Surf Fest 2010 Featuring Sebastian Saramago

Sunday, June 27, 2010, Sebastian Saramago was asked to be a special guest speaker at Surf Fest 2010. Following is a posting of his talk:
Hello all three of you and thanks for coming out today. I promised someone I would try not to make this the same old boarding lecture, so I got completely wasted before hand. Just kidding...Thalia would kill me for sure. Love ya, hun. I apologize ahead of time for any typos. I did not have time for Thalia to proof read it!


So, today''s topic is (deep echoing voice) “The FUTURE of SURFING TECHNOLOGY” Or some such. What does that really mean to us in Second Life? Its means a few things to me.

The first and probably most talked about is using the latest techniques and tools to develop the best surfboards and waves possible in Second Life. That is a tall order and one we always keep in mind when planing the next phase of development. On our part, the importance will be in committing the time and resources to achieve this. We have taken steps in the last few weeks to free up the bottlenecks and start updates and production flowing again. It's all about team work.

The Second thing I would like to focus on is the future of the community in SL surfing. This is not talking about enough as I see it. Bring in new people to the fun of surfing is not only a good time had in the afternoon, meeting new friends, but its also vital to bringing the money into the sims that host the waves we love to surf. I have some ideas on how to do this. They might seem a little corny, but I think it will be fun. I will share one as an example.

Myself or a volunteer or paid surfer to stand in areas like welcome area, concerts and other events they attend and promote surfing. They way they would do this is a bit cheesy, but might be effective. The av will have a surfboard attached in a pose like holding the board upright kinda leaning on it. They need to be dressed in surf gear and look hot (lol).  No noob avs. The board texture will be a sign that says something like, "Want to try surfing waves? IM me for a free surfboard!"   Then when they click the surfboard they receive a note card with this message. "Get your first lesson today at one of the many beaches. Join a community of down to earth people who just love music, waves and having a great time!"

There are people who volunteer to teach surfing now, so perhaps some would like to take shifts teaching people to surf. Thalia and I will be testing this out in the next week.  We will have a kit that can be handed out to volunteers or surf instructors that will be used to market to new surfers.  Included will be a set of surfboards to be given to new surfers. 

Third is what I already mentioned briefly. Support of the sims that host the wave we love to surf on. Really, without them, we don't ride. When we started Surf Systems Inc in 2005, we knew that there would be an issue with people who could give up enough land to dedicate to water. This is no easy choice for a sim owner who wants to decorate or bring in profit. People who love the water as we do and desire a surf beach do so at a sacrifice of usable space for commerce. To offset this, our plan was to work out a system to give back sales to the owners. The first phase was the spit in profit, then the subsequent increase in profit to the surfboard sellers. We have plans in the new feature to take this a step further by allowing the community to share in more products soon to be released by SSi with far greater profits to the resalers.

I really appreciate the opportunity to let me get up here and blab away again. I really do love this a lot, and it's only you who enable my habit. Thanks for that. Mahalo.
Share:

3 comments:

Abel Halderman said...

WTG Seb!

Colleen Brennan said...

Seb,
I love your idea about reaching out and promoting surfing. I will help. I bet many of the teams would be willing to as well. Maybe we can coordinate something where a surf sim could host being an arrival point fr the new people and have their beach staffed with team members willing to help out welcoming new people. With a good rotation in place this could be a fun activity and not a burden in any way. If we keep the Surf Fest vibe and all work together and share the opportunity to meet and greet new members our group will always thrive and we can all participate in making it a continuing success. If anyone else has ideas about the best way to do this I can assure you that the SLSA Board is interested in hearing and views supporting surfing in SL as the key mission of the group.

Kantbe Thursday said...

I agree. A Beach Greeter is a great idea. I've been doing that at Bundy and Neart off and on for over a year. Since Archipelago was added to the SL Destinations page, I've been trying to spend a little time there standing by the rez area greeting people and giving out info. I give out the usual beginner notecards, the abridged surfing sim list, pointers to places with loaner boards, and a few surfboard shop LMs. Having a free beginner board to give out would be a great addition.