Russ: This is The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at TheBusinessMakers.com. Now, it's time for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by Aflac, ask about it at work. This is that part of the show where we go back into our archives and take out some of our favorites. For this morning's flashback, we're going to roll back to this past summer when I made a trip out to the Bay Area and spent time with Bhaskar Roy, one of the co-founders of Qik. The very popular company that is bringing you real time video from your cellphone. We entered the discussion where I asked Bhaskar to tell us about Qik.

Bhaskar: Qik enables people to stream live video from their cellphones. The great thing is when you're streaming it live to your friends, to your family, or just broadcasting overall, people who are watching it can chat. That chat shows up on the phones, enabling you to have a complete interactive experience with the person you are streaming this live video to.

Russ: Live streaming from a telephone, so what's the status of the company? How long have you been doing this?

Bhaskar: We started a couple of years back, the three co-founders we just left our jobs and went into a garage and started playing it on what we'll do next. Just one of those days, we came up with this concept thing that, "Wouldn't it be cool to just stream live video from my phone?" because most of the phones now have video capture capabilities. So, we started building that product out, and around end of December, 2007 - close to Christmas time frame - is when the alpha was announced for the product. We just launched the beta version, so now it's open for anyone to sign in and start using Qik.

Russ: So, you can use your cellphone to live stream video. Can the system also capture the video?

Bhaskar: Yes. So every video is automatically archived and captured. The great part about that is, apart from being archived on Qik.com, you can actually set up where this video should go. So for example, if you want, after the stream has done, to go to YouTube, it'll automatically send it to YouTube. If you want to be streaming live to say Mogulus.com or Justin.tv and others, you can actually do that. So the whole premise here was building Qik as a platform rather than a destination site. So platform, which enables people to use this so that they can view this video from wherever they want to.

In the past six months, what we have noticed is close to 60% of our videos that are getting viewed, are viewed outside of Qik.com, where people have taken this, embedded this into their websites, into their blogs, are viewing it from the other solution providers like Mogulus, Justin.tv or YouTube and others.

Russ: Cool. Okay, we're talking to Bhaskar Roy, co-founder and VP of Product Marketing with Qik. Just so our listeners know, the domain name is what?

Bhaskar: Qik.com.

Russ: Q-I-K.com. So, if I went to Q-I-K.com today, I could automatically sign up - I assumed - at Qik.com, have an account there and just start capturing live streaming video. It's almost foreign, because video on cellphones seems to have such a short time limit to what you can capture. Does that same time limit prevail with Qik.com?

Bhaskar: Actually no. The best part of it is since we're streaming it live straight to our servers, you're not dependent on how much storage capacity is there on your device. So, we have had instances that a person has actually streamed an entire lecture. A student has actually streamed a couple of hours of lecture just to use it as meeting notes. So, we're not limited by those restraints of the capacity of the phone, because everything goes to the server.

Russ: Okay, that's a huge advantage. But, I would imagine one could spend a lot of money, actually, on cellphone time capturing a 30-minute video. Right?

Bhaskar: True, and that is where, I would say, so far, what we are seeing from a market standpoint, is unlimited data plans are coming into play quite a bit. A number of folks, especially if you look at people who are looking at doing emails and Internet on their phones, already have this unlimited data plan. If you look at, say, iPhone, if you buy an iPhone, you have to have an unlimited data plan. This is becoming the norm, and but that monthly subscription that you're paying for your unlimited data plan, you can actually use Qik.

Russ: Next, I wanted in, though, if they had heard of any unique application of Qik's live video streaming.

Bhaskar: We get surprised almost everyday with some kind of an email from a user saying that, "Hey, watch we've done." Some of those, very recently, last week, we came to know that the Vatican is using it.

Russ: The Vatican?

Bhaskar: The Vatican, yes. So, the priests around the Pope who are using this, there was something called World Youth Day happening in Australia last week, and so the Pope was there trying to talk to around 125,000 young adults over there. The entire thing was captured using Qik. So, we were like blown away once that happened.

Russ: That was so cool.

Bhaskar: Then, we are finding across the board where people are using it for, say, Variety Magazine. They were in Cannes Film Festival and they used it in the "Indiana Jones" premiere to talk to and interview various folks from France. We are finding the likes of people using it for citizen journalism purposes where, "Hey, look, this is what I'm doing." There have been instances where a user of ours, Steve Garfield(?), have actually scooped CNN on a story because he was able to catch that person before he was going to CNN, and he gave the story out to Steve. So that hit the Internet prior to even getting to CNN.

So, there had been all these videos interesting user cases. I think I was talking to you, Russ, about the latest what we found is Heineken Music. Heineken is sponsoring a bunch of concerts in Ireland and they're using this to stream live video of the concert. So, we get surprised pretty much everyday. But there's another one that I would like to point out which happened a couple of months ago, which, at that point in time, I was like couldn't have imagined, one dad was traveling to Australia from Sweden. The family is based in Sweden, and the baby was not due for a couple of months. So, he went to Australia on a business trip, but the baby decided to come out premature, and he was able to experience the birth of the baby through Qik.

Russ: What a great story!

Bhaskar: So, of course, we enable people to make videos private. So, we don't know that this was happening and we came to know it was because the dad said that, "You just changed my life. I was able to do this because of Qik." So these kinds of stories we see on a very regular basis.

Russ: That is so cool. Well, Qik is really a happening company. That wraps up our discussion with Bhaskar Roy. To hear the complete interview, go to TheBusinessMakers.com. In the upper right hand corner of every page, you'll find a search box, and just enter "R-O-Y" and hit search. That concludes this morning's Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by Aflac, ask about it at work. Now, it's time for another advantage point. So, let's welcome Katie Laird.

Katie: This is Katie Laird with another advantage point, providing upgrade advice for turning your small business into a not-so-small business. As your business grows, you maybe drawn to participate in industry events like conferences and trade shows. These are great ways to increase your company's visibility and sales needs. But without special planning, they can carry a hefty price tag. Let's talk about some ways you can squeeze every single drop of value from your industry event investment.

Tip number one, extend the life cycle of the big event to maximize your marketing dollars. Start by promoting your participation well in advance through press releases, low cost sponsorships, or even just by editing your email to include the event details. Once the event is over, keep the momentum going by posting photos and videos talked during the event. Consider writing recaps on things learned and trends discovered to share on your website. This not only makes you appear smart and in touch, they can boast your search engine ranking and provide great content for your newsletter and marketing materials.

Tip number two, be creative with your conference booth and table ideas. Instead of spending big bucks on large printed collateral, explore the variety of available earth- and wallet-friendly options. Many companies offer innovative booth designs made from fabrics that can be stretched and used as projection screens. Whether you rent or buy, these materials make an easily shift versatile and reusable medium to highlight the latest and greatest from your business. Plus, you'll never have the hassle of running to a printer every time you have an update to make. Also be sure to learn about the energy efficient lighting and electronic options available as these can drastically reduce your electric bill for an event. Make use of larger computer monitors to run presentations, demos, or just give your visitors a place to check their email.

Tip number three, while you're competitors may also be handing out logos and scribe pens and conference goodies, take your event marketing one step further by planning something special for your VIP booth visitors. Invest in a few iPods to load company material, video or audio messages that you would like to share. If you're feeling extra creative, create a playlist with a collection of your employees' favorite music. Present these devices to your high profile booth visitors and customers. This will make your business stand out above the rest and ensure that your conference materials reach their intended audience.

To read and comment on this Advantage Point, visit us online at TheBusinessMakers.com website.

Russ: You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at TheBusinessMakers.com. Stay tuned in for a discussion with Ray Thompson, principal with WPNT, a communication specialist focusing on prices management.