I signed up for the conference. The sign up was free and easy, but I'm still not sure how to access the presentations. There are a ton of presentations over 3 days, some seem interesting, others not so much. I'll also be watching Twitter to see how this type of interactive conference goes. Hopefully, I'll get a few tweets in.
Overall I hope this will be a learning experience for me as I think social media has a lot of potential for MECFS advocacy. It just seems to fit in nicely with making your voice heard while lying on ones couch!
BTW
Ryan's presentation is on Sunday from 1:30-3:00 west cost time.
This is an overview from the conference program:
"1:30 - 3:00 pmSunday, September 7
LK 305
Workshop: Health advocacy in the YouTube age
Ryan Prior
ePatient Scholar; Executive Producer, The Blue Ribbon
We live in an increasingly video-centric age, one in which a single video can get shared millions of times and make major impact, moving heartstrings and changing policy. Well-produced videos can only...
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Description
We live in an increasingly video-centric age, one in which a single video can get shared millions of times and make major impact, moving heartstrings and changing policy. Well-produced videos can only increase the likelihood of virality, and consequently, impact. Health advocates, independent bloggers, non-profits, and even large companies can all increasingly benefit from the principles of DIY filmmaking in promoting a message or a product. Opportunities might include lobbying on Capitol Hill, video appeals for crowdfunding stories, or heartwarming stories of how a message, product, or therapy has transformed the lives of a suffering family. Learning how to translate events into viral videos is an important skill in the 21st century.
Contrary to what one might think, however, producing strong professional-quality video does not need to cost thousands of dollars or require graduating from film school.
Former USA Today writer turned documentary filmmaker Ryan Prior will discuss his role as co-director and executive producer of the film
The Blue Ribbon: ME/CFS and the Future of Medicine, a year-long production that utilized DIY principles (perhaps a film version of the "lean startup") to produce the film for 3-5 times less than a conventional documentary.
Prior will explain how he has helped other advocates in the ME/CFS and neuro-immune disease field to magnify their messages through quality videos produced at low cost. He'll explain how to get camera operators and sound engineers from hit network television shows to apply for your gig within hours. The session will be very useful for someone who has nothing more than a video-phone, a laptop, and a YouTube account. It can also scale up to explain how to produce documentary shorts or feature films for distribution on Amazon, iTunes, or Hulu.
Ryan Prior is a journalist and non-profit director interested in the intersection of complex disease, molecular medicine, and bio-informatics. He wants to tell the story of how new technologies are helping to solve old, intractable problems and to develop programs to equip doctors and society to address these issues.
Ryan's specific interest is in severe neuro-immune conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, as he contracted the disease in 2006."
