Welcome to the QS Summer Tour!

Welcome aboard! In the spirit of Magic, Community and The Great American Road Trip, I'm putting together the QS Summer Tour. This ambitious undertaking is my personal passion project to showcase the power of Social Media in today's game. By making use of my network around the country, I will visit small (and large!) local game shops across the land.

I hope to take this trip in the second half of Summer 2010, either in mid July or late August.  My initial idea is to budget 10-18 days, and the final length will depend on fiscal budget, time, and the actual route that emerges. 

Objectives

• The Power of Social Networking.  Using Facebook and Twitter to connect with fans and readers who would enjoy meeting me, I will plot a route that takes me to as many diverse locations in North America as I possibly can.
• The Diversity of the Magic Community.  I hope to meet and write about professional players, casual afficionados, Limited and Constructed players, EDH'ers, kitchen table warriors, and every other type of player there is.
• The Evolution of Blogging.  There are a few people that make a living through blogging, but I want to prove that an undertaking like this is not so ambitious as people think.  By using strict budgeting and time management, I want to show that long trips like this are more accessible than people think.

Media

• A blog (this one!) will be maintained documenting the trip and the people I meet in written word, photo and video.
• Text updates will be as frequent as travel and my schedule will allow.  I will aim for multiple daily updates of shorter length, sometimes just updating to post a few images.
• If equipment is available, video coverage is desirable.  A sponsor may need to lend or donate a video camera since the iPhone's camera is really sub-par.

 Funding

•  The trip will be strictly budgeted, both for the sanity of the author and to demonstrate the power of being conscious and sticking to a budget.  This lesson will help many who have trouble understanding how to treat their Magic-playing time as a business.
• The trip will have a few sponsors who both support what the endeavor represents and who would like to capture some of the attention that the trip will garner.  I intend this to be a media spectacle in the Magic community, as nothing of the sort has been done before.  
• QS readers will also have the opportunity to donate money to the cause.  This money will be retained in a dedicated paypal account until it is needed.  Should the trip not occur for any reason, donations would be refunded.