Packing up gear and heading to Austin, TX for a weekend of tech, film and general brilliance.

I’m really excited to hear from leading pros around the web about what’s coming up, what’s working, how engagement is happening and general stories of connectedness. Last year was definitely an adventure and this year will be no different. It’s a time where I get to join up with super smart guys like Tim Grahl, Joseph Hinson and Brian Morykon of Out:Think Group. Plus I get to attend great sessions like this one from Josh Kaufman.

Mashable came out with a great list of can’t miss pieces (I will probably miss some of these, however, it’s so much.)

I’m also thrilled to be part of the Twitter peanut gallery at Beth Kanters session on the networked nonprofit. See more about it here. Best part, you can take part while it’s happening just use the hashtag #netnon

Also in the same vein for Nonprofits is a special area hosted by Beaconfire consulting – this is home base for many nonprofit attendees. I’m looking forward to hanging with Eve Simon and Michael Cervino. Check out the lounge here!

This year I’m also attending film events which is going to be intense. As the web landscape continues to provide many distribution tools for indie filmmakers. This is like the OK Corral to the general internet’s Wild West.

I’ll be posting the most interesting tidbits from both types of sessions in the next several days.

Be Safe,

The end of September kicked off with a bang as International Justice Mission’s (IJM) Premiere for their first Documentary – At The End of Slavery. Today kicks of the Weekend to End Slavery and we encourage you to click here and watch Gary Haugen via Livestream at 8PM EST.

At the premiere, Portnoy Media was able to work with IJM to help facilitate a trailer contest that lead up to the premiere event. (See the winners video here)

IJM called upon Portnoy Media over the summer to give some ideas that took advantage of the incredible content and great mission of IJM. We took care of all the details of the event from setting up digital invitations and registrations, coordinating the food and taking care of all the technology to make the event a success. We also worked with IJM’s press core to invite college press agencies to give them unprecedented access for the big night. In attendance were several officials from the State Department, including Ambassador Luis CdeBaca. There’s another post launching soon with the coverage of the event and our approach that the event was the 50% point to this entire movement to end human trafficking. It was an incredible pleasure to work with them and please make sure that you check out Gary Haugen at 8PM EST

Below are the pictures of the event taken by Snaptography, LLC.

Interested individuals should complete the free contest registration online at www.AtTheEndOfSlavery.com and receive a toolkit that includes official rules and guidelines, a digital, high-resolution version of ATEOS, and a series of design files, video clips and audio files to be used with their trailer entry as they see fit.

Guest judges include:
• Phil Cooke, a filmmaker, producer, media specialist and consultant whose work focuses on creating personal and organizational (with a specialty in non-profit and faith-based) cultures where real change happens.
• Craig Detweiler, director of the new Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine University in Malibu. His documentary, “Purple State of Mind”, won Best Spiritual Film at the 2008 Breckenridge Festival of Film and the Audience Award at the 2009 Tallahassee Film Festival.
• Brent Gudgel, film director who co-directed and award-winning documentary “Dear Francis” about the most HIV-infected nation in the world, which has aired on Showtime, and been used by universities and churches around the world. The latest project from him is DEIDOX
• Gregg Helvey, who directed and produced “Kavi,” the winning film of the 2009 Student Academy Award gold medal, about a young boy who is a modern-day slave in a brick kiln in India.
• Dave Mahanes, a partner in the production company Chronicle Project, who has overseen the production of documentaries, promotional videos and film shorts, including “Dear Francis.” The latest project from him is DEIDOX.

The trailer contest officially ends Friday, September 18, 2009 and entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET to be eligible for judges and audience voting.

Here’s the current trailer

At The End Of Slavery – Extended Trailer from International Justice Mission on Vimeo.

Grand Prize is:

• A trip for 2 to Washington DC’s Premiere Event on September 30th
• A public viewing of your trailer before the event and recognition.
• The winning trailer becomes the trailer seen by thousands across the country as THE trailer for the film.

Don’t miss out on this chance to play a part in starting a modern-day abolitionist movement! Send in your trailer contest entries, and be a part of the At the End of Slavery movement today!

Sign Up Today

We just found out CP’s Deidox film “Lindsay” is a finalist for the Damah Film Festival.

Online voting has begun and we need your help. Here’s what you can do:

1. Go to http://www.damah.com/theater
2. Choose Deidox|Lindsay
3. Vote for the film

1st place would mean $5000 and some more exposure for Deidox. Even better, the money would allow Chronicle Project to tell more Deidox stories in the future.

Please vote for Deidox | Lindsay, and check out the other films while you’re there too. The film is also embeddable for blogs, to be shared on facebook, etc. I think the great part about this short is that Lindsay is the real deal!

If you like the film – Vote for it now!!

Next Release Deidox | Dawn

On September 15 the next film in the Deidox series comes out. It’s called Deidox | Dawn, telling the story of a reluctant mother of three that discovers her unexpected purpose. Then, in October Chronicle Project will release Deidox | Li Yang, offering a rare glimpse into the underground church in China. Also, in conjunction with a partnership with Out:think Group, there’s some adjustments happening to the Deidox website – there was an adjustment when the third film (Deon) was released as well.

If you’d like to be involved in the webcast with the filmmakers talking about the process of making these shorts, a preview of the new release and a Q&A – please email me or contact me via Twitter.

We’re proud to be so close to this amazing project as it continues to take shape. Which Deidox film is your favorite?

We were extremely thrilled to be a part of Idea Camp – Washington, DC last weekend. Anytime there’s an opportunity to share a roster with the likes of charity:water, The ONE Campaign, International Justice Mission, Global Need, InvisiblePeople.tv and a slew of other incredible organizations – we’re there! The event was

The full event and main sessions are being processed for the web and will be posting as part of their Vimeo profile. Big THANKS to Daniel “DK” & Sadie Kim (the crown she made me was a big hit, plus they may have the cutest kid ever!), Dawn Carter, and Sam Song for their work behind the scenes to pull it all together. Also MASSIVE thanks to Charles Lee for his oversight to the entire project and he banks in relationship capital in ways we haven’t dreamed of yet.

As for the workshop, I was fortunate to be the facilitator of a session called “Augmenting Your Story with Video” – here’s what we talked about:

There was a great mix of people who were interested in film, organizations that were testing the waters with film/video and then there was the guys from Chronicle Project. Everyone who was in the room already understood that film/video was essential to their voice being heard in today’s world. Fortunately for me there were a truck load of videos shown at the main session including Deidox | Lindsay and charity:water’s latest campaign for September Birthday’s.

The best part was that we talked about this short at great length. It had launched just a few days before ICDC and I was so impressed by it that I found out who made it (Upstream Visual from Austin, TX) and sent them an email congratulating them on such great work. It captured a great balance of story (info), great visuals (shots) and left me wanting to take action (connection).

Other thoughts/issues/solutions that came out of the session:

• Be able to tell me your goal/what you do in a sentence. (Stop Modern Day Slavery, Give Clean Water to the World) If you can’t tell someone don’t expect your promo to fix that.
• Everyone has a friend who has a camera – that doesn’t make them storytellers. You get what you pay for.
• Do research on the company you’re hiring – check their previous projects. The work that they’ve done is likely to be the work that they’d continue to do. Make sure you like the look and the feel of it.
• Animation = crazy cash. It’s gorgeous but it’s time intensive.
• HD is a must

What have you seen lately that you’ve liked? What do you think of charity:water’s latest campaign video?