How to Improve Event Coverage?

[SirSteve]

Most of you seen our New York Toy Fair 2005 coverage (http://www.sirstevesguide.com/news/?m=show&id=31011) and I would like to know what can we do to improve it? We had the majority of the coverage up before other sites but what can we do to make your visit better/easier?

[stillakid]

I know that you need to remain cost conscious and everything, but hear me out for a second. Have you ever considered putting up video clips of the event? You know, employ a young nubile hottie to be the host who takes us around to all the exhibits and does interviews with some of the key players. Because it would be internet only, your equipment list would consist of a relatively inexpensive miniDV camera, a handheld mic, sungun, batteries, tape, young nubile hottie, laptop with editing program capable of compressing clips into Quicktime or Realplayer, and permission from the event. Oh, and somebody that knows how to use the camera and shoot watchable video.

No?

[Turbowars]

I like Kids Idea. That would fun and I bet it would draw more visitors in.

At this years TF I would have liked closer pics of the ships and maybe the back of the box of the ARC-170. RS has a great Top shot of the 170. How did they do that?

I would say though you did do a great job with what they presented us with.

[SirSteve]

That's kinda beyond our scope... would be nice though. I was thinking more replies like, "bigger pictures" or how about the feature I just added that show related Toy Fair news links for the pictures you are viewing on the same page? See here:
http://photos.sirstevesguide.com/showgallery.php?cat=2971

Stuff along those lines...

[stillakid]

Oh.


Well, I think it's all okay as it is then. :)

[Kidhuman]

Steve, it looks real good and I wont complain about anything (not that there is anything to complain about). It all looks good and thank you for getting whatever info you got. It was more than enough IMO.

[rust]

My suggestion, Have a few shots in the beginning where more then 1 figure are spotlghted. It would be easier for people with slow internet connections *coughmecough*. And yuo could see all the figs coming out at once.

[SirSteve]

My suggestion, Have a few shots in the beginning where more then 1 figure are spotlghted. It would be easier for people with slow internet connections *coughmecough*. And yuo could see all the figs coming out at once.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean... are you referring to a "group" shot?

[Kidhuman]

I think thats what he means, like 4-5 figs a shot.

[JediTricks]

Yes, a group shot, that's a good idea. Might be a little difficult to do with the way Hasbro spaces these things around, but it makes sense (not just for low-speeders like us, but also just to give a sense of scale).

[dr_evazan22]

It's not a complaint, but on your link there, remove the comments, ratings and photo credits to make room for more thumbnails. A single generic photo credit could be posted.

[SirSteve]

It's not a complaint, but on your link there, remove the comments, ratings and photo credits to make room for more thumbnails. A single generic photo credit could be posted.

I can add more thumbnails without removing those details but the question is, how many more? There are 15 already there. Too many, and dial-up users will complain.

[dr_evazan22]

... Too many, and dial-up users will complain.


And your point...? JK

Well, maybe do away with the random images at the bottom, adding 5 more from sequence. Do away with detail pics on 1st page, instead focusing on trying to get at least 1 of each character. When you click a thumb it shows you the pic you chose plus you show 5 thumbs underneath- the 2 right before, the current pic your viewing, and the next 2. If you change the 1st page to all different characters, when you click thru you can have the 5 thumbs at the bottom show detail pics.

Even with DSL I am still more likely to pick and choose what pics to look at. With all the thumbnails there (whether total or by category) I can make a better decision. If I don't see something I like on the 1st page as it is I'm less likely to look thru the rest, especially when there are multiple pages.

[JediTricks]

Thumbs on the main page are user-defined, it starts at 15 but the pulldown allows users to go up to 90 per page.

As for the detail pic order, that's because Steve shoots 1 figure at a time at all the angles, then moves onto the next, and they go up on the server in order of their names from the camera. You have a good point though I think, but I'm not sure how we'd go about it, except by either titling each photo manually in the order we wanted, or doing a bunch of 4-figure group shots before the close-ups.