September 2010 – Jonathan Melville

At the risk of sounding like I’m selling something, I thought I should mention that I’ve been asked to give a talk in a few weeks as part of the well-respected AmbITion Webinar series: Now you’re talking! – e-copywriting for all your audiences takes place on Thursday 21 October, 2010 in Glasgow.

Rather than trying to explain what I’ll be discussing, here’s the blurb from the site:

Your online copy is how you present your organisation and its work to the world wide web. It has to persuade and attract existing and potential audiences of all demographics. Should you segment online audiences? Should different copy be produced for different audience segments online? How do you work out what to say to whom, and in what tone of voice?

I’m told there’s a maximum audience of around 40 people at the Glasgow venue, but the event is also going to be live-streamed on the Internet, which is a new thing for me. The last talk I gave was back in May at the Dumfries and Galloway Film Festival, when I tackled the subject of how to be a DIY film reviewer, but that was only to a small group of film fans, not a (potentially) global audience.

I’m sure it’ll be a fun afternoon, and, while the whole talk is of course written and ready to go, I’d welcome any thoughts you might have on the topic in the comments below – I’ll be sure to shout out the best ones on the day.

In the meantime, head over to the AmbITion website to find out more about my talk and other future (and previous) events.

Busy behind-the-scenes

The last time I posted an update on this blog I was recovering from a hectic week of Festival fun and games here in Edinburgh, that time of the year when the population doubles and your bank balance halves.

Since then it’s been even busier, with a new piece of work looking like it’s going to take up a few months of my time. I’ll be able to write about it in more detail in the next week or two, but it’s an exciting one which utilises a number of my skills and interests.

Elsewhere, following my column in the Edinburgh Evening News which wondered why Sir Sean Connery’s 80th birthday was all but ignored, I discovered the existence of a short film made by Sean in 1982, one which now resides in the Scottish Screen Archive. My review of Sean Connery’s Edinburgh was in last week’s paper and is on the Evening News website.

I also ventured out-of-town to the rather wonderful Bo’ness Hippodrome cinema last weekend, to hear The Southwell Collective perform their music to 1928’s The Fall of the House of Usher. I’m a sucker for a silent movie with live music and this was one of the best – I took some time to interview the musicians after their performance:

I’m finding my time on Twitter and other social networks slightly reduced at the moment as the days jobs take up my time, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Much as I love keeping up-to-date on the world around me in 140 characters or less, it can be overwhelming at times, particularly when you need to concentrate on the 9-to-5.