The 6 Critical Keys to Increasing Profits and Driving More Sales With Social Media and Technology!

By Bill P Mooney  |   Submitted On May 29, 2012

I received a call from a potential client recently. This call was different than most I receive. You see, this business owner was angry! I mean outright ticked off!

He wasn't angry with me. No. Not angry with his industry. He was very angry with new technology and marketing, and the people trying to constantly promise him the moon if they signed up for their service.

The call went something like this...

"Is this Bill?"

"Yes sir," I said. "How can I help you?"

"My name is Bob. I am the president of XYZ Company (the names have changed to protect the frustrated.) I am so sick and tired of all the calls, emails, and letters I am receiving from people who say they can get me to the top of Google, start a Facebook page, show me how to Twitter, and promise me a ton of sales with this new marketing stuff. I have tried their pay-per-click programs and wasted a ton of money. They promised they could get me to the top of Google, and 1 year later, I am no where near the top. I am fed up wasting time and money!"

"I understand Bob. What made you call me specifically?"

"My friend is a client of yours. She told you can sort this out for me."

"Thank you for calling Bob. Yes I can help you. Let's talk about your frustrations and how we can turn lemon into lemonade..."

I can't tell you how many times I hear those same frustrations from clients and customers. They weren't as passionate as Bob, but you can hear the fear and desperation in their voices too.

The new internet media can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you approach it, your mood to embrace it or not, and your passion to execute a very good plan.

Part of my weekly ritual is to spend time studying trends in consumer behavior, electronic trends, ecommerce advances, and better understanding the lifecycle of the purchasing process.

Not only do I read research articles, I pay attention to my own buying habits and those around me. And have those habits ever changed in the last few years.

With the incredible growth of Smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and other mobile devices, consumer buying habits are changing literally right before our eyes.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, are captivating consumers in every walk of life and creating opportunities to communicate with them like never before. We now have a tremendous opportunity to tell our story and capture that lucrative group of buyers who can be very loyal to your business.

Before I get into strategies and techniques on how to improve your sales and profits through better customer engagement, let's look at some trends. Forrester Research, Inc, Pew Research, and the Nielsen Company have all recently completed studies. Here are some interesting statistics they discovered:

• 43% of all U.S. retail sales are influenced by the web (Forrester 2010)
• Preference by U.S. online adults to receive customer support via the phone has fallen from 32% in 2007 to 29% in 2010. (Forrester 2010)
• U.S. online adults report they spend equal amounts of time - 13 hours a week - watching TV and being online. TV viewership has increased only 5% from 2005 to 2010. (Forrester 2010)
• 79% of U.S. online adults read print magazines, down from 84% in 2007. (Forrester 2010)
• 58% of U.S. online adults prefer to research a product online, up from 43% in 2007. (Forrester 2010)
• As of February 2012, Pew Research states that 88% of all adults use cell phones. About 50% of those are Smartphones (Up from 17% in 2010.) Over 80% of Smartphone owners use the internet with the phones at least once a month.
• Nielsen says that adults have increased access to social sites via their phones from 11.1% in March 2010, to about 40% in September 2011.
• In 2010 Forrester Research stated that 10.3 million U.S. adults owned tablets, and will be about 82 million by 2015. CNET states that the ownership of tablets increased from 10% in mid December 2011, to 19% in mid January 2012.

I believe this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of accessing the internet, shopping, and buying. You will see these numbers climb dramatically.

What Does All This Information Mean?

These statistics mean a few things to your business. One, there is more and more opportunity to connect with consumers in a positive way. This new reality also creates more work, the need to have a deeper and comprehensive strategy, and you will need a dramatic shift in thinking if you are not already on board with the consumer's changes.

With the world literally at the consumer's fingertips (anywhere), his or her tendency is to bounce around on the internet very fast and can lose interest in your company, product, or service. You must use a number of different strategies and tactics to create a conversation with these consumers, methodically move them towards purchasing from you, and not lose them to someone else that has grabbed their attention.

Consumers can now enter the buying game from so many directions. They have more options, thus more directions than ever before. They can find you with a simple Google search for your company or product. They can see your pay-per-click ad. Or a large banner ad that follows them on the internet. They can find you on a Facebook ad, or if one of their friends likes your page, you show up on their friends Facebook wall. Or what about a prospect sharing your Tweet about a particular promotion to their Twitter followers?

And there are emails, direct mail programs, print ads, radio, TV... the list goes on and on. It is more important than ever to know your prospects/customer, your target market and find out where they spend their time. Then target your campaigns appropriately to your prospects.

Once the consumer enters your marketing lifecycle, the message you send is critical to better conversions and also repeat business. You need to think of your marketing lifecycle more circular now, rather than linear. The circle is the top of a funnel. The circle includes all the different media types. You still need to move them along through the qualification funnel, but now the size of the top of the funnel has gotten much larger, and is getting bigger every day. If you continue to exclude some opportunities, your funnel top becomes much smaller than your competitors. More leads into the funnel, the more sales and profits come out the bottom of the funnel.

6 Critical Keys

Critical Key 1:

One critical key to improving your sales conversions and revenue is to reduce the friction to your sales closing (conversion) by engaging the consumer in the channels they are engaged. Embrace where they go and spend time developing strategies that will convert them right there. Not distracting them to other channels.

If you have a lead on Amazon, get them checked out then and there. Don't count on moving them to another site where they have to think about it again.

Critical Key 2:

Make sure you know your target market very well. Where do they spend their time? Do they use Smartphones? Do they carry their tablet into your retail store? Check your Google Analytics to see how they are reaching your site and to what pages. What is their income range? The list goes on and on.

Critical Key 3:

It's really the old K.I.S.S. principle. Keep the conversion and closing very simple and easy for the customer to understand.

From and ecommerce point of view, the checkout needs to be very simple and streamlined. The customer needs to feel comfortable and understand everything about the sale. How much is shipping going to cost me? How long will it take? What is your return policy?

Critical Key 4:

If you are promoting a product in an email campaign or any campaign for that matter, the link from the media to the product needs to be directed to a landing page with a specific call to action, or directly to the product page. Don't make the customer search for the item on your site, or other sales page. All too often I see clients directing their campaigns to the main page of the site instead of a dedicated page. A huge mistake.

Critical Key 5: Cross Channel Marketing.

Consumers use many different ways to communicate with their friends, family, and you, their retailer, e-tailer, or service provider.

Expanding your marketing message beyond just email, or direct mail is critical to your success. Those businesses who don't engage with their prospects and customers through multiple channels and cross over between these channels will not be maximizing their opportunity to sell, and will not see their business grow.

Traditional marketing has always been explained as a three-prong approach. You need to deliver the right message, to the right people, at the right time. We now need to look at a fourth prong, delivering all these through the right media.

Critical Key 6:

Embrace the opportunities. Check your mood about the new marketing opportunities. Be careful selecting multiple companies that will tell you they can promise to get you to the top of Google, or fix your reputation online, or will put together a pay-per-click campaign that will change your world.

Bob was a tough one to win over. Once I was able to help him understand the big picture, we were able to lay out a great plan and then execute making small adjustments along the way. I have to say, Bob is much happier today. And his qualified leads more than doubled once we were able to define his target market and refine his unique selling proposition.

All of these things can happen, but with a strategic plan, and a compelling message. Now, commit to yourself that you will first formulate a comprehensive internet marketing plan, and then execute the plan to bigger sales and bigger profits.

Good luck and great marketing!

Bill Mooney

Bill Mooney *

Internet Marketing Coach *

eCommerce Strategist *

Online Lead Generation

[http://www.iMarketingSuccess.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bill_P_Mooney/1354362

6 Worst Payer Trends That Impede Electronic Medical Billing Software and Service Performance

By Yuval Lirov  |   Submitted On February 04, 2007

Healthcare insurance business continued to boom in 2006, mostly at the expense of both providers and patients. A review of recent healthcare insurance industry trends help identification of six payer activities that will impact medical billing and healthcare providers revenue in 2007.

Two key aspects dominated business background for insurers in 2006. They

1. Must meet tougher profit margin benchmarks. For instance, United Healthcare saw its earnings rise 38% in the 3rd quarter of 2006 alone. To keep its share value growing, United Healthcare will have to demonstrate still better performance in the 3rd quarter of 2007.
2. Approach the limit of their ability to grow premiums. Premiums increased significantly beyond inflation and workers' earnings growth in 2001-2006. For instance, health insurance premiums increased 65.8% between 2001 and 2006 while inflation grew 16.4% and workers' earnings increased 18.2% during the same period.

Therefore, in 2007, insurance companies will continue to pay less using the following six key strategies:

1. Add new denial reasons and increase costs of medical billing service and software because of growing complexity. In January 2007, thousands of physicians discovered they were having trouble getting Medicare to pay for services billed under the codes 99303 and 99333. The reason for denial was simple: Medicare deleted codes 99301-99303 from CPT in 2007, forcing the physicians to review the new 99304-99306 codes in an up-to-date CPT code book. The 99331-99333 codes also were deleted in 2007. Review the new codes, 99324-99328. The payer-related component of the medical billing process costs an average 8% to 10% of providers collections. It includes claim generation, scrubbing, electronic submission to payers, payment posting, denial identification, follow up, and appeal. By complicating the process, payers increase the likelihood of failing the payment and winning the subsequent appeal process. Providers face the lose-lose choice of expensive medical billing process upgrades or forfeiting denied payments.
2. Reduce allowed fees. Average physician reimbursement from billing Medicare and commercial payers dropped 17% in 2002-2006. From 2005 to 2006, allowed amounts for E&M visits alone dropped 10% nationally, 27% in the Northeast, and 20% in Northwest.
3. Underpay. Partial denials cause the average medical practice lose as much as 11% of its revenue. Denial management is difficult because of complexity of denial causes, payer variety, and claim volume. For complex claims, most payers pay full amount for one line item but only a percentage of the remaining items. This payment approach creates two opportunities for underpayment: the order of paid items and payment percentage of remaining items. Additionally, temporary constraints often cause payment errors because of misapplication of constraints. For instance, claims submitted during the global period for services unrelated to global period are often denied. Similar mistakes may occur at the start of the fiscal year because of misapplication of rules for deductibles or outdated fee schedules. Payers also vary in their interpretations of CCI bundling rules or coverage of certain services.
4. Increase leverage over providers through consolidation. It is harder to drop a contract with low allowed amounts when there are fewer remaining payers. Consolidation in the insurance industry reduces competition among payers for physician's services, allowing payers pay less to providers. Today, 73% of insured population are covered by 3 plans alone: the top ten health plans cover 106 million lives, while three plans, namely, United, WellPoint, and Aetna together cover 77.7 million lives. In 2006, consolidation rate accelerated. For instance, United Healthcare Group purchased 11 plans in 2006, including MetLife, PacifiCare, and Oxford. Turning down a contract offered by a payer that controls such a large portion of population results in giving up significant revenue from medical billing. Providers face the lose-lose choice of seeing fewer patients or accepting lower rates.
5. Drive providers into networks (which offer lower allowed amounts). United Healthcare has announced a new national policy to discontinue direct payment of medical billing to out of network providers. Effective July 1, 2007, under the "pay the enrollee program," United Healthcare will direct out-of-network benefit checks to the insured member rather then non-participating providers. This policy forces the providers to choose between chasing the patients for payments or joining the payer's network. In any case, provider loses some of earned revenue. Oxford Health Plans, a United Healthcare Company, implemented the Pay the Enrollee policy on April 1, 2006. According to the Oxford web site announcement, Oxford may refuse to honor the assignment of benefits for claims from non participating providers pursuant to language in the Certificate of Coverage. If enrollees choose to receive treatment out-of-network, the claim reimbursement may be sent directly to the enrollee. In such cases, the non-participating provider will be instructed to bill the covered patient for services rendered.
6. Return for refunds and penalties. Justice Department recovered a record of $3.1 billion in refunds and penalties in 2006. It is the largest amount ever recovered in a single year. Invariably, providers are in denial about their exposure, and insurers are quick to comfort them. They will tell you that medical billing audits are an unfortunate but necessary tactic for keeping fraud in check, implying that honest providers have nothing to worry about. But insurers are not crusaders for truth and justice. Providers need to understand that payer's motive is money, the means is a gargantuan statistical database, and that every provider is an opportunity. Healthcare finance insiders call this a Big Brother system and, setting aside the melodramatic implications of such a name, it is easy to see why. While executives have a soft spot for pretty charts, the true power of such a system is its ability to drill into the data and find outliers (when they talk about this type of tool, Information Systems specialists use jargon like data mining and On Line Analytical Processing, or OLAP for short). The system automatically pinpoints providers that are "easy audit targets: because they are:
   • Doing something differently from the pack,
   • Lacking infrastructure for systematic denial follow up,
   • Lacking compliant medical notes.

Having acquired the means to cost-effectively target providers, insurers have begun the hunt. It behooves providers to arm with powerful electronic medical billing software and fight back for improved revenue.

References

1. Neil Weinberg, "Envy Engines," Forbes, March 14, 2005
2. "Fraud Statistics - October 1, 1986 - September 30, 2004", Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, March 4, 2005
3. Capra, Lirov, and Randolph, "The "Business" of Healthcare Provider Audits - How Payers Are Getting Away with Practice Murder," Today's Chiropractic, January 2007, pp. 60-62.
4. P. Moore, "Power to the Payers - Consolidation Puts Insurers in Charge," Physicians Practice, January 2007, pp. 23-30.

Yuval Lirov, PhD, author of "Practicing Profitability - Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinic and Chiropractic Office: Scheduling, SOAP Notes, Care Plans, Coding, Billing, Collections, and Audit Risk" (Affinity Billing) and "Mission Critical Systems Management" (Prentice Hall), inventor of patents in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security, and CEO of Vericle.net - Distributed Billing and Practice Management Technologies. Yuval invites you to register to the next webinar on audit risk at BillingPrecision.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Yuval_Lirov/35366

Women In Media Should Help New Entrants Break Through The Glass Ceiling

By Damaria Senne  |   Submitted On August 17, 2007

Women in media should help new entrants to break through "the glass ceiling," say South African award-winning journalists and editors.

One media executve also argues that the ability to read critically is the major skill that will help girls break through these barriers.

Speaking at the fifth annual Vodacom Women in The Media Awards 2007, Vodacom chief communications officer Dot Field said too few women were in a position of power in the newsroom (globally). Media coverage also tended to favour men, she said.

Fields cited an international study which found that women account for 17% of all media coverage whether print or electronic. This includes stories about women, on womenor where women were used as sources, she said. The majority of the coverage on women is celebrity and royalty-related, she said.

Joyce Sikhakhane, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award said things like balancing the responsibilities of home, family, and child rearing still hinder women's advancement in newsrooms. The long hours and late nights required to get ahead in these careers also do not help, she said.

Field said successful journalists, editors, media advocates have a responsibility to help break barriers in the media industry so new entrants have a better chance of success.

A key strategy to develop women capable of breaking through the glass ceiling is to ensure that young girls at school learn to read critically, said Patricia Scholtemeyer, CEO of Media24 Magazines and winner of the 2007 Vodacom Women in The Media Award.

"Reading critically is an important contributor to people's ability to think for themselves," she said.

Read about Damaria Senne's adventures as a parent, children's book writer and reading advocate on her blog at http://damariasenne.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Damaria_Senne/96299

Death By Social Media

By Deatri King-Bey  |   Submitted On October 05, 2011

In today's electronic age, a strong web presence is one of the best tools in your arsenal to become a successful author. That's a no brainer, right? Not necessarily. Many of my fellow authors are suffering a slow painful death by social media.

Instead of just telling you to do this and not that in order to avoid death by social media, I'm coming at this from a different angle. I'll start by giving you the history in hopes that if you have the entire picture, you'll understand why we must make adjustments for the time we live in. So stick in there with me to the end.

Let's take a short trip back in time to a decade ago. Personal Data Assistants (PDAs) were popular, especially the PalmPilot. Smart phones were around, but using their limited functionality could be quite expensive. Internet access in households was increasing exponentially, but the cost of using that access caused many to limit their usage. Online personal journals (blogs) and social media were in their infancy and would have to grow up fast. People received most of their news and entertainment from traditional routes such as newspapers, television and radio. For this reason, online marketing was used, but nowhere near the extent that it is today. This may be hard for some of you to believe, but a decade ago, Amazon.com made its first profit. The world was different back then. We were at the onset of the first major boom of the electronic age. Back in the day, authors were encouraged to capitalize on this new age by harvesting the emails of anyone who sent them an email for their own email promotions list.

In 2003 MySpace came along, then Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006) and a host of other social media and blog sites. Along with joining social media sites, everyday users began setting up personal email accounts. With the increase in personal email accounts and Internet usage came the increase of online marketing. This was a boom for the marketing industry because it's so much less expensive to send blast emails than print ads or mailings. Everyday users began seeing more and more advertisement emails they didn't ask for, but most found these unsolicited emails manageable.

Then it happened. June 2007 the first iPhone was released and need I say more? Yes, I do (SMILE). The cost of being online fell drastically and accessibility to email, social media, news... was at your fingertips 24/7. Though iPhones are the leader in smart phones, other excellent brands have inundated the market so just about everyone can be online at all times.

Wow, what a difference a decade makes.

Unfortunately, many businesses and authors (publishing is a business) are still promoting as if they are at the onset of the first major boom of the electronic age. Remember when mailboxes were filled with junk mail and we'd all complain? Well this has happened twenty fold in the electronic world (remember how inexpensive it is to send mass emails compared to snail mail). Users, readers are now inundated with tons of junk email that is often referred to as spam.

Hold up a second. Did I just call the unsolicited email you sent to my personal account junk mail? I plead the fifth. Anywhoooo, let's look at social media. Many of these sites allow you to add members to mailing list and groups without their permission. I know you may enjoy people harvesting your email and then filling your account with unsolicited promotions and group posts (advertisements), but with the plethora of these types of promotions going to individual's email accounts, the everyday user is starting to revolt and tuning out people who add them to groups, send them unsolicited emails and other such behaviors. You do not want to become part of the noise. You do not want to die by social media.

So what's the solution? Be patient and build loyal, opt-in communities and mailing lists. It will take more time, but your return on investment will be much greater and will increase the credibility of your brand. You don't want to be known as one of those authors who swamp people's emails with their advertisements.

When someone sends you an email, send back a request for them to join your mailing list. Instead of adding individuals to your groups, send invitations. Don't over promote (finding that happy medium is not easy, but you can do it). Allow the readers to get to know you for more than a book pusher. You want readers looking forward to your emails and posts, not to think of them as intrusions in their lives.

Just say no to death by social media.

Deatri King-Bey

With the advances in technology, anyone can be a published author, but not all authors are successful. Keep your focus: Increase quality, credibility and visibility of your brand. Visit http://www.BecomeASuccessfulAuthor.com for tools and knowledge to help you Become A Successful Author.

Deatri King-Bey

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Deatri_King-Bey/1186040

Electronic Companies

By Bryant Matthews  |   Submitted On November 09, 2009

Computers have brought about the biggest technological revolution that has even today allowed you to read what we are writing. Today, the micro chip technology is used not only in computers, but also in cameras, medical machines, televisions, etc. There are many famous electrical companies today that are forerunners of tomorrow's developments.

Let's discuss some of the really big names in the electronics world today.

Sony

Sony Corporation is a multinational conglomerate that has its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's largest media company with its turnover crossing the eight trillion mark. Sony is the leading manufacturer of electronics, games and gaming consoles, communications and information technological products. They have operating businesses in five segments: Media, Electronics, Games, Entertainment and Financial. Sony has some awesome products, like the SONY LCD with home theatre system, Sony Ericsson mobile phones, Sony laptops, like the VIAO, Sony PlayStation and much more. Sony is the biggest and one of the best electronic companies around and some believe their slogan, "Sony, Like No Other".

Panasonic

Panasonic, which was formally known as Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. Ltd, is a multinational company based in Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 and today is one of the top electronic companies in the world. Panasonic produces electrical goods under the name of Panasonic Technics. Panasonic, other than electronics, also offers home renovation services, which has made Panasonic the 59th largest company in the world (2007 Forbes).

Samsung

Today the Samsung Group is the world's largest electronics company, having overtaken Sony in the consumer electronics market. Founded in 1938, Samsung today has a holing in the shipbuilding industry under its companies Samsung Heavy Industries and Samsung Engineering and Construction Company, which are major global construction companies today. The name Samsung is taken from the Korean word, which means "tristar". Samsung produces world class televisions, like the Samsung LCD, which is a must buy, along with their computer, making Samsung the best known South Korean company.

Sharp

Sharp Corporation is another Japanese electronics manufacturer. The company was founded in 1912 and takes its name from the founders' very first invention called the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil. Today Sharp is one of the leading manufacturers of televisions and other consumer electronics. Sharp LCD is definitely worth investing in.

IBM

IBM is the abbreviation of International Business Machines Corporation. It was later nicknamed the "Big Blue" after its official corporate colour. IBM is a multinational computer technology and information technology consulting company with its headquarters in Armonk, New York, United Sates. IBM has been famous for its computers for years and most recently has received kudos for making the world's largest computer and systems integrator. IBM holds more patents than any other U.S. IT company. As a chip maker, this company has ranked 2nd largest software company in the world in 2007 and its employees have won three Nobel Prizes, four Turning Awards, five National Medals of Technology and five National Medals of Science.

These are just a few names in this large electronics industry. If you are looking to buy any electronics, then could consider Online Electronics.

You can get more info on their website, www.onlineelectronics.net.au [http://www.onlineelectronics.net.au].

Bryant Matthews likes to write articles along with working in the retail industry, selling electronic goods. He has been managing the two roles for the past 4 years and is quite proficient in both.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bryant_Matthews/338874

Electronic Entertainment Expo

By Porthos Du Vallon  |   Submitted On June 25, 2011

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which is commonly known as E3, is the world's premier trade show that showcases products and services pertaining to the computer and video game industry. It is an annual trade show owned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a United States based association dedicated to serving the business and publicity needs of video companies that publish interactive computer and video games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet.

Throughout the years since its establishment, the E3 Expo has been a venue for many game developers to show-off their upcoming game and game-related hardware. Through the E3 Expo, thousands of professional and avid gamers are able to experience the future of interactive entertainment. The most influential people leading the most innovative companies in the business attend E3 Expo to see groundbreaking new technologies and never-before-seen products for computers, video game consoles, handheld systems and the Internet.

The E3 Expo has been considered to be the Ultimate Expo for the video game industry with a record attendance of nearly 70,000 people in 2005 and 60,000 people in 2006. Because of this most video game companies spend more time and resources on their presentation for E3 than any other convention.

The E3 Expo has been widely covered by many websites and blogs with live webcasts, game previews, game media and blog entries detailing the event.

G4 has been airing the live coverage of each E3 from 2005 onwards.

History of E3

E3 begun with its creation in 1995 and has continued through the latest expo in 2011. From 1995 to 2006, the conference was known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo. For a brief time in 2007-2008, the conference was known as the E3 Media and Business Summit but was reverted back to Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2009.

Before the introduction of E3, most game developers showcase their products and hardware to other trade shows like the Consumer Electronics Show and the European Computer Trade Show. The idea of the first E3 was conceived by IDG's Infotainment World and Interactive Digital Software Association (now known as Entertainment Software Association).

The first E3 in 1995 coincided with the start of new generation of consoles. The first E3 featured the start of Sony's entrance to the video game industry with their new Sony PlayStation console. Sega Saturn, capitalizing on its head start on the gaming industry with Nintendo, used the event to unveil its Virtual Boy system. SNK Playmore Corporation has also participated with the release of their Neo-Geo CD. The E3 Expo has also showcased several video games for both PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Some of the games that were shown and garnered attention were Battle Arena Toshinden, Ridge Racer, Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, and D. Despite being on its first year of demonstration, the E3 expo proved to be the premier event for gaming in the United States.

Throughout the succeeding years, the event continued to grow and became a common place for unveiling of new products. E3 was able to featured the release of new game consoles like the Sega's Nintendo 64 (1996), Dreamcast (1999), PlayStation 2 (2000), Nintendo GameCube (2001) and Xbox (2000), PlayStation Portable (2004) and Nintendo DS (2004), Xbox360 (2005), and PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii (2006).

In the year 2005, the E3 convention was first aired on television. From then on, all future E3 conventions were slated to air on G4 networks. It was also during this year that the 11th annual E3 summit was able to attract around 70,000 attendees. But despite recent successes in the years 2005 and 2006, E3 has announced that the following conferences would be downsized and restructured due to the overwhelming demand from the exhibitors.

On October 13, 2006, E3 has released a detailed new format of the show. E3 was originally envisioned as an expo open only to game industry professionals. Throughout the years, E3 expo has been populated by a great number of bloggers and attendees who were not perceive to be industry professionals. Through the revised format, these persons were excluded from the event and transformed the E3 conference as an invitation only event.

From 2007-2008, participants of E3 expo has been greatly reduced to 10,000 by 2007 and 5,000 by 2008. A separate conference called the Entertainment for All Expo has been held during these years to accommodate the public demand for a major, annual video game event; but this didn't duplicate E3's previous success and was later abandoned. During these years, the E3 expo has been criticized by both from within and outside the gaming industry; speculating that these changes have excluded, and even damaged, independent developers in favor of larger game companies.

By 2009, Electronic Entertainment Expos has decided to revert back to its original format before the 2007 restructuring. During this year the show was greatly expanded in terms of its size compared to its previous years. The conference has been reopened to all qualified computer and gaming audience, which was greatly appreciated and well received by game makers after a disappointing performance by E3 2007 and 2008. E3 2009 and 2010 has both shown high attendance figure.

E3 Expo 2011 For 2011, E3 will be having its annual trade show this coming June 7-9, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year, leading computer and video game companies, business partners, media and industry analysts from over 80 countries will converge on the Los Angeles Convention Center. Here's the schedule for E3's 2011 Annual Trade Expo.

The latest 2011 E3 Expo ran from June 7, 2011 TUESDAY 12:00PM - 6:00PM June 8, 2011 WEDNESDAY 10:00AM - 6:00PM June 9, 2011 THURSDAY 10:00AM - 6:00PM

The E3 Expo's are not only open to software developers, programmers, manufacturers and retailers. It also welcomes researchers, educators, financial and industry analysts and worldwide electronic and print media. For more information you can visit E3's official website.

A long time gamer and writer for http://www.gamingclimax.com/.

I love MMORPG's, and everything gaming industry related.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Porthos_Du_Vallon/1109450

Interview With NAMA 2007 Winner

By Caven Masuku  |   Submitted On January 03, 2009

Who is Mthombeni?

My full name is Catherine Mthombeni and was born in Harare on the 29th of August 1984 in a family of three girls and a boy. I'm the first-born and have to set a pace for those who come after me.

Can you give me your detailed academic background?

Well ah! Yeah! I started my primary education in Harare at Thomlson Primary School from Grade One to Seven. I then proceeded to Form One up to Form Six at Daramombe "Christ" the King that was 1996-2000. Currently I am at Midlands State University completing my Degree in Media and Society Studies.

What is art and how do you relate it to media?

Art is a form of communication that can be literary, visual, dramatic and musical. It can be performed in an open space where the community members can celebrate with the artist. Art is a vehicle that perpetuates the culture of the society that is the totality of the people in a given space. It is a social cement that keeps the society in solidarity and bound together. It enhances language and transmits the norms and values. Media are used as the means to perpetuate and promote arts. It enables a multiplicity of views to circulate among the community members.

In your family who do you emulate and why?

Not any one in particular!, but had to achieve what had not been achieved by anyone in the family. Through zeal and determination together with the global atmosphere that we are living in, I had to develop the attitude of hard working and the result have been achieved. What contribution do media give to art discipline?Both the print and electronic media give wide coverage of stories, acts, artistic shows and columns that disseminate culture to the entire society. Such programs help the artists to realize their weaknesses and improve them. Media also makes artists to be popular celebrities. Media assist artistic products to be marketed at a broader scale. Media help in the wrapping of the message in a manner that will make the audience to like it.

What does it take to meet NAMA qualities?

Ah! That is a coaxing question, anywhere talking from experience there are a lot of things that have to be improved. Craftiness in writing the stories, competence in handling language, effectiveness in putting ideas across and having the taste of arts, l suppose is all what it takes for someone to emerge as the NAMA nominee. Criticizing artist, albeit that at times it sours relations and helps the artist to know their strengths and weakness.

Do you think Midlands State University (MSU) is an institution which contributes to arts, if so how?

Yes it does extensively. Programs like musicology, African languages and Culture, and Media studies are the programs offered at MSU and impart skills and knowledge that are artistic in form. Many MSU products have started recording studio in most urban centers and have recruited many intern students for attachment.

What do you think is lacking in Zimbabwe in promoting artistic talent?

Currently, in Zimbabwe there are a lot of problems that the arts industry is encountering. Lack of money to purchase instruments a major challenge. Funding is another problem that this industry is facing, unlike in other developed countries where such disciplines can be state funded or sponsored by big companies. In Zimbabwe it seems that it will never happen. Only if we can get more programs like the "Chibuku Road to Fame.

Who inspired you to pursue the arts?

Well l cannot tell where exactly l got the inspiration from, but what l can say is that l like listening to music and reading novels. At The Sunday News, l got lured to the entertainment desk.

Do you think the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) needs to be hailed for facilitating NAMA, and why?

Yes! Like in my case the award is my first achievement time to be recognized by NACZ. I am happy that l was the first person to attain that award as a woman. Secondly, it encourages journalists writing stories to work hard by rewarding them accordingly, depend on their abilities. NAMA Award encourages journalist to write arts stories. Respecting media as a discipline and giving recognition is something that needs to be hailed.

Whom do you want to thank In the Media studies department and why?

General l would like to thank all my lecturers who contributed immensely by nurturing my skills and writing talent. However, special thanks goes to Mandava the Media Chairperson for the message that he gave us when we were going to an attachment. Not forgetting Oga Ndoro who taught me the craftiness of writing the stories.

Any words of encouragement to the NAMA Award aspiring individuals?

Yes! They should not write expecting to win the NAMA Award, but all the same have to write competently and effectively to whet the appetite of the reader. Determination, zeal and hard work is all what it takes to scoop an award. Craftiness and good handling of language is a prerequisite. Anywhere in journalism if you cannot handle language properly you automatically do not qualify to be there.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Caven_Masuku/218153