Out With A Bang

The idea of a ‘VIP’ club made its first appearance the other night; on the back of a comment left by James of Addiply ad and Towcester local news site fame… that and a few beers post an IPC gathering at the Tate.

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=138

Scroll down to the comments; you got it… VIP.

Very Independent Publishers.

It may very well prove one of those blog moments that you do in haste and regret with a passion at your leisure. But as Will rightly pointed out, it would be nice if something ever came of it… which would be a first for us this summer.

OK. So if that was the little toe into the water, let’s go ankle deep.

Let’s propose a gathering of the clans; let’s see who’s out there; who’s keen. Who needs help…

So, that’ll be us to start with…

And, OK, having done www.2gether08.com and met a few people here and there over the last couple of years, let’s see whether we can’t get a little wind in our VIP sails; after all, this kind of invite appears tailor-made for our very best, survival intentions…

http://www.4ip.org.uk/contact

And, in particular, this little line…

4iP is also starting to seek out the individuals and organisations who might need backing for their ideas, and to this end is actively engaged in speaking with relevant gatherings over the next few months. If you’d like us to come and take part in your event, send an email to: 4iPtalent@channel4.com.

Well, let’s say we would… let’s suppose, we gave them a VIP invite…

Dear Tom, Jon, Lloyd…

Anyway, before that I guess we need to work on a member’s list – and this is where it gets a bit tricky. That we could lose as many friends as win them.

Because who qualifies as a VIP these days, anyway? Surely we want to make it as broad a church as possible? Be a congregation of many faiths?

Yes, I guess. Be bit of a nightmare if the great and the good of 4iP, OfCom, MediaStandardsTrust.org or whoever gave up one Tuesday night in town and it was just me, the Mrs, Neil and Will sat hunched round the small table by the fruit machine… ‘Can I get you a packet of cheese and onion crisps, Tom?’

That said, there’s part of me that thinks we’re sometimes in danger of being squeezed out by the tech-types; who clearly have a huge role to play in the future delivery and distribution of our experience of the web, but maybe, perhaps, don’t ever deliver any, er, content…

Oops, now I’ve said it.

OK, my seminal 40th birthday moment came with Clay Shirky’s quote – drawing that wonderful analogy between the music industry and the newspaper business; that just as people want to listen to good music and discover great new bands, just don’t want it on a CD; so people still want a good read, just don’t want it on a newspaper….

Which is one starting point for a VIP.

I don’t think any of us are remotely fussed about who or what your chosen audience is, but do you deliver a good, informed and engaging read? Can you grab the attention of a wandering web eye-ball and keep it there?

If the answer is ‘Yes!’, you’re in.

But then a read implies only words. We need to be bigger and broader than that; after all we like to try and grab the attention of a wandering web ear with our podcasts – and that’s not a good read. That, hopefully, is a good listen.

You’re in.

And then, of course, there must be lots of people out there looking to deliver good video; community vid-casts, whatever. Short, web animation start-ups. Whatever. Looking to deliver their passionate, niche audience a good watch.

OK, fine. You’re in.

It’s content. Small, independent, niche-stroke-local content publishers. How about that? That, I guess, ought to be web-based. Can reverse publish back to print; but by and large are digitally focussed.

That fair?

One of these days we might get our own blog space; a website; a Twitter feed; a FaceBook hang-out… for now, however, just drop us a comment.

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