Tips and Tricks for the new Ottawa Bluesfest Website
The 2010 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest festival has kicked off and there is even more going on than before. With over 250 musical performances, new comedy and performances in the ByWard market, we thought you could use some tools to help you find great shows and connect with your friends. Here is a brief summary of the tools.
Social Video Calendar: view the complete list of performances by day, by performer, by stage or by performance type. Click on the performer name or the thumbnail to read the bio or watch videos. Click on "Printer Friendly View" for a simplified view you can print.
My Calendar: when browsing the calendar, click on the "addtomycalendar" button to add the show to your own personal list of faves. We recommend you log in to the site to make sure your calendar doesn’t get lost. Logging in also allows you to share your calendar with friends!
Flexible Log In: You can create an account or simply log in using existing web accounts like Google, Yahoo, twitter or Facebook. We recommend using Facebook if you have an iPhone since you can log in to the iPhone app using your Facebook account and retrieve your calendar.
iPhone App: Version 2 of the iPhone app is out and it is super cool. Not only can you access the entire schedule, watch videos and read bios but you can also build you personal calendar or retrieve your existing calendar (if you created one on the main website after signing on using your Facebook id). The app also includes a map and very cool "Facebook Friend Finder". You can check in to many locations on site and your Facebook friends can see where you are checked in (see the blue bubbles on the map). We hope it will help you and your friends find each other more easily.
The link for the iPhone app is -> http://itunes.apple.com/ca/
For non iPhone users, you can use the mobile version of the site: http://m.ottawabluesfest.com
Daily News: The daily news page includes contributions from the "Ottawa Tonite Street Team". They will be sharing their experience, capture fan stories and the occasional artist interview. Look for them and tell them your story. Also look for the daily "on-deck" section that helps ensure you don’t miss any of the major events going on that day. Finally we have lots of video and photos to capture the mood, show you what’s going on backstage, artist interviews, fan interviews and more.
Wi-Fi On-site: Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest has partnered with Storm Wireless and Cisco to blanket the entire site with Wi-Fi. It is entirely free. It will allow you to easily access the website, retrieve your personal schedules while also helping tell the world how much fun you’re having.