Newsletter  No. 74                                                                                 JUNE 20, 2015

Media Events You Can Be Part Of
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"Go-Fund-Me" Campaign
"Discover Santa" Documentary
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Send Your Own Local News Release
Using - #KringleReunion

15 days until DS 2016
MEDIA COVERAGE AT DS2016

As we quickly approach the beginning of Discover Santa 2016 we are getting more calls and media inquiries on the convention.  As we said the other day, when word get out that a group of Santas is getting together, it does attrace.

And we now know that this will be the  World's Largest Meeting of Santas and Mrs. Claus,  ever held.

EARLY MEDIA EVENTS YOU CAN ATTEND

JULY 1 - BRANSON COUNTRY USA.   LIVE BROADCAST!
Please contact Santa Tim is you live locally or will be arriving on or before July 1. We have been invited to be guests at the live Friday Night broadcast of Branson Country Live. And we will have a chance to be on the air to tell everyone about the convention.

We will have a special section and need to be there around 10:00 p.m. for the broadcast which begins at10:30 PM show! 

The show is co-hosted by Grand Country nuts, Jamie Haage, as Jim Dandy, and Mike Patrick! With a rotating roster of talent, the show features special guest stars from the rich Branson entertainment industry. From celebrities such as Mickey Gilley and Roy Clark to the up-and-coming stars of tomorrow, the weekly line-up is always a hit!

Audiences also enjoy the incredible voices of Jackie Brown, Melody Hart and the power harmonies of New South, both weekly regulars on the show. The entire show is backed by the dynamic Grand Band.

Send me an email if you want to join is on July 1.   [email protected]

JULY 5 MEDIA EVENT WITH TOYS R US AND RAZOR
You may have read that Toys R Us has come aboard as a sponsor tor the SNO-lympics.   Well they have also brought the folks from Razor aboard and we will be hosting a media morning at the Battlefield Toys R Us in Springfield, early Tuesday morning, July 5.

Reporters from the local Stations are going to be invited to race against some Santas on the Razor TMX Dritt Tikes around a specila race course set up in the Toys R Us parking lot.  It should be a fun morning.  

This is also when we will receive the delivery of all the Razor Scooters, and Trikes, Schwinn Bikes, Lego kits, Barbies and Care Bears that the Santas and Mrs. Claus will be using at SNO-lympics and later donate to local charities.

Representatives from the Marine Toys for Tots and Boys and Girls Club will also be on hand as they will get everything when we finish our convention.

Any Santas and Mrs. Claus living in the area, or if you are arriving early for the convention, are invited to attend.  Who knows you could be one of our competitors with a local reporter!

Contact us if you are interested  Email: [email protected]


TELEVISION COVERAGE
Throughout the convention we will have a variety of news reporters, Television Crews, and even our own documentry film crew, lead by Santa Bo Turner.

Our hopes are to have some major network news coverage.  Currently we know that some of the local network affiliates are attending and from past experience, we know their local stories are picked up by the evening Network news.  

Most of the media management is being handled by the Branson Convention and Visitors Bureau. We could try to do some of this, but they have the experience and the contacts and we are so glad they have stepped in to help.

Both the Parade of Red Suits, with the Guinness Record attempt, and the SNO-lympics with it's unusual games and challenges, will attract the media. We have also received some interest from CBS in covering the convention, especially the Santa Claus Hall of Fame.  

There will also be lots of local and regional reporters and news photographers. 

So we encourage everyone to put their best foot forward.  We will try to let you know when major media will be following everyone   

REMEMBER YOUR IMAGE IS OUR IMAGE!
No matter where you are or what you are doing at DS2016, please remember that you represent our industry and what ever any Santa does reflects on all of us a a whole. We know that red is the color of the day and most of  you have lots of that.

We only ask that you not wear T-shirts or clothing with unusual logos or art, espeially alcohol ads, pirate themes, etc. Afterall this is a Santa convention! 

Just remember that everything you do will be seen!  And will porbably show up somewhere in social media.

SEND A NEWS RELEASE TO YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER
Want to let the world know you are comnig to Branson?  Well we have prepared a special news release that you can just insert your name and send to your local newspaper.  Just Click on the link below.


We are very fortunate to have Santa Bo Turner leading up a te am to film segments of our Convention for a Documentary. Bo did some pre-convention shooting at our planning meeting last May, in Branson

For the first time, this is a documentary that we, the Santa community, are producing.  Funds are needed now for the filming and more funds will be needed to pay for post production and editing.  

But to create this documentary, we are going to need some extra financial support.  We have set up a  "Go-Fund-Me" account to raise the funds necessary to rent the quality video production equipment needed to make a quality documentary.n filming at our planning meeting in Branson, in May.   

To date, we have received over $1,500 in pledges and donations towards producing our documentary.  For the video filming we need to raise five or six times that amount.  

We might be e a bit ambitious trying for $25,000, but even  $10,000 would help trementiously.  Just to rent one broadcast quality camera package is almost $1,000 for the week.  And we are looking at having three or four cameras.  If we could bring in a small video boom it would truly add to the quality and the images that we could capture.


WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS?
Everyone that contributes to your fund raising will be listed in the credits of the documentary.  Donations of $50 or more also get a copy of the Documentary.  

$100 donors will will be moved up the Credits list as a Supporting Sponsor; $250 donors will be given the titles of Executive Sponsors with bolder type and also a bit higher on the list.  And the larger donors will be given varing levels of Producer status on the Opening credits and even company logo in the Opening Title sequence.  

We need the support and will be glad to work with any individual group, association or corporation. 

ABOUT OUR FILM CREW.
Santa Bo Turner is a Video Journalist for KWTV in Oklahoma City and now has the big job to document all that will be hapening at our convention.  we also have a couple of other Santas with Video production experience, plus we have brougnt in Matt Fisher and his company,from Springfiled, to augment our crew.

It is a Documentary simply titled,  "Claus Encounters"  or possibly  mirroring the name of our convention,  "Discovering Santa."   If the quality and subject matter are interesting , who knows where this will end up.  We know that some film festivals would love the subject.  And we know it will eventually be available for streaming on the internet.

Santa Bo and his team are bringing in cameras and equipment to film all aspects of the convention.

PARADE VIDEO
For the Parade, we will have Cameras mounted on second and third floor balconies filming down the parade route.  We Will have Santa  Bo and Matt Fisher and other Camera persons working all along the Parade Route.

Within the Parade we will have Santas with camera mounted to their Hats, to give us a Santa view of being inside the parade.

And we will have an aerial camera and possibly a Drone camera getting the big picture.

Additionally Matt Fisher will have one camera set up to broadcast a live video and audio stream the parade coverage live, World-Wide, via the internet.  More on that coming soon!   This will allow Santas and friends everywhere to see the parade live!

SNO-LYMPICS
Santas racing around a tight course on giant Razor TMX Drift Trikes!  Other competing in a Big Tug-o-War. and lots of fun for all.  We will be filming it all and will even have helmet cameras and han dlebar cameras to get the Santa perspective of the competitions. 

OTHER CONVENTION COVERAGE
There is so much going on at the convention.  The documentary will include sections on every activity of the convention from the vendor showcase to the workshops to all of the parties and shows.  Plus there will be coverage of the Santa Claus Hall of Fame and the Santa Claus Oath.

INTERVIEWS WITH THE SANTAS AND MRS. CLAUS
Plans are to have some special cameras set up for doing interviews with many of the Santas and Mrs. Claus attending the convention.  One planned interview site will be a private booth where you can just go in, sit down and record what ever you wish to say.

Other interviews will be with committee members, vendors, workshop presenters and even some of the local community. 

This truly will be a documentary of, by and for the Santa community.  If you can help us in our mission, please visit the Go-Fund-Me site and make a contribution today.  If  you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me: [email protected]

SOCIAL MEDIA AND DS2016  -  #Kringle Reunion

At our first convention we did a lot of newsletters and at that time were using MS chat groups to connect.  And some of the media did post photos of our convention on the web.  We even ended up with a few short videos on YouTube.

Social Media is such a major part of our lives today.  What would we do if we could not chat and text and post photos to everyone else.

There will be lots of comments and photos of our convention.  And thanks to Santa Bo Turner, we have our own hashtag.  So when you are posting please use this special hashtag:

#KringleReunion

Invite everyone to use it,as we spread the word.  And the Photos!

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