Did you know you can take an elevator to the top of Liberty Memorial? The 360-degree view at the top is incredible!

The Liberty Memorial is easily the most recognizable landmark in Kansas City. It’s part of the National World War I museum, the only American museum solely dedicated to the war. It’s really cheap to go (around $10-$12) and it’s filled with lots of interesting stuff. Most people say you need about 2-3 hours to take it all in at a relaxed pace. If you just want to go up on the tower, it’s really cheap ($4) and only takes a couple minutes. They’re open Tuesday – Sunday, 10AM – 5PM (check the website for all the details).

NOTE: I actually shot this video blog last year, but I just discovered the footage on a camera recently! I didn’t like the clips when I first shot this last year. After stumbling upon it again- when I was clearing HD space, I decided to do a quick edit and post the video. I’m proud of KC and I love this town! So I figured I wanted to pass on the good word of another fun thing you can do here in KC.

Cirque du Soleil “Alegria” was in town this weekend, and they asked me to come check things out backstage. It was an amazing experience. You’ll get to meet Tyler Block, Michael Smith and Sheryl in this video blog. One part of the vblog I didn’t include (because his response was too long) was the cast members are primarily athletes that are former gymnasts. Some were even Olympians. They go through over 9 months of training before they can perform in a show.

Enjoy the video blog! I also posted a few pictures on my flickr account here, here, and here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c58zvS8mImo
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This week, I attended a presentation given by Brian Solis, a thought leader in the social media space (principal at FutureWorks). While his presentation was introduced as “an updated look at trends and ethics within the PR profession”, a large portion of his presentation focused on the ability to find niche influencers online and “inspire action and measure it”. It was interesting seeing some of his data, considering he’s in the agency trenches doing social media for major brands and not just a “talking head” in the industry.

After the presentation, we had a chance to talk- and I whipped out my flip cam and asked him to share his thoughts RE: social media and PR. He also provided some teaser information about the subject matter of his next book- which from the way he speaks about it, it should shake things up for some companies and analysts. Check out the full video blog interview on my YouTube channel (thanks to the Greater Kansas City PRSA for organizing a great event).

I had the chance to attend the MLS soccer game between the KC Wizards and the LA Galaxy here in KC and I video blogged my experience. Disclaimer: I want to make it a point to tell you the Wizards offered me free press access to the event. I decided to put together a vblog on my own and was not paid to do this.

So you know- I really never “stage” or script any of my video blogs. For event blogging, my goal is to just encapsulate a real perspective from my vantage point. That said, I had a great time taking in the whole experience. And this wasn’t just any normal game- this was the game of the year. David Beckham played in the game.

There were so many mixed reactions to Beckham’s appearance- which I found surprising. Everyone I talked to was on 1 of 2 sides. You either really really hated Beckham or you absolutely loved him. Not many people were in the middle of the road. Regardless, there certainly was no shortage of anyone giving their opinion on how they felt.

During the game, there was an incident between Beckham and a fan that I managed to capture completely on film. You’ll have to watch the video blog to hear the entire story from the hecklers themselves- I managed to grab an interview after the bitter exchange happened.

One thing I will note, that is interesting- CNN and a other news sources are reporting this today with the facts not quite right. My video blog illustrates that the person who insulted Beckham’s wife was NOT the person who shook his hand. I mention this because typically bloggers get criticized for not fact checking or telling the complete truth- and this is an small example of the blogger getting it right and NOT the major network (interesting to point out, not that it changes the world).

Check out my video blog on YouTube and also the photos I took with my camera.

UPDATE: this video blog is being linked all over the internez! Over 10k views in under 24 hours! So cool, a first for me as a indie video blogger. And now it’s over 100k total views!
» Washington Post
» Yahoo Sports
» Deadspin

As always, drop me an email or make a comment with your thoughts, good or bad- your feedback helps me get better! If you’re searching for more, check out a friend of mine’s video blog as well (Whitney), she captured some footage and her experience.
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This weekend was the launch date for the new Palm Pre, so I walked over to my nearest Sprint store to check out the phone and vblogged it (note: this vblog wasn’t intended to be technical or a walkthrough of all the features, just a down and dirty here’s what it looks like).

Yes, this phone has received a lot of hype. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. But after using it- it’s a worthy iPhone competitor. However, I do think this phone would have done MUCH better if was released in February. Other touchscreen phones will have their place in the market share, this might be the phone to do just that. Or maybe not. We’ll just have to see. Judge for yourself and watch the video blog to evaluate it for yourself.

After I took my first set of engagement photos with Scott and Allison — I was reviewing the composition of photos I had of them for one scene in particular, I came up with this idea to make a video flip book (annnnd I totally just made up that concept).

…so I put together this video short. I hope you like it.

The photos in this video are actually taken right on the walkway up to Scott and Allison’s house. I remember thinking the texture of the brick was too unique, I had to figure out a way to utilize it in my shots.

So I really don’t think EVERYONE should blog — but we quote this YouTube video (below) at our office all the time. It’s hilarious (or at least to us it is).