PUBLICITY

Publicity Committee Report

31 March 2014

Publicity Committee members: Alicia Weimer, Jeff Saxton, Jim Gartner, Jim King, Joanne Cronin, John Lamb, Michael Mitsch, Nancy Kelner, Pam Robinson, Pat Brangs, Paul Fisher, Loretta Brooks and Cathy Ballard

Webmaster Report – John Lamb

March has been only a slightly less hectic month than February for the web team.

We instituted two major new features - links to performer videos on the Minstrel calendar page, and a carousel on the home page that rotates through several screens containing information about specific events. The carousel is very useful when there are so many events coming up that there is not enough space on the home page to cover them all simultaneously.

We are trying to understand and fix a couple of long-standing issues: occasional bounced messages on email and occasional broken image files on the Minstrel Calendar page. We have some theories as to why these things sometimes happen and are working toward solutions but have no specific progress to report yet. The sporadic nature of the problems make them difficult to troubleshoot.

There have also been the usual minor updates and tweaks required for the Minstrel, Swingin Tern, and Special Events pages, with Charles updating the Acoustic Getaway pages.'

Lori produced a particularly nice collage for the NERFA mini-convention.

In addition to working on several items already mentioned, Allan has been improving the tools that allow our volunteers to enter information on the site in a standard format without their having to understand HTML coding.

As always, thanks to Lori, Allan and Charles who make my job considerably easier than it might otherwise be. Please address any questions, comments or suggestions to webmaster@folkproject.org.

Facebook Report – Pam Robinson

The Folk Project's FaceBook page is inching towards 1,000 Likes.

Posts about upcoming FP events have been generating some buzz.

The more Photos and youTube links directly in the post the more people see/respond to the post.

Report From “The Chair” – Paul Fisher

Things have been slowly improving as Paul figures out how to plan for the monthly work. The first couple of weeks went well but outside issues kept Paul mostly off the job for two weeks.

Nancy continues to be very helpful with ideas, suggestions and reminders.

Other news:

· Nancy planned on getting the final draft of the new business cards to Staples today to try to take advantage of a sale that ends today.

· Nancy volunteered to do a special Press Release for the Marc Berger House Concert. It was sent to the committee for distribution.

· Early notice was sent to the committee of the July 1^st increase in ticket price at The Minstrel in order to accommodate outlets with longer lead times.

· A special notice was sent to the jazz/blues niche group about Frank Vignola teaching at the Spring Getaway.

· The Minstrel is frequently listed among the Top Ten Monthly Events by the Morris County Tourism Bureau.

· Work is being done to assist with Getaway publicity.

· Outlet lists and contacts are being updated as needed.

· The New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club has been sending a complementary newsletter subscription to the Folk Project for some some. It was being sent to Carl Croce but now is returned as undeliverable. We need to select to whom this should be routed.

Online

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In Print

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Working with Performers and Their Publicists

· Contact information for radio stations and print outlets was passed to Spuyten Duyvil so they could add to our publicity efforts.

On the Radio

· There is an ongoing discussion on connecting Minstrel performers with local radio stations and how to most effectively provide promotional CDs.

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Other Items

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