Slightly ahead of my time, I see a pattern developing here…

Last fall I attended the Vancouver International Film Festival and was excited about a new way to promote myself as a filmmaker and Transmedia producer.

I created a business card that contained QR code which when scanned connected directly to a VIFF web page I had built specifically for the festival.  The page held my current projects, short bio, contact information and industry experience and as a bonus included a short game (Puzzle/hunt) that took the reader on a tour through my blog, personal and company web sites.  The idea being, that once they played the game and solved the puzzle they would have visited all 3 sites and gotten a pretty good grasp on me, my writing  and my activities.

The idea failed. Miserably.

I had assumed, and wrongly so, that professionals in the entertainment industry would readily grasp the technology and want to play along.   For those of you unfamiliar with this disappointing breakdown, here’s the blog that details my tactful change in strategy.  Seizing what I considered to be an opportunity to share some valuable knowledge, I re-designed the concept and posted a new page meant to teach the basics of QR code.   I added an additional element to the game and, so as not to confuse the festival attendees, removed the game play from the bio and contact info and transferred it to this page on a separate website.

People were still confused!

My friends and colleagues told me I was way ahead of my time.  I had traveled extensively and as a self-proclaimed geek had worked tirelessly to keeping abreast of emerging trends, technologies and gadgets.  Oddly enough, this particular technology has been in use since 1994.  I decided to think of new and interesting ways, besides the typical advertising uses, that QR code could be used for.

That’s when I came up with the idea of QR Meet-Up. I contacted my geekiest buddies and unraveled the idea for them.  Unanimous response!  Yes, great idea, best ever, this could be worth millions… did you see the movie “the Social Network”?  I tried to round-up a team to refine and develop the idea.  As usual money brought the excitement to a screeching halt, no money no team.  According to my “experts” this idea could cost about $27 thousand to build a platform and site.  Ha!  Where was I going to find that kind of money.  Idea shelved for future consideration.

Then I started thinking, I have nothing to lose, why don’t I just go for it?

The only thing that slowed me down was a broken wrist.  I was recovering from surgery and my typing was about 1/4 speed, design work painfully slow since I was using the mouse in the opposite hand and my Dreamweaver abilities are moderate at best.  But one thing I never run out of is ideas.  I chuckled to myself when I coined the name for the first event… The Saint Valentine’s Day MassQR.  I only hoped that people would get it.  They didn’t.

So… I decided to give it one more try…

Hopefully the luck of the Irish will be at my back for this event

CODE GREEN

here’s the teaser