Planzai

The MA in Music Industries – Planzai’d

loulou — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:41:34 +0000

This week, guest-blogger Andrew Dubber from Birmingham City University talks course management, e-learning, and how the MA in Music Industries uses Planzai to keep on-campus and distance learners on track. You can find the original post on Dubber’s blog.

I’ve been running the MA in Music Industries (as well as the MA in Music Radio) this year at Birmingham City University. We had our first intake in February, and things really kicked in for the September intake.

From September we’ve also been offering the course as a distance learning programme, which is great because it means that people from anywhere in the world can do the degree without having to move to the UK (or, if they live in the UK, without having to move to Birmingham – though why wouldn’t you want to?).

We are in week eight of the program at the moment, and I have to say that I’m really pleased with how it’s going – particularly the online component, which has been so helpful that the students who are doing the course with attendance are also making use of the materials online to supplement what they’re doing.

The students are also running a blog together, in which they talk about their research, their reflections upon the readings that they’ve been doing, and their critiques of happenings within the music industries.

The point of the blog is to invite others from outside the course – and particularly, within the industry – to get involved, comment, and add their thoughts and reflections as well. Hopefully, in return, the work that the students produce will provide helpful reflection and interesting discussion points for the music industries at large. Go have a look.

One of the most useful things we’ve been using, though, is Planzai.

If you haven’t heard of it, Planzai is an online productivity platform that goes beyond the traditional to-do list. It’s like a project management tool that tells you how to do the things that you want to achieve.

For instance, with the MA programme, we have set at specific times throughout the calendar “Read this article”, “write 1000 words about this topic”, “arrange tutorial”, “write blog post”… and so on.

The tasks only appear as they become relevant, and the students tick them off when they are done.

They are reminded of overdue tasks, sent e-mails each week to let them know what tasks they have coming up, and there’s even a lovely pie chart that shows the proportion of completed tasks, upcoming tasks, urgent tasks, and overdue tasks.

More importantly (and this, I think, is the clever bit), each task can be expanded to reveal the body of text that give specific instructions, links and other information needed to explain exactly how to perform the task and what is specifically expected as an outcome of that task.

From the students’ perspective, it means that everybody knows what they’re up to, what’s expected of them, and how they’re getting along at every point along the way.

From the point of view of someone managing a course, it’s an absolute godsend. You always know where everyone’s at, who’s struggling with the work, and what needs to be done to help people catch up.

I’m an adviser to Planzai (I went over and worked with them not so long ago) and the people behind it are friends of mine in Belfast, so I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to be the first to trial the methodology within an education context.

Now I don’t ever want to do another class without using it.

Of course, Planzai has plenty of other applications than simply running a class. In theory, it could be used to help you do anything at all – or at least anything that has a number of steps, tasks or instructions that you need to know at certain points along the way.

It’s early days for them, but I suspect this is going to be something that a lot of people will want to use. I’m finding the iPhone app particularly helpful…

If you’re curious, you can follow Planzai on Twitter – and if you were interested in doing the MA in Music Industries (or by distance learning) – or indeed, the MA in Music Radio – now would be a good time to think about it: we’re doing another intake in February 2012.

If you’re interested in what Planzai can do for your course / faculty / university, drop us an email at education@planzai.com. For more Dubber-esque musings, mosey on over to his blog, or follow him on Twitter for some nuggets of wisdom in 140 characters.

Introducing… Planzai Education

loulou — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:07:39 +0000

Following extensive user trials over the past few months, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes, tweaking, testing and perfecting our latest product. And now we’re proud to finally reveal our latest endeavour… Planzai Education.

Available on web and mobile, Planzai Education is aimed at Higher and Further Education Institutions, and is designed to improve student retention and course completion. With Planzai, students have access to their entire course module for the semester, including not only the tasks they should complete, but also the advice and resources they need to do it. They can collaborate with other classmates, communicate with their lecturer or course manager, and track their progress by ticking off tasks as they’re completed. By engaging on this virtual level with lecturers and peers, students have the support and knowledge they need to stay the course and complete their studies.

The true utility of Planzai for educational institutions, however, lies in its monitoring capabilities. Planzai allows managers and administrators to track every student, class or course, and identify those students who are under-performing or struggling with their workload. That way, faculties can act swiftly to address the issue of under-performing students long before that student is failing or dropping out.

We’ve already rolled out trials in Birmingham City University, DeMontfort University and South West College, and are set to expand to universities across the UK over the coming months.

If you’re interested in finding out more, or to request a demonstration, simply drop us an email at education@planzai.com and we can show you exactly how Planzai can work for your Higher Education Institution.

New Christmas Content

david — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:45:23 +0000

Seasons greetings everyone!

We are really happy to announce that we have just launched our new Christmas blueprint: Plan a Family Christmas. It’s a handy guide to help make the holiday period stress-free. We know how busy everyone can be with this particular end of year deadline, so we’d like to save you some time so that you can better spend it with your loved ones this Christmas.

Our blueprint is full of lots of stuff to make this year’s Yuletide that little bit better, from our own Planzai Spotify Christmas playlist, to budgeting advice and fun Crimbo activity suggestions.

Visit http://my.planzai.com/promo/its-christmas to help you get ahead this Christmas.

Hohoho!

David

That Dad-to-be Feeling

loulou — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:35:19 +0000

This week, we’re launching our Dad-To-Be blueprint, and in honour of the occasion our CEO Rich has decided to spill the beans on his own amazing/terrifying experience of becoming a Dad for the first time…

It’s now nearly 12 months since I called my wife Suzanne on a Friday evening on the way home from work. We had visitors coming and I knew I’d need to pick up some supplies, so I called to make sure I wouldn’t forget any essentials.

“Ok, so wine, beers, nibbles and couple of pizzas to put in the oven. Anything else?”Suzanne hesitated, “Well……..you could pick up a pregnancy test.” (I now know where the term ‘pregnant pause’ comes from)

Suzanne had an inkling that something wasn’t quite normal, and the kit would put one theory to the test. Rest assured, that was the most intense supermarket visit I’ve had in a while.

Twenty trepidatious minutes later and we were hovering over the innocent looking white testing wand, awaiting the results of its little magic trick. Cue drum roll…. It’s a baby…. and it’s already 2 weeks old!

OMGWTFEEEEExxxxxcuse Me? Yes, ‘we’ were pregnant, and approximately 40 weeks later I would be a Dad for the first time.

With a mixture of excitement and terror we proceeded to prepare for our baby’s arrival. We kept the news quiet, as you do, for the first three months, though the marked change in certain behaviours had everyone guessing. Even so, when we produced our first scan image, Grandparents-, Uncles- and Aunts-to-be were still giddy with excitement.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all sunshine and happiness. At the same time we were completely terrified by the imminent delivery and the change and chaos it would bring! Thankfully, the growing bump put all that in perspective – the little person inside there was going to transform our lives – and in my book, change is good. In the meantime we took every opportunity to eat out, go to the cinema and even go for a couple of short breaks away.

Knowing that this little lad or lady (the hospital wouldn’t reveal the sex, and we didn’t want to know) was going to have a major impact was enough motivation to start asking for tips from friends and family, and buying a few books to get more advice in preparing for the new arrival. There is much more to child birth than I remember from my GCSE Biology lessons, so it was worth reading up, attending the ante-natal classes and figuring out what a ‘birthing plan’ really entails.

It's a Boy! Me and Baby Ben

Looking back, there is lots of stuff I wish I had done much earlier (or at all). Perhaps it’s because we had about two days of sunshine this summer in Belfast, but i really wish I’d had a week in the sun at some point. Other mundane sounding activities, like making and freezing stews in advance of the birth, would have made a huge difference post-birth simply to get around the one thing no-one warned me about…. Sleep Deprivation!

Yes, having a new baby is tiring – expect to be tired all the time, lose a few IQ points and generally wonder to yourself why you put a teabag into your coffee and other amusing mishaps.

And that brings us to Planzai and our Dad To Be blueprint.

9 months of essential and recommended activities to help you prepare for your new life, and make the most of the remaining months of your old one. It couldn’t be a better demonstration of how Planzai can highlight the things you just don’t think of until it’s too late, and the bite-sized info makes it easy to deal with what’s important now. As the months passed, I found myself playing catchup, leafing through books, asking friends for guidance, and generally wondering if there wasn’t more I could be doing as a Dad-in-waiting. The ‘Dad to Be’ is a still something of an afterthought in many pregnancy books, sites and maternity wards (get used to it!), and we think our step-by-step guides will be the perfect solution for busy blokes who want to get involved. As an added benefit, it’s full of brownie-point earning suggestions. And trust me, as these life-changing 9 months wear on, you will need those points in the bank!

Dizzyjam Reblog – Make your band look and feel more professional

david — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:31:32 +0000

This article is a reblog from DizzyJam

Make your band look and feel more professional, optimise the free tools the web has to offer by Planzai Music – Part 1 (Behind the Scenes)

This guest blog post come from Planzai, a how to app for musicians, content expert David Hill. He also the director of an independent record and management label so is we’ll place to pass on some zero cash methods to bring your band up to scratch…

The Internet promised this great digital democracy. A space in which the most creative people would become destined for greatness. The truth is; the opposite happened. Those who have achieved greatness are the least creative, talented people have achieved world wide acclaim. If only for 15 Minutes.

Today being a successful musician Is more difficult than ever. Being in a band means much more than writing and performing great songs. In order to get ahead in the music industry and make money, you need to promote your music, build long-term relationships with fans and the media.

You can set yourself at a much higher standard, and look more professional, than so many other band and artists with out spending a penny. Below are my favorite free tools and how you could use them.

Gmail (Link to www.Gmail.com)

The first benefit of gmail is that google email address looks, feels and sounds way more professional that Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo etc. Set up yourbandname@gmail.com and you are read to rock.

Gmail can become the heart of your operation its have many free apps within the menu bar that allow you to keep onto of your affairs. These are all easy to share with you band mates to keep everyone in the loop and are available for mobile devices which will be handy on tour.
Gdocs – Google’s version of ‘Microsoft office/Work’. Use Excel to manage all your money from gigs and merch sales. Store all the email addresses of you blogs/press/media/record label/management and those people who download your free music (from Bandcamp) to email them from you mailing list (Mailchimp). I will cover these later. Use Word to write and save your lyrics, booking contracts rider and tour schedules

Gcal – Keep track of all your touring/recording commitments, PR Campaigns using Google’s simple calendar. Colour code each member of the band to keep track of personal commitments like school, uni and work to insure you dont double book.

Gmaps – Great tool to research and plan getting around during tours. With Gmail you can save your travel schedule to look at anytime you want, it has a new feature that tells you about toll roads, speed cameras and how much fuel will cost for your journey. Gmaps are handy to help you find services on the road like where to eat, music shops, hotel, service station and laundrettes. this app can be used as your sat nav on tour to help you make sound check on time

Greader – this is an RSS tool. Save all your favorite bands, mags, promoters, venues and record labels blogs and receive regular updates. Keep on top of whats happening in your scene. Interact with these blog and let them know if you like or dilike what they are up to.

Blogger – Sign up to Blogger and keep your own blog. You wont need to use this every day when you are starting out, post an update every month to make everyone aware of your overall happenings. Its a great idea to sync this to your facebook page and twitter feed. I will talk about this later too.

Youtube – you can set up and manage your Youtube channel with your gmail address. Its simple and effective and makes sharing tour/studio diaries and music videos even easier.

So now that you have yourself organised, so organised that you have set up an awesome tour or have an awesome new recording to tell your fans (You will get their emails addresses when they download you music from bandcamp) and media about how will you tell everyone.

Mail Chimp. (link to www.mailchimp.com)

So you want to issue a press release about your new tour or EP to all the press contacts that you have collected (Gdocs’ version of excel of course). Gmail is a traditional email service, its very difficult to email multiple people at once. This is were MailChimp comes into play. Mail chimp allows to have 2,000 emails in you mail out and send 12,000 at once, for free.

Sign up for MailChimp’s free service and customise you own digi press release/newsletter filled with all your most relevant up to date news. MailChimp makes it very easy to create your own personalised news letter so don’t be scared to pimp it out with your colours and logo to give it a sense of identity.

Remember its best to send this letter to those people you know have interest in your act, send your news letter out cold can be a very challenging task but keep at it. MailChimp also allows you to see who has opened your email, keep track of these stats to gauge your progress.

For more tips on how to get forward in the Music biz visit Planzai, follow @planzaimusic or email david@planzai.com

What to do with your pumpkin leftovers

loulou — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:38:13 +0000

Just carved a Jack’o'Lantern for Halloween? Been left with a big ole pumpkin-y mess? You could throw the leftovers out. Or you could watch our quick video and get creative with those pumpkin entrails…

Savoury Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Raw pumpkin seeds
Salt
Canola / Olive Oil for greasing
Baking sheet

Preheat the oven to 180C/360F.
Remove all the seeds from the pumpkin and place them in a colander. Wash thoroughly and discard and stringy pulp. Once they’re clean, allow to drain dry.
Grease the baking sheet well with oil
Pat seeds dry with kitchen towel and place in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and toss to coat, then arrange again in single layer.
Roast for 20 – 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes, until the seeds are golden in colour.

Pumpkin & Chocolate Muffins

Flesh of 1 pumpkin
250g plain flour
100g granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
large pinch salt
60g butter, melted
240ml milk
1 medium egg
1 bar Lindt 70% dark chocolate
100g packet pecans

Put the pumpkin pieces or shavings in a steamer and steam for 30 minutes or until soft. Leave to cool.
Put flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle.
Puree the pumpkin using a blender, food processor or a vegetable masher. Put in a different bowl. Add the milk, egg, and melted butter and stir.
Put wet ingredients into the well in the flour mix a little at a time. Mix lightly and add more pumpkin mix until you have a wet but not runny mixture. Be sure not to over work – muffins taste better when stirred with a light hand.
Break the chocolate and pecans into pieces, either using a food processor, or by wrapping in a kitchen towel and whacking with a rolling pin (lots of fun). Add to the muffin mix, stir, and spoon into muffin cases.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180C/360F. Enjoy warm or cold.

How to carve a pumpkin

loulou — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:36:09 +0000

Halloween will be upon us next week, and to celebrate we thought we’d dedicate our first ever How-To video to that most traditional of Halloween activities, making a Jack’o'Lantern.

If you’ve never carved a pumpkin before, and don’t fancy doing a few botched trial runs before you master the art, just follow the video instructions (and have a laugh at me as I get slowly but surely covered in pumpkin goop while you’re at it).

And when you’re done, don’t forget to share your finished article with us on Twitter, Facebook, or in the comments below! Better still, give our Halloween Party blueprint a go and make this Halloween one to remember for the kids!

Healthy Snacks For Halloween

francis — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:09:22 +0000

This season’s terrifying treats don’t all have to be teeth-rotting junk…

Hey everyone, I’m Francis, and I’m the new boy here at Planzai. I’m one of those hyper-organised people who have a plan for everything, so Planzai is the kind of thing that pushes my planning-nerd buttons. When the guys in the Planzai office asked me to work on a Halloween Party blueprint I was delighted, as Halloween is by far my favourite time of year.

One problem that I noticed parents struggling with at Halloween is how to limit their children’s sugar intake without killing the party spirit. Halloween is all about the sugar: candy apples, trick-or-treat snacks, pumpkin pie, along with the usual party food suspects like cookies, sweets and cakes. Sure, the sugary goodness is all part of the fun, but there’s no reason why these traditional treats can’t be mixed with healthier snacks to save your kids’ teeth and give you parents some nutritional peace of mind.

The internet is a goldmine of ideas for healthy Halloween treats online, so it’s a good place to start. Check out 365 Halloween’s wonderful collection of grisly goodies. Most of the featured recipes contain fruits or vegetables, and some of them are Vegan friendly too.

Or use your imagination to create your own recipes from seasonal produce. All you need is a bit of Halloween spirit to convince the kids that they’re eating worms instead of udon noodles, or eyeballs instead of mozzarella with a green olive stuffed inside or melon balls with a raisin for a pupil.

And if you don’t have time to slave away in the kitchen making party food, there are healthy alternatives that you can buy. Whole Foods does a great range of organic Halloween snacks, and you can often get sugar-free versions of sweets in your local supermarket, alongside naturally healthy fruit, sugar-free popcorn, chocolate covered raisins, or nuts (not for the under 5′s).

That said, Halloween only comes once a year, so don’t be afraid to let your children have SOME sugary fun. As long as you get the balance of healthy and devilishly sweet right, and make all your party food fun, you’re guaranteed to have a happy, haunted holiday season.

And if you need some extra help planning your festivities, why not try our Plan a Family Halloween Party Blueprint? It’s a 10-day plan for throwing a Halloween shindig in your house, complete with decorations, costumes, food and games. Best of all, it’s totally free! Give it a go, and let us know how you get on in the comments below.

Happy Halloween!

Francis.

@PlanzaiParents

planzai.com

Ready made Plans for DIY Band Management available now!

david — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:29:51 +0000

These days, being in a band means much more than writing and performing great songs. In order to get ahead in the music industry and make money, you need to promote your music, build long-term relationships with fans and the media. Planzai helps you get started by providing step-by-step tasks and expert tips in an easy-to-use web and mobile app.

After a lots of testing and tweaking we are now making our suite of DIY Band Management blueprints available. For much less than the price of a pint you can now find step-by-step plans for important band management projects such as how to release an album, prepare for a gig, record a demo and build a press kit.

If you’re serious about starting your career in music and reaching the largest audience for your music, Planzai is here to help!

If you’re just getting started, our ‘How To Record A Demo at Home’ and ‘How to Prepare for a Gig’ plans will help you make a quality demo, get gigs and then make the most of them.

‘How to Promote A Record Release’ is aimed at anyone who wants to promote an album. It shows all the steps, including those that most newbies miss. Its invaluable for anyway who doesn’t want to waste valuable time, money and recordings.

Planzai makes it easy to take these projects on. With all the steps already worked out, our simple app lets you focus on the next important task, keeps you on track with reminders, and also lets you assign tasks to other people to give you a hand.

Try Planzai completely free by starting the New Music Strategies ‘Online Band Strategy’ plan, or click below to find out more about plans for:

Got a question? Give me a shout at david@planzai.com!

We Want Your Input

loulou — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:24:00 +0000

Is there something you consider yourself to be a bit of a pro at? Or have you ever taken on a project, only to learn valuable lessons along the way and get it right second, third or fourth time round? Planzai is looking for individuals who want to share their knowledge with the world, but would prefer not to add to the sea of Internet Junk out there.

We believe in sharing the wealth, and your success stories, with others who may be taking on a similar project for the first time. By capturing your methodology, timeframe and detailed how-to advice on Planzai, you can save countless others the pain and effort of working things out as they go along, using trial & error and even failing due to lack of experience or knowledge. And you can make some money along the way.

We’re looking for people with experience or knowledge in the following areas to get in touch with us and help us create content:

Parenting
Music management
Marketing & PR
Start Ups
Health & Fitness
Lifestyle

In return for your efforts, you’ll get a share of any revenue that is generated from users buying your plan on Planzai.

If you think you’re that person, get in touch with me at louise@planzai.com and pitch us your idea!

LouLou
@missyhiggy / @planzai
louise@planzai.com