The 21 Convention

The New Site- Vision & Upgrades

Posted on 20. Sep, 2009 by Anthony 'Dream' Johnson in News

If you’ve been a long time fan of the convention and site, you probably noticed the recent layout overhaul we performed.

In fact, even if you found the site only recently, you still probably noticed a dramatic change in setup.

What’s the deal you ask?

Well, there’s no one line answer, so I’ll do my best to lay down the new vision for the site and modification’s we’ve made in this post- with an exciting release date towards the end =).

Vision

I was speaking with Dasani the other day- a 3 year convention veteran- and we were talking about the footage release/site overall.

One of the things he brought to my attention was that he would like to see some sort of content released throughout the year from the speakers. I thought about this, and realized that would be an awesome idea- something everyone would benefit from and love, and easy to implement.

My first thought was, why the hell didn’t I think of it sooner? DUHhhh

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The minute we got off the phone I got to work- because I am the biggest convention fan ever =).

Hell, if there were ever an unofficial fan club, I would (paradoxically) be the geekiest member ever

Alongside a good deal of other site upgrades I needed to make- it took the larger part of 2 full days to get everything up and running to my standards.

The end result is what you see now.

What’s different?

For one, the site is a lot cleaner and better organized. I did this because I realized probably the most important thing for this site to be- is simple to use, and easy on the eyes (clutter free).

For two- and this is a lot more important- there is a “newest content” section. This is basically a recent post stream.

Meaning, this entire site is now functioning as a blog.

Which, it always has been- but I never used it as such. I run my own personal blog called The Dream Lounge and in the past used it as a convention blog as well.

Which, it still will be to some extent- but I now have a separate voice for fans of the convention specifically- right here on T21C.

Expect some interesting posts =).

More importantly however, this site is now a blog where all previous convention speakers can post their latest and greatest content to. This is perhaps the biggest shift in convention structure since releasing all of the footage for free.

It may not look like much right now, but this is GOING TO GET INTENSE. There are dozens of speakers from all 3 years of the event who would love to reach out further to you guys.

So far Nick Sparks has performed an interview with me- check it out here.

And while it’s some seriously advanced content, it’s barely the tip of the iceberg.

Manwhore is up next with some new videos for you guys. I’ve watched a good chunk of them- and to no surprise it’s grade A, premium, USDA inspected, raw Manwhore content- the stuff people rave about.

Ideally, we’ll be releasing about 2- maybe even 3- top quality posts a week from the speakers.

Essentially, the best content, from the best speakers =).

Design

I touched on it a minute ago, but there have been a few modification’s to the site. The Newest Content section is probably the most important- always at the top so everyone watching has an easy view of what the latest is- regardless of how they come across the site.

If you take a look at the drop down menu, I’ve also added a few categories. This represents not only all convention footage, but also reflects the new articles and news we’ll be releasing- articles from speakers and news mainly from me regarding The 21 Convention…wherever it’s hosted .

Below that we have the Store and Attend buttons- pretty standard. Attend will always have the latest info on…attending.

The store is the collection of products that I really like and want to support- videos and books that I feel need to be shared, from some of the coolest guys I know. The coolest of the coolest I suppose…

Below those buttons we now have a recent discussion section- a constant stream of comments from YOU guys. Pretty cool, especially if you run a site or blog and want people to find out about it. For the record though, please don’t try to sell anything- that’s not what this site is about- and keeps comments cool.

It’s fine to strongly disagree with someone, but that’s never grounds to attack someone and bring a lot of negativity to the table. There’s enough of that in the world and I simply won’t tolerate it.

Below that we have my personal twitter account- updated almost daily with cool shit I find or want to announce. Follow me anytime at Twitter.com/beachmuscles.

At the very bottom of the sidebar, a few links.

Check out the “speakers” link anytime for most speaker’s official links/blogs and more. The partners section is for sites that I’m friends with- RSD, Love Systems, Venusian Arts, etc. If you’d like to exchange links contact me anytime and we’ll set it up- definitely generous about connecting.

Oh and the forum is also down there- there’s about 300 members strong of the forum, join in anytime- it’s totally free (like damn near everything else on here ha), just gotta register.

Finally, I added in some Google Text ads below each post on the site. I refuse to put up external banner ads- I find them highly annoying, never click on them myself, and ugly as hell- but the text ads are OK for now.

I picked a color set that blends in nice, so if you don’t like em, they shouldn’t bother you.

On the flip side, they help support the site every time someone clicks on them. I usually click these on sites I like just for that reason- even if I could give a shit less what the ad said. It’s kind of like donating, without actually donating.

And with the new video hosting service I’m about to switch all the videos to- one that’s a bit more expensive, but much more reliable and smooth- I appreciate every bit guys.

And to wrap everything up, I redesigned the home page (just click the big banner at any time). Dasani mentioned to me that the former main page may have been a bit rough on new visitors to the site.

I took an honest look at it, and realized that while I liked the look of it, he was dead right- for someone new to the site, it was vague at best.

So I ripped down the old pretty one and put one up that is a bit simpler, but far more appealing to someone new to the convention and this type of content. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know- just comment right here or e-mail me on the contact page.

Adam Lyons Missing Footage

I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails about Adam’s 2009 footage- relax, all 2 hours of it exist. And if I might add, it really rocks. I was very pleased with the additional time I allotted him this year- the guy really took it away, fresh off his honeymoon too.

It was requested I hold the footage for a few weeks though since some of that content will also be at the 2009 Pua Summit. Adam Lyons has definitely been a cool cat over the years, so of course I agreed. No worries though, it will be released the morning of September 28^th in true HD. It will simply pop up on the “Newest Content” tab, and bam it will be ready to watch.

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That’s all for today guys. There’s a lot of things I want to talk about regarding the convention but I’ve learned to keep my thoughts at least a little organized over the years- so till next time…

-Dream

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