PUBLICITY

September 2, 2013

PUBLICITY COMMITTEE REPORT

Webmaster’s Report – John Lamb

It has been another busy month for your web team. Fortunately, we have added another member. Charles Lamb (no relation as far as we know) will be working on the Festival portion of the site to learn the ropes and, once he feels comfortable there, will branch out to assisting with the rest of the site. Allan Kugel continues to try to secure the site in the wake of the hacking incident a few months back. There have been additional attempts to break in since we discovered the problem, but so far it seems that our security is holding. Allan appears to have convinced Google that we really are not purveyors of erectile dysfunction medications, and our listings there appear to be Viagra-free once again. Lori is examining some modified files that had been placed on our site to try to discover what they were doing. The worst-case scenario we have identified so far is that this may have harvested email addresses from our database in order to send them to spammers. More on this as she has time to analyze the infected code.

In the course of our more typical activities, we have provided continued support for Minstrel, Festival, Uke New Jersey, Swingin' Tern and various special events. We have advised the board on the impact to the tally sheet of changing Minstrel admissions to a two-tiered, Members/Non-Members structure. We have fixed a typo or two spotted by our eagle-eyed Publicity Chair.

Many thanks go out to team members Allan, Lori and Charles for all their hard work. As always, please address any questions, comments or suggestions to webmaster@folkproject.org - an address that will reach the entire team.

FaceBook Report – Pam Robinson

We are heading to 800 likes (not sure if it is due to Uke Fest or Fall Festival). I have stopped creating new "Events." The concept does not seem to be working. I have also checked other venues’ FaceBook pages and most do not use the Events feature very often. I think at this time I will keep it for unusual events, rather than all Minstrel and SC events.

Publicity Chairman Report – Nancy Kelner

In addition to our usual monthly duties, the publicity committee spent lots of time publicizing Uke NJ in various ways. Many thanks to the committee members for their efforts – the uke fest was great! Some highlights of the fruits of our labors:

Bill Nutt did a story for the Daily Record. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013308300015

The Uke Fest was one of the “Top Ten Things to Do” in the Aug. 22 email blast from the Morris County Tourism Bureau. This email blast goes to 5000+ addresses. Sent a thank-you email to our contact there. She has really been very good to us!

Found several uke fest stories on line, including one on the NJTVOnline website, written by Madeline Orton. Link is: http://www.njtvonline.org/njtoday/2013/08/30/ukulele-renaissance-reaches-morristown/

Kevin Coughlin of Morristown Green posted a video of Victoria Vox’s performance, right after it happened. Link is: http://morristowngreen.com/2013/08/31/video-victoria-vox-bops-at-uke-fest-nj-in-morris-township/

Ronnie Reich, general arts reporter, Star-Ledger, posted this story online: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/08/uke_new_jersey_brings_a_popular_instrument_to_morristown.html

In other news:

Jennifer Nelson of the Daily Record interviewed Leigh Walker and did a very nice story about Swingin’ Tern. Link is: http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013308160018 Sent her a thank-you email.

As a follow-up to the August 3 Swingin’ Tern board meeting, worked with Pam Robinson to give Suzanne Patnaude, band/caller booker, the information on the “Folk Project hotel” for callers/bands that travel a great distance. Also, flyers were mailed to sixteen colleges for the Sept. 7 Techno Contra dance.

Sent Nov 1 Minstrel info (Jim Hurst) to the bluegrass niche and sent Oct. 25 Minstrel info (Mulebone) to the jazz and blues niche.

Leigh Walker wrote a very good sentence that we have begun using in our publicity. It is hoped that this will attract nondancers to Swingin’ Tern. “Just listening to the band is worth the admission, and listeners are welcome.” (This makes it clear that listeners must pay the admission fee.)

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