New Talk Digital Seminar: 22nd November

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Namuli Katumba

This Movember, Ultraspeed’s Talk Digital series is bringing you the wonderful duo of Charlotte Appleton, Creative Director of Cora Media and Yara Gherwati, Cora Media’s Campaign Project Director for Not-For-Profits. 

In 2008 Charlotte began helping charities, first in the Caribbean and then in New York, to gain exposure and raise funds through various multimedia techniques. She combines video, editing and photography to represent and promote charitable activity in a moving, accessible way that perfectly suits modern digital delivery methods.

These experiences have led to Cora Media establishing teams in London and the UK, within non-profit communication.

Yara is a trained Jungle Survival expert and has worked on numerous projects in South-East Asia. A regular campaigner for global human rights and environmental issues, Yara also leads workshops at universities on topics such as the tar sands and deforestation. She brings a unique perspective to campaigns and a wealth of international experience to Cora Media’s not-for-profit division. 

Cora Media combine media tools to creatively tell a charity’s story: its purpose, past triumphs and aims, as well as emphasising how urgently it needs further awareness and funding.

They are pioneers of digital technology for media delivery formats such as podcasts and webcasting, and using these methods their campaigns have been able to reach international audiences.

Some of Cora Media’s projects include:

*The BBC World Service Trust
*Street Games (The Co-operative)
*The Jason Roberts Foundation
*The Chris Samba Foundation
*REACH Grenada
*Reach and Teach (Midnight Madness)
*Don’t Lose the Music (RNID)
*Race for Life (Funny Women)
*The Liverpool Legends charity activity.

With more competition and – arguably – shorter attention spans, it’s essential to be heard in innovative new ways. Hearing about Charlotte and Yara’s experiences with different charities, and their advice on how best to deploy video digitally, should prove extremely helpful for a charity striving to make work that stands out.

Join us on the 22nd of November at 6:30 pm at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden. As usual the drinks and food are on Ultraspeed – just bring yourself and your questions (and your Movember Mustaches). Please RSVP as spaces are limited to our LinkedIn group. 

Putting the Fast in ‘Fast and Sexy Online Campaigns’ – 4 Tips

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Ali Cochran

So I’ve been playing around with Google Page Speed performance testing tool; already I can feel your interest draining away, where’s the fast, where’s the sexy? I imagine you asking…

Well, number 1: I am a nerd, so tough it out, and number 2: speed is important and yes, some people might have sexier lives but give me a new online tool and I am officially the happiest girl in the world. So when Google released Page Speed from Google Labs and into my bumbling hands, I was very occupied with testing everything in sight for days. Much to the amusement of my web developer of course who ended up with an itemised list of need-to-haves and nice-to-haves (we’re friends, honest).

Now there are numerous development-based reasons for a website loading slowly. However, during particularly ‘load-heavy’ periods a site often slows down quite substantially. Excellent coding can create a robust site that will withstand heavy traffic surges and ensure you maximize revenue in the boom, BUT a solid infrastructure behind it is equally important.

Like Yin & Yang, having both can enable a ‘perfect’ (or close to) web experience for each web user. Working at a managed hosting company but in marketing I get to see how both contribute. Why is this important?
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