Dan Ednie’s Footbag Guide to getting Footbag in the Media
Word document version available at
http://www.sendspace.com/file/x5780h
This is a guide to how to get Footbag on things like TV, in newspapers and out there into the world - please comment if its useful, and recommend it to other footbaggers. I've found out lots of little tricks to doing it - and if you'd like to see some of the places I've managed to get on please type in "dan ednie" to youtube, or http://www.danednie.com Thanks!
The Guide
Being in TV, Radio, Newspaper is important – you need to be there.
First start off getting in local newspapers – these are the easiest to get into – so go there first.
Getting in Newspapers
Go on the internet and get a phone number to call concerning editorial enquiries – if you don’t find one, just ring up the main hotline and then say your full name and tell the receptionist you’d like to speak to a journalist about a possible story. The same advice earlier about preparing for newspapers is relevant here. Clear your head and be sure of exactly what you want to say before you pick up the phone. You will probably be terrified – and don’t worry if you are a bit nervous – it’s normal.
Here’s an example to the question ‘What’s your story?’ (you may need to answer it 5 times, until you finally get to the person you need to speak to!
“My name is Dan Ednie, I live in East Malvern (suburb) and I will be representing Victoria at the National Footbag Championships next month in Canberra!â€
Dan Ednie's Guide to Getting Footbag in the Media
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colefieldhouse22
- BSOS Beast
- Posts: 358
- Joined: 01 Jan 2006 17:55
- Location: Silver Spring, MD
Sometimes I get the feeling that footbag is like a cult, trying to spread itself to as many people as it can. Minus the kool-aid, of course.
Good write-up. With those tips, you can really sell yourself and footbag out to big business. Probably even make some good money in the process. I'm sure once footbag is finally *picked* up by the mainstream, we will get to see the next soulja bo... I mean .. Vasek rise to fame.
Good write-up. With those tips, you can really sell yourself and footbag out to big business. Probably even make some good money in the process. I'm sure once footbag is finally *picked* up by the mainstream, we will get to see the next soulja bo... I mean .. Vasek rise to fame.
James Randall
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justin41
- Shredaholic
- Posts: 165
- Joined: 26 Jul 2005 01:36
- Location: Aachen, Germany, OldEurope
- Contact:
nice one!
there are 2 points you forgot:
1. Photos. "normal" photographers have no idea, how to put footbag in scene. we had noumerous really high reputated photographers on different occasions, shooting for the newspapers and all they got was crappy stalls or bags on the ground. it takes experience in -footbag- to make good footbag-photos. so have photos ready, so you can send them "just in case" they might want to print some real good shots. make sure you own the rights or the photos are free of other copyrights.
2. net... then again, maybe not. but since i'm competing mainly in net i do want to promote that too. however, any footbag player should be able to -at least- give a basic input on what the other of the two main disciplines is about. say something like: footbag-net is like beach-volley just on a badminton-court and only using the feet. comparison to takraw or foot-volley helps sometimes.
from all the media exposure we had, 80% of the journalists chose net for the main cover of the article, as the photos look more spectcular for the untrained eye. its a little harder to make a freestyle pic look as cool as a 7foot toe-spike, since every grandma sees the difficulty in jumping high and kickin a bag.. but a freestyle photo is hard to "understand" and sometimes you can really tell, that a viewer is unable to "see the deal" of a dexterety and relate that to the bag.
finally i'd like to point out that media-work is also a matter of experience.
so maybe just start with a small local radio-station or newspaper. it took me 5 interviews to feel comfortable and confident enough to be featured live or as part of a bigger tv-production. i started with the university-radio and a student-reporter for the smallest local newspaper. once we had some exposure there, it grew pretty fast. and it helped a lot that i had the same type of interview a few times before...
j.
there are 2 points you forgot:
1. Photos. "normal" photographers have no idea, how to put footbag in scene. we had noumerous really high reputated photographers on different occasions, shooting for the newspapers and all they got was crappy stalls or bags on the ground. it takes experience in -footbag- to make good footbag-photos. so have photos ready, so you can send them "just in case" they might want to print some real good shots. make sure you own the rights or the photos are free of other copyrights.
2. net... then again, maybe not. but since i'm competing mainly in net i do want to promote that too. however, any footbag player should be able to -at least- give a basic input on what the other of the two main disciplines is about. say something like: footbag-net is like beach-volley just on a badminton-court and only using the feet. comparison to takraw or foot-volley helps sometimes.
from all the media exposure we had, 80% of the journalists chose net for the main cover of the article, as the photos look more spectcular for the untrained eye. its a little harder to make a freestyle pic look as cool as a 7foot toe-spike, since every grandma sees the difficulty in jumping high and kickin a bag.. but a freestyle photo is hard to "understand" and sometimes you can really tell, that a viewer is unable to "see the deal" of a dexterety and relate that to the bag.
finally i'd like to point out that media-work is also a matter of experience.
so maybe just start with a small local radio-station or newspaper. it took me 5 interviews to feel comfortable and confident enough to be featured live or as part of a bigger tv-production. i started with the university-radio and a student-reporter for the smallest local newspaper. once we had some exposure there, it grew pretty fast. and it helped a lot that i had the same type of interview a few times before...
j.
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ThisIsFate
- Multidex Master
- Posts: 306
- Joined: 13 Sep 2005 15:40
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Jack Stutler
- Multidex Master
- Posts: 287
- Joined: 25 May 2008 18:14
- Location: Twin City Land, Minnesota
Hi Everyone,
Thank you so so much for the positive comments!!!!
I"m glad people enjoyed this.
Photos
I agree with Net Photos being generally much more eye catching, and i really wish we had net in australia, we've looked a lot on the net for takraw in melbourne, but have been unsuccessful. At the moment we dont really have enough people to support a freestyle and net scene.
I got some great photos out of the last photographer i went with, but I did sit down with him first and explain to him a number of footbag things that you mentioned, and then i also think that doing a single trick over and over again until they get the timing just right is important, more than one trick is always a bit hard to do.
Warming into it
That is an extremely valid and important point. Thank you so much. I will update it when I am doing some other updates
Habitat
i wouldn;t call footbag a cult, but I guess my expansionist tendencies are a bit funny really. the way I see success in terms of footbag promotion is two fold
1. more people knowing about it and thinking its cool
2. more people playing
these are good because at the end of the day, footbag is a great thing for people to do, and i hope they can get as much enjoyment and benefit as I have, so its like giving back to the sport. I've personally gotten so much out of footbag that now my highest priority is sharing it with others. - as per this video of footbag on a kids show in May of this year
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZU5vChCYfGY
Sticky
Can some one help me do this? I'd love to sticky it
Thank you,
Dan Ednie
Thank you so so much for the positive comments!!!!
I"m glad people enjoyed this.
Photos
I agree with Net Photos being generally much more eye catching, and i really wish we had net in australia, we've looked a lot on the net for takraw in melbourne, but have been unsuccessful. At the moment we dont really have enough people to support a freestyle and net scene.
I got some great photos out of the last photographer i went with, but I did sit down with him first and explain to him a number of footbag things that you mentioned, and then i also think that doing a single trick over and over again until they get the timing just right is important, more than one trick is always a bit hard to do.
Warming into it
That is an extremely valid and important point. Thank you so much. I will update it when I am doing some other updates
Habitat
i wouldn;t call footbag a cult, but I guess my expansionist tendencies are a bit funny really. the way I see success in terms of footbag promotion is two fold
1. more people knowing about it and thinking its cool
2. more people playing
these are good because at the end of the day, footbag is a great thing for people to do, and i hope they can get as much enjoyment and benefit as I have, so its like giving back to the sport. I've personally gotten so much out of footbag that now my highest priority is sharing it with others. - as per this video of footbag on a kids show in May of this year
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZU5vChCYfGY
Sticky
Can some one help me do this? I'd love to sticky it
Thank you,
Dan Ednie