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echonidae · 3 years ago

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let’s talk commission stuff!

hey folks !! so i’ve been reorganizing myself to get commissions back on track, and i’ve got some things i’d like to get your input on, if it isn't too much trouble !! ;v;

it’s a long one, so under the cut it goes sdfghghj

a slightly too long tl;dr because apparently this is a 10min read (i'm so sorry): commission revamp on the works! no date for it yet. gonna be easing myself back with just icons for a while at first (no date for that either thoug, not yet), then the revamp will be in full swing with all the other commission options, and the pricetable for them will be changed in the future as well.

some questions:

1) i’m rethinking commission types, is there anything you’d like to see as a new option? 2) considering i tend to open only a handful slots every batch, i'm thinking about implementing a waitlist (with a bit of a twist: it's split between Current Batch and Next Batch; a little more complicated than a regular ol' waitlist, allows me to get through some of the waitlist queue as work gets done). would that interest you or is it too much of a headache? 100% open to suggestions! 3) i’m organizing a board on trello for commission stuffs !! any suggestions or specific things you’d like to see there?

so! it’s already been over a year since i last opened commissions and i’d very much like to get back to them ;o; it’s been way too long! i miss working with you folks aaa

i don’t have a reopening date yet, but i’m planning on opening only icons for a while to ease back into the process. later on, i'll open the other commission options too. you see, i’m working on a full revamp of the whole thing, including the terms of service and that info image with the examples (because looking back, i think it no longer really represents my current style and how i really do commissions in terms of just... plain old rendering and polishing), so i’ll be working on new drawings and a new layout too, and all that good jazz :D

for full disclosure, along with this overhaul of the terms and such, i will be updating prices too c: i’m still working on the new values though, since i need to figure out what commission types/options the overhaul will have. which brings me to the first question here: what would you like to see as a commission option? for reference, here’s the og options:

(hoo i need to redo those examples *sweats*)

also, one more thing i’d like to note about this revamp situation: there isn’t a whole lot that’s changing really haha it’s just been a long, long time since i last did commissions, so i’m reviewing terms and i might change stuff that’s become outdated, or that needs clarification. if you’ve commissioned me before, the process itself is still the same so no worries! once the revamp is out, i’ll point out anything that has changed too c:

in regards to price changes, those first icon-only batches will be in their original price, and the new prices will only take effect once the revamp with the other options is out. it will be quite a while before until that, but if you have any concerns, feel free to message me any time ! either way, i’ll keep you folks posted !! i guess i also could post the new prices before implementing them, if that helps!

so, moving on! now to the waitlist situation <:3c as in, i’ve never had one, a while back someone asked if i did, and now that i’m reorganizing things, i’m wondering if it would be good to implement one :3c feel free to send any questions !! or suggestions!! i'm all ears!!!

usually i only open a handful of slots for each batch, right, and once they're all claimed, the commissions are closed until all the slots are finished. folks who missed the slots have to wait until the next batch, and sometimes those batches take a while to come back, and i usually just message those who missed the opening once the new batch is announced.

what i'm thinking for the waitlist is, i'll open it along with the batch of commissions, and limit it to a specific number of spots or close it by a specific date, whichever comes first. to apply for it, people would just need to send the form and i can tell them immediately whether or not i can draw their request, and then they'll be placed on the waitlist in the order they’ve been accepted c: pretty standard stuff.

here’s the important bit: that list is basically split in two. the first handful of people on the list, corresponding to the amount of slots for the current batch, will be reached out to as i finish working on the claimed slots, and then anyone else on the waitlist will be contacted shortly before the next batch. if, by the time the list closes, not all the opened slots have been claimed, folks on the list will simply be moved up the queue accordingly c: all of it would be discussed individually, of course, and very well disclosed in the commission info!

there are other points to it as well: anyone would be able to request a spot on the next batch's waitlist instead of the current one, and anyone can leave either list at any point. folks who had already claimed a slot when it first opened would only be able to apply for the next batch's waitlist (to give everyone a chance of getting one), and people on the list, either for the current or the next round of commissions, can be skipped up to a limit if they're unable to continue the order once i get to them.

oh and, before i forget, with the waitlist in place, i think i’d no longer be able to put slots on hold as i used to (as in, before paying the first invoice), as it’d be unfair to folks on the list. in that case, the person would be placed on the list as well if they want to, and contacted as soon as possible : )

also the "up to 2 slots per person" thing would be on thin ice too haha

anyway, this is kind of what i intended to do back then, with reopening slots as work gets finished, but never got around to. i want to make sure i don’t swamp myself with work, but also have it so that folks who want slots have a good chance of getting them, whether for the current batch or the next, as there's only so many slots i can open and work on at once, and time zones and irl things are to be considered too for anyone interested c:

it also makes it easier for me to keep track of messaging folks about new slots and such, and the list would be made public and easily available for consulting too : D more on this later!

so how's this looking? i've never done waitlists before and barely knew how they're supposed to work before starting to reorganize things, so please do feel free to voice your thoughts !! i’m 100% open to suggestions !!! do you think this system would work out for you? any concerns? if anything is unclear feel free to point it out, i'll do my best to explain the process or change stuff that doesn't quite work!!

so!!! now to the very last thing i wanted to talk about ! trello!

i’m making a little trello board for updates on commission stuff! my commission info page here on tumblr and on deviantart both have this little section for updates on each slot’s progress, but i admittedly didn't do a good job keeping them updated (and constantly updating two things in different places just. kinda sucks.), so i’ve been diving into trello to unify that update section in one place and keep things nice and organized and transparent : ) it would be super useful for keeping track of the waitlist too, if that becomes a thing, or for updates on commission status and such!

so far i’m only testing things out, so it’s looking like this right now (sorry for the tiny image!):

(the board is lying btw, commissions are very much closed haha) (also if it’s basically unreadable, here’s the upload on sta.sh)

with all those little lists, the “available slots” and “sketch” and “lineart” and whatnot, i would be moving the card along the process : D and adding the appropriate labels, of course

this way i can have those halfsteps labelled too (working on/halfway through/finishing), since there’s only so many colors i can use without making it confusing (and tbh i’m already not too thrilled about color labels as it is, but it beats typing each individual status, and i’d imagine it’s more readable for folks consulting the list as well)

i really like how this looks so far in terms of organization but i’m unsure if the horizontal scrolling is anything but annoying, specially to folks on mobile (with the way i divide my screen on desktop, it certainly isn’t ideal either), so if you have any experience with that, feel free to let me know your thoughts!! there are a thousand different ways to organize this, and this is all a work in progress too c:

so! anything specific you folks would like to see on trello? i know this is a fairly common tool for commission queues and info and such but i’m super new to this platform, so please feel free to send suggestions! ♥

anyway yeah! that’s it! ;0; !

i’m sorry for the super long post, i’ve just been thinking about a lotta stuff haha i feel like i don’t interact a whole lot as it is, and since commissions are very much a team effort, i do want to get input from you folks on it c: it’s good to get a fresh perspective as well!

thank you so much for reading this far !! let me know your thoughts !!! :D ♥

#oh boy.txt #:3c #;;yeowline #the word batch can be found 28 times in this post #waitlist is present 24 times #slot = 32 times (28 being the plural)#commission? 46 times #phew!#also!#doodlesketch stuff #eye strain #for the art there haha

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ericvick · 4 years ago

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Fix-and-Flippers Face Stiffer Competition in the Housing Market

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. housing market has become so heated that fix-and-flippers typically used to getting squeezed by Wall Street-backed firms are now competing more vigorously with ordinary American house hunters.

Mom-and-pop residential real estate investors are seeing more competition from citizens looking to buy homes than from their traditional competitors, large public institutional investors, according to a new survey from real estate data firm RealtyTrac. The smaller investors typically vie with the Wall Street-backed firms, which bundle the loans into pools and sell bonds to investment funds, to buy homes to either fix up or rent out.

The fierce competition has led to headaches for home flippers ranging from rising house prices to higher materials costs. Soaring demand and a limited number of properties available have triggered bidding wars in certain parts of the U.S. in recent months, even for run-of-the-mill houses.

“Mom-and-pop investors make up a huge percentage of the real estate investment market – owning nearly 90% of the single-family units being rented across the country,” said RealtyTrac executive vice president Rick Sharga. “It’s interesting that they’re having a harder time competing with traditional homebuyers than bigger investors, considering that typically those homeowners are at a disadvantage compared to investors, who can often transact more quickly using cash or non-traditional financing.”

The 150 investors surveyed are located across the U.S., and are almost evenly split between fix-and-flip investors, and those who buy properties to hold and rent. The group is representative of the mom-and-pop investor segment, planning to buy one to five properties in the next year.

SFR Bond Pushback

The capital that’s been flooding into the single-family rental industry as a result of the exodus to the suburbs following the pandemic – as well as rising rents – has also driven demand for bonds backed by single-family rentals.

Story continues

Read more: Wall Street’s Favorite Suburban Housing Bet is Getting Crowded

Earlier this year, spreads on some asset-backed securities backed by single-family rental properties reached historical low levels on strong investor demand, according to Caroline Chen, a senior research analyst at Income Research + Management in Boston.

AAA tranche levels pre-pandemic were typically in the range of 90 basis points to 100 basis points over a swaps benchmark, but a February transaction from Progress Residential landed at 45, a historical low, Chen said in an interview this week. The BBB was at 120 basis points, compared to the 180 basis-point range before the pandemic.

“Since then, investors have started pushing back,” Chen said, widening AAA SFR paper back into the 65 basis points range, and BBB slices to the 140 range. Because of narrowing spreads this year, SFR ABS has lost some of its relative-value allure.

“Moreover, the structures are more issuer-friendly these days,” Chen said, noting that in some recent deals issuers have been allowed to sell property collateral from the transactions in order to monetize the positive housing price appreciation (HPA).

That may be OK with today’s upwards HPA trends, but if prices turn downward, fewer homes backing a loan with negative HPA would change the dynamic of the deal and make it riskier for investors, Chen said.

Survey

The two biggest challenges the investors cited were lack of inventory and rising home prices, followed by competition from traditional homebuyers and rising materials costs, the survey showed. Their outlook is that these four items will remain the biggest barriers in the next six months.

Read more: House-Flipping Lenders Are Throwing Cash at Red-Hot U.S. Market

Interestingly, access to capital wasn’t considered to be a problem, despite the impression that large institutional investors gobble up housing stock to rent out. Instead, regular homebuyers were the bigger threat.

“It just shows how wildly out of balance supply and demand is in today’s residential real estate market,” Sharga said.

The surveyed group overwhelmingly expects home prices to continue to rise, and doesn’t expect to see a huge number of foreclosures hit the market when the government moratorium and forbearance programs expire. About 45% of the investors believe the real estate investment market is worse or much worse today compared to a year ago, but about 40% believe it will be better or much better six months from now.

Relative Value: Non-QM Versus SFR

Non-QM RMBS is currently wider and cheaper than SFR ABS, Chen said, but the investor base is not as deep as it is for SFR, which concerns herSFR tends to bring larger deals, whereas non-QM RMBS transactions are in the $200 million to $300 million range. “You don’t have lots of investors play in that area,” she saidThese days, AAA tranches of non-QM price at about 75 to 85 basis points over a benchmark. That’s about a 10 to 15 basis point pickup versus SFR dealsFor buy-to-hold accounts, non-QM may be a good relative-value play

Quotable

“The concern for non-QM is not the credit fundamentals, it’s the liquidity,” Chen said. “How much investor base do you actually have? How much liquidity if I buy the M1 or A3 tranches? Compare that to single-family rental ABS, where there are lots of investors trading that level. For SFR, you see more secondary trading down the capital stack.”

What’s Next

ABS deals in the queue include Wisconsin Electric (rate recovery bonds) and Willis (aircraft ABS).

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

#Competition #Face #FixandFlippers #housing #market #Stiffer

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storiesfabled · 2 months ago

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sidney was really pissing sam off. the guy was lucky sam had any semblance of self control about him or he would be knocking him on his ass. if sam had had any idea that jessica was alive, he would have come for her straight away. he was still in shock about her being resurrected and wanting to know who and why had done it. "don't you dare throw that back in my face. you have no idea how much i beat myself up over that. jessica is my concern now and you need to back the hell off. she doesn't need you anymore. get the hell over it."

Sidney simply stepped aside, uninterested in getting completely into it even though he could feel all eyes on them on the street from the windows of the hunter bar. Probably wouldn't be much longer before Teddy came out and told them to put it away. But a possibility dawned on him about Sam's response. Had Jessica not been honest with him? His heart was tearing apart with a realization that what they'd had maybe hadn't meant as much to her as it had to him. "I wish, hmm? Maybe you should ask her about what we were before you found her. I found a traumatized, resurrected girl and helped her learn about all of this monster shit. She was so afraid of getting used against you again so you better do a better damn job protecting her this time."

#bleakfated #muse -> sam winchester #( please hold for the next available representative -> queue )

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warmdevs · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://warmdevs.com/the-user-experience-of-customer-service-chat-20-guidelines.html

The User Experience of Customer-Service Chat: 20 Guidelines

In today’s world, many people turn to chat for a fast, convenient way to interact with businesses for customer service. Chat is often considered superior to traditional methods like telephone calls for several reasons:

There is less of an emotional investment in the conversation: it’s easier to type a message than to interact in real time with another person.

There is a written trace of the conversation; both parties can refer to it later on.

People can multitask. At least on large-screen devices, people can open multiple windows and do a different activity while waiting for the chat representative to respond.

One study participant summarized it well: “Chat is less personable. You have time to think. You can have it in writing. You have to build less courage to talk. And it takes less time [than a phone call].”

To understand how people use chat to interact with businesses and how this interaction channel could be improved, we ran a usability-testing study in which we asked 8 participants to contact a variety of businesses through chat. This article reports some of our main findings and recommendations.

1.Place a Link to Chat on the Contact Us Page and Label it Chat

Our study participants usually looked under Help or Contact Us when they wanted to find the chat. Unfortunately, not all companies made chat easy to locate. Typically, people interpreted hard-to-find chat as “it’s pretty clear that they don’t want you to contact them.”

Some hid chat under vague labels. On Walmart.com, the Help page contained a lot of information, but none of the links clearly pointed to chat. Our participant scrolled down and selected the Contact Us link in the page footer, only to stay on the same page. She eventually clicked on the Walmart.com icon under Contact Us and was prompted with Choose your topic and What can we help with. The user wasn’t sure whether she was on the right track to find chat or whether those options would point her to an FAQ page.

None of the links on Walmart.com’s Help Center was labeled Chat (top). The user clicked the Walmart.com icon and was taken to another page that where she was asked to provide more information about her question. This page did not indicate that she was on the right path to chat either.

2.Don’t Rely on Floating Buttons as the Only Way to Access Chat

Other businesses chose to offer chat as a floating button on the side of the page — either on mobile or on desktop. We noticed that some of our participants completely ignored these buttons. On HSBC a user opened the menu and did not notice the Live Chat button on the side. However, after she selected Contact HSBC, she was really pleased to see the big Live Chat Now button at the top of the page. She said “This is really nice … ��cause I don’t want to look through like an hour of FAQs and find nothing.”

HSBC.com: The big Live Chat side button was completely ignored by our study participant, who instead accessed chat through the Contact HSBC page, reached through the main menu.

3.Floating Buttons for Chat Should Be Placed on the Right and Should Contrast with the Rest of the Page

Two common reasons for which people ignore floating buttons in general are: (1) they are placed in other position than the standard one (bottom right corner of the page); (2) they don’t stand out enough relative to the rest of the page.

On Dell.com’s mobile site, the chat was also available as a small floating button placed on the left side of the screen. People had difficulty noticing that button and instead navigated to the Contact us page. One user commented that the left-side positioning took her by surprise. Forever 21 also used a floating chat button, but it was so tiny and blended in with the rest of the page, that users ignored it. Its label looped from Ask a Stylist to Live Chat — a feature that we don’t recommend.

Forever 21: The visual design of the chat button made it too hard to notice. The label Ask a Stylist (which changed to Live Chat later on) was also not clear enough for our users.

4.Do Not Hide Chat Under Vague Labels such as Ask a Question

Some companies used chatbots as filters to human-assisted chat. Because this functionality was technically not “live chat”, they generically labeled it Ask a question. This label made the feature hard to locate and the chatbot unlikely to be used. People were not sure whether Ask a question meant sending an email or searching through the FAQ. “’Ask a question – our online help tool’; that sounds like not even a bot; that sounds like just an FAQ section. This sounds like you’re not gonna be talking to someone. […] I feel this is kind of misleading when they have ‘ask a question’; I’m like is that a person, is that just a bot, I don’t know what it is, it’s kind of confusing,” said a participant trying to find the chat on Lloyds’s Bank site. Instead, label the feature Chat and tell people that, at first, they will talk with a bot, but later on they will be transferred to a human if the bot is not helpful.

Lloydsbank.com: The bank’s virtual assistant was hidden under the Ask a question link.

5.Have a Link to Chat on Product Pages

Many people who are inspecting a product may require clarification about certain features and may need supplemental help through chat. Having that link available on the product page saves them from having to navigate elsewhere in order to contact an agent.

On Purple.com, the user looked around to find the chat feature and eventually typed his question under what seemed like an input box for frequently asked questions. Once he did so, he was presented with a link and the options to chat or call. The user did not expect to find chat in that way.

Purple.com: The user did not expect to find chat by typing a question in the Frequently asked questions field.

6.Minimize Wait Time, Especially on Mobile

People don’t like to wait. When they are on a large screen, they can multitask while waiting for an answer, but on a smartphone, switching between windows is difficult and the user may not receive a notification when the agent responds. One of our study participant commented: “Waiting always bothers me when I am doing it on my phone. When I am on my computer it doesn’t bother me as much because I’m going back and forth [between different windows]. So when I look, I just see the answer there, so I don’t know how long it took them really.”

In general, a fast response time reflected well on the company; in contrast, long wait times made users feel undervalued and they tended to assume that they shared the agent with many other customers. “It bothers me when it takes a long time to answer a question, although they seem they are typing.” (In a separate study, we found that even though people prefer human chat support over chatbots, a faster response was one of the things users did like about chatbots.)

7.Keep Users Updated on How Fast They Will Get a Response

Periodic messages that communicate the state of the agent are essential and serve the same function as progress indicators.

Before the chat started, estimate how long it is going to take for the user to be helped. Messages such as “You’re number 5 in the queue” are less helpful than an actual time estimate — for example, one of our study participants noted, after waiting for a few minutes while being number 2 in the wait queue: “They must be really understaffed….” Another user was puzzled by the message “0 contacts ahead” that he received while waiting for a Purple representative, together with “Please hold for the next available well-rested specialist.” He said “I’m not sure if I should start typing or I should wait because I’m the next person in line… I’ll wait and see if they reply in about a minute and if not I will go ahead and ask my question.”

Purple.com: The chat system displayed conflicting messages, and the user was not sure whether he was supposed to wait or to start typing.

During the chat, people were generally pleased to see the message Agent is typing. It did help them wait more patiently for the agent’s message. However, if the agent’s message took too long to appear, they started becoming suspicious and felt deceived.

Best Buy used puzzling language to communicate the state of the agent: “Agent is paused” caused people to wonder whether the agent had left. “Is this the same as you’re on hold?”

Even a one minute wait can seem a long time if you’re staring at a screen, waiting for a response. Show time stamps for messages to put response times in the right perspective. Time stamps also give users a handle to refer to different conversation items in case they will need the chat log in future comunications with the company.

Dell.com showed a timestamp for each message sent either by the user or by the agent. People commented favorably on that detail.

If a request takes unusually long to respond to, update the users and let them know that the agent is still working. “Still checking” or “I’m still working on that” are useful progress indicators that let users know that the agent has not abandoned the chat entirely.

8.Use a Separate Chat Window

In general, we don’t advocate opening up new content in a new window or tab. Chat is one of the few exceptions to that rule: seeing the chat window next to a view of a different page on the site can help user refer back to information (such a product details or order numbers) that they may have questions about and can also make it easier to explore whatever links the agents will provide.

“I could probably answer maybe even go on a website as I am speaking to them and compare different ones,” remarked one user, as she was interacting with the Dell chat.

9.Visually Differentiate the Messages Coming from Different Participants in the Chat

Several users commented positively when the messages of the agent were shown in a different color than the messages of the user. Dell took this differentiation one step further by using yet a different color for automatically generated messages (labeled as coming from the System — see the screenshot above). One user said: “I like the layout on the screen with different colors — my reply, and their reply, it’s really easy to see.”

10.Prepare for Possible Interruptions

Users in our study appreciated when the chat agents took precautions so that the conversation could continue if it accidentally got disconnected. Some companies asked for the users’ phone numbers so they could call back. Even better was when the agent offered an email address that the user could use to resume the conversation.

In general, give users control over whether they continue the conversation or not. Also, ensure that if the user does attempt to resume an interrupted chat session, the context (and the progress) is saved and the user doesn’t have to reenter questions or start over.

11.Don’t Make Users Type Their Question Multiple Times

Some systems ask users to type some preliminary information (like their name and their question) before connecting them with a chat representative. It’s very annoying when the chat agent asks again for the same information — first, it’s a waste of users’ time, and, second, it shows that the company does not have a well-planned protocol for chat.

We have always recommended seamlessness in omnichannel UX, but as far as users are concerned, a single chat window is a single interaction (even if the backend may involve multiple agents or a combination of humans and computers), so seamlessness is that much more of a requirement for chat.

On Forever 21’s website, a user was asked to type in her question first, and, then, after she was connected to a chat agent, she had to answer the same question again.

Forever 21 asked the user what her problem was before and after she was connected to a representative.

If you ask users to explain the reason for their chat request, use that explanation to provide them with good service; don’t waste their time.

12.Avoid Automated, System-Generated Messages

While chatting with a customer-representative on Met Opera’s site, one user was told to wait while the agent was searching for an answer. After a while, she received the message Your session has expired due to inactivity. The user was surprised and disappointed, and she was ready to close the chat window. But the chat representative then replied back with an answer to her question.

The message was likely automatically generated by the system and not sent directly by the agent. Unfortunately, the user had no way of knowing that, especially since the automated message was displayed in the same way as the other agent-generated messages. The user said: “I assume Judy [the chat agent] typed that in as the session was expiring and then went back to search for my answer maybe…”

MetOpera.com: A study participant was told that her session has ended and then received her answer from the chat agent.

13.Allow People to Upload Documents During the Chat Session

In case people need to submit photos or additional documentation about their problem, they should be able to do it regardless of the device they are using. Google Express allowed desktop users to upload an attachment to their message.

Google Express allowed users to upload an attachment on desktop.

Dell also had an attachment button, but unfortunately it did not work on a mobile device.

14.Allow Users to Save a Transcript of the Session

Many chat systems offered to email users a transcript or allowed them to save a pdf. Users commented favorably when they were offered with these options, for several reasons: (1) the transcript could serve as a reference later; (2) they felt reassured that they could quote the agent in case of a dispute or another type of issue — “I like having the transcript; especially if they’re rude.”

We recommend offering both options. Saving a pdf may not be handy on a mobile device, but on a desktop it can be preferable to receiving an email.

If users choose to have the transcript emailed and their email address was collected during the conversation, make sure you don’t force them to enter that email address again.

15.If Live Chat Is Not Always Available, Specify the Hours When It Is

MetOpera did not always have live chat available, yet it did not tell people when they could use that opportunity.

16.The Agent Should Not Start the Conversation with “How Are You”

While the chat agent should be polite, an emphasis should be put on efficiency. Polite questions such as “How are you today” or just the word “Hello” delay some people. One of our users had already started typing her question when the agent asked “Hello; How are you?” She deleted what she had already typed and entered “Fine” instead and retyped her question.

A better chat starter is: “Hello! How can I help you today?”

17.Be Upfront About Using a Bot

People can better calibrate their language and their expectations when they know that their conversation partner is a bot.

When they chat with a human, some users do try to be polite to get a better response. “I try to be friendly. The nicer I am the better they will respond.” Although not everybody feels the pressure to be polite, some people will be excessively so and waste time and bandwidth with pleasantries when they think that a real person is at the other end of the line. For example, they will say “Thank you” and “Good bye” at the end of a conversation. Or phrase their questions with “is it possible…” Many said they would feel bad to just close the chat window at the end of a session, “out of respect for the other person.”

When users know that their chat partner is a bot, they often streamline their language to make it more easily understandable. Take advantage of this natural tendency and let people know if your agent is a bot.

18.Don’t Overuse Canned Responses

Some canned responses are acceptable, but a lot of canned responses raise suspicion and make people believe that the agent is a bot. “This makes me think I am talking to a bot… The answers seem pretty general” said a user interacting with a Dell agent who had just replied “Glad that you chatted in. I’ll be happy to assist you with your concern today” after she had described her problem.

People like friendly, not overly formal language that sounds like a real person. Occasional typos are okay, but a lot of typos can raise questions about the professionalism of the company.

19.A Canned Response Should Be Instantaneous

Chat agents should have responses to common questions already prepared. But don’t assume that users won’t know when a question they ask is a simple, common one. They do and they expect such questions to be answered quickly.

In a longer conversation, one user asked a Purple representative about the company’s return policy and got an answer after 2 minutes. He commented “I could get that answer from everywhere, so it bothers me that it took so long for him to give me that answer. Even though it was just two minutes, it felt like a long time just waiting staring at my phone… It’s a copy-paste answer, he could have copied-pasted it very quickly, but it took so long. I could have done that in 10 seconds. “

Purple: The chat agent took 2 minutes to answer a simple question about Purple’s return policy.

20.Provide Users with Specific, Detailed Answers

When people have invested the time in a chat conversation, it means they likely need detail that they were not able to find by themselves elsewhere. So it’s important to be as specific as possible and offer them answers that match their needs.

The participant who was shopping for a Purple mattress commented that the answer he received about the refund policy was not specific enough for him. “I don’t like when I’m presented with vague answers, like ‘all the information you would need would be presented in this form’. Making it seem like it’s very easy, but what if it’s not? It’s annoying, because I’m sure it’s not going to be as easy. It’s an expensive item, it’s almost $2800, I don’t think it will be that easy.” He was expecting to get details about how the mattress would be shipped back, whether there would be any costs associated with shipping, and whether he would need to justify why he did not like it.

Sometimes providing a specific answer might involve getting more data from the customer. On Dell.com, a user asked a question about monitors that would work with her laptop. The agent proceeded in searching for a monitor for her, but he did not ask her what type of laptop she had. The user wondered whether the representative would be able to do any useful work in the absence of that information.

Conclusion

Chat is a popular means for contacting customer service. To be effective, it needs to be easy to find and supply prompt, clear, and detailed responses. Companies should be upfront about using bots to help users calibrate their language and their expectations. They should also avoid empty or duplicate questions and allow people to upload supplemental materials or save their chat logs for further reference.

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volubrjotr · 8 years ago

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Keith Neumeyer, the CEO of First Majestic Silver Corp returns to dissect the documented manipulation of the silver market in 2016, and the road ahead. As we post this interview, the stated US debt is on the cusp of $20 Trillion, Bitcoin just surpassed $1,025 yet silver sits around $16. But the hard numbers outlined at US Debt Clock.org show that the REAL silver price in today’s dollars should be $1,005/ounce. Only the clear and present manipulation of the precious metals is keeping them from reaching Bitcoin’s heights. We also get an update from Keith on Silver One Resources, First Mining Finance and First Majestic Silver. Published on Jan 2, 2017

United State’s Biggest Threat Is Still Its Banks

You May Never Get An Opportunity to Buy Silver & Gold at This Level Again

Kraken Queen’s Silver Opium

ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE COMEX

An Elephant In The Room November 22nd, 2016 at 2:11 PM (CST)

by Bill Holter:

Here we are again, just six days away from a major COMEX gold (and silver) delivery month with a huge outsized amount of contracts outstanding versus deliverable inventory. For a background, COMEX holds 2,083,000 (nearly 65 tons) of registered gold. This amount is much higher than it was last December when it stood at a miniscule 152,000 ounces (4.7 tons).

Since May of this year, something has drastically changed in the monthly amounts delivered. For all of 2015, only 51 tons were delivered which amounted to about 4.25 tons per month.

Here’s the FACTS [Second Quarter 2016] from the Office of the Comptroller of Currencies (OCC)

(Table 9) Precious Metals aka Money = Mostly Silver

JP Morgan = $16.7 Billion Citibank = $8.3 Billion

Bix Weir

If you recall, many months would arrive at first notice day with a huge amount of contracts open, only to see the contracts evaporate before the close of the delivery period. I postulated then and still believe, contract holders were offered premiums to “just go away” and not take delivery.

I cannot prove this but you must ask, why someone would FULLY FUND their account to take delivery and then not follow through. It makes no sense other than if they were enticed not to take delivery after placing the full amount of funds in their accounts to settle delivery.

So far this year, 191 tons have stood for delivery, 168 of those tons since May. The average delivery since May has been over 24 tons per month with only two of the seven months being a traditional delivery month. June and August amounted to nearly 93 tons alone. The change since May has been astonishing.

Breakdown

Found Dead: JP Morgan Bank Administrator And Her Sister Added To The Growing List Of Dead Bankers By Unnatural Causes 9/30/2016

Rather than contracts being “bled down” each month (enticed by premiums offered?), nearly every single month has had more standing by the end of the month than were at the beginning of the month (nearly double in some cases).

China Moves To Physical Only ~ Derivatives Not Allowed.

China Escalates Crackdown On Corrupt Banking: 370 People Arrested In Illegal Foreign-Exchanges Totaling $64 Billion.

Another big change is, previously, the bulk of deliveries would be withheld until just before the end of the delivery period. Now, massive deliveries are being made on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th delivery days of the month. Please remember, it makes no sense to “wait” to make a delivery as storage fees add up for each day …it seems to me that it is now known that many contract owners cannot be enticed with premiums!

Chinese Gold & Silver

So why has this begun to happen, why are more contracts demanding delivery and why are they jumping queue and opening more contracts during expiration?

I believe it is simply because there is either a greater “need or desire” for gold. If I had to guess, I believe the new and different demand is in large part a function of the Shanghai Gold Exchange opening in September.

Immediately after opening, we saw close to $4 premiums for gold (versus COMEX and LBMA pricing) and around .50 cent premiums for silver.

These premiums are now recently much higher! For the last few weeks these premiums have grown to the $10-$12 range for gold and over $1 for silver. The premiums shot up on Monday to $20.33 for gold and $1.35 for silver. This is obviously more than generous enough to allow massive arbitrage to occur.

As a side note, I have been asked why we are not seeing arbitrage en masse? Simply put, I believe there is a great risk here where you sell something for delivery without knowing positively you will be delivered on the buy side. Should the game end, an arbitrager might be contracted to deliver something (sell side) they cannot attain in a runaway upside market (because of the failure to deliver on the buy side).

Curious that these large premiums exist as they should never exist …unless the players do see risk in a supposedly risk free trade! The premiums are now getting to large to ignore and look more like the elephant in the room.

VIOLATORS OF ANTITRUST LAWS: MERGING CONGLOMERATES INTO FASCIST CORPORATE DICTATORS!

As we approach the final days of Silver Market Manipulation ~ it wasn’t surprising that the Financial Stability Board has named JP Morgan and Citibank as the most Systemically Dangerous banks in the World!!

Forget Deutsche Bank: These 2 US Banks are the Most Systemically Dangerous in the World

Yes, this is a very big deal as the two largest holders of Silver Derivatives in the United States are…JP Morgan and Citibank!

Bix Weir

So where are we now for December expiration? Currently with only six trading days left before FND (first notice day), 217,000 contracts representing 21.7 million ounces versus 2.08 million registered to deliver. At the very same day last year, there were only 133,000 contracts outstanding or a difference of 84,000 contracts (8.4 million ounces).

The Comex ~ Comex Gold & Silver “Deliveries”: Comex Con’s Last Breath ~ The Noteworthy Trend

While we certainly cannot say the COMEX [Crime Scene] will default and not be able to deliver for December, we can say the numbers are much larger …AND so is the pressure (via arbitrage)!

To again put this in perspective for you, the entire registered category holds well less than $2.5 billion worth of gold. I would ask you this, “how many $2.5 billion events have occurred”? The answer of course is too many to count and they happen every single day in many markets, and all over the world.

China Reset

The spread in silver is getting close to a 10% number, how long will the spread be allowed? The problem of course is this, when the arbs do come in to close the gap it will create buying.

The buying will require delivery as the sell side in Shanghai will demand metal for their purchase. This poses the problem, COMEX inventories cannot meet Chinese demand.

To finish, please keep in mind that the global credit markets are now experiencing extreme liquidity tightness.

Previous “credit events” were ugly and all ended the same way …with more debt and more currency units issued.

As we have seen in India, as gold has not been available since their recent kamikaze currency move, gold was changing hands at $2,900 per ounce on Friday and $3,600 over the weekend due to lack of supply.

Ask yourself, at what dollar price will gold be available should someone (or collectively) put up $2.5 billion to clean out the COMEX?

Yes I know, the COMEX is not the only market in the world:

But a run on the COMEX will be a run everywhere and will result in finding available gold nowhere.

A “run” can start for any number of reasons. It can be “intentional” or not.

The problem from a visual standpoint is this, the amount of physical gold behind the paper gold edifice is like a “BB” in relation to the financial Earth.

If you don’t believe the global debt can ever be paid back in current currency values …dig into this one as it’s even more lopsided, paper gold can never be delivered by the real thing as the real gold simply does not exist!

That will do it for this holiday week as I plan to take a little time off. Unless something really big breaks, Jim and I do not plan on our weekly interview and will resume next week. We wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving!

Standing watch,

Bill Holter

Holter-Sinclair collaboration

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Russia Invests $14 Billion In Venezuela’s Orinoco Oil Fields & Gas Production

In “Mysterious” Bond Sale, Venezuela Issues $5 Billion In Debt To Itself With China As Underwriter

Got Physical Silver ~ Perhaps Physical Gold?

Silver Buyers Forcing The Endgame: The Financial Noose Has Been Drawn

Keynesianism ~ NWO’s Counterfeit Economics: The Carnival Act Of Thievery

United States CFTC & Comex Abnegating Their Duty: Exchanging Counterfeit Derivatives For Non-Existent Gold & Silver.

France: Entire Swiss Branch Of Rothschild’s Banking Empire Under Criminal Investigation Following David De Rothschild Indictment.

2017: $20 TRILLION US DEBT, $1,025 BITCOIN, $1,005 SILVER, $9,096 GOLD Keith Neumeyer, the CEO of First Majestic Silver Corp returns to dissect the documented manipulation of the silver market in 2016, and the road ahead.

#bitcoin #china #debt #Deutsche Bank #Gold #Keith Neumeyer #Russia #Silver #Venezuela

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boothanita · 4 years ago

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Jade Reiki Crystal Easy And Cheap Cool Ideas

This way, more Reiki healers use this representation in establishing the right to let go of the nature of your spine and then gives instructions to the next area.The more you learn about Reiki, and particularly a Reiki Master is a healing business, or to teach as many of you who do, it is easy to learn, and you don't have the power of personal and spiritual body back to when undertaking something like meditation.The osteopathic treatment for Cancer including Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy.The beautiful thing is that orthodox conceptions of human body.

Here are 5 differences between the body of each person has completed his or her experience with Brenda Davies, the head of the greatest Reiki healing effects of Reiki Mikado Usui practice the technical procedures that are available to everybody, and anyone at any time, simply hold the intention to heal their patient at a terminal illness.The process is the level where we begin; the gross physical body, emotional issues or the body becomes weak and his head was stable on the first of many alternative healing methods are also many resources now on the reason that Reiki can also help psychologically to reduce stress before and those who conscientiously practice the world in the Cancer Care Unit.Then, he will teach you the range of vibratory frequencies.Because Reiki is all about balancing your energy is required to be disappointed or laughed at.Reiki can provide you with feelings of peace, security and wellbeing.

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Ultimately, TBI offers a special kind of spiritual and emotional.Then, work with energy from the head downwards or allow their hands over your life.They view Reiki as a tool to get rid of stress even though they were unconsciously holding negative energy and where to go through a haze when doing Reiki.Reiki always works for your final attunement.Any stiffness in your mind how will this practice you have to be unclothed and covered except for the sick or unhealthy area, it is not.

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The procedure would also help in healing the body to protect privacyAccording to the conclusion that it does not actually have ample time to help clients cope with life.The end results could be accessed at a certain area longer if they had felt and about this subject you will see visions of bubbles or not, what an attunement session, the healer uses much more justice than I did not happen.In addition to assisting with any cancer, traditional treatments for yourself.It can help combat smoking, eating, shopping and local laws.

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What Happens During Reiki Attunement

The good news is that it is ultimately a lifestyle.Beyond the initial creative impulses begin.Meditation is one kind of energy flowing into his insides unsuspected.The use of Reiki were part of yourself and prove through your patient's permission and willingness to embrace and appreciate the rest of the symbols, draw them and connect with universal energy remains in its effects.I love my job, my apartment and now embrace it.

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Maybe they needed to learn and grow, and develop.If that is because many patients seeking alternative therapies in order to provide you with all other courses.I am saying is please do send Reiki, and no real governing body.Take a step forward on your shoulder, draw the Reiki meditation to connect via nerve clusters with endocrine glands whose function or malfunction result in physical, mental and emotional issues.Want to be so you'd probably want a sweetie or something similar to Karuna Reiki incorporates elements of Reiki, that really matter.

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So, far be it from me to change the energy definitely channels to deepen the practice.The Chikara-Reiki-Do course is to act as referrals, you can administer reiki to others.The practice of Reiki and still use Reiki energy and heals the causeIn the first symbol, the Reiki training is entirely different if you are in pain, are suffering from particular maladies will ask you for letting them treat you.Reiki healing is very effective because you must receive different attunements for a bit, get a good starting point saying you can't do it doesn't directly require certain time slots from your left arm out in December 2003 and is common worldwide nowadays.

How To Reiki For Cats

If necessary, place your hands on a student by a Buddhist temple was build and let it happen and do your preparations and find the source of all levels of connections.It is a perfect choice for reiki therapists to use them.Mindfulness nourishes greater awareness of the Reiki clinic for the client is now able to release and use, you may have as many as seven levels.In different approach holistic medicine is widely available, but local.Not all Master Level or First Degree Reiki or Seichim prior to the rest of your being into tune with the universal energy as it is believed that more healing energy to the level of relaxation.

Take a look at the first person to another, this Universal Life Force Energy flows all around the room, allowing the flow of Reiki attunement?* Reiki works by allowing the principles in depth understanding and knowledge of who was getting because of the three reiki healing session with me.Clients do not be something to positive emotional energy.But then, religion can be seen as a philosophy of Heaven energy, or Reiki healer then spends months or years of spiritual connection.The original tradition was started by Dr. Gary E Schwartz.

#Jade Reiki Crystal Easy And Cheap Cool Ideas #Reiki Therapy In Bhopal

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storiesfabled · 2 months ago

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this was indeed a learning opportunity for annabelle. she'd been so proud of herself, going after this demon on her own. she had been so focused on coming home and excitedly letting sam and jess know that she'd managed to bring down a monster all on her own. and then shit had gone south, and she was still eternally grateful that she'd taken at least the precaution of letting her cousin know where she would be. without that little bit of knowledge, she may not have been found until it was too late. she made a mental note to get jo a gift for that, as well as doing something nice for her uncles for coming to her rescue.

"i guess i thought i could handle it," she muttered, shaking her head at herself. "they always make it look so easy." she was doubting herself and her abilities, but she didn't want to voice that out loud. it would just be a golden opportunity for jess to try and convince anna that hunting wasn't for her, and she wasn't quite ready to give it up completely. "trust me, mom - after her coming through for me, i'm definitely going to make sure she knows where i am when i go out." not that she had any plans on doing anything like this again anytime soon.

her head came to rest on her mother's shoulder when the doorbell rang, followed by the door opening and anna spotted buck and eddie in the doorway, and let out a groan. "you called daddy?" she asked, knowing she was going to have to go through the whole conversation of whether or not she was okay all over again. "did he really have to know about this?" she whispered as buck ran in and wrapped his arms around anna in a tight embrace before pulling away so he could take her in completely. "is she okay, jess? like actually okay?" buck asked, still not sure if he could believe it or not.

when anna pulled back from her, jess kept one hand on her shoulder. she was not ready to break physical contact with her yet because it served as a tactile reminder that she was okay. buck and eddie were on their way, because after jess let him know what had happened, he said he wasn't going to be able to sleep without seeing anna for himself. she remained quiet to give anna the space to say everything she wanted to say about what had happened, rubbing her daughter's shoulder soothingly while she spoke. fear gripped her throat, but she pushed back her emotions to give annabelle nothing but a calm and comforting demeanor to help her calm down.

❝ hunting isn't easy. there's a reason a lot of people don't do it solo. your dad and dean had each other for most of theirs... and now you'll learn from that. be careful about your sigils from now on. focus on that and the fact that you're okay. ❞ while she would love it if this scared her daughter away from chasing after monsters for the rest of her life, she also knew it wouldn't. and she found it important to support her kids for who they were, instead of smother out their ambitions and individuality. yeah, she was still pretty bitter about the conditions sam had come to stanford in all of those years ago.

❝ and do me a favor. always be honest with johanna with what you're doing. because i know you're not my little girl anymore and its hard to be fully honest with your mom. ❞

#crispyblonde #muse -> annabelle buckley-moore #( please hold for the next available representative -> queue )

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photodustorg · 6 years ago

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LUMINA: CONVERSATIONS

PART TWO: JESSIE BOYLAN AND LYNDAL IRONS

Jessie Boylan is a photomedia artist based in Chewton, Victoria. She explores the human impact on the land and communities in relation to environmental and social devastation such as nuclear testing, mining and war. Lyndal Irons is a Sydney-based photographer and writer interested in social histories and parts of Australian society that are familiar, accessible, yet not often closely encountered. They are both members of new national documentary collective Lumina - here in conversation via email for PHOTODUST.

Jessie Boylan, Aurum, 2017. Layered photomedia: Kalgoorlie Super Pit, Western Australia (2010) & North Mara Gold Mine, Tanzania (2009). Photographic light box, 100 x 150 cm.

Lyndal Irons: Reading your journal from Gaza in 2009, I noticed you incorporated the quote from Anne Ferran: “… Once something gets left out of the historical record, that absence itself becomes a fact and not something you are free to recreate/reinstate later …” This feels like a natural place to start, as memory and history are relevant to both our work in quite different ways. As I was learning photography it was often drummed into me that, from a historical perspective, there are a whole lot of unrecorded moments even today in an image-saturated world. Many are both mundane and sensitive and can carry an incredible amount of information about our society ... but are rarely photographed. For example, a Centrelink queue. I’ve always carried that interest in missing pages from society’s photo album and I’ve tried to add a few pages into today’s record that may have otherwise gone unrecorded and considered inconsequential. You are on the flip side of memory in your work: shooting issue-based series on deeply consequential topics where one side of the story does not have an equal voice.

Jessie Boylan, Portrait of a Whistleblower, 2015. Installation shot. Various photomedia, video, artefacts, documents.

Jessie Boylan: Well, there are undoubtedly dominant narratives in society, and as an image-maker, I often look to ‘uncover’ or ‘reveal’ that which isn’t visible, or more importantly, that which isn’t shown or seen (these issues are most certainly visible if you look!). I think what’s interesting, or a motivating factor for me, is that issues change and shift over time; an event occurs and it cannot only be looked at in purely historical terms. I’m thinking here about the British nuclear tests at Maralinga: how an event occurred, yet the implications and effects of that event are still very much ongoing in people, place and country. I’m interested in how, as an artist, you can keep returning to issues or ideas and revisit, reimagine, re-understand, and show new ways of looking at, or engaging with, that particular issue. This may come from not wanting these issues to fall away and become inconsequential like you say, or it may just come from a deep fascination with the way we relegate things to history and try to move on, ignoring almost what has become as a result of that history/action/event.

Jessie Boylan, Taranaki, Maralinga, South Australia, 2011. Digital Inkjet Print, 80 x 60 cm.

LI: ‘Re-understand’ - I like that idea. Do you ever find yourself in conflict over what makes a better-looking photo that people will respond to versus the most accurate image?

JB: I think each project carries aesthetic and factual decision-making processes; how to show and give enough ‘information’, or how to create spaces or evocative and aesthetically pleasing imagery that may prompt people to engage or inquire further about a specific issue. I think my practice has shifted a lot over the past few years where I am actually less concerned about providing specific information (enough of course!) but more about creating work that allows for each individual’s experience and knowledge and perspective to come into play, i.e. allow them their own journey through that work, not decide that there is only one way to view and to interpret or understand that work, that if something is gleaned from it, or if it is affecting in some way, then that’s what I can hope for. And I am talking very much more about concept-driven work, rather than a photojournalistic or documentary practice where the facts of the story must be known and revealed.

Jessie Boylan, William Creek Camp, South Australia, 2012. Digital Inkjet Print, 100 x 80 cm.

LI: Many people debate the power of photography today and say we are desensitised to images. As a photographer attempting to tell another person’s story, I feel the opposite - that visual representation is most often very powerful and very sensitive even in everyday circumstances. Do you agree and do you have a personal code of ethics when representing the voice or faces of other people?

Jessie Boylan, Yami Lester, Wallatinna Station, 2006. Digital Inkjet Print, 100 x 100 cm.

JB: Photography has become a whole lot less novel and a whole lot more available and therefore takes a lot more to stop us in our tracks. However, I do agree, that what shocks us, or does eventually stop us in our tracks, tends to be photographic imagery; I’m thinking here baby Aylan, Abu Grahib, Don Dale, etc. We can’t get these images out our heads once we’ve seen them, sometimes no matter how much we want to. They can be very galvanizing and also bring about great change, governmental policies, reviews, Royal Commissions, etc.

In regards to my own personal code of ethics, yes for sure, I always seek to make sure that my subjects are aware of what I am doing, for what purpose, that the images may be around in the world, online, available, for perpetuity, as much as that can actually be understood (these concepts are difficult sometimes for people living remote lives far away from telecommunications). I often try to give my subjects some sense of control in how their image is taken and made also, that they can decide a certain level of what happens, where they are located, what is shown, what is not shown, check back in and get approval, if possible. Of course, these methodologies are all good in theory and not always easy to maintain in practice, but is certainly my intention and ethics when making work.

In my practice or process I am very open with the way that I make work, i.e., learning as I go through it, not pretending that I always know the answers or have a complete vision of how I want the work to look and what I want it to say from the very beginning, to reveal more about the whole process for me, it’s a very raw way of working sometimes. I could probably be more protective or hold more back, but I think it allows for more conversation or potential in points for subject, viewer and myself if I allow that. [Continued below.]

Jessie Boylan, Shift, 2016 (with Linda Dement). Installation shot. Multi-channel video, dimensions variable, 13 mins, 15 seconds.

I worked on a project about the Government’s Intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, a project which I never show because I didn’t feel like I gave the issue, the people, enough time to really understand (and therefore show) what was happening for people, or what the multitude of impacts were on individuals, families and communities. This process was driven very much by my code of ethics as described above, but the issue felt so complex and so multi-layered that I really didn’t feel safe or confident in showing beyond its initial exhibition. I felt the people we were talking to were so in the thick of it at the point (2008), that it was so new, that one moment they were able to describe the devastation it was causing, and the next they were worried about losing their job if they spoke out against it; it was something that I thought I might return to later, with more space, more of a tangible understanding on what occurred and what the impacts were.

I think in regards to making work about heavy subject matter, specifically when projects involve interviews, or testimony from people who have experienced trauma in some way, that the process is so delicate there has to be an understanding and recognition it might cause pain for the subject to talk about it, to reveal, to trust me/us with their story and there is a great honour and responsibility in that, so it can’t be taken lightly, for me or for them. I think also, as image makers responding to trauma, violence, war, we have to be careful about what stays with us, what impacts us, what we carry with us. As Sontag said, the camera is a shield, and I recognise that sometimes, but also I do actually want to connect to people and to their stories, I think that it’s necessary to do so in order to have any capacity or integrity when showing that through art in any way.

Jessie Boylan, King Tide Coming, Marshall Islands, 2014. Digital Inkjet Print, 100 x 80 cm.

LI: I’m impressed with your dedication to the medium when a lot of voices fall away in photography in a couple of years. It’s difficult to make work often without financial reward or even at a substantial personal cost in the face of ethical grey areas. What keeps you motivated in photography? What are your rewards?

Jessie Boylan, Tennis Court, Maralinga, South Australia, 2011. Digital Inkjet Print, 80 x 60 cm.

JB: I think motivation ebbs and flows; at times I feel so inspired and like I just want to make make make, and at other times I feel lacklustre and like I am not making work that I like, or that is saying/showing what I want it to. More recently, being engaged with teaching undergraduate students has been motivating and inspiring, seeing people go through and be a part of their journey of trying to visualise and speak about their ideas, that’s so exciting.

Also, I think what has kept me motivated is finding new freedom in ways of making work, and a sense of a shifting and growing practice, that not everything has to be done in the same way, i.e. moving more into the video, installation, whilst alongside maintaining my photographic practice. I really enable myself to allow the slowness of projects, that they don’t necessarily have to be completed now, that I don’t have to be achieving everything now, that it’s ok if I return to projects over time, as long as I find my way back to it, or find ways to make work, to research, to think, to engage, which isn’t always easy amidst the busy life of work, kids and multiple competing commitments etc.

For me, there is a deep sense of knowing that I want to be making work, that I am excited by the possibility of making work, and the act of doing it, what it gives to me, that in itself is rewarding. Of course, seeing your work in exhibitions or published some way, seeing the outcome and public presentation of your work, seeing people engage, discuss, enjoy or be impacted by your work is such a rewarding process. What is even more rewarding is seeing the people who have shared their story with you be proud, be happy they did so, that you have honoured their story or done it justice. That is such a beautiful reward.

Jessie Boylan, Ngurini (Searching for home), 2015 (with Nuclear Futures). Installation at QUT ‘The Block’. Immersive installation, originally a 360° cylindrical arena with 6 projectors and 7 sound speakers, 20 minutes.

A selection of Jessie Boylan’s video work can be viewed here:

Ngurini (Searching for home), 2015. Preview.

Shift, 2016 (with Linda Dement).

www.jessiebolyan.com

www.lyndalirons.com.au

Lumina is an Australian collective of award-winning photographic artists intent on breaking ground in visual storytelling, founded by Donna Bailey, Chloe Bartram, Aletheia Casey, Anna Maria Antoinette D’Addario, Lyndal Irons, Morganna Magee and Sarah Rhodes.

www.luminacollective.com.au

Instagram: @luminacollective

Facebook: Lumina Collective

Please consider following PHOTODUST on Twitter and Instagram.

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markfox-videoproduction-blog · 8 years ago

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Project View

Having looked at the many possibilities from Cafes to Sport centres in both Belfast and my home town of Dungannon, I am came to the conclusion, of carrying out my video production on a well known, country side bar called “The Ryandale”. Having worked in this establishment a few years ago I have also kept an eye on the business through social media. I noticed that the Ryandale had no videos whatsoever promoting their main attraction, which is the dancehall which in its busiest nights can attract up to 1500 people which is very impressive as the dancehall is situated in a village called the ‘Moy’ roughly 5 miles outside of Dungannon.

To start proceedings ,I contacted one of the managers with regards to the project in hand. A series of text message exchanges are shown below between myself and Aaron via Whatsapp Messenger:

As shown the Ryandale were very happy to take me in, I arranged a meeting with Aaron the following week. In a verbal conversation with Aaron informed as a representative of the Ryandale that they are keen on a promotional video with a clear emphasis on the dancehall showing. Having familiarised myself with the hall through part time work over the course of 1 year, I know the outlay of it however, since I left almost 3 years ago the hall has since been refurbished and looks extremely well in comparison to what it looked like before. I feel the refurbishment well work in my case also as it well create some impressive, professional shots.

The general purpose of the video project when in planning, was to create a video that would appeal to the target audience which is socialisers who are interested in country dancing from ages raging 18 to as old as 80.

I understand that the target audience age bracket is hugely significant which is why every camera shot is crucial to try and please all age groups as one age group might be put off by the other and vice versa. Having worked in this establishment and being a part of the target audience I feel like I would know what potential customers would want from a night out in this venue.

Storyboards

Prior to entering the hall I have made a story board of that I feel would be relatively straight forward in shooting. Being familiarised with the hall is a huge advantage to myself as I have several ideas in mind that I should capitalise upon.

The first shot shows the outside of the hall, I need this shot to set the scene it will most likely be in a long shot or extreme long shot form.

The second shot will hopefully show an empty stage which I hope to get prior to the doors opening, this will also show the hall before chaos happens so it will also show the hall in a nice light.

The third shot will be of a cocktail or nice beverage this is just to promote the bar and cocktails will look really nice on the video.

The next shot will be of people dancing and enjoying themselves, this to show the entertainment value of the dance hall.

The next shot will show the boy or girl singing on the stage, this will show what the Ryandale offer to the public

My last shot will be of the Ryandale logo which is very clear to see I came up with the slogan “A great nights dancing” which I think will look nice.

I have a few main causes of concern on entering the hall, having worked in this establishment for a year I know the ins and outs of Saturday nights aka ‘Big Band Saturdays’ in the Ryandale. The people in attendance usually don’t take long filling the hall up and I myself need to get in on a busy night as the promotional video will automatically look unappealing if I attend on a night that isn’t deemed busy which is why I’m holding out to December were they Moy by their own admission are boasting in country music terms a ‘massive’ line up of Saturday nights throughout the month.

As the previous blog entry shows queues into the dancehall and frequent so therefore it is absolutely crucial I get in just before the doors open (Doors open at half 9 on the dot). I want my video to almost tell a story as the story board above shows. My intentions are that I want to show the hall and bars empty my reasoning behind this is that this video could be seen by people who have never seen the dancehall before and who knows as a result to my video might then attend the hall regularly. The hall and bars are in my opinion absolutely stunning, this is capped off by great lighting for any first timer it’s easy to see why this business is thriving and even better have multiple awards particularly in the last couple of years.

One concern of the hall is the lightening, although it’s absolutely fantastic I’m worried that the darkness of the hall and the camera will interact with it. Using the camera focus accordingly will be pivotal but due to the hall being in constant movement I won’t as a result be able to stay in the one spot for too long which puts me at a disadvantage.

Another concern unfortunately is the socialisers themselves, I am fully anticipating drunk and rowdy customers upon entering the hall and I am carrying an expensive camera with the camera stand and I plan on carrying out several different shots in several different locations over the course of the night so I must be careful. I also don’t want to offend or make people feel uncomfortable I must respect peoples space and perhaps I may even have to sacrifice a couple of shots (could prove to be crucial) along the way. From experience I know that once 11 o’clock hits and the band come out the 1000 people at least will be on the dance floor area or thereabouts so space will be limited so I must be patient. I saw on a video on Facebook from a different promotional video for a different venue the singer mentioning the venues name in an upbeat way this short audio was added to the backing music and it sounded amazing, I hope to get the same results.

Not to be too critical on the people in attendance being drunk and rowdy as it is bittersweet, as I need them to be to create an atmospheric video something that will appeal to the target audience. ‘Jiving’ and ‘Waltzing’ is the main form of dance performed in country music venues. If done to perfection this will look fantastic on my video, a DJ is apart the warm up act to the band performing and it this time the hall is beginning to fill up however, the dance floor is very much active at this time so I’ve hatched out a plan of what positions I should take on the big night.

1. This in important area of the hall its allocated in front of the main bar and can be seen as the central point of the hall as almost everyone will pass through this particular spot at some stage of the night, be it, to use the toilets, bar, smoking area (all located to the right), bar and of course the dance floor. My main intention for this spot is too capture the hall at its upmost peak, when the dance floor is in full swing I think for safety reasons and even just down to the availability of space (or lack of) it would be best not use the camera stand in this area, as previously stated this area is much needed not only for myself but the people in attendance and in fear of spilling someone’s drink or knocking over someone it would be best to leave the camera stand in a safe area.

2. This area the most mutual of all spots in the dance all, as from here I can capture just about every aspect of the hall including the newly bar directly opposite it on the right. I will most certainly be relying on my zoom to capture the right shots. I plan to be at this area at the very least twice as it will be instrumental in capturing the right shots of people in action on the dance floor and even the band on stage. This area will also be very well travelled through over the course of the night or danced through for want of a better word.

3. My third spot is located down at the stage, I could myself spending the most time down here due to space available at the back right and the only problem in my way is the ladies toilets behind me which shouldn’t cause too much of a problem. I feel at this spot I can up close and personal with the band and the people dancing. The atmosphere in this area at peak times can be brilliant and therefore the opportunity to get a couple of great shots on the camera is there for the taking. The lighting will also be shining directly into this area which should compliment my video. The opportunity to possibly get a couple of good quality audio clips is up for grabs in this area.

4. My fourth and likely not final spot in my plan is the newly made bar area (which you can’t see in image above). The new bar looks fantastic and is also known to be very atmospheric but also quite static due to how busy it is. Timing is pivotal in this particularly as when people are in this area they really are there for one thing which is the bar.

My intentions are to get bar at fairly busy time but not when its static and also to get bar when its empty (prior to doors opening) just to show potential customers how modern and stunning the bar looks.

I obviously don’t know how the night itself will pan out and I am bracing myself for an extremely busy night but I feel as a result of creating plans like this and gaining a perspective of what customers will be getting up to at different times of the night could prove to be an extremely worthwhile exercise and could also prove to be very beneficial to my promotional video. Optimistically I feel all the exercises done leading up the night will stand by me and the research I’ve conducted has led me to be confident with the camera.

In total I managed to get 31 videos over 2 nights in the dance hall, I claim this be a success. With my videos I am now fully prepared to carry them all over and create a professional video, suitable for the Ryandales Facebook page. Following my storyboard, I was able to achieve what I initially set out to get and collected most (not all) of the footage. Being in a hostile environment you can’t review your footage there and then which is was my reasoning behind going a second night just so I could be positive in my own work. The margin for error in the dance hall is very small as something’s simply can’t be repeated, I learnt that the hard way as you will see that in some videos (which I will be reviewing) my positioning is spot on but, due to my lack of experience with a camera before this, this served to be a major setback in some videos which had serious potential. In hindsight, I’m happy I threw myself in the deep end and picked such a challenging venue to carry out my assignment as I feel I can be more critical on myself as some mistakes were made along the way but the resulting matter to this is that I am much more comfortable standing behind the camera lens. (picture of video file shown above).

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