Is anyone a member of a local chapter of an Adobe User Group? Community or Online? I am now the manager of the Upstate Photoshop User Group (NY).

I’m looking into all the info on Adobe’s website but would be interested in any first-hand insights from members and/or managers of other Adobe User Groups out there (regardless of program).

• What are your responsibilities as manager?
• How much time do you put in?
• What activities do you do?
• Do you have dues? How much?
• Where do you find your speakers? What have they talked about in the past?
• What did you wish you had known before you started?

Send me an email [jason (at) upstatephotoshopusers (dot) com] or comment if:

• you are part of, or manage, an Adobe User Group, or
• you live in Upstate NY and are interested in being a member - currently centered in the Syracuse area.

The website, www.upstatephotoshopusers.com will be initially up and running soon as we develop the group. So check back for more information and meeting times.

My dad is a storyteller. Ever since he was a kid, nearly everything he did was about telling a story. Whether it was writing, preaching, composing, producing, editing, or just telling my brother and I a made up tale as we went to bed at night.

There are two sets of guidelines that he always talks about when it came to communicating a message for a client. The first of which I’m just going to gloss over as a humorous, but true, choice clients need to make when it comes to their project: “You can have it good, fast, or cheap. Pick two.”

The second is more for the creative process. Once you identify your target audience you are then faced with how to tell the story. To help guide your first steps, you should be able to answer three questions:

1. What do you want your audience to know?
2. What do you want your audience to feel?
3. What do you want your audience to do?

For most clients, the first goal is to tell people about themselves. Get the word out. Let potential customers know who they are and what they are all about. So, as it follows, the first step is usually figuring out what it is about the company/individual/group that is most important for their target audience to know.

It’s easy to go overboard and try to cram as much information in as possible even to the point of putting in too much. I have sat through WAY too many reports at conferences that spent more energy on making sure every last little thing was included without thinking about whether or not anyone really cares what the stuffed animals did on their trip around to all of the lighthouses on Lake Ontario… I kid you not!

When giving a presentation, creating a website, producing a video, or designing materials for a project think about what’s really important to the target audience and what can be left out. If you had to narrow it down to your top 3-5 points that are vital for people to know about what it is your are selling/doing/presenting, what would they be? Are those things only interesting to you or do they go to the core of what you are trying to say?

Once you have your main points down, it’s time to focus on presentation. How do you get the audience engaged in your subject? Sure, you could just list your 3-5 points and be done with it. But what you are saying would have to be pretty compelling on its own for people to actually latch onto it without a little bit of flare. Information alone is all well and good, and important, but what do you want viewers/customers to feel as they learn?

A presentation or video or website is more than just a vehicle for delivering information to an audience. It is an opportunity for the audience to participate in the experience of what you are all about. Dry facts, figures, and reports don’t get very far. Choose your words so that you can convey those reports in a way that is interesting, that tells a story, that makes connections.

Posture your message in a way that visually or aurally leads the audience to a place where they are emotionally involved in what you are trying to say. Think about how colors, images, organization, musical selection, layout, tone of voice, all play a part in how the user/viewer/audience member receives the subject matter. If it’s a report, is the chairperson necessarilly the best choice for giving it. If it’s a video, don’t go overboard with effects that may do more to distract than to entice. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You may have a lawn mower, but does that make you a landscape architect?

Think of all the websites that you’ve gone to and immediately clicked away from because they had a terrible color scheme and you couldn’t find anything and there was annoying, tinny music playing that you remember hearing on those awful little electronic keyboards that ran off a tiny watch battery when you were a kid and you just can’t seem to find out how to turn the thing off! The information might’ve been good, but if it wasn’t presented in an interesting way or you were unable to become engaged with it the quality of the information doesn’t really matter. And then think about the websites or commercials or films that have just the right combination of elements to make you laugh, cry, afraid, or inspired. Why? How do those elements help enhance your experience?

The final part is the “so what” factor. Now that your audience knows what you want them to know and feels how you want them to feel, what next? Once again, information for information’s sake is fine and presenting it in a way that moves the audience is even better. But then what?

It can be a fairly simple question to answer with a very “duh” response but it’s one that you need to deal with in order to be successful. Now that you’ve told everyone about yourself/your service/your product what do you want them to do? Hire you? Use your service? Buy your product? Well, yeah!

More than just a sales pitch it should be an invitation to the viewer to come along for the journey - assuming they aren’t already bored by the information or put off by the presentation. By the time you get to the third question your message should be focussed on your main points, it should be communicated in a way that touches the audience, and it should ultimately compell them to act in some way. When it’s done right, the second the screen fades to black or when the last word is read, the audience will have no choice but to take the next step.

I know there are a lot of photographers out there. So how does this relate to us? Well, all of our images are meant to tell stories. What are you trying to say with your photo? Is it to convey beauty? Report about what happened? Offer a new perspective? What emotions do you want to draw out of your viewers? Nostalgia? Love? Desperation? Anxiety? Hope? Wonder? What do you want your viewers to do next? Buy a print? Keep coming back for more? Tell their friends about it? Get involved in the cause/issue that you are reporting on? Or simply be inspired.

The subject(s) of our photo tells the viewer a who/what/when/where/why/how. The way the image is shot, the framing, the processing, the expression on a subject’s face, the contrasts and commonalities shown, and the presentation of the end result all play a role in evoking an emotional response in the viewer. If you want them to purchace a print you need to make it available. If you want them to join a cause, tell them how. Whatever that next steop may be, tie all of the pieces together so that the story of the image and the means of telling it work together to reach that end.

With all of that said, just do what you love. If you images speak to you, what more can you ask?

I’ve been writing online in one form or another for about five and a half years. It started with no more than my parents, some friends, and some of my mom’s co-workers reading about my semester traveling around the world in college as I sent photos and reflections back to my brother to post for me.

My friend Beth, who had been blogging for some time, encouraged me to start one of my own. For about a year I was posting everything from thoughts on religion to lofty essays on life to reflections of my childhood. Beth had suggested right off the bat to just keep writing until I found a focus and from there more and more people will come. For a little while I wrote a number of film reviews based on the Best Picture winners I had seen leading up to the 2006 Oscars and thought it might turn into a film review blog. That is, until I bought my first DSLR and my love for photography took on a new life.

Since then I’ve experienced a great deal of growth, in numbers of visitors, yes, but also in learning and inspiration. Through the advent of The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll in September of 2006 and the subsequent community of bloggers that has grown up around it, I’ve been amazed at the response to my online presence.

After going a few months with a small group of photobloggers (about 5 total, at the time) I began to get in touch with some prominent members of the digital imaging industry and the rest, as they say, was history. As I sent out my standard profile form and posted the interviews I would get return links from the blogs of those I interviewed. And from there my readership just took off. Now, the blogroll has over 40 members and it continues to grow.

In 2007 I made the commitment to myself to post something new every weekday and, with a few exceptions here and there, I’ve been able to keep to it. I mainly did it to see if I could be disciplined enough to follow through, but it was also done in an attempt to keep people coming back to see what’s new. My hope has always been that my daily, weekly, and monthly unique visitors would at least meet my averages for each category. And I’ve been shocked by how those expectations have been exceeded, especially over the past couple of months (we just hit 9,000 since September, that’s 1,000 since February 8th and 2,000 total since January 28th!).

With a few high-profile mentions on Photoshop User TV and the blogs of Scott Kelby, David Ziser, What the Duck and others I’ve been humbled, not only by catching the attention of such giants of the industry, but by the encouragement and collegiality with which I’ve been met. I try not to let it go to my head. But feels pretty good to be noticed for your efforts.

Creating regular features such as The P&P Weekly, P&P Blogger Profiles, and Geographic Composition have not only given me recurring posts to be working on, but it has also given me the opportunity to connect on a more personal level with other members.

Blogging has been, and continues to be, a great outlet for me. It allows me to share my creativity, feel like a part of a community of awesome photographers and Photoshop pros, and to learn and to grow. And I encourage you to give it a try in one form or another, whether it’s a photoblog or a more traditional written one.

• Set goals for yourself.
• Post a lot in the beginning as you get into the rhythm of it and find your voice.
• Join online communities and become an active participant. Put your blog URL into your signature(s), even your email signature, to help increase traffic.
• Focus yourself. Write about what you are passionate about. It makes it more interesting to read and will inspire others if you show your excitement.
• Create a recurring segment or project. It gives you something to work on, a regular post to put up, and people will come back to see the next installment.
• Don’t hesitate to contact other bloggers. I’ve been amazed by how approachable and willing to help other bloggers are, even some of the “big names,” and you may even get a mention.
• Attitude is everything. It’s your site to do with as you please, but it’s better to keep an open mind. Be friendly, courteous, encouraging, and respectful. It goes a LONG way.
• Spread the wealth. Link to blogs you like. Mention others and they may link back to you. In my P&P Weekly posts I don’t link to outside articles but rather to the member blog posts that link to them to help direct traffic to my members.
• Experiment. Bounce ideas off of your readers. Ask questions. Start conversations. Don’t be so focussed on your own point of view that you miss out on other interesting possibilities.
• Always read other blogs and look for new sources of inspiration and information. You’ll find new things to post and when you link to someone they’ll see it in their site stats and will stop by your site to check you out too.

I am always humbled by the words of gratitude and excitement I receive in comments and personal emails from people I’ve mentioned on the blog and how honored some feel when I’ve invited them to be profiled. I never foresaw such a response to my little blog and I, in turn, truly appreciate all of the support that I’ve been shown and I can only hope to continue supporting my fellow Creatives in return.

Thank you.