So you may have noticed me posting the link to Pilot Theatre’s 3rd annual Shift Happens conference this July in the last week. It reallly is unlike anything that we have this side of the water and I would firstly like to remind you to have a look at the details.

Shift Happens

For arts organisations willing and eager to engage with new technologies and ideas, this really is the event for you. The UK is so far ahead in this regard. Every time we go, we feel humbled and hugely inspired by the talks and demonstrations. Its well worth every penny.

Recent statistics have reminded me how many days a year we spend trying to sort technical problems, computer issues and general How do I’s.  In the Arts we are well used to this in creating shows, the technical rehearsal nightmares etc… The Performance Corporation is no different.  We’re always striving in the office to streamline everything and make it all work slick and smooth.  Sometimes our problems are WINS and sometimes FAILS, where we lose a day and end up staying here late solving it.

We’d like to share some of the technological WINS we’ve had in the past year or so….

1. TEAMVIEWER – This is a complete gem, suggested to Jo only a couple of weeks ago by a lovely man in a Maynooth computer store. We have always wanted to access our office server remotely. But we have a combination of MACs and PCs. This programme couldn’t be simpler, it works for both platforms and makes transferring files and remote support a breeze.

2. YOUSENDIT – A really handy site for sending large files, you can even get an express application for your dock/desktop. MAC/PC compatible. File size is not huge, but you can upgrade and send up to 2GB. not bad.

3. MEMEO – a bigger version of yousendit with no max file size. Free for the first few emails.

4. Dropbox – another online store space for anything up to 2GB for free. Handy.

5. YMLP – yourmailinglistprovider. Tired of trying to send html emailouts ourselves and tired of the prices of companies like constant contact charging too much, we found this little guy. Great prices and handles all your bouncebacks and subscriptions. We love it!

6. Database – Our database is something of an elephant in the room and we always had trouble organising it properly. Until BENTO. Jo discovered this one. It makes life a lot easier. Just for MAC though.

7. Dual Monitor Adaptor – ever wanted to run two separate feeds from the same computer to different projectors, but you only had one DVI port? NO? Well we did. This guy allows you to use a USB port as a second VGA output. Awesome!

I hope they save you as much time as they took us to find!

I will leave you with this video of the brilliant future with Solid State Drives (the new hard-drives!)