MAGFest X

To put it simply, MAGfest is an awesome festival that celebrates music and games for 4 days straight. I have to admit, this year’s event was one of the greatest weekends I’ve ever experienced. MAGfest took place in a MUCH larger venue this year, the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbour, MD. I was able to see Alexandria and DC from our 9th floor window, and spend the whole weekend getting my face rocked off by great bands! Watch the videos below for some MAGFest X highlights, as well as the video interview I did (for RPGFan.com) with Nobuo Uematsu and his band Earthbound Papas.

MAGFest X Highlights

Earthbound Papas Interview

Do yourself a favor and take the time to check out all of the bands linked below.

Earthbound Papas

Metroid Metal

Brentalfloss

The Megas

The OneUps

Danimal Cannon

Armcannon

The X-Hunters

Year 20XX

Knife City

Disaster Piece

And below you can view pictures of other things like the game room, the merchandise area, and various Cosplayers.

WEARING YOUR SELLING HAT WITH CONFIDENCE

I’ve never considered myself to be a sales person, so attending AIGA Raleigh‘s recent lunch & learn event was a really good idea for me to help increase my skill set. The guest speaker was Dave Fellman, and listening to everything that he had to say helped me tremendously. The audience was engaged and asked some great questions, and Dave’s responses were filled with real world stories that were easy to relate to.

Dave talked about having courage and confidence in your ability, and building trust with your potential customer. I found that building that trust is the most important part about selling your services. You have to make sure that the person you are selling to is confident in your ability to deliver what they need.

Wear Your Selling Hat With Confidence was not only educational, but also inspiring and motivational. Next time I come face to face with a potential client I will have the confidence to sell my services. Keep these events coming AIGA Raleigh

AIGA LUNCH + LEARN: A WEB DESIGN TOOLKIT

In a career that requires you to be a creative problem solver, it’s always good to be able to step out and breathe a little bit. Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending another local AIGA event with a co-worker during normal work hours. It was great to be able to back away from the computer screen that we’re typically glued to and just sit, listen, learn, eat, and mingle with other creatives. AIGA Raleigh’s Homegrown Lunch & Learn series has proven to be a great refresher for a creative mind, being both informative and fun. The Web Designer’s Tool Kit presentation with Mindy Wagner of Viget was no exception.

Mindy provided many helpful insights on web design, showing Viget’s streamlined and successful workflow to an intruiged crowd at Sitti in downtown Raleigh. She took us through their process of Kickoffs, Mood Boards, Comps, and Style Guides explaining their intricacies relating directly to real projects they worked on. Mindy discussed building trust with clients, testing the waters with mood boards, etc. all while answering questions from inquiring minds in the audience.

It was quite a treat to be able to see another creative firm’s web design process from start to finish. All in all, it was a valuable experience, and I, as well as, the rest of the team at Burning Oak Studios, look forward to attending other events in this series.

Follow Mindy on twitter : @graphicsgirl

TWO LAYNE HIGHWAY – LIVE

**UPDATE**
Video from the performance at Aversboro Coffee

Greetings,

Performing live music is one of my favorite things in life. It has become a rare occasion for me to play music in front of anyone other than my wife in the past few years; however, since the spring I have been able to reconnect with some of my musical soul mates from time to time to “jam.” Our group has been called Two Layne Highway since our first gig when we were still in high school. Originally it was a tribute to the late Alice in Chains singer, Layne Staley. We started out learning and performing Alice in Chains songs and then went on to write lots of originals. The name Two Layne Highway stuck and we still like it to this day

I am excited to announce that Two Layne Highway will be performing again at Aversboro Coffee in Garner, NC on November 19, 2011 from 3-5pm. Aversboro is run by some of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet. It’s a great place to relax and enjoy some live tunes and great beverages. I designed the poster below to advertise the event, feel free to print it and hang it up