See Validation or The Chase and get inspired by the innovative ways talented “amateurs” get paid for their co-created video vignettes.

You, too, can gather the team for your video story. Media agencies can provide the sponsoring companies that want to be associated, by name, with a positively captivating vignette or story that can be seen, for free online or on our new TV/computer.

With the proliferation of screens, we will get used to watching video most anywhere:

• The appetite for engrossing, increasingly well-done, short-form and long-form “movies” will explode – and so will the need for content.

• The power of the video story and word-of-mouth will attract viewers rather than a TV ad campaign.

• The clusters of people who prove they can create audience-attracting content will attract sponsors; soon they may not need the middleman, the media agency to get paid.

• Different teams of talent will form, including  “amateur” actors and editors.

• Individuals will make money teaching others how to create the videos.

• Many teams will create for the niche they know best – people like them. Those “markets” may range from college students to church-goers, from labradoodle lovers to locavores. And they may get paid by the companies that want to reach that market.

• The cream will rise to the top. Some teams of video co-creators won’t last as individuals re-group into more permanent groups of most-talented individuals. Some individuals may get involved in more than one group as their interests change or their talents develop.

•  Like the already disrupted worlds of movie creation and distribution, we, as video storytellers will continue to morph in the ways we co-create, get paid and get our work seen on screens. But this shift will increasingly benefit the adept collectives of storytellers.

Why? Because, in this increasingly connected world:

1. Ideas and stories that pull us in are more valuable than advertising that is pushed at us.

2. It will keep getting easier for talented individuals with a shared interest to find each other and cheaper to co-create stories.

3. Increasingly businesses will pay to be associated with content, including video stories, that reinforces the personality and differentiating value of their brand.

4. The need for middlemen melts as as the number of direct distribution channels (online, smart phone, tablet etc.) increases.

5. The ability for an unknown group to build a loyal, growing and sometimes collaborative following for their stories increases as #4 increases.

6. As the power  continues to shift for consumer-serving companies, from sellers to buyers, buyers gain a bigger voice in what they want to watch so the makers of their favorite videos gain clout and capacity monetize their work. Plus those video storytellers can get real time feedback via their own site, Twitter, Facebook and other social media so they can use that input in their future creations.

• Within a year you’ll probably see a crowdsourcing-style web site where companies can call for the kind of stories they’d like to have created for them.

More excitingly:

- Individuals will recruit others to join them on a specific video project.

- Teams will seek businesses to pay for their concept or completed video.

What video role would you like to play in this next chapter of your life adventure? Writer, actor, videographer, multi-media mash-up editor, location spotter, scenes or costume creator, or?

What do Beth Kantor and Peter Deitz think of this  entertainment media + celebrity- centered campaign campaign to inspire us to volunteer? More than 100 TV programs will involve “give back” themes in their story lines.

Michelle Obama kicked off the campaign.

Some big non-profits gain visibility via PSAs.

For the past 40 years volunteerism has been stagnant: one in four Americans volunteer. The good news is that recently, despite the bad economy, it’s on the rise – especially among young people.

That’s what Loopt founder, Sam Ashton did at the huge Consumer Electronics Show.  How?  Like his contacts he used Loopt to make his whereabouts known. Find friends out shopping on a nearby street or out dining at a restaurant in the same neighborhood. 

Willing to lose locational privacy to find selected friends or colleagues? Increasingly people are –and this may be somewhat age-related.  Brave ones like Ben Hoffman, are using it to find a date. Younger people may be more comfortable with such location-based sensing “convenience.”  

(How much latitude do you want to give your friends? What if some acquaintances find they’ve been left out?)  Swarming to meet spontaneously or meeting up at the last minute is more the rage. And, as neuroscientists have discovered in observing modern taxi drivers, repeated use of GPS map devices is re-wiring our brains. Adding “social location-aware” apps to a phone will expand those brain changes in literally how we see and respond to what is around us. Who knows? You might meet up to go photowalking together.

… on a big screen in a theatre – as part of a short-film before the feature movie.  

For the first time anyone can create an animated cut on their computer with tools provided by Intel, Facebook, Dell and others in this Mass Animation project launched today.  The crowd votes on submissions.  Winners get moments of fame via on-screen credit and $500. 5,586 people have already signed up.

At Facebook, see the storyline of the short – called “Live Music,” 

100 animation shots and images to get started. “The first scenario features a rock ‘n’ roll guitar that falls in love with a classical violin in a music store, only to find that the hot tune he found so alluring had come instead from the cell phone of the store owner.”  Sam Ford probably saw this kind of campaign coming. 

What tools could you offer would-be customers to involve them in using and/or improving your product or service – and attract meda coverage as this crowdsourcing contest will enjoy for many months.

Some of the most masterful baristas in the U.S. gathered in a hotel lobby in Minneapolis for their annual competition last month, judged by their peers. But this year was different. More excitement. And pressure. Coffee growers, café owners and other baristas and coffee lovers from around the world can watch them perform. In real time and later. (Congrats Kyle Glansville!) Observers can share comments or photos.

Consider this story a free, mini-seminar: How to involve more people and sponsors in your event. Be the first person in your kind of industry or profession to adapt this approach for your gathering. Your “first ever” might attract media coverage too. Here’s what happened.Rich, a tradeshow blogger and a judge at this coffee contest, describes what the fresh twist on the traditonal barista contest. The Specialty Coffee Association live video blogged the competition, with a real-time chat screen.

“This was the first time either was attempted at this event (last year’s even had some time delayed video, but no interaction). The live video/chat enabled family, friends, colleagues, fellow baristas and coffee growers whose beans were being represented from around the globe as well as curious folks like me to witness the competition with close up camera work while engaging in ongoing conversation as it was happening.

In many ways watching the competition remotely was preferable to taking a seat in the bleachers and watching in person (very little talking inside (kinda rude to do so), poor sight lines, hard to see the details that mattered for scoring).

There was also a conference blog that included video interviews from the show floor, some session reviews and even some light entertainment.” Plus they created a captivating flickr photostream. (Sidebar, if “even” a local coffee shop in Atlanta can attract national coverage for their contest, perhaps you can too?)

As Jemima Kiss notes, live blogging by attendees is now so powerful that some are resisting what they may view as their loss of control. Like Jemima, I feel the participants can’t be stopped – and that is great. Increasingly more people will discover fresh ways to collaborate at conferences and other events. Perhaps The End of Control signals the strength of a more inclusive way of gathering, made possible our new media tools.

Want to Attract More Fans to Your Event?

Do you operate a street fair, game, lecture series, in-person contest or a product demo center at a trade show? In fact are you part of any kind of event that you’d like to grow?

Then would you like:
• To attract an even more people to it?

• Let people watch in real time and any time, anywhere later on?

• Enable more bystanders to see what’s going on?

• Build an ongoing community around your recurring gathering?

• Attract sponsors to cover the cost of the event?

• Get watchers involved in:
- Rooting for and voting for their favorites?
- Inspired to seek permission to participate in the event next time?
- Offering advice for improving the happening next year?

• Build an ongoing record of your events to use in:
- future events
- audio, text and/or or video “how-to” guides
- promotions to attract future audiences, sponsors or members?

You can accomplish all of the above, if not the first time then over time, by finding fans of your kind of gathering who have social media know-how. That’s what the folks at the Specialty Coffee Association discovered. In so doing the social media geeks got a greater taste of coffee knowledge and the coffee experts got a big gulp of blogging and vlogging expertise. That’s a Me2We collaboration to accomplish more (and have more fun) together than apart.

Here’s BBC producer, Robin Hamman’s “10 tips for live blogging a conference or event.” Lee Odden and Sarah Perez offer more suggestions. For covering any event, Anne Helmond helps you choose, “between Twitter, live blogging or fast publishing. ” Get your comprehensive social media “how-to” kit, compliments of Chris Brogan. Robin Good is another generous, reliable “how-to” guide for such tools, including for video publishing.

Many groups could make their event more involving, exciting and valuable. That includes gatherings as diverse as top chefs’ demonstrations, high schoolers’ robotic contests and dog groomers’ workshops.

He was in Bangalore and his co-presenters were in San Jose, yet Cisco’s CEO appeared live – on the same stage. How? By using a breathtaking 3D holographic-like technology. They tout it as, “the world’s first real time virtual presentation. Aptly, it’s called TelePresence.

See Sir Richard Branson – live at a London press conference, while standing at Necker Island, his Caribbean retreat. Or preview “the first space age Olympic swim suit.” On Wednesday a Telstra executive in Melbourne, Australia interacted with an audience in Adelaide.

My friend Rick watched a demo and raved about it. Suddenly, this is a competitive space. And, yes, this is Cisco’s big new business, partnering with Musion, yet it will have to cost less to gain traction. Why am I interested in it, aside from the astounding effect of a holographic human presence?

Because:

• The realistic presence it provides means people around the world can gather for what really feels like an in-person gathering.

• The best actors anywhere for a particular play can assemble to enact it, for more people to see – live and later.

• The top experts on a topic can appear on a panel, taking questions from audiences in many places.

• Crowdsourcing becomes easier.

In short, it enables more realistic “face-to-face” group collaboration. Cisco had an I-Prize contest in which anyone could propose novel ways to use this technology. Already it is in 28 countries, lightening the carbon footprint. Five years ago I spoke on Cisco’s global, in-house on-demand TV station. I still get emails from Cisco employees who clicked on their computer to see my presentation when they thought it might help them with a current need. Holographic-like appearances, however takes that kind of live and on-demand capability to a whole new level.

As useage goes up and cost goes down, the world will flatten for more Me2We opportunities. We’ll be able to get a better feel for each other, no matter where we actually are. I can hardly wait to try it.

Skip travel and lodging costs. Meeting Planners’ Alert:

For PCMA, SGMP, MPI, ASAE, NSA,MeCo, MeetingsNet, MiForum and others in the meeting or communication professions: bring the most relevant speakers and panelists to the same stage – no matter where they are standing in the world. Enable “attendees” to talk with them. Encourage convention centers and conference hotels to provide this capacity, offered by Cisco, HP or other firm. Set the bar higher.

First, Cisco CEO John Chambers is providing it for large conferences, concerts, events, awards ceremonies, multi-site meetings, high level briefings, retail, museums and product launches – even movies and soldier/family conversations. Then Chambers wants to bring it to our homes. (Well, not every room, in the home.) Stay tuned.

The playboy bunny I was “asked” to interview said she needed an automatic, rather than a stick shift on the Corvette her suger daddy was giving here. It was the only way she could sip her slurpy while driving. At that moment I wondered how I was going to write a straight story without looking like I was trying to skewer her.

Another insight she offered was that her father, “as a gynecologist, was perfectly comfortable with my being chosen as Hugh Heffner’s new girlfriend.”Golly, sometimes there’s no room for parody.This was early in my reporting career – an assignment from my grizzled boss to demonstrate the kind of stories a “girl” reporter should cover. Do you ever walk into a situation that feels like a warped scene for a film or, worse yet, that you are being thrust into a bit part in a B movie or TV reality show or soap opera? Yet, when professional actors are given droll lines and placed in a public setting where the passersby don’t know what’s “real” then theatre plays out in everyday life. Some people love that and others flee the scene.

Recently, in Los Angeles, at the food court in a shopping center, a cashier at the kiosk, Hot Dog on a Stick sings her request for more napkins. In moments a nearby janitor, then a customer and finally a security guard join her in song. They are undercover agents Charlie Todd’s guerrilla comedy squad Improv Everywhere.

Watch how differently the passersby react.I hope that some of the 11 million people who have sat and watched their videos and gone out to create their own scenes with others. Keep your pants on?

The scene reminds me of the mock wedding and hilarious reception afterwards that is actually a show you can buy tickets to see, Tony and Tina’s Wedding. As we, the audience, left the church wedding and crossed the street in downtown S.F. to attend the reception, we were stopped by nervous Secret Service agents. They were protecting the president who was staying at the St. Francis Hotel in the same block.  After being questioned, we moved onto the reception in a large upstairs room. From the jealous former-boyfriend to the catty bridesmaids in the bathroom ratting their hair, this mix of characters made one look closely at everyone, trying to determine who was acting. After awhile, several of us adopted a different persona and joined in the story.

Then there was the time I was invited to speak at a resort on the banks of a lake in Canada. The conference was for the holding company that owned five women’s magazines so attendees ranged from writers to accountants to models. One staffer designed a murder game that sent us, as detective teams, around the property, from the boathouse the cabins to the large dining room and the basement of the main lodge.

Also conferencing at the lodge were a Christian retreat, a sales kick-off and incentive winners with a high-tech corporation. Several of their members were recruited to play parts, along with the chef, bandleader and a maid. At the end of the game, all guests were invited to witness the questioning as we tried to find out who had played the role of the “murderer.”

It was a long and hilarious evening where many people probably acted differently than they usual did. And we probably had different memories of what actually happened that day.

These semi-planned happenings seem to take what Smart Mobs author, Howard Rheingold and others now call flash mobs to a more involving level. People are more likely to leave knowing a bit more about themselves and each other. (We’ll be interviewing Rheingold later.) Through these experiences I discovered how much fun it is for us to spontaneously join in the action and play different parts and see new sides of each other.

For those who are tired of sitting in neat rows to hear experts, consider going out and making a scene with others. Co-create scripts for more fun play at your next reunion, party, meeting – or night out where you make your own scenes rather than going to see a movie or play. Join a TheatreSports group. It’s all about making Me2We more fun.

Thousands of prisoners, nursing home patients and others cut off from freely roaming the world have been moved by the live concerts organized by Bread and Roses. Famous musicians including Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis and Tuck and Patti have been joined by hundreds of other skilled, local musicians, sound engineers, event producers and other volunteers to bring concerts to those leading more isolated lives than most of you who are reading this. If music moves you, then you may be motivated to jumpstart your own version of Bread and Roses in your community. What a way to create a circle of talented friends as you help make music for others, eh? As Maya Angelou wrote in Gather Together in My Name, “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”

Since Bread and Roses has established systems to leverage the value of their volunteers in hosting a packed schedule of concerts each month, you may not have to start from scratch. Get more ideas and systems from The ‘Rite of Spring’ Project and other music-to- community non-profits.

From this beloved non-profit’s executive director and my friend Cassandra Flipper and her talented producer and public relations director Marian Hubler, hear how these concerts have lit the lives of so many. Bread and Roses has a poignant back story, intensely loyal supporters and a lively collaboration with local high school students that brings the story to life for you here. After all, as Berthold Auerbach wrote, “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

As Taquisha, a performer in The ‘Rite of Spring’ Project, “a sixth grader … wrote (on the Carnegie Hall web site), ‘I think the music is awesome because the music is so strong. If that music is strong, I am going to be strong.’” Amen, Taquisha!  Hear the podcast.