Lance Black’s Blog

Since we offered a free version of Huddle back in November, we have had hundreds of people sign up to us the best free web conferencing/webinar tool on the market.

January is going to be an exciting month for us at Huddle. We are going to integrate desktop sharing to go along with video, audio, slides, chat, and people pods. Customers have been anxiously waiting for that nice feature. We are also on the doorstep of something big with Huddle in a certain niche market. Right now it is kind of hush but I’ll tell you more in the future as I can. We’ve got a few big corporate customers using the product and we are excited about what 2007 will bring.

The week before Christmas our family all went to Florida to experience Disney World. I have been to Disneyland in California multiple times but never have experienced the Florida side of Disney. Overall, we had a fun time. The highlight of the trip was being in 70 degree weather and leaving 20 degree weather. OK maybe the highlight was the Everest Roller Coaster at the Animal Kingdom or perhaps it was the airline flight to and from.

We left our youngest boy home and took other 5 children. We got alot of “Do you think all those kids belong to them?” looks all week but we had fun with it. The magic of the place somehow allows you to pay $15 for a sandwich and a drink and still have a smile on your face.

Here we are with the sun in our faces getting ready to enjoy a day at the Magic Kingdom.

Phil Burns, a good friend of mine, bought pizza for about 12 of us and showed us all his latest project TagJungle. I was very impressed with the technology. TagJungle is definately a very exciting web 2.0 app that is going to cause people to rethink the way they subscribe to blogs. You can read a little about what TagJungle will do here.

Well, almost everyone. On November 1st, we are giving away 100 free accounts to Huddle, a Flash based web presentation and conferencing solution. These free accounts will be given away on a first come, first serve basis to those who sign up now. You can sign up at http://www.livehuddle.com/free .

To find out what Huddle can do for you and your business, you can go to http://www.livehuddle.com/whatis.php .

To see a short demo of Huddle, you can visit http://www.livehuddle.com/event/index.php?event_id=ac1dd209cbcc5e5d1c6e28598e8cbbe8 .

If you have the need to have online meetings over the web, this product is for you. Take advantage of this free offer and sign up today.

About 2 and 1/2 weeks ago a neighbor of mine was involved in a tragic car accident. I am amazed at how the community has come together for her and her family. She is still in a coma at LDS hospital and has shown some signs of improvement. This last week she opened her eyes for brief period of times.

The family has put out a blog where people can go to get updates and to post comments. You can see the site at www.prayforjessica.com. The site was inspired by another brain trauma patient who’s site I visit regularly. Her name is Tori Schmanski and her site is www.pray4tori.com.

My company, Eli Kirk, is looking for an apprentice designer to work under the direction of our art director. The ideal person would be someone who is willing to work about 20 hours a week and has formal training and a great portfolio in both web and print.

Tonight I had to cancel an important meeting I had setup for tomorrow because another important opportunity came into play that I wasn’t planning on. I’m hoping the client I was to meet with is understanding and will be willing to reschedule. I made the decision to cancel it in a split second, almost sub-conscious, manner.

The meeting I cancelled is with a client who we’ve done work for and they want to run an idea by me that will more than likely turn into more business for us. The other opportunity I am attending is a personal half day trip I am taking with a good friend and it could turn into a good business opportunity as well.

I just find it interesting how the human mind can make that decision so fast and weigh all the pros and cons in a matter of seconds. Both opportunities could be financially good for me. I guess in this case, I thought I could probably reschedule the meeting I cancelled easier than I could say no to my friend and miss out on that opportunity.

Ok, today I went on a nice little boat ride on a 23 foot Ebbtide boat from Heringer Marine. The event was a Hub Club event sponsored by Corporate Alliance. This was the first Hub Club event I have attended and thoroughly enjoyed it. Park admission and the BBQ lunch was all on Corporate Alliance’s tab. I think they do a great job of hosting events “just because”. They believe that B to B financial transactions will happen automatically and if business owners will focus on the relationship, the transactions will naturally come. Case in point… there must have been 80 people there today and some CA members brought guests who are not members of CA and there was no pressure whatsoever to join. I took my good friend Jarad Severe who is not a member of CA, and may never be… that’s the point of “just because”. Jarad may however, buy a boat and you can bet he will look into Heringer Marine and their products because Clark Heringer took the time to show us a good time.

Ok, I finally bit the bullet and decided to start my own blog. I’ve known about blogs now for years and my company, Eli Kirk, has been advocating and installing blogs for our clients all during that time. I guess when it comes down to it, I’ve never really been a big “writer”. Which is funny because I spend quite a bit of my time communicating with email and writing bids and proposals.

Anyway, no guarantees how often I’ll post but I can guarantee it will be over a varied host of topics and interests. Hopefully this is the start of a new long lasting relationship and maybe before it is all said and done, I’ll actually think of writing as something other than a painful assignment.