The MsBehaviour Files: X|Media|Lab Melbourne: DIY TV

The Melbourne X|Media|Lab on DIY TV was an adventure in many ways. My taxi ride from the airport to the city started eventfully, with a tyre blowing out on a truck in the fast lane. Luckily we were saved by some nifty driving and I was deposited at the Hotel Windsor safely. I met the other mentors in the lobby later including Mohammed Nanabhay, Head of New Media from Al Jazeera. We jumped in a cab for the VIP reception at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image , but neither of us knew the way. Mohammed yelled "Follow that cab" then turned round with a huge grin and said "I have always wanted to say that!"The next day started early as we had sixteen keynote speeches to get through of twenty minutes each. The theatre was packed as the event had sold out a week early. Coverage of the keynotes was provided by Brad Howarth, which started with Nick DeMartino, Dan Fill, Helen Baxter, Robert Tercek, Domenic Carosa and Ken Rutkowski, Mike Mcgraw, Jae Won, and Mohamed Nanabhay. After breaking for lunch and meeting some of the audience and project teams we kicked off the afternoon sessions with Louise McElvogue, Herb Wang, McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves, Stewart Butterfield, Scott-Bradley Pearce, Gary Wisniewski, and Chris Adams. The final word from Chris Adams was "online video is the new black." As co-founder Participant Productions, one of the coolest production companies on the planet - I trust his judgement.

The themes that came through from the presentations and Lab sessions afterwards were that online video is growing fast as are mobisodes and streaming of live content. The online viewing audience is older than one might think with 44% over the age of 35. It is important to pre-qualify your audience and grow a following in any way you can. Start small with a Twitter feed, podcast and publish as often as possible. You should create tools not rules to drive behaviour online, and putting metadata in is vital for providing content across multiple channels and platforms, that can also be monetized.

Embedding sponsorship and product placement into your content is far more effective than forcing viewers to watch pre-rolled ads or overlays. Also don't wait for the money to come in before you start your idea, as VCs prefer to invest in 'upstarts' not start-ups, teams that are already working on their project and generating some cashflow. Work out how to create once, sell many times and always work with smart, passionate people. In Korea, grid delivery systems and P2P distribution are creating new models where bandwidth increases the more people are downloading. You Tube is due to launch live streaming by the end of 2008 and Lifecasting will grow in popularity, as will interactive talk shows. Above all the advice was have fun and don't be afraid to break the rules of making television.

You can watch my presentation at XMedia Lab Melbourne which I made using Flowgram, a great new tool still in private Beta testing. I saved the presentation as a movie using the Camtasia video capture tool, put in on a memory stick and prayed that it would play at the other end. Thankfully it all worked perfectly and I was delighted to find out that the new View2gether Lounge I set up for Let's Be Frank on Alt TV is currently getting the most traffic.

Ironically the Wi-fi at the Centre for the Moving Image was a little patchy, making it hard for the people live blogging and sending #xmedialab tweets. You can view some some clips of a live mobile stream on Qik from Ken Radio, as well as Ken's interview with Chris Adams at the reception. More video clips of the keynotes will be published soon at Adikted.tv, and you can already watch an interview with myself and Connor Koudsea on the Adikted Tech Channel.

Days two and three of the X|Media|Lab consisted of mentoring the seventeen project teams, chosen for feedback from the international mentors. It was an amazingly intense experience, and the standout presentation for me was by the young champion from the Melbourne Gamers League & Gamerthon. I wish I could bottle his energy! Having so many talented, motivated people in one place was almost overwhelming. By Sunday night I felt high on the energy from everyone. We celebrated our last night on the Rooftop Bar looking out over the Melbourne skyline, then shared a riotous meal in China Town.

I didn't believe that I could have two death defying rides in the same trip, but my taxi developed clutch problems and broke down on the motorway on ramp. At that point we should have stopped and called for help but the crazy driver managed to get it into gear and onto the motorway. He then broke down three more times along the way, with us motionless in the middle or fast lane and me in brace position. The final surreal moment came when we had to be pushed the last six feet to the airport door, and yes he charged me full fare for endangering my life repeatedly. I had an amazing time at the X|Media|Lab Melbourne, but the next time the Digital Media Mountains can come to the Mohawks in Aotearoa!

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As well as being TBI's strategist & columnist, MsBehaviour is Producer & Presenter of the g33k show, Fridays, 8 pm on Alt TV. She is also Managing Directrix of Mohawk Media, which produces internet TV, 3D Animation & Machinima.