Cloud Nine Turning 10 Next Month

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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iFlyNothing
April 2019 will mark 10 years since the official incorporation of Cloud Nine. Although I had been working on the plan for about 6 months or so prior, that was when I pulled the trigger on starting the non-profit organization with the help of @AdamZ.

I'm thinking about putting together a video talking some about the history and answering questions that people have on the organization, the mission, the history, the future, etc.

So for that, I'm looking for questions that you all have that could be included in such a video.
 
Oh fun! Story telling time. Remember, most people are soft and squishy on the inside, so answering questions that show vulnerability and how you leveraged that into an experience you never thought would happen is the trick to compelling stories.

What was an experience that made you quit or almost quit? What was the external and internal factors that got you back on track (it's not the fall, it's how you get up}?

What was the biggest burden you held on to before letting it go, and how did that turn out (freedom from ego)?

If you feel like you're not doing enough, what keeps you grounded to your part (doing the best you can with what you have)?

What have others done to solve a problem you had, or didn't know you had (specific stories of thanks)?

Expectation vs reality, what are those stories (how do the two get closer over time)?

Hope clause for the future statement, followup statement of satisfaction of a realistic goal.

Get a couple of these stories for each question, write it all down, and practice telling them in 30-45 seconds without a skip. You'll be amazed at how much more colorful your interview will be. Much deeper and human than a wiki-interview. Will help you get the word out more of the work you do.

You doing the film yourself? Or can you get friends to help?
 
gkainz said:
are you going to have to rename it to Cloud Ten then? :D
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No, if I did that I would've had to start off with Cloud 0, 1, 2... ;)
 
Eric Stoltz said:
You doing the film yourself? Or can you get friends to help?
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Some great suggestions, Eric. To answer your last question, I'm still working on that. What I would really like would be to do it as an "interview/discussion", but need to have the right person to do that with. Frankly I'm having trouble thinking of local folks who I think would be right for that. If I could find a good local reporter to do that then it would be good. Basically here's a list of questions people have asked, add in whatever you want, and let's just have a discussion.
 
Who would this be geared towards?

As a pilot I'm interested in the 4 planes Cloud 9 has owned:
How each did or didn't fit the mission of Cloud 9 at the time,
How each was able to grow and advance Cloud 9's mission.
Just a general, why aviation is necessary for Cloud 9 to do what it does.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Who would this be geared towards?
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Good question. The real answer is it's geared towards anyone who would donate to Cloud Nine. :)

Our fan base is a mix of people interested in aviation and people interested in animal rescue. I'd say more than 50% of the fan base has no interest in aviation whatsoever, other than they think it's cool that we save puppies with an airplane. Our pilot fan base is also interested in animals - I don't think anyone follows us strictly for aviation content.
 
I think if you want to pitch this to a local film school, or one near by. Students would love the opportunity to build a film. Or, find a startup video production company.

But I think if you want some real traction, get ahold of Bobby at Flying Doodles (and Sailing Doodles). He's done/doing some great story telling about sailing with his two doodles Maverick and Goose, and doing great human interest stories with airplanes and their humans. Mixing airplanes and dogs!
 
How do you find the time and prioritize, with all the stuff you’ve had going on over the last 10 years. What kept you busy before this? How long have you been flying? What’s the most critters you’ve ever transported? How many “saves”? Weirdest animal? Scariest moment? 10 more years? Are you planning on expanding? How can pilots and non-pilots help? Any partnerships with P&P? Where’d you come up with the name?
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
How do you find the time and prioritize, with all the stuff you’ve had going on over the last 10 years. What kept you busy before this? How long have you been flying? What’s the most critters you’ve ever transported? How many “saves”? Weirdest animal? Scariest moment? 10 more years? Are you planning on expanding? How can pilots and non-pilots help? Any partnerships with P&P? Where’d you come up with the name?
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Good questions with some good/funny answers as well. :)
 
Congratulations!!

(At least) 10 years of flying furry friends. :) Do you know how many critters you flew?
 
Additional questions:
- Longest / shortest trip
- most remarkable trip because of weather, circumstances, animals on board,...
- how you find your missions or do they find you
- biggest / smallest animal transported
- memorable people you met during your rescue flights
- ...
 
Skywalker said:
Congratulations!!

(At least) 10 years of flying furry friends. :) Do you know how many critters you flew?
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Thanks! :)

And yes, I do. 2,647 and counting as of right now. However this doesn't include another 50 or so that flew for ARF before starting Cloud Nine.
 
I’ll be watching to see when you do it- besides my kids airplane and dogs are my favorite thing in the world!

Like that old song: Old dogs and children and watermelon wine- just replace the wine with Aviation! Lol
 
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The video will be useful when going after grant money!
 
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We'll see how useful it ends up being, but I think at least some people will find it interesting. Here's another question - how long should it be?
 
Ted DuPuis said:
We'll see how useful it ends up being, but I think at least some people will find it interesting. Here's another question - how long should it be?
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Short enough to maintain interest, long enough to get the message across. YouTube aint PBS. One approach is multiple short films, a series, so to speak, with each short being 4-6 minutes. This way you can have a longer film that consists of all the films in one place, and then the collection for people to watch without losing interest. As an example, take a look at the series the producers of Shrek on broadway did to publicize the musical. Each one is 5-6 min
 
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Update on this. Due mostly to me being busy, I never ended up finding someone to do a video interview. So what I've decided to do instead is to create a Cloud Nine Turning 10 fundraiser with the proceeds to cover the cost of discrepancies during our aircraft inspection next month. Every day, I'll post a question with the answer to it. Hopefully this will help gain some attention from donors. I'm going to start off with questions from here and also put in an opportunity for Facebook fans to add in their own questions to the list.

I'll post a link for those interested in the answers once I get it up, either later today or tomorrow.
 
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