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Wrapping Up Creative Welly | A Study In Human Intimacy

The final episode of this three year journey in creating something beautiful (in podcast form).

Last week I posted episodes 49 and 50 of the unique podcast I conceived and produced, Creative Welly, where we have courageous conversations with bold humans, and today the final ‘bonus’ episode went live—watch above for the back story and insights into the whole adventure.

So why end?

Simply put, it achieved its goals plus as discussed in the episode above, I (probably) won’t be around much longer.

The first episode went live in June 2020 and after 50 episodes, 100 humans, over 80 hours worth of conversation shared, it’s time to wrap it all up in a neat bow and stand back as a gift to the community of participants, partners and watchers / listeners alike.

This was a selfish project in some ways (which I talk about above) although with a high intention of creating space for humanity to flourish (through conversation) and in doing so offer a way to deeply connect back into something ritualistic and primal.

You see, Creative Welly is a fireside.

A democratic gathering of humans through a bond of openness, curiosity and design.

Everything about it was crafted with this in mind: the circular table aiding the balance of the storytelling space for those who sat at it; the key-light which lit all participants equally and wonderfully; the black and white aesthetic to continue the attempt of harmony; moving the cameras far back into the shadows so they don’t get in the way; the visual split of everyone being on screen in the final edit which serves a further purpose to amplify intimacy in the viewers (as every nuance of non-verbal gestural cues was on display not like other podcasts or video content).

Metrics of success

As discussed, in many episodes and the one above, I never once looked at the stats relating to the project.

Having 100 of my network to say yes and share this experience with them, was reward enough.

However, other noticeable achievements was the invite to apply (under sponsorship) for a Webby Award (we didn’t win but amazing to be invited), got interviewed by the local radio station plus we were notified also that Creative Welly was in the top top 4% of content creators on Spotify as well.

Many are still surprised to find out the whole project was funded by:

~~Sponsorship~~
~~Membership~~
~~Donations~~
~~Affiliate links~~
~~Paid participation spots~~
~~Selling branded merchandise~~
~~Selling tickets to live shows~~
Our own time and money (independently produced and hosting paid for us).

…and the fact we made so many episodes is a total accomplishment (as again detailed in the above episode, the amount of work which goes into them is a lot).

Recognition

Apart from me there were three entities who made Creative Welly bloom:

ALL the videos were produced by Jono Tucker of Empire Films.

Not only that, this amazing person also aided massively the stupendous visual fidelity of the project.

Can honestly say that without this man Creative Welly wouldn’t have been the artistic success it was, thank you Jono!

Most of the episodes were hosted / shot at FlashDog Studios, thanks to proprietor David Hamilton.

David sadly passed away the day after we shot the final episodes and he will be missed by the photography and film studio community in Wellington.

The first 9 episodes were previously hosted at Xequals offices. Thanks to them and specifically Alex Matthews (who participated in Episode 14) for again believing in the project when it was just an idea.

Epilogue

So, checking against the brief, to both create something unique in the podcast genre which creates intimacy for the participants as well as the viewers and celebrate humans who are doing imaginative things in this fair city and beyond (hence the name):

Creative | adjective : imaginative / original people adding value to the world.

Welly | British informal : with dynamic energy and vigour.

…can smile when I say: we nailed it!

Last week we also held a gathering inviting all who have participated at the new Empire Films studio (like we did back in July 2021) as they were the first to know we were wrapping up the project:

And here’s the monster list of all the episodes in case you missed any:

Keep having courageous conversations with bold humans!

Creative Welly Benchmark | The Experimental Journey Continues

78 humans, 39 episodes, over 18 months, one idea to have ‘courageous conversations with bold humans.’

It has been a pure joy to sit down with such a diverse range of leaders. Learning from such talent in such an unencumbered way, celebrating through storytelling their current position in life whilst evolving ideas through simple conversation. Nothing can replace this purely analogue process of interaction for me.

What you might not know is that we record three episodes back-to-back in one day which shocks people but actually it’s so energising whilst I’m in it.

Was validating earlier this year to receive a sponsored opportunity to apply for a Webby Award, basically like the Oscars for the web although it’s pretty pricey to apply. Didn’t win but was lovely to have the opportunity to put the little project forward for it and very nice of the award body to invite us to for free under one category (have a personal gripe about awards you have to pay for although as it was for free thought there was nothing to lose until I then got spammed like hell from their parent company with snail mail (seriously) for other online awards, sighs).

Creative Welly is still a self-funded and voluntary-produced endeavour, in association with video extraordinaire Jono Tucker from Empire Films (special thanks to David from Flashdog Studio for allowing us to utilise the space at cost), and there’s now approximately 65 hours worth of unique video content exploring the creative talent in my network.

And all those episodes are out there as audio as well, uploaded to anchor.fm (which is owned by Spotify) where recently they told us we’re in the top 4% of content creators:

I’d suggest you go subscribe via the site to the video version, as I’ve discussed before, it’s so so unique because it’s specifically designed to create intimacy for the viewer in a never seen before format. If audio is your jam though here’s the subscription options.

So thank to all of the participants up until now. For many it’s been a big deal to step into the public arena in this way and am always enamoured by their bravery.

Am already looking to book in January 2023 recordings and continue on this journey as still got a juicy list of humans to get through. Until then, here’s the bumper list for you to work through for the silly season:

Colliding Good Humans | An Intentional Place To Sit And Be

Current thoughts on producing a unique, beautiful and independent video podcast.

In 1176 the then Prince of Wales, Rhys ap Gruffudd, invited a wide range of learned folks to Cardigan Castle to participate in the first ever Eisteddfod⁠—Eistedd means “sit” and Fod means “be”⁠—a cultural festival with the aim of sharing and learning from each others artistic expressions.

Creative Welly‘s model is simple: bring together two souls from different disciplines whom have never met, and then through a modern-day fireside situated discussion, we uncover the person plus lessons behind the projects / initiative / companies / organisations / approaches.

The dinstinct visual concept of the final video form is all about creating intimacy for the viewer, to offer through the peripheral, the sense of being connected deeply in to the discussions (check out the latest two episodes to see what I mean if you haven’t already seen):

For the participants themselves, nearly all comment on the wonderful sense of space it offers, simply having the time to explore ideas and experiences in unhurried conversation. This is how it’s filmed:

As for the financial model of such a creative endeavour: it’s independently produced which means we rely on the generosity of David Hamilton at Flashdog Studios who hosts us (for free) and the technical talents of Jono Tucker of Empire Films who produces the video offerings (for free). I work hard on curating the participants plus make it all go live to the world via creativewelly.com (for free) as well as pay for the video / domain hosting. There is no funder or advertising involved which ensures no agendas being pushed, so in essence we lose money although we gain so much in offering the world a totally original way to ‘sit’ and ‘be’ (as a viewer or participant).

After twenty-five episodes I can honestly say the whole experience has been vastly fulfilling. After finishing up nearly ten years of producing TEDxWellington (and its subsequent activities / events), this is now my pro-bono offering to the community in which I am part of.

Through the platform, relationships have been formed. Community has been created. Awareness has been sewn. Collaborations have begun.

The adventure continues in 2022!

And to the fifty superb humans: thank you for being part of this story by being open to participate in sharing yours…

Creative Welly Episode #4 | The Power Of The Breath

Another two impressive humans sharing stories and colliding ideas.

Truly enjoying the combination of differences during these conversations and how you never know where commonalities will occur.

There’s audio if that’s how you roll:

For full bios and sign up plus subscription options go to creativewelly.com

Creative Welly Episode #3 | Intersecting Disciplines

Colliding superb creative humans.

This is what happens when you allow a digital artist and a cocoa bean hunter to share their stories and insights (full bios here).

Another two episode have already been recorded and will be out in the coming weeks so subscribe and catch the other episodes via Creative Welly plus learn more about the background in this ‘Creative Welly Launched | Learning Out Loud‘ post.

Creative Welly Episode #2 | More Courageous Conversations

Another two good souls exploring all manner of wonderful topics, ideas, stories, experiences etc.

We curate and collide intrepid talent from the ~~coolest~~ most creative little capital in the world (with a few out-of-city friends as well from time-to-time).

Subscribe and catch the first episode via Creative Welly.

Again, this project is totally self-funded and wouldn’t be possible without these amazing collaborators:

All episodes are shot and edited by the wonderfully talented Jono Tucker, Empire Films. An extremely diligent and personable soul who has added a polish to the resulting video which I never could’ve achieved, thank you Jono.

Hosted at Xequals, a centrally based web development agency who provide us with a kick-ass office which totally gets kitted out for the shoot. Thank you Alex Matthews for being so gracious with your space.

Learn more about the background in this ‘Creative Welly Launched | Learning Out Loud‘ post.

Creative Welly Launched | Learning Out Loud

A new long-form video podcast for curious and creative humans.

Creative Welly is a new project from an old idea repurposed and reborn during the isolation of lockdown:

We curate and collide intrepid talent from the ~~coolest~~ most creative little capital in the world (with a few out-of-city friends as well from time-to-time).

This project is totally self-funded and wouldn’t be possible without these amazing collaborators:

This first episode represents about four to five day or pre-production experiments with lighting and seating scenarios plus editing options. The result of which is something quite different and unique.

Two further episodes are already ‘in the can’ with another two lined up for this month plus a very long list of possibles from my network here in the capital.

Each episode takes about two hours to set up (one hour to pack down), another two hours to shoot then there’s the editing time of both the video and audio. After that there’s posting the curated bios and relevant content online plus sharing out across channels.

There are also ‘hard’ and recurring costs:

WHAT	COSTS (NZD)
Table (round table from thrift store)	$55
Chairs (x3, comfortable and supportive)	$379
Backdrop photographic paper (for style)	$105
Libsyn (audio podcast hosting & distribution)	$275pa
Vimeo (video hosting)	$130pa
Domain + hosting	$25pa
TOTAL	$969

I find myself feeling so privileged to be able to start this journey and explore a new format during these challenging global times. It truly serves my purpose of ‘giving people voice’ whilst also my skill base of ‘curating’ as well.

Oh and why not YouTube? Have no intention of monetising the content and don’t like their forced adverts plus the time it takes to figure out the algorithms with the hope they choose my content over others. Vimeo is a wonderful creative community which aligns with the brand values of the intention behind the initiative.

Please let me know what you think and triple please subscribe to receive the bi-monthly episodes via Creative Welly.

Launching Soon | Creative Welly : Courageous Conversations With Bold Humans

A new long-form, conversational project to tickle your neural pathways.

Revealed only in retrospect these past couple of years, is a thematic thread through my past projects / experiences of ‘giving people voice’ (which has become my spoken purpose plus evidenced in both my producing and coaching roles).

Creative Welly is a mash-up-manifestation of this and my hunger for curating good people:

We curate and collide intrepid talent from the ~~coolest~~ most creative little capital in the world (with a few out-of-city friends as well from time-to-time).

A few years ago I bought up a bunch of domains relating to ‘creativity’ and ‘Wellington’ with the intention of bringing together groups of people to explore the future of the city. After pitching it to a few educational plus civic institutions looking for collaboration and hosts there was no appetite.

A recent retainer contract with a client to see me through till the end of the year, has freed up the head-and-energy-space to revisit and reboot the concept.

A combination of devouring hours long-form and conversational content on the web (whether that’s podcasts, interviews and / or debates) these past few months during lockdown catalysed a seed of an idea for what to do.

Within a space of a week a superb collaborative team was formed. After seeking video advice from pal, Jono Tucker, founder of Empire Films and producer of many review videos for TEDxWellington and Creative Leadership, he offered to collaborate. The shooting location is kindly donated by Xequals through Alex Matthews, another pal who is on the TEDxWellington leadership team.

Last week we ran a few shooting, lighting and audio tests:

Enabling us to play with variations on editing looks from the footage which will give the episodes a unique look. The aim is to share the first episode at the end of this month with a target of releasing two a month in the first year.

Oh and the business model, well:

~~Sponsorship~~
~~Membership~~
~~Donations~~
~~Affiliate links~~
~~Paid content~~
~~Selling branded merchandise~~
~~Selling tickets to live shows~~
Our own time and money.

Truly humbled to be in a position not to care as what’s important for me is offering something which enlightens, connects and excites, so it’s another pro-bono project and experiment in celebrating humanity through conversation.

Please do head over to Creative Welly and subscribe to receive email notifications of the episodes (or grab the RSS if you’re kicking it old school). Audio subscription options will be available in the coming weeks.

Hacking The Red Circle | Learnings From TEDxWellington

A chance to share our inside story to the wider TEDx community.

I’ve been volunteering as a TEDx organiser for five years.

Last year we did something special with TEDxWellington which we recently found out was being shared by the senior folks at TED with other event organisers, globally.

Enter, Mark Sylvester, another TEDx organiser and keen to champion the efforts of folks behind these events with his new podcast:

Hacking The Red Circle is a podcast created for and about TEDx Organizers and the TEDx Universe.

Was wonderful to celebrate also the voice and efforts of my collaborator and co-organiser of 2016 and current 2017 event, Hannah Wignall. Would also like to shine the light on the other actioneers in the TEDxWellington team who all give their time voluntarily to ensure the capital city and its community gets a fantastic event.

Thank you Mark for throwing your time and energy behind curating the voices and in effect the passion which makes this global event series such a success.

Oh and we’re again doing something special for TEDxWellington 2017 (again).

Narrative Podcasting | Learning Out Loud

different podcast types

Learning. Unlearning. Relearning.

I produced my first podcast nearly a decade ago. I went on to create over 200 more plus taught hundreds / thousands of others how to do it themselves via my social media courses / masterclasses.

Over the New Year break I spent some time unlearning what I know from this Alex Blumberg “Power Your Podcast with Storytelling” Creative Live course. Once you acclimatise to the nervous teaching style (sorry), there’s some fantastic gems for those who are new to this narrative style via Alex’s huge pedigree in this space (award-winning reporter and producer for This American Life and co-host of NPR’s Planet Money plus his new Startup podcast series).

As I’m highly kinaesthetic in my learning style I’ve been doing to learn.

Offered here with permission from Dennis Hodges (the interviewee) is my first attempt at narrative style podcasting:

Here’s what I learned:

have the story in mind before you start: sometimes other stories come out during an interview although having a story you want at least enables you to come out with something solid;
focus on one thing: you’ll hear from the outcome that I focussed on just the politicians eyes work. There was lots of other stuff we talked about which was equally as interesting, just this was something that was very different;
you have to be ruthless: we spoke for over 30mins and I got it down to just over 4mins which was hard work cutting out good stuff;
getting the interviewee to record their audio doesn’t always work: Dennis has a lot of audio hiss in the background which I tried for ages to clean up. Getting interviewees to record a sample in the future will help a lot (my audio could do with a rounder feel to it as well for which I’ll use my new mic in the future);
editing takes forever: seriously, ages!

I’m relearning the medium and upping my game for wysdem.com, and during my research I’ve noticed four types of podcasts:

Soloing / Group—just one person or a group sharing ideas / insights / observations. Sometimes scripted, sometimes loose in its form. Sparse editing is employed and it’s the main model used by most video podcasters / vodcasters / vloggers as well;
Interviews—simple one-to-one question and answer sessions. Medium investment in editing to ensure tidiness and the focus is very much on the interviewee and their offerings;
Narrative—heavily edited and crafted. Emphasis is on the storytelling and clarity of theme / subject matter.

Each have their place although the latter is gaining more traction although it’s obviously the hardest to do well with it’s focus on crafting something the listener consumes as a cognitive or emotional journey.

So feel free to critique and offer ideas / guidance on the above.

It’s a first offering and an attempt to ‘learn out loud’ so approach with kindness which I’m sure you will. Thanks in advance.

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