Mark Smiley, Author at Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle

Beat The Competition With A Videographer And SEO Team

by Mark Smiley | Jun 28, 2018 | General Featured

by Glen Richardson

Visual Content: JSD’s Jennifer Jordon behind the scenes at LAX producing compelling visual content that connects with customers.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And in today’s online world, video can be worth thousands of views and that means more clicks to a business’s website, more likes, more shares and more positive connections with potential customers. Across the board, tech research shows that video content is crucial. Video posts are twice as likely to get views as still pictures. And one media company estimates videos are shared a thousand times more than a simple text post.

Julie Hayden, Marketing Director for the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle says, “Business owners know how important it is to have an Internet and social media presence. But for almost any business, providing new and compelling video content is a challenge.”

That’s why the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle is launching a partnership with JSD Digital, a video production and SEO (search engine optimization) company.

Jennifer Jordon oversees JSD Digital’s video production. Jordon says, “I discovered my passion for storytelling through the visual platform of cinematography in college.” She started out transcribing video tapes (back when footage was actually shot on tapes) and quickly moved up the ladder to an associate producer on an HGTV program.

She was promoted to field producer and director and has worked with networks like HGTV, Travel Channel, VH1 and many others. “I’ve braved grizzly bears while producing programs in Alaska, marveled at magnificent sunrises working on water park episodes in Costa Rica and been amazed at the engineering and zipline feats performed by the teams from DIY Network’s The Treehouse Guys.” Her many commercial business projects include a multi-year campaign on the renovations at LAX, Los Angeles World Airport. Hayden says, “Jennifer is uniquely qualified to handle whatever visual scope a business desires, from one camera shoots to multi camera produc

Expertise Gets Results: JSD’s Jennifer Jordon on location with reality TV series in Homer, Alaska.

tions including drones.”

Jordon adds, “Our productions range in scale from a “one-person band” operation where I do all of the preproduction, film all the components in the field while producing and directing and then edit everything in house. For clients looking for a higher cinematic value, I build teams of freelancers whose expertise complements each other. Both result in a dynamic and impactful finished product. We can achieve a lot with whatever budget a client has to work with.”

Because of her experience with large-scale productions, Jordon notes she’s seen big corporations out compete everyone else. “My goal is to give small businesses the marketing tools they need to compete with the bigger guys by making the right impression on their potential clients and customers.”

Jordon explains the Internet is both a blessing and a challenge for small businesses. “With the nature of social media like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter you don’t need network television advertising to get your commercial or video posting to y

SEO Maximizes Exposure: Seth Drake with JSD Digital utilizes SEO strategies to maximize internet search results.

our demographic. But you do still need a quality visual product and many businesses don’t have the time or the expertise to use the Internet to their full advantage. Video content can help make a great, lasting impression if you make the right impact and really captivate your viewers.”

Hayden points out, “We’re not talking about traditional commercials.” Jordon adds, “At JSD Digital, we meet with the business owner, talk about their brand and what message they want to convey. Our goal is to create visually compelling video and still pictures that spark a positive emotional connection with potential customers. We provide two to three minute clips or longer for use on websites or Facebook but also shorter ‘sizzle’ pieces for social media like Twitter. Our packages focus on maximizing the results with whatever budget the business has to work with.”

Customer Satisfaction

One of JSD Digital’s video partnerships is with Delastudio.photos. Owner Ariane Delafosse Uhll offers a unique brand where she photographs people doing whatever they are passionate about. She contacted JSD Digital because she wanted videos to show customers just what they could expect in a session with her. “I wanted to convey how fun it is, how our team of hair and makeup experts will make them look their best. I wanted a video that walked them through the process.”

Delafosse Uhll says JSD Digital exceeded her expectations. “Jennifer was totally professional and also excited and interested in my business. She worked wonders within my budget and the final product was amazing. She was able to produce something beautiful in a short period of time that perfectly captured my vision and what I wanted to convey.” Delafosse Uhll adds the investment was worth it. “Having a beautiful, professional video really helps set my business apart and sends the message that I am a high quality, successful business.”

Jordon says, ‘Seeing a business owner light up when they watch the commercial video I have created is my favorite moment. Knowing they will have something that makes them proud and will truly bring in new customers and build trust when a potential client visits their website is huge.”

SEO Maximizes Exposure

Creating compelling visuals is the first step to help businesses get noticed. JSD Digital’s SEO component provides the second step to make sure they keep getting noticed. Owner Seth Drake explains JSD Digital uses industry-leading tactics to first check and amend your site to make sure the architecture and design of the pages are recognized as relevant to your industry. He says, “This helps search engines understand your business and therefore rank them accordingly.” From reputation management to the discovery process behind keyword analysis, JSD Digital harnesses all avenues within SEO.

If you have considered maximizing your business’s potential through visual content or are curious about SEO potential, JSD Digital offers free consultation and website evaluations.

For more information, contact Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle Marketing Director Julie Hayden at julie@glendalecherrycreek .com or 303-359-8366.

Can Denver Learn A Lot From Bee Colonies?

by Mark Smiley | Jun 28, 2018 | Travel

by Ruthy Wexler

Beekeeper: Katherine Cornwell at home with her two hives of bees. Now a planning consultant, she worked for years as city planner for Seattle; Madison, Wisconsin; and — for eight years — the city of Denver. Madison, she says, “is the most like a bee colony. Itsdemocratic process was sometimes irritating as hell … If they did not want to do something, that city could not be moved. But when an idea was good, action was swift.”

While Denver continues to expand, the local bee population goes about its own complicated business — and a growing number of beekeepers are available to help when the two paths cross. On a recent sunny Friday, a large swarm threatened the pleasure of outdoor diners at Proto’s Pizza and so the construction crew across 15th Street called Katherine Cornwell, who is registered with the Swarm Hotline — and, it turns out, knows quite a bit about Denver’s expansion.

The small crowd attracted by Cornwell’s actions — gently scooping bees from the tree they’d settled on into an ordinary packing box atop her car — wondered how on earth she’d get the entire swarm into that box.

“See those bees near the hole of the box?” Cornwell explained. “See how they’re putting their butts in the air and fanning their wings? They’re letting the other bees know that the queen is inside.”

Fascinating And Wonderful

Katherine Cornwell didn’t know how much she would have in common with bees when she began studying them 10 years ago. All she knew was, she’d fallen in love.

Captured: Katherine Cornwell outside Proto’s Pizza on 15th Street, where she captured the swarm and explained to onlookers how she did it. The key was making sure the queen got inside the box, so other bees would follow.

“I was watching TV, which I rarely do,” she recalls. “This Haagen-Dazs commercial comes on — bees flying over a field toward a big succulent flower … then the screen goes blank. Words appear, ‘The honeybees are dying’ — and I start sobbing.

“I cannot explain to this day why it moved me so much. I was determined to learn more. I studied with Corwin Bell in Eldorado Springs — which ranks as one of the most lovely experiences of my life. I learned how fascinating and wonderful bees are. And I realized that bee colonies embodied principles I’d been thinking about in my own field, city planning.”

Bees And People

Expert: Corwin Bell, whom Cornwell studied under, teaches Bee Guardianship courses that show how bees, humankind and the natural world are connected and promote alternatives to conventional beekeeping. A computer animator and filmmaker, Bell has filmed hours of footage of honeybees. He travels the world to witness beekeeping under every condition imaginable.

As city planner for Denver from 2000-2008, Cornwell was inspired by her boss, the late Jennifer Moulton. “All around the city, wonderful things were happening. Civic Center, Stapleton, Central Platte Valley, Lower Downtown Denver …. Jennifer had such vision about the future, while preserving the past …”

Cornwell, who was co-author and project manager for Denver’s University Park Plan; East and West Colfax; the Main Street Zone District, and co-author of Blueprint Denver, now feels frustrated that current projects — like the widening of I-70 — do not take urban and environmental principles into account.

“As a city planner, I can tell you this project is counter intuitive. Widening roads in the urban core makes congestion worse …

“Development is now crafted behind closed doors,” Cornwell observes. “The so-called experts are just lobbyists, lawyers and spineless bureaucrats.

“And here’s where this relates to beekeeping. Bees and people are both very complex. Both need communication, both need communities … But developers don’t trust citizens. Politicians don’t ask what citizens want. So wealthy individuals with high stakes interests are superimposing their vision on the people.

“It’s not just those in charge. Citizens are not participating. But all bees participate in their community.”

Participatory Democracy!

“Bees have different roles, which they perform meticulously,” Cornwell explains. “The sentinel bee protects the hive, the nurse bee raises the baby bees, the scout goes out to find new food and new hives …

“When a scout finds a new potential hive, she doesn’t order everyone to go there. She comes back and communicates through a waggle motion danced in a figure eight pattern. Where she stops on the figure eight and how long she waggles indicates direction and distance of the new find. The number of times she repeats the dance correlates to the find’s degree of awesomeness, persuading other bees to check it out …

“If they agree, they’ll waggle dance about it too, until the whole colony decides as a group to go there.

“If that’s not participatory democracy, I don’t know what is!

“Denver,” she says, “is not behaving like a bee colony.”

Back To The Box

After a good hour — and a minor catastrophe, where the box’s lid blew off and Cornwell had to start all over! — the hive of bees all seemed to be collected and she entertained a few more questions.

“How did that swarm end up here?”

“Sometimes hives are disturbed by construction,” Cornwell said. “Which might have happened here. But usually they swarm because a new queen was born. The hive splits and the old queen leaves with half the colony to find a new home.”

“How do you get the queen inside the box?”

Cornwell smiled. “Providence, good luck, or chance. Usually it’s pretty easy. If the bees are just hanging from a small branch, I’ll clip it so the whole thing falls into the box.

“Today, the bees were clumped on a tree trunk. So I gently scooped them a bit at a time until I saw them acting like I had the queen, you know, fanning their butts in the air.”

Mission accomplished, Cornwell put the box inside her trunk and began the drive to an organic farm in Boulder where the bees will take up residence in a hive box with million-dollar views of the Flatirons.

For more information on swarm removal or beekeeping visit coloradobeekeepers.org or call 1-844-779-2337.

July: Fireworks, Storms And Sunsets

by Mark Smiley | Jun 28, 2018 | Valley Gadfly

Clouds, storms, sunsets and fireworks, it must be July. Look at the fireworks fly as they light up the night sky. July skies are well-known for fireworks, especially the jaw-dropping display of pyrotechnics fired off each year by the City of Glendale. This year’s show flickers across Valley skies July 2. Glendale shows us how it’s really done.

Fireworks seem to catch your heart forever and you can’t easily look away. Every second articulates a different shade of color that makes the night sky seem magical.

Here are our firecracker-sure choices for shopping, dining and entertainment to make each day shine bright while stunning sunsets and rainbows make time soar:

3 Launch your 4th of July Independence Day ritual by gathering family and friends at Valley eateries, bars, patios and porches to watch the annual Glendale fireworks show at dusk July 2. Information: 303-759-1513.

3 Enjoy arias of The Magic Flute opening Central City Opera’s season with matinee and evening shows, July 7-Aug. 5. Information: 303-292-6700.

3 Wonder Woman, July 9 and Coco on July 23 flicker on for free at Infinity Park’s Monday Movie Madness. Information: moviesininfinitypark.com.

3 Rebecca Folsom brings soaring harmonies, toe-tapping instrumentals and intimate vocals to the Tuft Theatre at Swallow Hill July 13. Information: 303-777-1003.

3 Swing and sway Wednesdays this month at the Shady Grove Picnic Series in Four Mile Park. Funk-band Color is July 11, followed by Autoharpist Bryan Bower and folk music’s Harry Taft. Information: 303-777-1003.

3 For summer food fun catch the Slow Food Nations festival on Larimer Square and at Union Station, July 13-15. There’s live music, food tastings, farmers market and outdoor culinary stages. Information: 303-534-2367.

3 Dotsero Jazz entertains at the Havana Street District Pizza Party in Aurora’s Rose Garden Plaza with free pizza. Information: 303 360-7505.

3 Learn fun facts with friends at Glendale Y’s Trivia Night in the Infinity Park Event Center, 6-9 p.m. Information: Infinityparkatglendale.com.

3 Cool down with great beer and grand music during this year’s Summer Brew Fest at Mile High Station, July 27-28, 7-10 p.m. Enjoy 35 samplings along with live music from Briana Straut & Strange Americans Friday, Jenny LaJoyce & Nuns of Brixton on Saturday. Proceeds benefit Swallow Hill Music, bringing the joy of music to life every day through concerts, music lessons and educational outreach. Information: 303-777-1003.

The old adage “a red sky at night is a sailor’s delight” gets more than its fair share of play this month, thanks to stunning sunsets. Lenticular clouds are heaven-sent to set Valley skies on fire. Stable air forced up and over the mountains, creates turbulent bumps on the lee side of the mountains causing mountain wave clouds to develop. What’s more, sunsets here are nestled in Valley landscapes that add extra beauty to what we are viewing. They capture our imagination and put the universe in perspective.

This month is as explosive as fireworks. We look up to find sunshine, storms and sunsets.

Our dreams climb, shine and often fade away. Keep chasing rainbows instead of letting clouds drift by. Castles in the sky shine and bring a spark of joy to life. As Perry Como sang, “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away.”

— Glen Richardson

The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.

Jim Bunch Inducted Into Colorado Golf Hall Of Fame

by Mark Smiley | Jun 28, 2018 | Feature Story Bottom Left

by Charles C. Bonniwell

Cherry Creek Valley resident Jim Bunch was recently inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame at a dinner held at the Sanctuary Golf Course in Castle Pines, Colorado. Bunch, a longtime member of the Denver Country Club (DCC), was inducted for his prominent roles with the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Western Golf Association (WGA). He was the first head of WGA based in Chicago, Illinois, from Colorado since DCC member and legendary golf executive Frank

Inductee: Jim Bunch, a recent inductee to the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (Scotland) at which he is a member.

Woodward in 1912.

A prominent attorney and investment banker in Colorado, Bunch was originally from Chicago, where began his love affair with golf at age 12, being a caddy at various clubs in the Chicago area. He was a protégée of the late Will Nicholson, a Denver banker and USGA president, whose father was mayor of Denver. Bunch recalled at the dinner that Nicholson approached him about being on the USGA Executive Committee, telling him it would involve about two weeks a year of his time. Bunch soon discovered he was spending 150 nights a year on the road performing USGA related work, often largely at this own expense.

As an Executive Committee member, Bunch was expected to be an expert on the Rules of Golf. He was an important rules official at the United States Open and The Masters for almost a decade. In addition, he was tasked in making important rulings across the world in conjunction with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland where he became a member. He recalls getting a call from Ireland for a ruling in an important event where a competitor hit a mushroom thinking it was his golf ball. Bunch’s alternatives were: (1) no penalty; (2) a shot for making a swing; or (3) a two-stroke penalty for hitting the wrong ball. He declared it was (2) a missed stroke, a ruling which was not free of dispute to this day.

At his first event as a rules official at the U.S. Open he was assigned the group which included Tiger Woods. When Woods found out this was Bunch’s first assignment at the U.S. Open, he sternly admonished him: “Don’t screw up!” Bunch notes that Woods could not h

Presentation: Jim Bunch as Chairman of the Board of the Western Golf Association awards the winner’s trophy for the 2012 BMW Championship (formerly the Western Open) to Rory McIlroy.

ave been more of a gentleman during the round.

After finishing his term on the Executive Committee of the USGA, Bunch became the Chairman of the Board of the Western Golf Association. The Association runs, inter alia, the PGA Tour event the BMW Championship, formerly known as the Western Open which was first contested in 1899. It is the second oldest event involving professionals in the United States after the U.S. Open.

A key aspect of the WGA is administrating the Evans Scholarship program where eligible caddies can earn full scholarships to four-year universities. Since founded in 1930 by U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur winner Chick Evans, it has produced more than 10,600 alums. As Bunch stated, “Caddying is in my DNA . . . The Evans Scholars program is one of the great things golf has done. It changes lives for families. When you’re touching lives, I can’t think of any thing more worthwhile as a golfer.”

Rubbing Elbows: As a member of the Executive Committee of USGA for almost a decade and Chairman of the Western Golf Association Jim Bunch has gotten to know the greats of golf including Jack Nicklaus.

At the University of Colorado winners of an Evans scholarship stay at an elaborate home in Boulder by the University, owned by the WGA. It has recently undergone a $1 million renovation thanks to Bunch and many others.

Looking back over his 75 years, Bunch believes his volunteer work with the USGA and WGA were some of his most wonderful and fulfilling aspects of a long and productive life. “There is nothing quite like giving back to a game and people you love,” he noted.