and read The Reel Deal: The Road to Financial Freedom
The Reel Deal column "Memoirs of a Videographer" by Kris Malandruccolo
This article is part two of my visit to Japan in July 2008. There are differences and similarities between the US and Japan wedding markets, but we both strive to serve our clients with the best service possible.
Read my column "Memoirs of a Videographer".
EventDV magazine, October 2008: Stephen Nathans-Kelly, editor-in-chief of EventDV magazine writes his editorial this month on his journey of helping his father create a family reunion storybook. In the process, he sees his father in a new light! This is why I offer Heritage Makers storybooks - it's the joy of seeing my friends connect with their families through creating storybooks!!
Stephen's dad (left), who spent many years capturing the stories of his "Alabama family"
The recipient of the storybook, Alice Hargress, on her 94th birthday, is sharing the storybook at the family reunion.
A Family Affair by Stephen Nathans: The defining moment in Ron Shelton’s 1988 film Bull Durham—still the best baseball movie ever made—happens off the baseball diamond, when career Carolina League groupie Annie Savoy regales career minor league catcher Crash Davis with the roll call of saints and greats she believes her soul passed through in its earlier incarnations. She asks Crash what he thinks and he replies, "How come in former lifetimes everybody’s somebody famous?"
Bull Durham has always held a special place in my heart because it was shot in my hometown—Durham, N.C.—albeit a few months after I left for college. Bull Durham didn’t capture Durham all that accurately, but the characters and the baseball scenes were great, and the film’s portrayal of ordinary mortals confronting their own limitations against the backdrop of a game awash in myth and legends gives it a resonance that will stand the test of time.
My father lived in Durham for 40 years as a history professor at Duke. As a social and oral historian, he’s spent the better part of his career researching and recording the stories of ordinary people who didn’t hit home runs, rule nations, or lead armies to war. He began this work in earnest in the summer of 1978 when he journeyed to Greensboro, Ala., in search of the descendants of an African-American family that had worked as slaves on a plantation outside of Durham some 130 years earlier.
He left for Alabama knowing his research could go one of several ways, the two worst-case scenarios being that the trail might go cold, or that he would, indeed, find the people he was looking for but they wouldn’t want to talk to him. It helped that he turned out to be a natural for this kind of work—his historical method and interviewing skills were sound, his manner was open, and his interest in the people and in the stories that his interviews might bring out was absolutely genuine.
He also had timing on his side: The most successful TV miniseries of the decadehad aired only a year earlier, and while it wasn’t the inspiration for his work, it probably did provide some rationale for the project among people who otherwise might have wondered what the hell he was doing there. With Alex Haley practically a household name in the U.S. in the summer of 1978, my father quickly became known in the Cassimore church community of Greensboro as "the Roots man."
Here’s how he describes it: "I ventured to rural Alabama in 1978 to find descendants of enslaved people sent there from North Carolina in 1844, and hoping through those descendants to discover stories of their forebears’ experience of that forced migration to the Deep South. Armed with a tape recorder and a borrowed Nikon camera, I was lucky enough to find ‘my people.’ One community member knew the whole story, and she welcomed me into the rural black community formed when her ancestors bought the owner’s land in the 1870s. Dozens of interviews and hundreds of slides later, I had a story not just of slavery and freedom, but a vivid portrait of people in the late 20th century who were living the legacy of emancipation—and still battling for its completion."
Thirty years later, he’s now a regular at Cassimore family reunions. This summer’s gathering was an especially meaningful one. "I wanted to carry something special back to Alabama for the 2008 reunion," he says, "an ‘Album of Memories’ to commemorate the ninety-fourth birthday of Alice Hargress, my ‘Alabama Mama,’ who had opened the community and its history to me."
A few months before the reunion, my father and I had discussed the different possibilities for how he might present the photo history at the event. His first idea was a photo montage similar to the ones I’ve produced of my young son and for various family events over the years, and of the sort we’ve written about in EventDV. I would have been happy to put together the montage, but when we discussed what that would require on the delivery end—a specific time and place to show it; reliable projection, sound, and DVD playback equipment; and a music score that would appeal to four generations—it seemed like a risky proposition. Another issue was whether older members of the community would have DVD players for repeat viewings after the reunion was over. So we decided to go the "Album of Memories" route instead.
But the first challenge was not so much how to deliver the photo project as how to get thephotos into usable form. The source material was a collection of several hundred slides of images my father had shot in the summers of 1978 and 1980. This presented two problems that any videographer who’s done memorial tribute videos or produced photo montages for social events has faced at one time or another: how to digitize source images that may not be in the most computer-friendly format and how to make the conversion process as efficient as possible.
As luck would have it, just as we were beginning to talk about the project, I received an email from a company called Plustek offering a review unit of its OpticFilm 7300 35mm Film Scanner. This machine turned out to be the perfect solution for the slide-scanning phase of the project. My father (a confessed technophobe) had this to say about his experience with it: "The OpticFilm 7300 35mm Film Scanner offers the ability to digitize old slides and photographic negatives with dispatch and subtlety. Straightforward instructions facilitate the startup of the scanner and the installation of the software within minutes. For slides, a mounted slide holder securely clasps four slides at a time; the filmstrip holder secures six frames at a time. The scanner allows the straightforward digitization of each slide or negative in seconds. An Auto-Adjust icon in the toolbar optimizes the image. For more refined changes or corrections, other icons on the toolbar permit minutely calibrated alterations of highlights, brightness, and colors of an image."
With the slides scanned, restored, and burned to a CD that he sent to me in Wisconsin, the next step was to turn them into a book that Alice Hargress and her family could enjoy and treasure. Fortunately, I had an ace-in-the-hole there: columnist Kris Malandruccolo, a Heritage Makers Consultant (www.ElegantStorybooksByKris.com) who could guide us through storybook creation and help us produce an album worthy of the occasion. Plus this would give me an opportunity to do something Kris had been urging me to do for a couple years—make a Heritage Makers storybook of my own and see what all the hoopla was about.
When I first emailed Kris about the project, telling her that my father wanted to create a storybook for a family reunion, she wrote me back excitedly and said, "That will be such a great keepsake for your son!" At the time I debated whether simply to tell her that there wouldn’t be anyone you might expect to meet at a Nathans family reunion in this book or just let her be surprised when she actually saw the proofs. I had a good chuckle over that before letting her in on more of the details of the project when I was beginning to put the book together.
While Kris was very helpful in setting up my Heritage Makers account and giving me a few great tips on how to position some of the photos and punch up the book with text after I sent her my rough draft, I was able to do the bulk of the book on my own. Heritage Makers has great on-site video tutorials and makes it very easy to upload the photos, arrange them to your liking, add captions and other text, and choose suitable backgrounds to give your book a professional look. It took only a few hours to put it together on my end—even as I fussed over a number of the organizational details of the book and read over the text innumerable times to make sure I’d properly matched all the photos and captions. Heritage Makers turned the book around in a few days, getting it into my father’s hands with plenty of time to spare before he headed south for the reunion.
The "Album of Memories" was a huge hit in Alabama. As my father had told me while I was working on the project, quite a few of the people in the photographs have passed on in the intervening years, and these old photos sparked all kinds of memories and stories.
And as it turned out, I did share the book with my 4-year-old son. Naturally, I wanted to show him the one photo of my father that’s in there—featuring him at exactly my current age—and to tell him something about who his "PopPop" is besides the guy who sends him colorful kids’ books and takes him to the aquarium and bakes a cake with him when we visit him in Denver.
Truth be told, researching and recording the history of nobody famous hasn’t made my father famous (at least not in this lifetime), but this picture of him captured something a lot of famous people probably never experience: a man at the precise moment when he discovered who he was and what he was born to do, among the people whose stories have become his life’s work. Though I suppose I’ve understood this on some level for most of my life, seeing this picture made it almost as much of a new discovery for me as it would be for my son.
Helping to sustain that sort of family continuity by capturing and crystallizing the moments that define us—for ourselves and for the generations to come—strikes me as exactly what makes the work of videographers so vital. Whether as midwife to a project like Alice Hargress’s "Album of Memories" or as editor of this magazine, I’m grateful just to be a part of it.
