The Media Group are helping The FA to stage the national tournament with teams battling it out for a place in the grand final at Wembley. Take a look at our project case study here.

The Media Group are helping The FA to stage the tournament - provide event management, video production and design support. Here's our highlights video from the Midlands regional final.

Head over this way to view the project case study.

Social media

One of the biggest changes has been the impact of social media. It’s important to have an active social media presence on the networks where you can engage with confirmed and potential delegates, as well as your guest speakers. Delegates will use social media to inform their attendance decisions and will often sign-up based on peer recommendations.

Take home tip: When delegates buy tickets online – include an option for them to share this news with their social networks.

Travel costs

Depending on where you are based, attendance at an industry event can be an expensive and time consuming process.  Using technology such as live streaming will actively involve an audience remotely and by hosting videos on YouTube you can open up your event to a wider audience.

Take home tip: Host your videos online after the event and use as part of the marketing to promote your next event.

Event feedback

Asking attendees to fill in feedback forms at an event can be disruptive. Social media monitoring tools provide real-time feedback on your event and you can check how well your speakers are being received. Post-event online surveys can also be sent to gain formal feedback.

Take home tip: Set up a conference hashtag and monitor real-time conversations on Twitter, as well as pre and post-event activity.

Conference brochures

It’s often unavoidable that your agenda will change in the run up to your event which can cause havoc with print deadlines. By developing an event website or mobile app, up-to-the-minute conference information can be transmitted straight to your delegate’s phone. Make sure you know your audience, as not everyone is tech-savvy.

Take home tip: Think mobile-first when building an event website.

If you're planning an event, contact us to see how we can help.

The Nottingham-based team has devised a new method of treatment and asked us to provide a comprehensive guide for patients.

TMG produced a film demonstrating the effective use of the new treatment whilst highlighting potential risks and side-effects. We developed a menu structure to allow patients to quickly find the relevant section. 

In addition to patient support, the film will be used to raise the profile of the treatment and to introduce the trial and share its findings with other hospitals across the UK.

Find out more about our video production.

From the horsemeat scandal to the Catholic Church there have been some challenging media interactions recently.  The Pope’s expression that it seemed as if sometimes God was asleep was a lovely turn of phrase and summed up beautifully how, one presumes, a man of faith felt when his guidance seemed to be lacking.

For anyone with less direct or powerful communication links, I wonder how much thought goes into a media interaction? With the proliferation of social media, managing corporate reputation is often out of your hands and a case of damage limitation. 

I was struck by Iceland’s position – pre-emptive and impressive – during the horsemeat fiasco.  Tesco’s, by contrast, seem to me to have spent a few quid on full page adverts explaining their position – but somehow that seemed reactive and, if you’ll forgive the phrase, shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted. 

The Catholic Church seems to spend its time having to play catch-up and apologising. 

What is a consistent theme is the need to think through strategically the proactive position and use all interactions as opportunities to develop the position. 

A bit like playing football.  You can’t concede a goal if you’re taking a corner at the other end.  An attacking strategy that has foresight and wisdom will seize the day. 

Of course, part of the dilemma a lot of organisations have is that the only time they think about the exposure is when they are forced to react. 

It seems to me a little bit like deciding you need some money when you retire and only then asking about pensions and investment strategies. 

No-one said it would be easy.  And there is an argument, clearly, for saying don’t put horsemeat in the food chain or allow Catholic priests to develop inappropriate relationships.  But unfortunately stuff happens.  And a media strategy that only reacts will always, by definition, be reacting and consequently struggle to set the agenda. 

My simple rule of thumb is: think through the worst scenarios possible on a regular basis, develop strategies that minimise those scenarios, prepare for a grilling but do so by having skilled media performers who are well-briefed and have a positive strategy.  

Find out more about our media training courses.

For many designers the word ‘trend’ is a fear inducing term which invokes images of blind reproduction of whatever is ‘in vogue’ at the time. As designers we embrace creative flair and independent thought, therefore following the crowd can sometimes seem quite scary. 

However it is important to acknowledge trends as clients often want to be up to speed with popular culture. So having an understanding of what’s up and coming for the following year will only improve the chances of success. Bearing this in mind, here are my predicted design trends for 2013: 

Geometrics­­

A combination of simplification and experimentation with basic shape and colour, coupled with the rise in popularity of infographics and minimalist trends, indicates a return to a more simplistic style. 

Responsive web design

In 2013, the obvious trend is responsive web design. Increased demand for single websites which support multiple platforms and allow users to access full content will no doubt continue to grow. Web design will see a lot of ‘Metro-style’ websites, grown from the popularity of Windows 8. Therefore there will be a greater emphasis on minimalist designs, ultimately creating something more refined and much more user friendly. 

Digital direction

The economic climate of 2012 encouraged the growth of digital publications. There was a noticeable shift from traditional editorial printed design, towards more screen based publications. With the popularity of digital devices such as the iPad and other tablet computers, 2013 will see a marked increase in design solutions created exclusively with screen format in mind. 

Simplification

2012 saw  high profile brands, such as Starbucks and ebay, rebrand and strip back their identities to reveal a more simplified approach. Simplifying a logo increases versatility, enabling the identity to be applied to a wider range of platforms, increasing visibility and presence in an increasingly saturated market. 

Innovative print

Editorial deign will continue to benefit from the technological advances of 2012. Independent magazines in particular, which traditionally embrace lack of boundaries and reject the limitations imposed by commercial publishers, will continue to explore and utilise innovative techniques and finishes. 2013 will therefore potentially see lower print runs alongside increased luxury and innovative finishes.

View the project case study here.

1.       Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a dashboard for your social media activity. You can organise your Twitter timeline into streams and view your direct messages, interactions and lists side-by-side. You can connect several accounts so you can easily monitor both your personal and business Twitter accounts.

2.       IFTTT (If This, Then That)

IFTTT allows automation of your activity between different channels with thousands of pre-determined “recipes”.  Our favourites include an option to save and email the tweets you favourite and an option to automatically tweet links to your new blog posts.  Head over to IFTTT to find out more.

3.       Twunfollow.com

A simple tool to let you know which accounts are unfollowing you and when.  

4.       Tweetbot

A tool for Apple users, Tweetbot offers a way of getting rid of the noisier items on Twitter without unfollowing any accounts. You can hide or mute certain keywords, hashtags and lists.

5.       Untweeps.com

Untweeps allows you to unfollow inactive or fake Twitter accounts en masse. Simply login with your Twitter details for a list of accounts you follow that aren’t using Twitter.

6.       Followerwonk

Probably my favourite tool and packed full of features. You can search Twitter bios to find relevant and influential accounts to follow. Perhaps put in a similar job title or location as you to find new people to follow. You can also analyse your followers and compare with other Twitter accounts.

7.       Vizify.com

Vizify analyses your Twitter feed and creates an instant infographic showing stats such as tweet activity, most popular posts, best followers and a word cloud showing your most used themes.

8.       Twitblock.org

Scans your followers and lets you know which accounts are spam and lets you go through and block them.

9.       http://www.mute.ly

Annoyed by someone on Twitter? Enter a username here to block tweets containing replies, retweets, hashtags and URLs related to that user.

10.     Buffer

Add articles and links to Buffer and they will “automagically” share your tweets throughout the day. 

Want more Twitter tips? Read our blog on how to use Twitter at conferences.

Follow The Media Group on Twitter @TMGtv

We recently re-packaged our Presentation and Media Training sessions and focused on creating two courses that we felt offered training in two vital areas of professional life.

Media Training focuses on understanding the delegate’s role within the organisation and on how to positively engage with the different elements of the media. Training includes preparation for interview, answering techniques and countering negative questions. We film all the interviews and these are played back for feedback purposes.

Presentation Training delegates are asked to bring along a three to four minute presentation. Highly skilled trainers guide the delegate through the experience of preparing an address and delivering it - again our cameraman is on hand to film the presentation and play it back during the session.

We are flexible in that we try to accommodate our client’s needs and budgets and our services can be adapted to reflect our client’s specific requirements.

We offer one-to-one sessions or we can train up to eight delegates in a group session. We can take a group of people from the same organisation or we can put together a group of individuals who are also looking to be trained at the same time and recently, that’s exactly what we did.

We were approached by individuals from various organisations looking for one- to-one training. We feel that a small group session is more beneficial as it creates a realistic environment and offers the opportunity for observations from the other delegates.

An Open Course provides a flexible training option at affordable rates and, whilst the training usually takes place here in Nottingham, we are more than happy to travel to a designated location of your choice.

If you’re interested in Media or Presentation Training – please contact Sam Ellis 0115 969 4600 sam.ellis@themediagroup.tv

December is often a time of reflection within design. As our clients take a well-deserved break (and us soon too) we start to look back at what we’ve achieved over the past 12 months.

In this Olympic year, it’s fair to say sport has been a focus for our clients. From creating a new brand for the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust through to producing collateral for the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Game of Life project, our challenge has been to keep on producing unique and exciting high level designs within the sport sector.

We were lucky enough to be asked to take on a big challenge this year by The FA’s National Development Manager, Nick Levett. Nick has been really busy over the past couple of years pushing for new game formats within kids’ football. We’ve been there right from the start of this project creating a logo and running events for the consultation stage, through to final delivery of the new football Laws of the Game in the format of four rather beautiful and informative guides which have been sent to hundreds of football teams all over the country.

And what a response it got! With features on the BBC and in the press, the work we did including a series of films has been really well received. I stumbled upon a lovely article on the BBC website the other day saying how ‘these changes help kids retain the joy in playing that attracted them to the game in the first place.’

It’s exciting to know we have had so much involvement in this unique project. At times it was challenging but at the end of the day our aim was to deliver a campaign to our client which was not only exciting to look at but successful too!

We’re not resting on our laurels though. We want to do lots more for our clients over the next 12 months and get some new ones too. We’re always looking at what we can do to improve. Our focus next year is to offer more digital-based solutions for our clients as well as coming up with new and innovative ideas for print.

But enough of next year. I’ve got to get my Christmas shopping done first!

This year I took on the mammoth task of directing the Waddington Airshow DVD. We have produced the DVD for the last three years and this year I had the chance to lead the project. 

The airshow line-up was fantastic. It was a truly international show with displays from nations including South Korea, New Zealand, Italy and Saudi Arabia.  It was a great experience to see the variety of aircraft and to meet pilots from all around the world. We were assigned a team from the RAF during filming and their knowledge was second to none.  

This year we included a special feature on the DVD by featuring 92 year-old Edgar Pickles, a Bomber Command veteran from the Second World War. We filmed Edgar chatting with a current squadron leader from 100 Squadron. Edgar sat in a Hawk T1 and compared the differences between planes, missions and procedures. 

Capturing the thrills and emotions of a live event onto DVD is difficult. The Waddington Airshow in particular is the largest RAF Airshow in the UK with over 100,000 visitors attending each year, so the pressure was on to deliver an outstanding DVD. 

It was great when the first review was tweeted by Flightline UK . I was delighted with the feedback. It’s the best part of the job knowing that people appreciated all the work and effort everyone put in to the DVD. 

Now the challenge is to make the DVD even better for next year. Working closely with the Airshow Office we’ve already got some ideas up our sleeve … 

To order your copy of the DVD visit http://shop.themediagroup.tv/ 

See more of our video production work.

The programme helps the young participants to develop their confidence, self-belief and employability skills.

TMG was there to capture all three stages of the process and we created this video to show the progress that the young people have made throughout the programme.