Aikido 2.0: A New Way To Engage

Jonathan Weiner (Aikido of Charlotte)
jonathan@aikidoofcharlotte.com

As technology improves in our society, I believe it directly impacts not only the overall image of aikido but also the way a potential new student looks at a dojo and how fellow aikidoka continue on their path. Web 2.0 is now. It's engaging! There's a reason Facebook is the fastest growing website in the world. There's a reason YouTube has over 120,000,000 videos. You would need 600 years to watch them all.

What we've done at Aikido of Charlotte is apply the same concept in terms of sharing online media. Our Web Radio shows feature interviews with some Senior USAF Instructors such as Andy Demko Shihan, George Kennedy Shidoin, Steve Kaufmann Shidoin, and Skip Chapman Shidoin. In the coming weeks, the new USAF Chairman Charlie McGinnis Shidoin will be featured along with Laura Pavlick Shidoin, Director of Operations for the USAF. Each episode is between 5-10 minutes long and allows the listener to be involved in a totally different way. They feel that they are part of the show. Listening to the audio, rather than reading a blog post, allows you to hear the tone, the vibe and the personality of our guest. This type of media has allowed my business partners to grow their firm, recruiterearth.com, the fastest growing social site in the recruiting/HR industry with over 13,000 new members in a year. Of course we have several HD videos promoting the senior instructors such as Peter Bernath Shihan and Donovan Waite Shihan as well as highlighting our dojo and a live demonstration. This will continue to grow, especially since I have another business in film and have a true passion for it.

Finally, the two main reasons we decided to do this is one, it's pretty cool and unique. The other is simply to spread Aikido in the North Carolina region. We are getting heavier traffic on our site because people are engaged. They are learning about our dojo in a different way and after they watch a video of our school and listen to our Chief Instructor on a Radio program, they can get a feel for what we do.

Here is an example of how our radio shows are displayed on our website.

I want to encourage everyone to join our dojo network by clicking here. It will take you less than 5 minutes to create your profile. You can then connect with other members and share. We have an area for Blog Posts, Photos, Videos, Radio Shows. Please enjoy it all!