About this page
This page contains brief details about the video recording; the video (embedded in the page); an abstract for the talk; links to additional resources; a speaker biography and a summary.
Video recording of talk
Recording of a Morris Federation talk on “Exploiting IT for your Outreach and Marketing” by Brian Kelly held on Zoom on 26 February 2023.
The #MorrisFedvideo videos last for:
Video
Abstract
Increasing numbers of Morris sides are using digital technologies for marketing purposes, both for recruiting new dancers and musicians and for making it easier for festivals, fetes, etc to find morris dance sides.
A recent Zoom workshop describe how Morris Federation sides are providing rich descriptions of their side and including videos and photos of their side on their profile on the Morris Federation Teamfinder service and how, if the descriptions are rich and appropriately worded that, once Google has indexed the profile, the profile (and videos and images) can be found near the top of Google!
But beyond ensuring appropriate words are provided and hosted on a website which is very Google-friendly (so that a search for “I’m looking for a mixed morris side in Dorset” finds your side on the first page of results) we know that video content can communicate the excitement of morris dance more effectively than simply using photographs.
We are now seeing how sides are being creative in how they use video (especially ‘short form videos’ less than 2 minutes long) for engaging with users on social media – and the viewing figure are showing how popular such videos may be, in particular with younger audiences who are potential new recruits.
This workshop reviews how sides have updated their profile recently and share success stories and ways in which profiles can be improved.
The main focus of the workshop is a demonstration of how to create short form videos using freely-available video editing tools. This is followed by a discussion on how the morris and traditional dance community can, collectively, exploit the potential of digital technologies for outreach and marketing.
Additional resources
Links to related resources:
- Event details
- Review by Phil Sigournay of Mish Mash Morris, East Sussex
Speaker biography
Brian Kelly is probably best known in the Morris and Rapper world for his performances as a comic character with the Newcastle Kingsmen, having won many DERT prizes with Chris Pitt and the Kingsmen over 30 years of performing together, not only at DERT events and festivals including Broadstairs, Whitby and Sidmouth. Brian has also taken part in overseas trips to folk festivals in places including Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Syria. Brian now dances mainly with Haymarket Rapper.
During his working life, Brian worked in IT and became known for setting up probably the first university website in the UK (in 1992, when fewer than 100 companies have published details of their website!). In 1996 he was employed at UKOLN, University of Bath as UK Web Focus, a national adviser about the web for UK universities. Brian gave over 400 talks during his time at UKOLN throughout the UK and at conferences around the world. He particularly remembers attending a conference in Brisbane, Australia when the technical infrastructure (the ‘page ranking) for a new search engine developed at Stanford University – yes, it was Google. So he knows a fair bit about Google!
Brian is now enjoying using his IT and web skills and experiences to support the Morris Federation, Morris Federation team members and the wider Morris, sword and traditional dance communities.
If you have any questions for Brian about his IT work for the Morris Federation feel free to send him an email to comms-it@morrisfed.org.uk
Summary
- Title: Exploiting IT for your Outreach and Marketing
- Speaker: Brian Kelly
- Facilitator: Pauline Woods-Wilson
- Type: IT
- Date of talk: 26 February 2023
- Date page published: 19 April 2023
- Videos edited by: Brian Kelly
#MFvideo #MorrisFedvideo #MorrisFedvideos #MFDDT
