Panasonic Imaging Event At The Dali Universe

Yesturday we were lucky enough to be invited to the Dali universe in London to meet with Panasonic at their imaging event.  The aim of the day was to discover a little more about the company and their aims and to also test some of their great new digital cameras and camcorders.

We left Weston-Super-Mare at 6 a.m (well 6.12 as the train was late!) and needed to change trains at Bristol temple meads at 6.40. This would have been simple if our first train had been on time! Fortunetly we only had to hop over one platform on arrival to Bristol so we made the train to London with seconds to spare.

The journey to London was only halted once (by sheep on the track) and we arrived early to Paddington station ready to tackle the London underground.  I have to say I do not often venture into London on the underground and found the experience of being crammed into a tube train like a sardine exciting but almost scary!  Country folk like me would look at a carriage crammed full of people and wait for the next one - Londoner’s just squeeze on in!  That said we arrived at Waterloo tube station with no problems and walked  a couple of minutes to our venue of the Dali Universe. 

As we were early we took some time to take in the sites, Panasonic had chosen wisely for the day as we could easily walk to big ben, the houses of parliament, the London eye, tower bridge and Buckingham Palace (to name but a few) so there was lots of things to photograph and film. 

When we arrived at the Dali Universe we were directed to the conference room where we met some representitives from Shinyred and some of the managers and engineers from Panasonic.  As we were the first people to arrive it gave us an opportunity to talk with people and play/review the cameras before any other blogger’s arrived.

The day started with some presentations from John Dixon (Panasonic brand communications), Mark Robinson (Panasonic Lumix UK) and Barnaby Sykes from Panasonic’s camcorder division. There was also a guest speaker from the Royal Yacht Association (Peter Bently) who discussed how Panasonic cameras are used to help coaching staff and also how the olympic games is going to filmed in HD by Panasonic. You can read more about these presentations at my gadget blog.

Next we were asked to choose a camera or camcorder to review, I chose the Panasonic HDC-SD9 to review becuase my current camcorder is a non high definition model and I wanted to measure the difference. Dave decided to go all out and review the top spec Panasonic L10 digital SLR camera.  Both reviews can be read on our gadgets blog.

Next we were told to go out to the pier because we would be taking a trip on a high speed rib along the river Thames! 

Once on board we cruised down the river and took in the sites, I took lots of video footage with a few stills using the camcorder and Dave took about 90 photos with the Digital SLR.  This was quite easy until the driver of the boat decided to floor it and bank heavily left and right all over the river - It was great fun but the footage was all over the place!

When we got back to dry land Panasonic had put on another PR event next to the London eye. Two jugglers were throwing, kicking and balancing the new SW20 shock and water proof camera to test its durability.

When we arrived back in the conference room Panasonic had laid on free refreshments for us and laptops and other media equipment was available to use - all of these little touches made the whole event run smoothly.   There was also opportunites to talk to the designers, engineers and PR team as well as other bloggers - it was a good opportunity to network with like minded people.

The whole event only took 4 hours and covered a great deal, if other manufacturers could organise events like these for bloggers I am sure they would get a lot more coverage. I certainly learned a lot from the day and look forward to future events.  Thank you Panasonic for our great day out in London and a huge thank you to Laura from Shinyred for the invite and all of your help on the day. You and the team did a great job at keeping all attendees happy - good job!

In the past I have put off going to events and lived to regret it after, if someone from your niche contact you to go to one of these events you should do your best to get there because you will meet new people, put names to faces and hopefully gain a fuller insight into your niche or product - also you might get some freebies which is always nice!

Popularity: 93% [?]

Happy Easter Everyone

Happy Easter everyone,

 Let me start by apologizing for the lack of activity on this blog recently but I have been very busy with a number of projects as well as my long term ones!  We have some interviews coming up over the next couple of weeks as well as some conferences to attend so blog activity should pick up. We are interviewing premier affiliate network later this week, this should be posted early next week so if you have any questions for the guys as PAN let please feel free to contact me.

One of the events I have been invited to is a testing day for Panasonic in London on the 9 th April, if any one is going I would love to meet up before hand or after. The day is set to be a good one as it includes testing events, networking and even a cruise on the Thames. I will post pics and video of the events over the next couple of weeks and a couple I have attended in the past - they are always good for a laugh!

Any way happy Easter everyone!

Popularity: 59% [?]

My 3 Minutes Of Fame …. Cough

I had an email from a producer from BBC Essex the other day asking if I could go on their radio show to talk about online bingo. I thought great some free publicity and agreed.  The very same day I went to the doctors who promptly diagnosed me with Glandular fever! So the stage was well and truly set for my 3 minutes of (uncomfortable) fame!

The phone rang today (Thursday) at 10.05 A.M as discussed and I was shocked to be talking to the presenter (thinking I was on air talking in official voice!) Then Dave the presenter said you will be on air after this song - then I was put on hold!  After the song had finished it was time for the interview - I have no idea what I said! I am hoping to catch it later on listen again.  Then another song was played and the presenter assured me that ‘it’s going well’!

We then had a chat about the growth of online bingo and how you play the game with some of the features associated with it. Again I am not really sure what I said but was thanked by a kind lady and was on my way! Phew!

I am sticking with the rule that any advertising is good advertising! Even if I did sound like a blithering idiot! And I enjoyed the experience anyway. And now I can say I am famous

 Edit: I listened again and I thought the interview went quite well, it also lasted around 18 minutes! Great experience that I would love the opportunity to try again one day.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Sun Bingo Affiliate Incentive Scheme

 I have just received word from premier affiliates network that The Sun Bingo have launched a new affiliate incentive to run from 18 th February (Today), Here is what they said:

Sun Bingo Affiliate Incentive Scheme - Join the UK’s most popular bingo affiliate programme! Sun Bingo No 1 Online Bingo portal

Cash Incentives from Sun BingoSun Bingo would like to offer each of our affiliates the chance to win some extra cash overthe next 6 weeks in our £1000 Grand Prize draw. Each new depositing player an affiliategenerates for Sun Bingo will automatically qualify that affiliate for one ticket into the grandprize draw. There is no limit to the number of tickets an affiliate can generate.

From the 18th Feb till 28th of March we will be running the first of our affiliate incentiveschemes.

·In our grand prize draw there are three prizes of £500, £300 & £200 up for grabs.

·It’s simple to understand and every affiliate has a chance to win.·For every depositing player you send to Sun Bingo you will receive an entry into the

·Grand Prize Draw, so the more players you send us, the more chance you have of bagging the cash.

·There are three prizes up for grabs, and there is no need to enter, as each affiliate will automatically be entered into the prize draw with each depositing player they generate for Sun Bingo.

T&C’s

·The prize draw runs from 00.01am on 18th Feb 2008 – 11.59pm on 28th March 2008.

·The prize draw will take place on 4th of April and winners will be notified on Monday 7th April.

·For every new depositing player, the affiliate will automatically be entered into the prizedraw.

·Valid entries are for players who have deposited money onto the Sun Bingo site.

·Tombola’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

If you have not signed up as an affiliate for the sun bingo yet and have a bingo or entertainment based site then start promoting them today -

Join the UK’s most popular bingo affiliate programme! Sun Bingo No 1 Online Bingo portal

Popularity: 94% [?]

New Indiana Jones Trailer Rocks

I have just watched the new Indiana Jones trailer and it gave me goosebumps. The trailer shows footage from the original trilogy and then cuts to a scene where Indy is swinging on his whip - It is so cool! And the part where he puts his hat on also got me excitied!

I think the combination of Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf will make the film and lets not forget Kate Blanchett and Ray winstone.

Check out the trailer here and let me know what you think.

Popularity: 58% [?]