Shared Visions Unlimited

Copywriting ~ Marketing ~ Story Productions ~ Publishing

Category: Uncategorized

Capture Family Stories While You Still Can! And Make The Adventure FUN!

December 2, 2025 /

I asked my LinkedIn community about two book titles. One emphasized the urgency. The other made it sound like a fun thing to do.

Half like the urgency spin. Half liked the fun spin.

One person said she liked the urgency version because she did not think preserving family stories was fun.

More like writing a will or going to the dentist.

Interesting.

While it can be a lot of work, most of the story productions I have done for clients have been fun and an honour.

I think the process of capturing the life stories of loved ones is both Important and Urgent — we are all aging.

But I think people are much more likely to do the work if it’s fun.

A get-to-do, not a have-to-do.

So, I have combined the two ideas into a new book cover.

Capture Family Stories 3D Cover

Capturing personal stories can be as simple as getting people to talk and recording with a SmartPhone. It can all be edited and assembled later.

Collecting and scanning photos can all be a fun get-together.

Also, Family Storie Parties can be done in person or online.

Take turns telling your stories.

While we can dwell on the hard times, I like to focus on the adventures and the amusing stories we all have.

Imagine the lasting legacy of a book or multimedia presentation for personal and public enjoyment.

The book with tons of insights, approaches, and resources will be released soon.

Meanwhile, talk to Greg Dixon about how to get started now.

Greg Dixon can help you with all of the collecting, assembling and publishing steps.

The Four Steps for Preserving and Publishing Family Stories ~ Free Book

November 24, 2025 /
(Older couple with a cat) The Four Steps for Publishing Family Stories ~ Oreserve Family Storroes While Yout Still Can~

My encouragement every holiday season is to capture the personal life stories of your loved ones when you get together for family events.

For some, you may never get another chance.

This free flipbook will give you some ideas about how to start, including:

  1. Planning the Stories to Collect and Publish
  2. Collecting Information and Media
  3. Assembling Story Productions
  4. Sharing (Publishing) Family Stories

You can view in full-screen mode for easier reading.

Most things you can do with your SmartPhones and free resources such as Google Drive and Google Docs.

I can help with all of the steps.

Do you know of any Legions, Senior Care Centres, Service Clubs, or other organizations that would be interested in a project to feature the personal stories of the people in their community?

I am available to speak to groups.

Greg Dixon, Chief Enabler
Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing

Playing Music For Fun with Greg Dixon

October 17, 2025 /
Girl playing a toy guitar. Playing Music For Fun

My first attempt at music was playing a chair with drumsticks in elementary school with friends who wanted to start a band. The first song was This Diamond Ring, by Gary Lewis and the Playboys.

I played percussion in school orchestras and drums with a band called Elygra (Argyle backwards) through High School.

Later, I played drums in many hobby and semi-pro bands.

I also sang in the Singspiration Singers choir for twelve years.

At some point, I started playing bass with groups and duos. I know enough to tag along as a musical faker.

I also sit in on jams on bass and drums, usually not knowing what the other players will play next.

Many people marvel at how we do that!

The Basics of Playing With Other People

It is much easier than it looks and does not take years of study and practice.

If you listen to music and can tap along on a table, you’re on your way to being a drummer. This is almost innate for most people.

I use a few simple note tricks to accompany the bass guitar.

Say a song has three chords: G, C, and D. These are the root, 4th, and 5th elements of the key of G.

I will play a pattern that plays these notes. Playing in different keys is a matter of starting the pattern on the root note.

With both drums and bass, rhythm and feel are a big part of it.

Piano and Guitar are more challenging as the finger positions change with different chords and key positions.

Still, you can start simple.

Playing Music For Fun

I am working on a book, program, and presentation to help people who love music get started in playing music.

There are many things you can do on your own and many opportunities to explore with others and work your way up with new skills.

All of the great musicians you love started with simple learning a few things, learning more, and experimenting.

Playing music can be a lifelong joy for you.

Stay Tuned!

Greg Dixon, Chief Cheerleader
Singing For Fun

Simple Photo Presentations to Refresh Family Memories

December 29, 2024 /
Simple Photo Presentations to Refresh Family Memories

One of the easiest story projects you can do yourself or with my help is to create a slide presentation with photos and captions identifying the people and events.

I have created dozens of these presentations for birthday parties, weddings, and memorials.

The most recent was a tribute to Rocket Norton at the recent Rock Beats Cancer benefit concert. The five-minute presentation is mostly photos with some video.

A happier project was to put together family photos for my son’s wedding. He grew up in North Vancouver and his bride grew up in the Maritimes with the wedding and reception in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

The photo slideshow with a music background started with baby photos of each and pictures of activities as they grew up separately (with many interesting parallels).

I included photos of parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins with captions for the names, relationships, and events. It was an excellent way for each family to learn about the other family.

We looped the video on a large TV at an Aunt’s house between the wedding ceremony and the start of the reception. Many people watched and commented on relatives they had not seen recently.

We also projected the video as part of the reception.

We used Google Drive to collect the photos from both families.

I used PhotoShop to crop and restore the photos, though Canva and other photo editors will work for this.

Today, I will use Apple FinalCut Pro to assemble the photos with transitions, captions, and music. Any video editor would work for this.

I can put it together for you. I will need the photos and notes about each photo for the captions sent by email or uploaded to a Google Drive folder.

The finished presentation can be embedded on a web page or played on most modern televisions from a USB Memory Drive.

Memory Refresher for Seniors

A great use of these family presentations is for seniors and others who are experiencing memory loss.

The photos and videos with captions and possibly a voice-over can be a fun way to refresh memories of family members and events.

Digital Photo Frames

There are many ways of presenting these photo presentations, including inexpensive digital photo frames for your loved ones.

Digital Photo and Video Frame

Tabletop Books

The photo presentation could also be adapted to a create a tabletop book.

There are many services to create these including VistaPrint, Walmart, and others.

Creating a book available for your family members to order from Amazon would also work. Publishing books on Amazon is one of my main services.

I am working on a Story Projects book and workshop series for creating Story Productions like these for people who want to do it themselves.

Let me know if you want me to help with your family story productions now.

See Kartra's New Features

Publishing, Marketing, and Memberhip Cash Machine for Authors.

© 2025 Shared Visions Unlimited

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑