As a person in business I've found myself involved in many seminars where I have to speak in front of people. I'm always striving for unique ways to captivate my audience.
I've found the key to keeping my audience's attention is to be entertaining while delivering my message, and most of all I try not come off too pushy or self promoting. I focus on ways the information I'm giving my audience can help better themselves as individuals, whether in their carrier or topic being discussed.
The biggest problem I've had in the past has been dealing with a shy audience. Even with lots of reassurance that no question is a dumb question, I feel I've missed connections because people were too timid to ask questions in front of the rest of the attendees at my events. Now this problem has happened to me in the past whether I've been speaking to 20 people or 300.
I found a tool that's allowed me to increase entertainment at my seminars, captivate my audience and allow my audience to discretely ask questions using nothing else but their cell phones. FireText has developed a tweet to screen or Twitter to Screen software that don't know the lingo, Tweet to screen has changed the way I put on my seminars from upside down to right side up.
FireText allows my audience to send twitter messages to my video screens. It's a downloadable application that installs on a laptop, which then connects to a projector… just like Microsoft Powerpoint.
The beauty of FireText is people can discretely ask questions using their cell phones. Shy audience members are able to hide behind the comfort of their Twitter screenname and avatars. Their message along with their screen name and avatar shows on my screen so I can identify them and reply accordingly. Not only has this been instant, but it's allowed me to add some comedic value when I pick apart their twitter screen names show on my video screen.
Some of the coolest features of FireText Tweet to Screen, is that I can customize the incoming messages, fonts, colours and video screen background graphics to match the theme of the topic I'm speaking about. I've also used FireText's hash tag, or #(airport code) features to stream in all the tweets in the specific city I'm speaking in. I love putting in a keyword of my sponsor's name. This one speech I was giving was at a Cocacola suppliers conference and I placed the hashtag #Cocacola within the FireText software. While I was talking my audience was amazed at all the messages about Coca cola that were streaming from around the world behind me.
I've benefited other ways, like, every person that tweets in my twitter screen name @bhattmaan is automatically added to my follower list. The ability to add negative keywords prevents any messages I don't want showing up on my screens, which has been a life saver.
The guys (and girls) at www.FireText.com are always advancing their software, Twitter to TV Screen is just one of their message to screen softwares. Other great tools I've used in my public speeches are Text to Screen & Text Voting.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Twitter to TV Screen #mademyeventawesome
As a person in business I've found myself involved in many seminars where I have to speak in front of people. I'm always striving for unique ways to captivate my audience.
I've found the key to keeping my audience's attention is to be entertaining while delivering my message, and most of all I try not come off too pushy or self promoting. I focus on ways the information I'm giving my audience can help better themselves as individuals, whether in their carrier or topic being discussed.
The biggest problem I've had in the past has been dealing with a shy audience. Even with lots of reassurance that no question is a dumb question, I feel I've missed connections because people were too timid to ask questions in front of the rest of the attendees at my events. Now this problem has happened to me in the past whether I've been speaking to 20 people or 300.
I found a tool that's allowed me to increase entertainment at my seminars, captivate my audience and allow my audience to discretely ask questions using nothing else but their cell phones. FireText has developed a tweet to screen or Twitter to Screen software that don't know the lingo, Tweet to screen has changed the way I put on my seminars from upside down to right side up.
FireText allows my audience to send twitter messages to my video screens. It's a downloadable application that installs on a laptop, which then connects to a projector… just like Microsoft Powerpoint.
The beauty of FireText is people can discretely ask questions using their cell phones. Shy audience members are able to hide behind the comfort of their Twitter screenname and avatars. Their message along with their screen name and avatar shows on my screen so I can identify them and reply accordingly. Not only has this been instant, but it's allowed me to add some comedic value when I pick apart their twitter screen names show on my video screen.
Some of the coolest features of FireText Tweet to Screen, is that I can customize the incoming messages, fonts, colours and video screen background graphics to match the theme of the topic I'm speaking about. I've also used FireText's hash tag, or #(airport code) features to stream in all the tweets in the specific city I'm speaking in. I love putting in a keyword of my sponsor's name. This one speech I was giving was at a Cocacola suppliers conference and I placed the hashtag #Cocacola within the FireText software. While I was talking my audience was amazed at all the messages about Coca cola that were streaming from around the world behind me.
I've benefited other ways, like, every person that tweets in my twitter screen name @bhattmaan is automatically added to my follower list. The ability to add negative keywords prevents any messages I don't want showing up on my screens, which has been a life saver.
The guys (and girls) at www.FireText.com are always advancing their software, Twitter to TV Screen is just one of their message to screen softwares. Other great tools I've used in my public speeches are Text to Screen & Text Voting.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
I've found the key to keeping my audience's attention is to be entertaining while delivering my message, and most of all I try not come off too pushy or self promoting. I focus on ways the information I'm giving my audience can help better themselves as individuals, whether in their carrier or topic being discussed.
The biggest problem I've had in the past has been dealing with a shy audience. Even with lots of reassurance that no question is a dumb question, I feel I've missed connections because people were too timid to ask questions in front of the rest of the attendees at my events. Now this problem has happened to me in the past whether I've been speaking to 20 people or 300.
I found a tool that's allowed me to increase entertainment at my seminars, captivate my audience and allow my audience to discretely ask questions using nothing else but their cell phones. FireText has developed a tweet to screen or Twitter to Screen software that don't know the lingo, Tweet to screen has changed the way I put on my seminars from upside down to right side up.
FireText allows my audience to send twitter messages to my video screens. It's a downloadable application that installs on a laptop, which then connects to a projector… just like Microsoft Powerpoint.
The beauty of FireText is people can discretely ask questions using their cell phones. Shy audience members are able to hide behind the comfort of their Twitter screenname and avatars. Their message along with their screen name and avatar shows on my screen so I can identify them and reply accordingly. Not only has this been instant, but it's allowed me to add some comedic value when I pick apart their twitter screen names show on my video screen.
Some of the coolest features of FireText Tweet to Screen, is that I can customize the incoming messages, fonts, colours and video screen background graphics to match the theme of the topic I'm speaking about. I've also used FireText's hash tag, or #(airport code) features to stream in all the tweets in the specific city I'm speaking in. I love putting in a keyword of my sponsor's name. This one speech I was giving was at a Cocacola suppliers conference and I placed the hashtag #Cocacola within the FireText software. While I was talking my audience was amazed at all the messages about Coca cola that were streaming from around the world behind me.
I've benefited other ways, like, every person that tweets in my twitter screen name @bhattmaan is automatically added to my follower list. The ability to add negative keywords prevents any messages I don't want showing up on my screens, which has been a life saver.
The guys (and girls) at www.FireText.com are always advancing their software, Twitter to TV Screen is just one of their message to screen softwares. Other great tools I've used in my public speeches are Text to Screen & Text Voting.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Unpaid Invoices... Avoiding the Shady Businessman
Shady businessmen are all around us, like the wind, they have essentially carved the landscape we do business on today. Through shady dealings, business to business relationships have painstakingly evolved from ‘gold as gold’ hand shake policies, to prepayment and escrow practices. Unless you’re the type that enjoys drama, a good cliff hanger, with the hero dying at the end; if you run a business and don’t have any of the last two practices set in place, you’re taking a gamble with every customer and project you take on.
Good news though! I’ve discovered patterns in these shady businessmen, for the dramatic purpose of my blog, let’s call them scam artists.
So here it is, the qualities of a shady businessman...
If the achievements they chant don’t add up in your inner vibe-o-meter, check them out on google or www.ripoffreport.com. A quick search saved me a half a day meeting I had with one of these potential clients, it ended up this client had 14 negative reviews all over the net.
On becoming aware...
I laugh at my experiences, and take them as donations for life lessons earned. The best advice I can give you right now is...just get over it. And to make the healing process as quick as possible, think about all your good clients. Oh yah...and don’t do it again
I define the ‘scam artist’ as a person that doesn’t respect the value of your hard work or any hard work in general. I believe work on the path of dishonesty...doesn’t count.
I’ve crossed by 6 of these people in my life, and through self reflection while sorting through their unpaid bills, have come to see patterns; while each scam artist casts a shadow in a different angle, their mannerisms, way of speaking, and ego are generally the same.
I’m proud to say I’ve had thousands of wonderful clients over the decade and a half of running my businesses. Those years of sacrifice have given me the experience and social intelligence to categorize the qualities of shady business men.
If it happens again to you, don’t worry about it, even I, have been ‘had’ 5 more times after the first time before I established by rules.
It’s a small world, I strongly believe if you’ve had a negative experience with a business, talk about it with everyone, the same as you would a positive business experience. Shady businessmen pray on peoples embarrassment to speak up. Through conversation you’ll learn from their experiences and they’ll learn from yours. With these shady people, you’ll be surprised how many people have also been unfortunate to have crossed their paths, and like you, have been ripped off, which figures, like all of us, scam artists are creatures of habit too.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to turn down a paying customer, this just means, get your money up front and get the expectations down in writing. (Don’t worry, you probably won’t even get to the stage of having to write up an agreement, they’ll refuse your services, earning you back a whole lot of time that would’ve been wasted.)
The marvelous moment, by turning this client down or setting your rules, you’ll feel great and the satisfaction plus the peace of mind you’ll feel is immeasurable.
An honest customer will respect your talents, pay you your going, negotiated rate for your time, and will have no problem prepaying for your services.
Smaller clients leads to bigger ones, but if you’re just building up your business the easiest way to work up the ladder is to spend your ‘pro bono’ time for a good cause such as charities or cultural communities. Scam artists only know scam artists, so don’t waste your time.
Also, don’t cave into their just dumped emails after you reject them as a customer... they’ll try and keep at you...
Feel free to share your comments and experiences below.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
BlogCatalog
Good news though! I’ve discovered patterns in these shady businessmen, for the dramatic purpose of my blog, let’s call them scam artists.
So here it is, the qualities of a shady businessman...
- The quick talkers
Conversations with them are usually one sided, they preach to you, and you have no choice but to listen like a helpless lamb. Don’t even bother contributing your ideas or thoughts, because they know what they want, and your only existence is to absorb every bit of their glamorous achievements and knowledge.
- Unnecessary praise
Throughout your meeting you’ll feel as if someone has attached a air hose to your butt and is giving it a pump every few minutes. Scam artists love to praise, even unnecessarily and awkwardly until you melt like the fine chocolate that you are.
- Dealing with them will make you rich
They’ll give the impression that they know hundreds of powerful people that will spend money with you at a wave of their hand. This is far from the case, they don’t know anybody, have no friends or any respect at all from anybody, not even their wife. So charge them full price, don’t give them any breaks.
- They just got back from some place super exotic
Now, everyone takes vacations, BUT they talk like they’ve traveled the world, how they just got back from some place so exotic, it’s not even on the map, and googling it wouldn’t do it justice because you’d never understand anyways...
They have probably only scrimped away enough to take a 3 day trip to Cancun to fill their Facebook page full of “life style” photos. Oh don’t be surprised if they are developing property or have some business in this mysterious foreign land.
- They need it so quickly, you’d better buy a flux capacitor.
Shady Businessmen know how to close a deal quickly, they’ll push push push... remember they know, dealing with them will make you rich. And they’ll make you work for every dollar from the million they are going to throw your way... one day.
The client will call you 5 times, email you another 5 times within a 6 hour time span, just to make sure you are prioritizing his project over your other clients. Oh yah, he’ll probably pop by your office too, because he was in the area between his investor meetings.
- Brand name clothes and a base model BMW
His shirt will cost more than it costs to feed 50 homeless people; his car will be the latest base model BMW; Why? because somewhere along the lines of their education, they learned that it’s ‘important to portray success’, and not actually earn it.
- Even though you’ve Van Gough, Shakespeare or Warren Buffet, your work wasn’t up to par
This client knows your abilities, has seen your work well before ever meeting you. He’s given you clear instructions and you’ve delivered. You think it’s amazing and so does everyone in your home or office, but it just wasn’t good enough for him. Now, he’s only doing this because he knows it’s getting closer to payday for you.
- His partner in business is coming by to pay tomorrow.
Tomorrow will never come, you’ll never age; you’ve just been given the fountain of youth.
Your client has what he needs, and got it in a remarkable turn around time, but his ‘partner’ will take his time to pay. Months will go by, and then his partner will say, when you call him up, that, it’s the other guy that should pay. This will go back and forth, until your client confesses to you that he’s had enough of his ‘partner’s’ crap and never wants to be seen with him.
Don’t worry though, you haven’t broken up any friendships... they are still partying together.
...still though...you haven’t been paid.
If the achievements they chant don’t add up in your inner vibe-o-meter, check them out on google or www.ripoffreport.com. A quick search saved me a half a day meeting I had with one of these potential clients, it ended up this client had 14 negative reviews all over the net.
On becoming aware...
I laugh at my experiences, and take them as donations for life lessons earned. The best advice I can give you right now is...just get over it. And to make the healing process as quick as possible, think about all your good clients. Oh yah...and don’t do it again
I define the ‘scam artist’ as a person that doesn’t respect the value of your hard work or any hard work in general. I believe work on the path of dishonesty...doesn’t count.
I’ve crossed by 6 of these people in my life, and through self reflection while sorting through their unpaid bills, have come to see patterns; while each scam artist casts a shadow in a different angle, their mannerisms, way of speaking, and ego are generally the same.
I’m proud to say I’ve had thousands of wonderful clients over the decade and a half of running my businesses. Those years of sacrifice have given me the experience and social intelligence to categorize the qualities of shady business men.
If it happens again to you, don’t worry about it, even I, have been ‘had’ 5 more times after the first time before I established by rules.
It’s a small world, I strongly believe if you’ve had a negative experience with a business, talk about it with everyone, the same as you would a positive business experience. Shady businessmen pray on peoples embarrassment to speak up. Through conversation you’ll learn from their experiences and they’ll learn from yours. With these shady people, you’ll be surprised how many people have also been unfortunate to have crossed their paths, and like you, have been ripped off, which figures, like all of us, scam artists are creatures of habit too.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to turn down a paying customer, this just means, get your money up front and get the expectations down in writing. (Don’t worry, you probably won’t even get to the stage of having to write up an agreement, they’ll refuse your services, earning you back a whole lot of time that would’ve been wasted.)
The marvelous moment, by turning this client down or setting your rules, you’ll feel great and the satisfaction plus the peace of mind you’ll feel is immeasurable.
An honest customer will respect your talents, pay you your going, negotiated rate for your time, and will have no problem prepaying for your services.
Smaller clients leads to bigger ones, but if you’re just building up your business the easiest way to work up the ladder is to spend your ‘pro bono’ time for a good cause such as charities or cultural communities. Scam artists only know scam artists, so don’t waste your time.
Also, don’t cave into their just dumped emails after you reject them as a customer... they’ll try and keep at you...
Feel free to share your comments and experiences below.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
BlogCatalog
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Getting into Creative Writing... Writing my own reality.
I came to the realization that I am actually writing my own reality, my perception of the world, my opinion, widely accepted or not, to myself, this is my reality.
With my new found grasp on reality, I realized that I don’t need to live the words that everyone else has written for us. But it’s my occasion to write down my experiences so everyone else gets a chance to live the reality that I do.
A quick tweet or an short-winded blog, it’s about mastering my words. Translating my every day interactions to font; this curiosity has come a bit later in my life, but none-the-less I look forward to spraying ideas and experiences over our net, as vast as it extends with alphabet.
This isn’t my first punch at telling stories. I’ve pounded right and left mouse clicks, scuffed up my mouse pad through Photoshop, manufactured visual stories for governments, businesses, products & events, and caramelizing it to glossy paper; to spread messages of the people that paid me to create them. When asked what I do, “I am a commercial artist” I’d always say, an artist that was commissioned everyday for 15 years, who's art augmented economies, but today at the age of 30, I know I was just whore.
On my road to becoming a pro, and to grasp my reality, (I’ve actually calculated this out, day dreaming between art commissions) would take 2 hours, spanned over 3 years, considering the probability of you spending every day with me. I could then share with you what I’ve seen, the places I’ve walked by, where I’ve looked up, and thought to my self, “that design is mine”, and with the time it’d take to blink twice, shrugged it off and kept walking. I’ve always been secretly envious of students who felt the awe and could celebrate their art; where I, had a long list of clients waiting for me to produce their work.
So I figure, with the understanding that experience, shared verbally can come off as ego, and professionalism converted to print earns respect. I write my own reality and much like my visual stories, can fly freely, be replicated and shared an infinite number of times.
~
Raoul
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
With my new found grasp on reality, I realized that I don’t need to live the words that everyone else has written for us. But it’s my occasion to write down my experiences so everyone else gets a chance to live the reality that I do.
A quick tweet or an short-winded blog, it’s about mastering my words. Translating my every day interactions to font; this curiosity has come a bit later in my life, but none-the-less I look forward to spraying ideas and experiences over our net, as vast as it extends with alphabet.
This isn’t my first punch at telling stories. I’ve pounded right and left mouse clicks, scuffed up my mouse pad through Photoshop, manufactured visual stories for governments, businesses, products & events, and caramelizing it to glossy paper; to spread messages of the people that paid me to create them. When asked what I do, “I am a commercial artist” I’d always say, an artist that was commissioned everyday for 15 years, who's art augmented economies, but today at the age of 30, I know I was just whore.
On my road to becoming a pro, and to grasp my reality, (I’ve actually calculated this out, day dreaming between art commissions) would take 2 hours, spanned over 3 years, considering the probability of you spending every day with me. I could then share with you what I’ve seen, the places I’ve walked by, where I’ve looked up, and thought to my self, “that design is mine”, and with the time it’d take to blink twice, shrugged it off and kept walking. I’ve always been secretly envious of students who felt the awe and could celebrate their art; where I, had a long list of clients waiting for me to produce their work.
So I figure, with the understanding that experience, shared verbally can come off as ego, and professionalism converted to print earns respect. I write my own reality and much like my visual stories, can fly freely, be replicated and shared an infinite number of times.
~
Raoul
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
Sunday, October 10, 2010
D'Lish Urban Kitchen and Wine Bar... and night with Steelwood
Last night I was invited by a friend to come down to D'Lish, he plays in a band named Steelwood, and he was playing there last night, which also ended up being the restaurant's soft re-opening. D'Lish has been around for while as a meal assembly studio, where busy professionals could stop by and pickup a meal to take home. I don't really know the details because I never did get a chance to check our their previous setup, although highly recommended by many people. First impressions of the new D'Lish, it looked fabulous. The atmosphere was calming, the decor was well thought out, everywhere you looked was beautifully detailed; and it was spacious, yet intimate. I have never been the type that enjoys large commercial venues, so this was nice.
The servers were pleasant, my wife was also popping in for the opening, she only had 15 minutes, to eat and go, so I pre-ordered a dish so it'd be ready by the time she'd arrive. Upon checking the status of my order, by mistake the server doubled it, it was just a misunderstanding, he thought I wanted one for each of us, but graciously insisted that he can cancel the second order and bring me whatever I like. I went for the Gnochi, being vegetarian that was the only selection I had if I wanted an Entree.
The menu had a wide variety of tapas, wine and a few entrees to choose from, which gave me the impression that they are aiming to be a wine and tapas joint. I went for the cheese dish after my entree, not because the portion was small but because I was there for a while and just had a craving to compliment my wine with some sharp tastes. I was given a list of cheeses to choose from, I didn't know which ones to go for so I told the server, just pick your 3 favourite ones and surprise me. It was brought out on a black slate, the presentation was wonderful and came with a side of wine grapes, grated cucumber in a dressing, and soft, hearty sliced herb bread. A good sized portion, it was enough to nibble on for the evening and still have some to take home. Next time a single choice of cheese would be plenty of a snack for just me.
The night was wonderful I spent 3 hours having some great conversations with friends, while listening to the soft rock of Steelwood. I felt like I could have easily stayed another 2 hours until shutdown, complements to the pleasant atmosphere and the great music.
Steelwood @ D'Lish from firetext on Vimeo.
I really like the location of the place, 124th street and 104ave. If you live in the west end, and you want to break away for a taste of downtown atmosphere without the hassle, this is definitely the place to check out. I'll definitely be planning another evening here for some wine and tapas, maybe a date with my wife, a night with friends.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
The servers were pleasant, my wife was also popping in for the opening, she only had 15 minutes, to eat and go, so I pre-ordered a dish so it'd be ready by the time she'd arrive. Upon checking the status of my order, by mistake the server doubled it, it was just a misunderstanding, he thought I wanted one for each of us, but graciously insisted that he can cancel the second order and bring me whatever I like. I went for the Gnochi, being vegetarian that was the only selection I had if I wanted an Entree.
The menu had a wide variety of tapas, wine and a few entrees to choose from, which gave me the impression that they are aiming to be a wine and tapas joint. I went for the cheese dish after my entree, not because the portion was small but because I was there for a while and just had a craving to compliment my wine with some sharp tastes. I was given a list of cheeses to choose from, I didn't know which ones to go for so I told the server, just pick your 3 favourite ones and surprise me. It was brought out on a black slate, the presentation was wonderful and came with a side of wine grapes, grated cucumber in a dressing, and soft, hearty sliced herb bread. A good sized portion, it was enough to nibble on for the evening and still have some to take home. Next time a single choice of cheese would be plenty of a snack for just me.
The night was wonderful I spent 3 hours having some great conversations with friends, while listening to the soft rock of Steelwood. I felt like I could have easily stayed another 2 hours until shutdown, complements to the pleasant atmosphere and the great music.
Steelwood @ D'Lish from firetext on Vimeo.
I really like the location of the place, 124th street and 104ave. If you live in the west end, and you want to break away for a taste of downtown atmosphere without the hassle, this is definitely the place to check out. I'll definitely be planning another evening here for some wine and tapas, maybe a date with my wife, a night with friends.
Follow me on Twitter @bhattmaan
Friday, October 8, 2010
New Cineplex UltraAVX, 111mins of my life in Red
So, I got to checkout the newest released to the public innovation in Cinema entertainment. When I first logged in, sorry I mean walked into the Cinema building, the night became a whole new experience.
Earlier in the day my wife emailed to say she won 2 tickets to the movie RED. I didn't think anything of it, because at first, I didn't hear anything about the movie, and I've been to the theatre it was playing at dozens of times; so the night wasn't going to be a new experience, it was just going to be another lovely night with my wife. Let me get this out there too, I've been on this new thing the past few years where I try and not know anything about a movie, that way when I get to see it, its like a surprise.
But, the night was different the moment I walked in the movie theatre, the ticket seller took our double postcard size tickets and asked us where we would like to sit, while presenting us a layout of our theatre on a 12" blue screen that laid in front of us. The seller highlighted 2 seats with his touchscreen; we weren't happy with the seats he had chosen for us, so we asked for a different set of seats, a pair on the other side of the theatre and about half way down. After a bit more thinking, we switched back to the set he picked, seemed this new feature of airplane like selection brought on too many choices to make a easy decision while on the spot. The seller handed us the official tickets and we were making our way towards the red rope, but not before I told the seller that this was a "classy experience." He laughed...
Through the red ropes, under the banner draped entrance and cutting through the aroma of fresh paint. We were definitely walking into a brand new not-a-single-popcorn-kernel-on-the-floor space. The theatre was beautiful, I felt like I was walking into the control deck of the Star Trek Enterprise. Just needed to order "Take us away Commander"....after a quick look around to take in the new setup, we made our way up the far stairs and to our seats.
My isle was The Nile, I couldn't believe the amount of real estate I had, I knew when I come back I'd probably be paying a bit more for my ticket then I normally would for a seat. But it made sense though... wouldn't it be better to fit one less row of people, and offer your customers more comfort. Because really, how often is the movie theatre completely packed that you can't afford to sacrifice a few spaces which is taken up by stragglers anyways. Brilliant thinking Cineplex! I know you must've cut like 5 rows to get the space that you are offering us, but you know we'll gladly pay for the comfort. Speaking of comfort, the seats were nice, I'm the type that prefers a hard bed, a hard seat, hard pillow so this was nice; also I really loved the fabric, a nice vinyl material that felt more like tightly stretched leather. I'm really glad they didn't choose fabric, because I don't think it fabric really ever gets cleaned. Sitting on those fabric chairs, there was always a bit of doubt that would linger in the back of my mind, usually between creeped out stickiness and weird dark stain on the chair thoughts. This time it was great, they had a bit of a lean-back setup to it, I'm not sure why you'd ever use it to lean back, just for it to automatically spring you back upright again, well i guess for anxiety relief during a really good suspense movie.
The sound system was all Bose, the speakers definitely were all about substance over size, but there was a lot of them and with the brand, when I saw the brand, I knew I was up for a great surround sound experience.
EasyRock 102.3 FM was hosting the pre-screening for the movie, RED, you'd figure for being one of the first 100 people in Edmonton to experience this new UltraAVX technology that they'd set out a few roman candles, maybe some wine and cheese at the least. Come on! Let's celebrate this new Edmonton attraction; sadly they handed the microphone over to one of Cineplex's representatives where she talked, then tested the audience on facts about this UltraAVX theatre. I did throw up my hands twice, but then didn't bother after I saw she was just giving cheap posters promoting that promoted the movie. Now if it were a t-shirt, maybe I would've put my hand up the 3rd time...
The visual experience was great though! I thought 3D was a vibrant experience, but this UltraAVX screen was so bright and crisp that it almost looked as if it were 3D, and objects jump right out of the screen when they played the promotional video for the Cineplex UltraAVX technology. Awe-inspiring for sure, which sparked me to uttered a slow woooow, I had a similar experience the time I saw Avatar as my first 3D movie, this was the same, just without the need for 3D glasses. The screen was enormous too, it filled the entire wall of the room, edge to edge; i didn't think it would make that much of a difference by removing the black frame, but it enhanced the experience, by pulling you into the movie.
I've never seen such video clarity that was so darn large and with seats so spacious. I did the couples test too, I tried to snuggle with my wife in various ways, and the arm support height, spacing, rear tilt and leg room made getting close no problem at all. This is important to me, as I'm sure a lot of other people, because this is a theatre that could be a second or third date location, (after the first, because you'd want to at least spend time talking with them). Also a few other things I thought were really cool was the ability to pre purchase your seat location over the web, it definitely brings back that "night out" experience back to the theatres.
Great work Cineplex, just wish I got to see "Watchmen" in this theatre. This isn't really a review about the movie RED, but it was a good movie, be sure to take your parents they'd like it too.
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Here's some locations on where you can check out the Cineplex AVX theatres.
Cineplex Odeon Queensway Cinemas
1025 The Queensway (at Islington)
Toronto, ON
SilverCity CrossIron Mills & XSCAPE Entertainment Centre
261055 CrossIron Blvd (at CrossIron Mills)
Calgary, AB
Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton
1525-99th Street NW
Edmonton, AB
Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton
14231-137th Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Earlier in the day my wife emailed to say she won 2 tickets to the movie RED. I didn't think anything of it, because at first, I didn't hear anything about the movie, and I've been to the theatre it was playing at dozens of times; so the night wasn't going to be a new experience, it was just going to be another lovely night with my wife. Let me get this out there too, I've been on this new thing the past few years where I try and not know anything about a movie, that way when I get to see it, its like a surprise.
But, the night was different the moment I walked in the movie theatre, the ticket seller took our double postcard size tickets and asked us where we would like to sit, while presenting us a layout of our theatre on a 12" blue screen that laid in front of us. The seller highlighted 2 seats with his touchscreen; we weren't happy with the seats he had chosen for us, so we asked for a different set of seats, a pair on the other side of the theatre and about half way down. After a bit more thinking, we switched back to the set he picked, seemed this new feature of airplane like selection brought on too many choices to make a easy decision while on the spot. The seller handed us the official tickets and we were making our way towards the red rope, but not before I told the seller that this was a "classy experience." He laughed...
Through the red ropes, under the banner draped entrance and cutting through the aroma of fresh paint. We were definitely walking into a brand new not-a-single-popcorn-kernel-on-the-floor space. The theatre was beautiful, I felt like I was walking into the control deck of the Star Trek Enterprise. Just needed to order "Take us away Commander"....after a quick look around to take in the new setup, we made our way up the far stairs and to our seats.
My isle was The Nile, I couldn't believe the amount of real estate I had, I knew when I come back I'd probably be paying a bit more for my ticket then I normally would for a seat. But it made sense though... wouldn't it be better to fit one less row of people, and offer your customers more comfort. Because really, how often is the movie theatre completely packed that you can't afford to sacrifice a few spaces which is taken up by stragglers anyways. Brilliant thinking Cineplex! I know you must've cut like 5 rows to get the space that you are offering us, but you know we'll gladly pay for the comfort. Speaking of comfort, the seats were nice, I'm the type that prefers a hard bed, a hard seat, hard pillow so this was nice; also I really loved the fabric, a nice vinyl material that felt more like tightly stretched leather. I'm really glad they didn't choose fabric, because I don't think it fabric really ever gets cleaned. Sitting on those fabric chairs, there was always a bit of doubt that would linger in the back of my mind, usually between creeped out stickiness and weird dark stain on the chair thoughts. This time it was great, they had a bit of a lean-back setup to it, I'm not sure why you'd ever use it to lean back, just for it to automatically spring you back upright again, well i guess for anxiety relief during a really good suspense movie.
The sound system was all Bose, the speakers definitely were all about substance over size, but there was a lot of them and with the brand, when I saw the brand, I knew I was up for a great surround sound experience.
EasyRock 102.3 FM was hosting the pre-screening for the movie, RED, you'd figure for being one of the first 100 people in Edmonton to experience this new UltraAVX technology that they'd set out a few roman candles, maybe some wine and cheese at the least. Come on! Let's celebrate this new Edmonton attraction; sadly they handed the microphone over to one of Cineplex's representatives where she talked, then tested the audience on facts about this UltraAVX theatre. I did throw up my hands twice, but then didn't bother after I saw she was just giving cheap posters promoting that promoted the movie. Now if it were a t-shirt, maybe I would've put my hand up the 3rd time...
The visual experience was great though! I thought 3D was a vibrant experience, but this UltraAVX screen was so bright and crisp that it almost looked as if it were 3D, and objects jump right out of the screen when they played the promotional video for the Cineplex UltraAVX technology. Awe-inspiring for sure, which sparked me to uttered a slow woooow, I had a similar experience the time I saw Avatar as my first 3D movie, this was the same, just without the need for 3D glasses. The screen was enormous too, it filled the entire wall of the room, edge to edge; i didn't think it would make that much of a difference by removing the black frame, but it enhanced the experience, by pulling you into the movie.
I've never seen such video clarity that was so darn large and with seats so spacious. I did the couples test too, I tried to snuggle with my wife in various ways, and the arm support height, spacing, rear tilt and leg room made getting close no problem at all. This is important to me, as I'm sure a lot of other people, because this is a theatre that could be a second or third date location, (after the first, because you'd want to at least spend time talking with them). Also a few other things I thought were really cool was the ability to pre purchase your seat location over the web, it definitely brings back that "night out" experience back to the theatres.
Great work Cineplex, just wish I got to see "Watchmen" in this theatre. This isn't really a review about the movie RED, but it was a good movie, be sure to take your parents they'd like it too.
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Here's some locations on where you can check out the Cineplex AVX theatres.
Cineplex Odeon Queensway Cinemas
1025 The Queensway (at Islington)
Toronto, ON
SilverCity CrossIron Mills & XSCAPE Entertainment Centre
261055 CrossIron Blvd (at CrossIron Mills)
Calgary, AB
Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton
1525-99th Street NW
Edmonton, AB
Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton
14231-137th Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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