Tom Reynolds

A reminder that the ThomasrDotOrg media training workshop is just a week away.

This is your last chance to join what will be the most useful off bike training you will do all year. While the workshop is in principle a media training event covering Radio, TV, Print and Web, we will also cover sponsorship, public behaviour and fan interaction and more. This workshop will complete you as a rider, team member or team principle.

We are pleased to announce two additional trainers who have joined the lineup:

Dieter Kahsnitz is a star of multi media. Owner of 50 Kaliber Films, by day he makes corporate videos, TV Commercials and the like. On weekends, at night and during his lunch hour he’s the host of “The C-Word” video podcast and award winning community TV show. He manages BSB racer Josh Brookes, hosts MotoGP events and knows how to make every media post a winner. Dieter will be conducting interviews with all attendees, who will then be provided with a DVD of the footage for any purpose.

Marscelle Tully has written more press releases than there have been races in the world. While that may not make sense, Marscelle talks sense. She will show you how to structure a press release if you’re going DIY. If you have a PR staff member/helper/trained monkey, Marscelle will take you through how you can make their life easier (ie tolerable) and how to make the most of the written word.

Already we have announced:

Tom Reynolds is the principal of ThomasrDotOrg Media Services and will lead the media workshop training day. Tom has worked in marketing, PR, advertising, web technology and the media for over ten years. He has worked for (or continues to ply his trade with): Australian Superbike Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Radio 3AW , Radio SEN, ABC Sydney, Holden Race Team, Grand Prix Corporation as well as hosting many events and media calls.

Jay Mueller. Radio MMM Melbourne Breakfast Senior Producer.
Long time producer of top rating breakfast show on 3AW, last year Jay made the jump to MMM to take the senior producer role on Eddie McGuire’s new brekky show “The Hot Breakfast“. Jay will be going through what he finds works on radio. He will explain how to prepare for your interview with people who know nothing about you or your sport. He will also address how to get yourself on radio and what producers (the gate keepers!) are looking for when they decide to put someone to air.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=254690579194&ref=mf
Map: http://bit.ly/aeqkZM

Total cost $135 includes digital copies of your portrait shoot plus a short HD video interview with **you**.
Bookings essential and numbers will be limited email: training AT thomasr.org to secure your spot!

I’m really pleased to announce that from this Thursday the 18th February at 8:20pm I will be on ABC 702 (NSW) with Mr Robbie Buck discussing trends in tech, web and related.

This is set to be a weekly segment, but naturally they want to see how it goes before locking in a more permanent spot.

I’m very pleased with this new gig as it represents a small, but important shift in my career- from motoring to technology. Tech is one of my passions, but it’s broadcasting that is my abiding passion.

This segment has come about thanks to @Stilgherrian who lined me up an initial spot a week or so ago to simply have a chat with Robbie about Social Media.

It would appear that first quasi segment went rather well.

Prior to the start of the 2010 motor racing season, ThomasrDotOrg is offering a media training workshop for interested riders, drivers, team members and principals.

This event presents all attendees with training in the following areas:

• Television presenting. How to professionally present your team, sport, sponsors and self. What to avoid (did someone say “wearing sunglasses?”)
• Radio interviews. Whether in studio or in person, you’ll learn how to hit your key points and make it appear you think on your feet like a seasoned pro.
• Press conferences. Pre or post race, it doesn’t matter. You’ll learn how to get your message across, how to prepare and how to react in this pressure filled environment. If you can get a reaction (preferably a laugh) out of a room of tired, jaded journos, you’ll soon be a star.
• Social media. Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and beyond. How a professional racer can make the most of this exciting, but occasionally problematic environment. Watch out for the YouTube Video Of Embarassment For Life.

All attendees will also have the opportunity to have professional portrait photos taken of them in their team uniforms included in the price.

Team/vehicle photos by prior arrangement at additional cost.

Our media trainers are being announced as we get closer to the event (see bottom). All are currently working at the highest level in their chosen media stream, or at least in a field that they’ve found themselves stuck in.

Total cost $135 includes digital copies of your portrait shoot plus a short HD video interview with **you**.

Bookings essential and numbers will be limited email: training@thomasr.org to secure your spot!

Presenters (more to be announced in due course):

Tom Reynolds is the principal of ThomasrDotOrg Media Services and will lead the media workshop training day. Tom has worked in marketing, PR, advertising, web technology and the media for over ten years. He has worked for (or continues to ply his trade with): Australian Superbike Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Radio 3AW , Radio SEN, Holden Race Team, Grand Prix Corporation as well as hosting many events and media calls.

Jay Mueller. Radio MMM Melbourne Breakfast Senior Producer.
Long time producer of top rating breakfast show on 3AW, last year Jay made the jump to MMM to take the senior producer role on Eddie McGuire’s new brekky show “The Hot Breakfast“.
Jay will be going through what he finds works on radio. He will explain how to prepare for your interview with people who know nothing about you or your sport.
He will also address how to get yourself on radio and what producers (the gate keepers!) are looking for when they decide to put someone to air.

I won’t apologise for being a bad blogger- I’ve been there, said that, too many times. I will apologise for a distinct lack of posts- but naturally I have an excuse for that too.

I’ve been damn busy!

Australian Superbikes

Shawn Giles and Koby Abberton head out

I accepted a job offer from Yarrive Konsky of IEG, the new oranisers and promoters of the Australian Superbike series. My job description is pretty loose, though it could be summed up thusly: “Get editorial press coverage, do special events and get the punters along”.

My first and major project has been a two seater ride program- not too dissimilar to Ducati (exclusively) does in MotoGP. Our club is slightly less exclusive- currently we have bikes from Woodstock Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki.

Steve Pizzati on air with Steve Price and Josh Dowling on 2UE.

Overall I was very pleased with the pillion rides at Eastern Creek. We received some great coverage after getting the Abberton brothers on board. Friday is my main focus- this gives us a chance to hit the Saturday papers and Friday websites.

At Eastern Creek one of the support classes for Australian Superbikes was the Aussie Racing Cars. I personally invited Steve Pizzati from Top Gear Australia along to race and he repaid the favour by going on Steve Price’s 2UE show twice. But where we owed him the most was his wonderful kindness in rolling the car 2 1/2 times and hitting most of the major daily papers in the process. Taking one fo the team- literally. Thanks man.

To step up our coverage, I have not only planned website and press release changes, but I have a few other ideas that I think will position our motorsport back in its rightful place as second only to V8 Supercars.

Details: www.asbk.com.au

Twitter: @asbk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AustralianSuperbikes

Twitter pic posted from the second podium of the day for HRT.

HSV/HRT
I’ve been helping Holden Special Vehicles and Holden Racing Team (more specifically Walkinshaw Racing) establish and grow a social media presence. Sarah W from HSV has been a great student of social media and with the genuine backing of senior HSV management, we’ve really set HSV/HRT apart from the “others”. I set up many Twitter and Facebook Fan accounts (some Twitter accounts simply to prevent squatting) and have advised them at every step about ways to grow the fan base and how and what to Tweet. We have rewarded fans (sent out signed prizes when we hit 1000 Facebook fans) and kept up the conversationand replies- especially on race weekends.

Speaking of race weekends, at the recent Sandown event I joined in the Tweet festival from inside the Walkinshaw pit- a fantastic insiders view.

A more ambitious social media program is envisaged in the future.

Twitter: @holden_racing, @HSV_news, @BundyRedRacing

Facebook: HRT HSV Bundaberg Red Racing

Thomasr and Fiona Mackintosh from Draggin Jeans- Fed Sqr, 2007.

Draggin Jeans
Having briefed in SharpSushi, their new site will be launching shortly. Fiona and Kris from Draggin and Adam and Kere from SharpSushi have collaborated really well. I did my part early on, offering a few ideas, but they have all  really taken up the running. The new site will offer a brilliant online experience, grow their very loyal fan base even more and have a conversion rate that I think will suprise even those inolved.

With new products, new designs, a new website, a new marketing manager and a more aggressive marketing approach, Draggin look good to go in the next year and beyond.

My involvement of late has take the form of some marketing strategy ideas with specific refence to Twitter and the “What is change?” concept. I also set up the fan page.

Beyond web, I am also going to do some “other” work for Draggin’, but for now this must remain a secret!

Web(new one launching soon): www.dragginjeans.net

Twitter: @dragginjeans

Facebook: DragginJeansAustralia

Josh Brookes

Superbike star and current British Superbike series racer Josh Brookes has recently come on board as a web/marketing client. He’s a great talent, though frankly having a very mixed year. I have written an all encompassing web strategy document that I am going to execute on (in collaboration with 50 Kaliber and SharpSushi), along with maintaining his social media presence and offering advice as we go.

Twitter: @joshbrookes

Facebook: JoshBrookes

SharpSushi

As one of the two web agencies I like to deal with, Adam and Kere- directors of SharpSushi- are two of the nicest and more importantly most switched on web people I have had the pleasure in dealing with. I have provided general web strategy and ideas for one specific client (whatcanyoudo.com.au) as well as general web strategy and social media ideas here and there. Eventually they will be building my own new site.

Eventually.

Web: www.sharpsushi.com

Igloo- Digital Strategy Agency

As the best mid sized (though growing so fast they may have gone past that stage) web agency in the country, Igloo can rightfully claim to have grown from a leading design agency into a leading strategy/all round agency.

Some months ago I assisted them as part of their pitch for the Mazda account, providing strategy ideas and on the ground assistance for their pitch. I also wrote a post for their blog site outlining my thoughts on social media with specific reference to the automotive market.

They subsequently won the Mazda account.

Since then I have been busy with my many other gigs, though I am really keen to get back to the Pelaco building and work on some fun stuff with Andy, Tony and the team.

Web: www.igloo.com.au

CarAdvice

Until a few months ago I was hosting a podcast for CarAdvice, Australia’s number one independent editorial site. While it was fun while it lasted, they have gone through a number of changes- from new offices, staff and a new CEO. It was agreed that the podcasts will go on hold for the rest of the year. While I was disappointed at the time, I’m hopeful we can work something out in the future.

Radio 3AW.

It’s hardly a suprise when I tell you I was cut from the Neil Mitchell show weekday lineup for 2009. Once the other 11am-12pm guests were cut, I suspected I was in strife- either they would move me to a new timeslot, or I would fall over utterly. At the time I received a very nice call from Program Director Clark Forbes telling me that I was still a required player for their F1 and MotoGP coverage as well as my summer sessions with Tom Elliott- a segment I really enjoy. Tom’s a terriffic bloke and a really good broadcaster. Summer will be fun!

The C-Word Vodcast

The irrepressible and likeable Dieter Kahsnitz has re invigorated his community TV award winning program as a 5 minute vodcast. At present the episodes are older ones recut for vodcast purposes. Shortly, we collectively head into a new era of the C-Word, with new concepts, segments and some really fun stuff. Stay tuned for that.

Web: www.cword.tv

Grand Prix Corporation

For the last few years I have been hosting the riders parade with Dieter at Federation Square. We’re shaping up to do it all again this year- though with a few extras thanks to my connections within Australian Superbikes.

As well as the Fed Square gig, We’ve also been asked to host a meet ‘n greet/panel show at the Island on the Friday night in the camp ground. This promises to be an cracking good night, so we’re rightly pumped about it. The whole weekend is going to absolutely rock, so book your tickets, do what you gotta do to be at Phillip Island this year.

So that’s me in a nut shell at the moment- busy, but still looking for more to fill my days with…

Yes, we’re going through somechanges here and one of them has resulted in my blog going over to WordPress without a new theme. Hey, stay with me folks!

The RSS feed remains the same and a new style and whatnot will occur in due course.

Yesterday I posted the news that I have a new site in the process of being designed built and to ensure it not only launches smoothly, but works hard for me, I have been reviewing how all of my social media strategy hangs together.
Frankly, it’s less than ideal. Here’s my bad photoshopped image of what currently happens.

How it all works.

• The whole shebang hangs off RSS. Without the RSS feeds from the content services, then it would all be manual- a total nightmare.
• TwitterFeed is a brilliant service (I have donated) and is the hub I use for content processing into Twitter.
• Thomasr.org posts are checked every three hours and then posted into Twitter as “Blog Post”. The RSS feed automatically shoots into Facebook as a “Facebook Note”. Facebook only allows one RSS feed. It’s tempting to process all the feeds into Feedburner and then feed the whole lot into Facebook- but that’s untenable and Facebook Spam (FBS).
• Flickr pics also go into TwitterFeed, but are processed slightly differently. As I have varying degrees of Flickr use- occasional pics from BrightKite as well as whole car/bike sets that can number 50+ pics per car, I use the TwitterFeed feature to limit the RSS checking to once a day and 2 posts at any one time. FBS reduction right there.
• I use BrightKite mostly on my iPhone as it can post pics to Flickr (and importantly geo tag them) and send onto Twitter as well. If I’m not using BK for pics, then it works well as a Twitter client and I use it when I want to tell everyone where I am (especially for public event hosting and similar).
• My YouTube channel videos update once a day and one video to TwitterFeed. No need for updates more often than that as I have never posted more than one video a day and I doubt I ever will!
• My 3AW blog posts are rare, but also update via RSS. This is a once a day thing and one post gets sent to Twitter.
• My CarAdvice and BikeAdvice posts do not have an unique RSS feed. I think if I got to the bottom of Yahoo Pipes, I think I could feed the raw RSS into Yahoo pipes and filter it so only the podcasts and my articles make it to TwitterFeed. In the meantime, I write up a blog post pointing to the article and that starts off the Thomasr.org chain of events and that suits me for now as it gives my all-important paid work a double dose on Facebook and a single run on Twitter.
• Two services for links I use are my Del.icio.us and Google Reader shared items and these feed into Twitter almost on the spot, though I do limit them to a maximum of 3 at a time.
• All that done, the tweets start to automatically appear on Twitter itself.
• My Twitter feed goes straight into FriendFeed, which also aggregates my YouTube and Blog posts independently but is smart enough (something Scoble says a lot about FF) not to double up.
• FriendFeed then sends all aggregated (And not doubled up) content to Facebook via a Facebook app.

That last point is no longer true, but it’s important to note that it was once the case. The problem now at Facebook is not one of double ups, but rather over saturation. Every single Tweet goes to Facebook. Per my previous post, I took my own advice and I’m not letting Tweets set as FB status, but it is appearing in all my friends timelines. Not all are happy:

Quite. I had a feeling this was the case, but as you can’t really see when you are creating “noise” on a friend’s Facebook page, I just kept going. (Not to be rude, but the more friends you have on FB, the less spammy my FB timeline appears as I am woven into the general fabric of Facebook)

Ok So what’s this all mean?
The Web 2.oh services are evolving and so too are the users. In fact it’s user expectation and user demands that are driving me- I think not so much about what can be done, but what’s best for my readers/followers/friends. So I turned off the feed into Facebook. But I do need some sort of feed into Facebook as it is a content cul de sac (Content goes in, doesn’t come out) and is very important as my friend base on Facebook increases.

So I’m going to set up a Feedburner account and aggregate most content apart from Twitter posts into Facebook as notes. It’s not a huge amount and certain services like Flickr will now be handled by a Facebook App instead of FriendFeed.

Where’s the conversation?
This is super critical. Corvida’s post on ReadWriteWeb was very clear and I believe it.

While there’s no formula for success, there are three keys to a killer web service: search, aggregation, and conversation.

So search is taken care of and I nearly have the aggregation situation about right. But it’s conversation, the third and possibly most compelling element- where will that happen?

Thoughts on conversation:

• Not on my blog as it stands. I generate a fair few followers and readers, but few comments. I’m not that sort of blogger.
• On places of content origin. That’s a mixed bag. YouTube- you have to be kidding. Flickr- very occasional. BrightKite- rare. on 3AW, CarAdvice and BikeAdvice a lot of good commenting takes place and should stay there as these sites are focussed on conversation.
• On Twitter. That tends to be short: “Good post” “nice pic” etc. Not really conversation, though it can be. Twitter conversations can be intense and real time, but also tend to disappear into the Twitter ether due to the non semantic nature of Twitter.
• FriendFeed. I don’t think so right now. Scoble may be right and FF might go mainstream, but that’s going to take a while and meantime FF is silent.
• Conversations on my content. Absolutely. So much so, that I have resolved to do two things: employ Facebook Connect on my new blog comments area and open up my friends list to Scoble-esque proportions.

So there’s a bit to do and of course it’s ongoing.

And it obsesses me.

I’ve been collaborating with SharpSushi on a new website for me. It’s not an overly ambitious new site- the designs are very different to the old site and we’re doing some real UI work to make the site not only a bit more lively on the landing page, but also seek to market what I do and what I offer in a better way. How? Keep coming back people!
Some notes:

• Changing over from Blogger to WordPress. Thanks Blogger, but it’s time. Yes, there will be teething/transfer issues, but I feel WordPress offers features and plugins that Blogger just can’t match. It also means I am not beholden to Blogger. WordPress could run my site for the next 20 years.
• The site landing page will offer content rather than my current “just freakin’ links” page.
• On occasions I will offer a podcast featuring off-topic content developed for CarAdvice podcasts. The WP Plugins will service this new content offering.
• Changing over my GoDaddy accounts to use WP has been a pain at times. The Power of Twitter assisted the process when I bitched about GoDaddy’s terribly messy website. They replied. In the I called their tech support and found out to host WP on windows you need IIS7 and I was on IIS6. Find that on the website if you can…?
• I hardly use any bandwidth or cloud space as allocated by GoDaddy, so offering podcasts won’t cost me anything more.
• I’m finally working out how to get my content to syndicate elsewhere- not from a tech perspective, but from a social perspective. I recently turned off FriendFeed to Facebook as I was almost spamming FB people.

The new site will go into beta shortly and fully launch in a matter of weeks.

Thanks to Lord Hayden for the early designs.

DSCN1896, originally uploaded by thomasrdotorg.

————-PRESS RELEASE———-

Woodstock Thor Honda and Thomasrdotorg are pleased (some might say “fully stoked”) to announce a one year deal for Melbourne motoring journalist Tom Reynolds to race in the factory Woodstock Thor Honda team aboard a special one off Japanese prepared CRF450X.

Team owner Yarrive Konsky: “After Tom’s startling performances in last year’s Dirt Bike Master’s we were ready to look at a full year deal. His performances showed us we had found a rider for the over 50’s. Of course he’s ‘only’ 37, so that did make things a little difficult- but we’ll sort that out in due course. All jokes aside, we were pleased with the races he competed in where he didn’t crash- and that was a special one. The race where he crashed and broke two ribs showed us that he was a special rider. Very special. Of course at the time, we didn’t know the full extent of the damage and we were very, very worried. It was only later we discovered that it was a triple clamp setup, a set of handle bars, a full set of plastics, an exhaust and two marshals.”

Yarrive continues:
“After looking at the team members for 2009, it was clear we were going for a youth policy, so bringing Tom into the team will help to raise not only our spirits, but also the average age. We’ve gone from an average of 18 to 29 by adding just one rider.”

Tom Reynolds:
“There will naturally be some people who see this as a decision that is not based around talent, but more around whether I can get Yarrive a drive in an Aston Martin for the weekend. The answer is yes; anytime Yarrive wants a drive in an Aston I can organise it for an hour or two.”

While the deal has only just been finalised, Reynolds rejects any suggestions that he will not be fit enough for this weekend’s opening round at Albury Wodonga. “I won’t lie, at 37 it’s a struggle to get to a racing weight and Honda have been very supportive by providing a rear suspension setup straight off a Gold Wing. Meanwhile I’ve been hard at it for months. I’m on a semi strict diet of hops, barley and wheat delivered by liquid infusion. In time I’ve been on said diet I’ve gone from 72kgs to a race ready 97kgs.”

At time of writing, the final hurdle is an ASDA supervised drug test, due to be completed this afternoon 1 April 2009…

——————ENDS—————-

11:59am STOP PRESS UPDATE:
Woodstock Thor Honda regret to announce that Tom Reynolds has been released from his racing contract for 2009 effective immediately after failing a drugs test. Details at this time are sketchy, but it is understood that an excessive amount of oestrogen was found in his system, rendering him not only unable to compete in the men’s division, but a threat to other team members safety.

——-ENDS——

Last night at the Premiere of “Love The Beast” I had occasion to chat with former 500cc Champion Mick Doohan.

Post chat about things film related, I moved on to chat about MotoGP this season and we wandered into a MotoGp v WSBK discussion and then the sparks started flying. I dared to suggest that that WSBK- with its field of 35, close racing and keen fans might eclipse MotoGP as a spectacle in 2009.To say Mick was NOT convinved would be an understatement.

Here’s how I saw the discussion:

Me: The fans want to see close racing, big fields and skill playing an important role (over say, traction control). MotoGP might struggle as there are just 18 bikes on the grid this year to get the fans fired up.

Mick: MotoGP is the pinnacle of the sport. World Superbike is not. Therefore MotoGP is better without even referring to field numbers, fan interest and closeness of competition.

To subscribe, cut and paste this address into iTunes: http://thomasr.org/blog/?feed=podcast or click This link to subscribe via iTunes- automatically!

In the late 90s I was at Monash Uni, arsing my way through an Arts degree.

While there I was on the committee (and later chair of) Radio 3MU- Monash Uni’s student radio. Back then we were on 95.7FM.

While chair, I proposed and built a ”proper” recording studio. To get the studio going, and to train students, we debuted a show called ”The Live Lounge”. Every week we had a band play live.

I’ve just created a Torrent of the first (and ONLY) CD we produced from those sessions. In time I will torrent up the other (latter) performances.

Here’s what we got:

1. Southcity- ”Celeb Meyer”
2. Pornland- ”Wacca Wacca Disco”
3. Couch Grinder- ”Visit”
4. Matt Handley- ”Brittle Then Broken”
5. CW Stoneking & The Bluetits – ”Beedle Um Bum”
6. Loin Groin- ”Big Balls”
7. Shonytonk- ”Shonkytonkin”’
8. Davey Lane- ”I Know”
9. Vent- ”Insomnicide”
10. Symbiosis ”Seein’ You”
11. The Surrogate- ”Noosa”
12. No Idea ”Just Another Song”
13. Secret track/compilation.

[132Mb 320kbs VBR MP3]

Sample:

To download the full version visit vuze.com

Check out for the torrent page.

Or this direct torrent link if you wish

Please download AND SEED!