Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

I hope that you are all well and you are enjoying life both and work and in play. I will be speaking at a number of events in different capacitates over the following months. These vary from digital media workshops to seminars addressing how we can approach death in today's digitally-connected World.

If you are able to attend any of the events that I am speaking at below (please let me know).

• University College London – Utilising Digital and Social Media for Small Businesses (14th July 2014) – UCL, London / UCL students only

• Nitro Ignite, Digital Health (4th September) – St. Anne’s Church on Dean Street, London

• Ideal Death Show (6th September) – The Beeches, Bournville (Birmingham)

• London Month of the Dead (26th October) – Kensal Green Cemetery Dissenters’ Chapel Kensal Green Cemetery Chapel, London

• Dying Matters Day of the Dead Conference (3rd November) – Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London

• Health 2.0 Europe (11th November) – The Mermaid Conference Centre, London

• Transition in Palliative Care Study Day (11th November) – Recorded seminar shown at Ty Hafan Childrens Hospice (near Cardiff) £90-£100

• Mindshare Huddle, (13th November) – Mindshare's Office, London (free, invitation only)

• Macmillan Primary Care Conference (Three workshops between: 27th & 28th November). Invitation only – Hilton, Gatwick Airport, West Sussex

• UCL, 10,000 Small Businesses (3rd February, 1.30pm-5pm) – Social Media Workshop, Successful applicants for 10KSB programme only.

• UCL, Utilising Digital & Social Media (5th March 9.30am-5.30pm) – CPD Accredited Course. UCL students only

• Digital Legacy Conference (TBA) – More information coming soon, open to general public

I look forward to seeing many of you soon,

James

Blue Badge Style launches first mobile app for stylish, less-able people

Blue Badge Style a guide for a less able, stylish lifestyle, has launched a free mobile application for iPhone and Android (Blackberry app is on it's way). The app is aimed at stylish people with mobility issues (initially in London). The application identifies 'cool' venues near your location and uses its bespoke tick rating system to grade them on style, accessibility and facilities. The team plans to expand the Blue Badge Style offering throughout the UK and then the major European cities.

Founder Fiona Jarvis explains “mobility, or the lack of it, doesn’t mean that I’ve lost my sense of style, but I do want to know what to expect before I arrive at a venue. The Blue Badge Style app means that people with limited mobility and equally importantly, their friends, don’t have to be surprised or embarrassed by a lack of accessibility or facilities at a cool venue. It’s freedom shared!”

The Blue Badge Style app has been jointly developed by Stuxbot and UCL Advances, who offered to help at a recent UCL Mobile Academy course, believing the idea to be one which would improve the lives of people with disabilities. There are plans to introduce a Text To Speech version for the Blind. The aim is for Blue Badge Style to eventually include all disabilities.

As the UK population ages, people with temporary or permanent mobility issues are on the increase. Blue Badge Style estimates from government statistics, that up to 300,000 people in London have mobility issues. Founder, Fiona Jarvis wants to tap into this to create a community of like-minded people for whom style and disability are not mutually exclusive, and encourage them to rate their favourite restaurants, bars, shops, cafes, theatres etc. on Blue Badge Style. The tick rating system scores out of 5 for each category: 1.Access, 2.Facilities and 3.Style, so that users know exactly what to expect from each venue.

Fiona explains “Most people at some point in their life will experience periods of being less able. A sense of style does not diminish when this happens. If anything, it becomes more important”. She continues, “Style is the overriding premise of the website and app, along with a positive outlook on life. With this app you can easily see the best places near you, read our review, check the Blue Badge Style rating and get directions on how to get there. We’re also encouraging like-minded people to post their own reviews. We believe that decreased mobility need not stop you from enjoying a stylish life”.

*Social Media Strategist is currently providing Blue Badge Style with marketing support & user experience consultancy

UCL & Goldman Sachs 10ksb Social Media & SEO Workshops

James Norris will be running two sessions on Thursday 14th June for UCL & Goldman Sachs 10ksb program. The two workshops have a 30 minute break in between, however many of the areas addressed overlap. If you are able to attend both we recommend doing so. The first workshop 'Growing your Business with Social Media' will address using social networks and online tools from a business perspective. This will allow you to attain an insight into your business, raise its awareness and ultimately help you to achieve your goals (such as profit, downloads, enquiries etc).

Growing your Business with Social Media – Workshop 1 Thursday 14th June, 11.00am to 1.00pm

This workshop will teach those attending how to use specific online platforms and why they may want to use each one for their own business. There will be a series of short tasks for attendees to carry out during the workshop each lasting no longer then five minutes. We encourage attendees to (ideally) bring a laptop with them. If those attending do not have a laptop they may wish to bring a tablet or a notepad.

We expect all attendees to have a Facebook and Twitter account prior to the workshop. If you do not have an account for each please create them before the start of the workshop.

…..Light lunch provided 1.00 – 1.30pm

Getting your business "found in Google" using SEO, analytics and online tools – Workshop 2 Thursday 14th June, 1.30pm to 3.30pm

James Norris will be running two sessions on Thursday 14^th June for UCL & Goldman Sachs 10ksb program. The two workshops have a 30 minute break in between, however many of the areas addressed overlap. If you are able to attend both we recommend doing so.

This workshop Getting your business "found in Google" using SEO, analytics and online tools will begin with ‘an introduction to search engine optimization’ (SEO) presentation. This will show attendees how search engines (specifically Google) works and the criteria’s in which Google ranks websites for specific terms. The presentation will help attendees to think about factors that influence a website’s performance within search engines. After the presentation a number of SEO and analytic tools will be addressed. This will be carried out in a workshop format and attendees will be able to use a variety of free tools to get an idea of how their own website is performing. If attendees do not have a website they (in some circumstances) will be encouraged to use the tools to evaluate a company who could be seen as on of their competitors.

This will give attendees the knowledge and tools required to analyse their website’s performance and help increase the amount of relevant traffic to it. We encourage attendees to (ideally) bring a laptop with them. If attendees do not have a laptop they may wish to bring a tablet or a notepad.

About James Norris

James has devised and executed a range of different campaigns for brands and organisations including Channel 4, Nokia and Glastonbury Festival. He has also advised the Labour Party (Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and Ken Livingston) about the state of the startup scene in the UK and troubles new businesses face in the current climate.

James is the founder the startup ‘DeadSocial’. DeadSocial attained support from UK Trade & Investment to announce the platform at SXSW in Texas earlier this year. DeadSocial has since enjoyed early success and recognition becoming a finalist at the London Web Summit 2012 before achieving a top four position at The Next Web & Microsoft’s ‘Startup Rally’ 2012 in Amsterdam in March.

More information about James can be found at: Social Media Strategist / DeadSocial / James’ Twitter account