A Decade of EZ-Guides, International Shows and QR Codes!

What a Whirlwind of a Show! 

What a YEAR!   


What do you mean it is only February?


OK - I am of to hibernate for a while...with the glow of the desert still warming my skin....WHAT? 


I need to write a show wrap up? OK...


It has been an amazing couple of months from working on and gathering the information for a brand new International Edition of the EZ-Guide (did you pick up your copy in Tucson?) - to getting the annual Tucson EZ-Guide out!


Did you notice that the Tucson EZ Guide has gone "high tech"?  QR Codes made it possible to include more info without the EZ-Guide ending up so big you couldn't carry it with you! 


Here is a  quickie guide for those of you who I didn't talk to in Tucson!!!  


A QR (Quick Response) Code  is much like the Bar Codes on the goods you purchase from most stores today.


Here is an easy explanation from the Master of Explanation, Lee LeFever of Common Craft:

"In our online world, everything is linked together. You visit a website, and click a link to visit another site, send a message, view a photo or download a video.  A simple click makes everything possible.On the other hand, our physical world is what you see walking down the street.   The problem is – nothing is clickable. You can’t click a URL on a container to see recipes.  You can’t click a statue to read about it on Wikipedia. So, you end up having to type in a link, take notes or just keep walking. But that’s starting to change.
You may have seen codes like these. They’re called QR or “quick response” codes and they mean
your camera phone can now be a little like a cashier’s scanner.
Once you have an QR reader app on your smartphone, you can point your camera phone at these codes and immediately grab useful information.
Let’s say you’re running errands and walk by a sign that says “New Show Coming Soon” and there’s a QR code.   You can just open your QR reader app, point your camera phone at the code and the app will automatically give you options.
No links to remember, no notes - just point your phone at the QR code and the real world becomes clickable."

So now the question becomes where do you find a QR Scanner for your Smart Phone?

Turns out that today you have a couple options - there are 291 options on Download.com

...or for those of you that are Microsoft users - Mashable recently wrote up the new MS Tag system...check out a couple and find the one that works for you!

OK - wrap up coming in the next day or so...