Kiosks at the Isle of View are offering a range of gifts – candy, chocolates, bunting, teddy bear, roses – any of which can be purchased and sent to a loved one. All of the proceeds from gift purchases will go to Team Fox, the fund-raising arm of MJFF, and the Lab are also guaranteeing to match the final total raised and so double the donation.
And that’s not all. This year sees the return of two popular items from times past, as the blog post notes:
We understand that love is sometimes complicated. You have got to work hard to make it work – and we’re not afraid of a little tough love. On February 12th from 10am – 12pm and 2-4pm SLT we’ll be mixing things up with the return of Dunk-a-Linden and Hug-a-Linden booths! You may just meet your virtual Valentine while waiting for a chance to dunk or hug a Linden – and if you don’t – hey you still got to dunk or hug a Linden! It’s a win-win situation.
So make a note for Friday, February 12th!
To find out more about Team Fox, the MJFF and Team Fox in Second Life, you can read my article here. And don’t forget Team Fox is also supported by Creations for Parkinson’s in-world as well.
Part Two: The Basics – Who? What? Where? When? How?
When promoting any event, you will need to create text and images to aid you in your efforts to attract interested people to your event or venue – to spread the word. It does not matter whether it is posting or a poster, these five basics should always be front and centre: Who? What? Where? When? followed closely by How?
You have a finger’s snap worth of time to catch someone’s attention. If a potential participant looks at your material and cannot answer the first four of those five questions in less than 15 seconds, you have lost them. If you want to attract an audience, people beyond your friends list, don’t make it hard for them. Forget the catchy subtitles, or the extensive explanations. Distil the essential details into quick bites, simple phrases, and make them prominent. The other information is just that: “other.” Once someone’s attention is caught, THEN you can dazzle them with your witty descriptive prose and all the cool people who are making things happen.
Who and What. The “What” is the number one single most important detail, and should be the first thing people notice. It should be concise and precise: Is it music? Is it live? Is it a DJ? Is it Theatre? Dance? Poetry? Literature? Gallery exhibition? Fund-raiser? “Keep it simple.” If you are in doubt, say the words to yourself out loud, “keep it simple!”
It is easy to mistake “Who” as an invitation to laundry list everyone involved. DON’T. Name the venue, the group behind it, the sponsor; or if none of those apply, don’t put anything at all. Those people who might get prickly because their name did not get on the poster as someone who is a part of it are not thinking about how successful your event is going to be, they are thinking about the glamour of being on the poster. If they really were invested on the success of your event, they’d be happily distributing your poster and inviting everyone on their friends list to come instead of wheezing about poster details.
“Who” is always secondary to “What.” “What” rules. “What” is supreme.
Examples (with “What” underlined) :
Seamus’ Pub brings you DJ Liam McNarry
Seanchai Library presents “Tales of Despereaux”
Paul Barkley Live, in Concert at the Whoo Doo Lounge
When you have a “Who” that is a specific group or venue, and your operations are on-going (you produce more than one event – ever) then “Who” becomes a critical part of building your audience long-term. If you produce successful events, you want people to know that it is you behind this one. You want them to see your “Who” and say, “They do great stuff. I might go to that.” So while “What” is always supreme, do not forget “Who” and attach it as closely as you can. Your objective is for people to think of them together, even though they are two distinct questions.
Where & When. Be specific with your date and time. Be aware that you are trying to recruit an audience from all over the world – different time zones. So it is important to be clear.
Don’t assume, as many people do, that everyone thinks about virtual events in SLT (Second Life Time). True, Linden Labs designated SLT as a means of coming up with a uniform time rubric for the entire grid. However, there are those who still stubbornly stick to the central references used in other world endeavours such as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). You can’t please everyone. Pick a time zone identifier that is going to be easy for the greatest amount of your audience, existing and potential, to interpret, Stick with it and indicate it clearly. Don’t get all fancy by listing an array of times in different zones; you’ll just confuse people. Everyone does time maths in Second Life: those outside Pacific time do the maths, and I assure you that those of us who live in Pacific time do the maths when planning for our friends around the world.
Sometimes “Where” will overlap with “Who.” As long as you are conscious of that, and you have answered the question effectively, you are good. There’s no need to duplicate.
Be sure that you liberally make available either the landmark or the grid address (SLurl) of the place where your event will be taking place. Pass it out like holiday candy that you bought on clearance. Most recently I have been including both landmarks and SLurls, whenever possible, to my in-world communication. Some of the more specialised Third-Party Viewers (like Radegast) deal with location information in different ways to meet the special needs of their users.
Bottom line: everywhere that your “What” is, there your “When” and “Where” should be too; quick and easy to access. (calendar, blog, Facebook, Google+, notecard, poster – everywhere!) Do no assume!
Saturday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 3rd, 2016, marks the 2016 BURN2 Burnal Equinox event, which will take place at Burning Man Deep Hole.
The theme for the event is Picnic in the Playa, with the announcement press release reading in part:
After all these years, the rains that sometimes hit the Playa have come to damp the dust down more often. What has long been a dry lake bed is slowly filling once again from meagre trickles of water that are finally able to sustain some life.
A few plants are taking hold here and there but trees are yet to spread their canopies. In celebration of the Equinox we once more head to our Home for our first gathering of the year, a giant communal picnic. A new fresh living Home awaits, for us to start a new fresh year.
Those wishing to participate in the Burnal Equinox as a builder are invited to complete and submit the builder application form, and are asked to read the builder guide prior to submitting their application.
The press release notes that applications for DJs, live musicians and performers who wish to take part in the event will open shortly – check the BURN2 website for updates.
BURN2 Burnal Equinox 2015: Cienega Soon
About BURN2
BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups and the only regional event allowed to burn the man.
The BURN2 Team operates events year around, culminating in an annual major festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.
It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, February 7th, 13:30: Crazy Eights Tea Time at Baker Street
Crazy Eights: the lounge at 221B Baker Street stands ready to receive guests for readings of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, every Sunday commencing on February 7th
Sherlock Holmes is dead, killed when he plunged from a ledge atop the Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland, whilst locked in physical combat with his arch nemesis, James Moriarty. There is simply no way either man could have survived the drop, and so Sherlock Holmes is dead.
Or is he?
Three years after this fateful event, long-time friend of Holmes, Doctor John Watson, now returned to practising medicine, attends the murder of a young gambler, the Honourable Ronald Adair. Apparently shot at close range with a revolver, Adair’s room was locked from the inside with the only other exit being a 20-foot drop out of an open window to the street below; not an easy escape route for a murderer.
While visiting the crime scene, Watson encounters an old book collector, and is perplexed when the book collector follows him back to his Kensington Practice – until the old man removes his disguise and proves himself to be Sherlock Holmes!
Thus, Watson is reunited with Holmes and learns some of what has transpired in the three years since the events in Switzerland. He also learns that Holmes is still in danger and has baited a trap in which he hopes to catch one of Moriarty’s henchmen, who, as it transpires, is also responsible for the murder of Ronald Adair.
Join Caledonia Skytower, Corwyn Allen, Kayden OConnell ain the living room of 221B Baker Street on Seanchai’s Crazy Eights installation, as they commence reading the collected adventures of Holmes and Watson, first published in the Stand Magazine in 1903-04, and gathered into the single volume, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1905.
Monday February 8th 19:00: Peter Robinson
Gyro Muggins continues with a tale from the universe of Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars.
The Kzinti, are a warlike race Niven first introduced to the world in his 1966 story The Warriors. They permeated many of his stories set in the Known Space series, and well as appearing in his Nebula and Hugo award-winning Ringworld. In his stories, Niven references a series of conflicts between Kzinti and humans, but did not write about the wars himself. Such was the demand for more information on the wars, however, he allowed the Man-Kzin wars to become a shared universe series, with the majority of the stories written by other science-fiction authors such as Hal Codebatch, Poul Anderson, Dean Ing, Jerry Pournelle, S.M. Stirling, Greg Bear and others.
Peter Robinson is a short story written by Australian author Hal Colebatch, and forms one of 18 stories he has written for the series. It first appears in Man Kzin X: The Wunder War, and is one of four stories, all by Codebatch, which make up the volume.
In it, an expedition by the Institute of Knowledge on Jinx, funded by the Puppeteers sets of to explore a recently detected slaver stasis box, an artefact of the ancient Thrintun (Slaver) Empire. Arriving at their target, the team of mixed races, including human and Kzinti, discover that it is nine miles in diameter, the largest box ever discovered.
Tuesday February 9th, 19:00: The Cailleach Returns
In Irish and Scottish mythology, the Cailleach is a divine hag, and regarded as a creatrix. In Scotland, for example, she is credited with making many mountains and high hills, and is also regarded as the mother of all the gods and goddesses. She’s also said to be the personification of winter.
Find out more by joining Aoife Lorefield at Seanchai Library.
Wednesday February 10th 19:00: Pearl
Faerie Maven-Pralou continue her reading of the first book in Lisa Pinkham’s the Doll Collection series.
Everything changes for Addy on her 12th birthday, when she receives a mysterious gift of a collection of dolls and an opal necklace imbued with magical powers.
Soon, Addy finds herself transported to a beach where she meets a mermaid, Pearl, and where she can swim with and talk to underwater fairies and enjoy the company of min-reading dolphins.
But all is not as safe as it seems; when Pearl vanishes and Addy’s magic necklace is stolen, Addy is left with no way home and without a friend – and she must confront the thief on her own, trusting that the magic which resides in her is enough to put things to rights.
Thursday, February 11th 19:00 On the Island
Shandon Loring and Caledonia Skytower, continue reading the February choice for Seanchai Library’s Crazy Eight’s Featured books reading, On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves.
Anna Emerson, a 30-year-old English teacher accepts s position as private tutor to 17-year-old T.J. Callahan, a young man who has been undergoing treatment for cancer. For Anna, it is a plum assignment, requiring as it does travelling to the Callahan Family’s summer rental in the Maldives with the teenager. T.J., however, is less than happy; with his cancer in remission, he’d rather stay at home with friends, and not carted off half-way around the world with the dead weight of lessons to catch-up on.
Crazy Eights Featured Book area: join Shandon and Caledonia in tropical surroundings as they continue reading On the Island
Before they can reach their destination however, the pilot of the charter plane taking them to the Maldives suffers a heart attack, the ‘plane ditching in the Indian Ocean. Making it to a deserted island well off the beaten track, Anna and T.J. must work together to survive as days turn to weeks, and weeks to months without sign of rescue. As the time passes, Anna realises that her biggest challenge may not be caring for T.J. should his cancer return – but the fact he is growing into a young man.
Note: On the Island is also to be presented at Seanchai InWorldz. Check Seanchai session posts during the week for specific grid locations).
Saturday, February 13th 13:00: Seanchai 101 Workshop at the Crazy Eights
So, you think you want to be a storyteller or story reader? It’s as simple as picking up a book and opening it, isn’t it? Maybe, and maybe not. Join Caledonia Skytower at the Storyteller’s Workshop, part of Seanchai Library’s Crazy Eightsinstallation, for an hour of tips and tricks from her seven plus years as a virtual storyteller on how to bring words to life using only your voice and your love of the text.
Note that his workshop will require the use of SL voice by active participants. If you have not used voice before or in a while, you can check your microphone settings within the viewer at Voice Echo Canyon. Further information on the workshop can be found on Seanchai’s Crazy Eights web page.
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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for January / February is Heifer International, working with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth.
One Billion Rising (OBR) will once again be taking place in Second Life on Sunday, February 14th, 2016. The theme for 2016 if Rise For Revolution, with the organisers of the event stating:
Rise for Revolution 2016 is an escalation of the first three stages of our campaign – One Billion Rising, One Billion Rising for Justice, and One Billion Rising: Revolution.
This year we are enlarging, deepening and expanding the revolution.
And we need to focus on the most marginalised women and girls to bring about true, long-lasting change.
Change can happen if… Grassroots movements and marginalised communities are in the lead.
Change can happen if… We demand accountability – making sure our justice calls are realised We will continue to demand justice, and we will continue to highlight the issues surrounding the social injustices inflicted on women, and to keep highlighting where these issues connect. We will continue to challenge institutions, governments, policies, laws – and make these systems, which are responsible for creating situations of poverty and violence, accountable.
Change can happen if… We harness our creativity and energy We will keep highlighting, creating and envisioning new, brave and radical artistic initiatives to bring in the new revolutionary world of equality, dignity and freedom for all women and girls. THERE IS NOTHING MORE POWERFUL THAN ART AS A TOOL FOR TRANSFORMATION.
Change can happen if… WE ACT NOW. AND WE ACT TOGETHER.
In Second Life, we will be marking the occasion (as we did last year) with a twenty-four hour one day event that will allow women and men to gather. There will be music, there will be art installations and exhibitions, there will be poetry sessions, there will be storytelling events, there will be live dance performances, there will be dancing – and there will be information kiosks that will share information about organisations devoted to promoting justice for women across the globe, and stories of events that will be happening around the world.
OBR in Second Life will once again focus on a four-region stage, all under a General maturity rating, allowing people to come together, and which will be surrounded by an area of art installations and informational exhibits on organisations that need funding. The stage areas will feature performers and music over the 24-hour period, enabling people all over the world to attend this virtual event no matter their time zone. Pictures are welcome on the event’s Flickr group.
The main stage at OBR in SL 2015
About One Billion Rising
One Billion Rising was the biggest mass action in human history. The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls.
On 14 February 2013, people across the world came together to express their outrage, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women
In 2014, One Billion Rising for Justice focused on the issue of justice for all survivors of gender violence, and highlighted the impunity that lives at the intersection of poverty, racism, war, the plunder of the environment, capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy
In 2015, millions of activists in over 200 countries gathered to Rise for REVOLUTION, to change the paradigm, demand accountability, justice and systematic CHANGE. We are rising to show we are determined to create a new kind of consciousness – one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable.
In 2016, the theme of Revolution continues with a call to focus on marginalised women and to bring national and international focus to their issues; to bring in new artistic energy; to amplify Revolution as a call for system change to end violence against women and girls; to call on people to rise for others, and not just for ourselves.
The campaign has been covered widely by media in all corners of world including The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, and many more.
If you would like to be involved in One Billion Rising in Second Life, the OBR organisers invite you to do so in a number of ways:
By attending the event – watch for more details on the One Billion Rising website to learn more
By forwarding to them information about groups known to you that can be added to the informational kiosks. Email 1billionrisinginsecondlife@gmail.com or post on the OBR in SL Facebook page
By volunteering to help organise and run the event. OBR is seeking greeters, security, stage managers, media liaison and information processors, who will help build the information that will go into the OBR displays. Full training will be given
By adding your reasons for rising to the special Why I’m Rising page
Wednesday, February 3rd marks the start of a new weekly music event at Holly Kai Park, and an invitation is extended for anyone so minded to join us.
Music with Anthony will take place on Wednesdays between 16:00 and 18:00 SLT, and will feature music provided by Anthony Wesburn, who has been a Second Life DJ for almost 10 years.
With a passion for music which is focused on, but not exclusive to, the blues, classic rock and jazz, Anthony describes himself as no walking jukebox. Instead, between playing the tunes, he loves to engage with his audience, sharing tidbits about the music and the artists he’s playing, and sometimes the eras in which they performed.
The venue for Music with Anthony is Holly Kai Park’s beach side Caitinara Bar, a cosy spot adjacent to the beach on the west side of the park, and with moorings available for those who wish to attend by boat (60 minute auto-return, and re-rezzing from the docks).
So why not make a note in your diaries and join us Wednesdays from 16:00 SLT through to 18:00 SLT, starting on February 3rd, for dancing, great music and great company? With Art at the Park just a short walk across the beach and along woodland paths, Holly Kai Park, Music with Anthony and the Caitinara Bar have a lot to offer!
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 