One of the cool things I get to do is share the good word of transmedia through my transmedia workshops. Most of the workshops I deliver for companies, conferences and film festivals involve both theory and hands-on practice, where participants develop original transmedia concepts and pitch them to a panel of industry experts.
The part I love most is watching workshop participants deliver their pitches. I am always amazed and impressed by the creativity of the projects and the innovative presentations that are produced in a highly compressed period of time. I was lucky enough to be invited to bring my workshop to the easternmost city in mainland Canada (St John’s, Newfoundland) where I was not disappointed by the quality and originality of the locally flavored presentations.
Check out the VIDEO accompanying this article to see the teams in action.
Team “Orange Puffin” kicked off the pitch presentations with their education-oriented project that used humor and gameplay to help elementary school kids learn more about Newfoundland and Labrador. Team Orange Puffin told the captivated audience:
“It’s been a fantastic two days learning about transmedia…”
Then they went on to explain that the big storm known as Sheila’s Brush blew their team’s mascot way, way off course. So far off course, that he ended up in British Columbia!
Team “Blue Whale” told us all about the intriguing world of Newfoundlander sheds… apparently all kinds of fun and useful stuff happens in there! The gist of their pitch was to reach back to the past to find a new venue for problem solving that is both entertaining and relevant to today’s audience. Their presenters explained:
“We’re going to empower Newfoundlander and Labradorians to make decisions and take action and support one another in a fun and fantastic kind of way.”
This approach resonated strongly with the panel of industry experts as it plugged into themes like self-reliance, which had always been part of the Newfoundland culture, and presented them in a way that can be shared with the rest of Canada.
Our panel of industry experts had useful suggestions. For example, Jennifer Burkitt, Executive in Charge of Interactive Content at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation suggested:
“You could have some kind of split screen thing going on, or have them almost having a conversation while they fight against the other sheds. You could have them real time voting, which would be awesome.”
The consensus was that with a little fine tuning, both concepts were strong enough to potentially be commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Not bad for two days work.
My quick tips for pitching transmedia:
- Know your audience; let's call them the “pitchees”
- If your pitchees have provided guidelines, follow them
- Use props to deliver the pitch more effectively
- The best kind of prop is a prototype, which may be dynamically coded or a static screenshots
- Video teasers can be a fantastic way to help pitchees visualize your concept
- Describe the User Journey for one or more audience segments
- Make the tone of your presentation match the tone of your project
- Practice!
To learn more about writing and pitching transmedia, come along to my special pre-conference Add-On Seminar “Writing Strategies for Transmedia” on August 6th right before the Transvergence Summit kicks off in Hollywood, August 7-8, 2013. CLICK HERE to register.
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