Let's try this. I think my voice is back. Do some degree. So I'm gonna have two clips here, your sit-down and the acting piece and then looking at this, this is pretty good. I think my only note was for this section through here that Arm is doing. I think this, let's go in there. Once you spline this, you want to make sure that like at this point he is kind of leaning forward holding on to this and then this starts to move here at the same time. So even in step mode you could technically put in breakdowns that show well you know is he gonna start leaning over with the hips first and then this comes over and then the whole body leans over and then pulls because he's pretty old so he's gonna use you know his full body lean to pull this or is pulling with his arm first sees that it's kind of too heavy starts to lean over with the body and so on and so on so there are different ways of showing what he's going to do so I think for your next step you really have to get out of your step mode or at more keys breakdowns in your step mode workflow just to kind of get a sense of what is he going to do. The other thing is also he just goes over for one frame I mean a step meaning that he just goes over and then stops and then takes a step forward.  So it's a little bit simple I think you can push that and show a bit more of the mechanics and then timing wise this also feels really fast and I notice a step but if I'm looking at the general timing of recovery no if I'm making sounds he goes and pulls this it feels like he will pull and then go forward so this reversal here on the on the route going left screen left and screen right it feels too fast. Just wait wise. Versus the steps feel cool. It's cool I would probably here give it a bit of a pause so he pulls and then step step hold hold hold and sit down. Kind of gets ready to sit down although you might argue that you could do it here. They're both kind of the same in timing so it's up to you if you want to kind of hold here hold here. The reason I was bringing it up here is just this feels a bit too low I won't go as far and I would probably round this out a bit more and I would round their hips down first. This feels like this is a 90-degree angle so instead of going so low with the upper body I would rotate the hips down so that it kind of flow more into the legs and then you can have a nicer bend and then not go as far you know with the head. I think here because as you go here this feels like he's getting hit over the head how fast this goes down. I'll give probably here a bit more time and then he goes then I will keep the timing you have here. I just wouldn't go as low I'm just going to slow the whole thing down if you keep the timing but I like the timing that you have a little bit of a pause. Again for contrast and texture I think that's cool. I think the balance is a lot better. I like how that drop is a lot faster but he is getting out of off balance here and because of that he plops down faster which is cool but then I'll be careful with how quickly your head home goes down and especially up. That impact there feels too fast and given how old he is and how he's just kind of sitting down and this would be just a compression. I would again I'll probably rotate the hips forward a bit more and then maybe do more out of here so it's less concave in there or getting that that weird break in the shape. I'm just going back if there's anything I think what's going to help you too is by staying over here longer and doing all of this delaying this maybe not going as far screen right you're giving the hands more time to go back to where you have it while the body is maybe here and why am I saying this is because at this point here we're already kind of losing the silhouette it's not too bad we see the upper arm a bit but once you're here it's just kind of a hand shape coming out of his stomach it's kind of like a quadro from a tall recall so even here that arm is very aligned to the upper body where you know I'm looking for something where the arm will be a bit more separated there's more negative space in the bit of silhouette this just feels kind of we really have to kind of stump coming out of the stomach there in the crotch area but overall definitely much better and then don't forget even as we don't go I would suggest not go as low I keep the timing don't go as low maybe just hips and only going this low which will slow the whole thing down but it's going to be a certain amount of speed going down so make sure that the head has a little bit of drag as it goes down so you know the head could be up here or not so a align with the chest but it feels like he's looking straight down for no reason so you're going to keep the head up a bit more you know looking maybe this way so that it feels more like he is trying to keep balance kind of look at where he's going you know unless there's always there's always a reason for something unless you're saying well he's so exhausted that he's gonna take a break there but then if you do that sure that you can do this but then I would really push this and sell the idea where he does this waits a bit you can see some breathing he puffs his cheeks feel a bit of a and then it sits down you know kind of getting ready before the big sit down which may be a lot of exertion for him so I mean then you can start putting a bit more acting in there where you know really play up that he's old but I thought you mentioned that this is purely for body mechanics so it's up to you I'll probably keep more simple it's just a pose and pushing some acting in there and then what I would look at here it still feels a bit like she's getting this clamp and everything moves without that arm moving and it doesn't really affect the rest of the body I mean I see here something where this is low and you're going back and it adjusts it so maybe what you need to sell this a bit more with an adjustments but bringing in that elbow in kind of Latin that visual shape there and I don't know if you need to push it over more this might be overkill but you can try it something where this seems like such a deliberate grip if you look at the posing too it's not just like he has his his hand on there and the fingers kind of droop over this feels like I am holding on to this this is my chair so it feels like there's so much purpose in this grip that you want to see this played out in here again this up to you so you can loosen that grip and you just kind of puts his hand there or if you're doing this for a nice steady grip doesn't want to fall off then you could almost have this and then he pushes himself over where the root goes from here to here he holds on to this straightens his arm he goes up right it gets off the chair a little bit to kind of get off and then down to sit at the end maybe here right maybe a bit of a positional change if that makes sense like he re that's an even arrow so he just puts his root over but most we left all right I say all right all the time and no one's listening you mean like there's no interactive thing where you can tell me yes so I never know why do I say this that's for that but overall definitely better so either I will go for your next step put in more breakdowns to look at the timing and posing and all that good stuff or switch it over to spline and look at the timing and the posing but with spline you will definitely get a good sense of what's going on how fast things are and do we need more hold somewhere and so on and so on excuse me and then it's good to this guy it's thoughts on this one so I'm playing this a for people watching but also because this is we're breaking the audio is this the moment where a queen of Paltrow starts talking I know the scene in the movie it's just from seven it's a good scene at first that was a bit really you want to go and take that scene because it's a good scene but I think the biggest thing is also on her like her acting is great her little breakdown but you don't have in here is it's mostly on him so that's I'm assuming you're cutting here but it just feels weird is this something where she starts talking or he has a bigger pause is there a way for you to take out that that silence feels weird you gotta fix that and I don't know what this is does he say all of this I don't know I don't know there's a gap in between and that so I would fix that and I would cut after the sound right when the sound ends or if there's more silence or you find I mean you know I'm sure there's a moment where they stare in that sequence you can add some ambient sound that you can kind of crossfade into not a hard cut but it's always we're in there sounds and it's only the sound ends it doesn't feel as clean I think you want to make your presentation as clean as possible so that's kind of the weird thing that's number one number two just visually gotta be careful when we are this big in frame with a face this is so much going on with the head going down really low really high and let's have side to side wiggling this like stuff like this here very fast this is really low we're getting close to the chin here oh and then it is really fast up here and you got so many pops I'm just curious like this would be a candidate to spline right away like what does this look like because right now it could be slightly deceiving because it is stepped and that's why you get that super poppy feel but my gut feel here is that once you spline this it looks like he just is shaking around all the time so my main thing would be calm your curves down there's too much stuff going on acting wise I do like I like how you have your inhale here and I like how he deflates you know how can I do this and it's such a devastating thought for him and you show it up by going visually down and then he has a little bit of a resolve there you know where it is a bit more why would you do this it's not like oh this is so sad but this is more like let's not do this and that's why he gets up I think that's a cool choice it's just too wiggly and especially once you get into stuff like this here the other tricky thing is when you have such a moving head and there's nothing going on in the neck and also visually we're losing the neck in the silhouettes so you just have a bobble head while the body is not really moving just a bit distracting and that just feels too much now you just like slumped over and head down so you know you can easily just go from here to here a little bit of shoulder droop and sell the same idea I like the idea but I like the thought behind it it's just way too much same thing here and I don't sure excuse me I think this his voice here it's almost like he's resigned and yeah I'm not gonna have it that type of thing and I think this dramatic up and this angry look and all that just that section here feels out of place this doesn't quite fit up to me at least objectively it doesn't quite fit the audio whereas this fits more I would say within this emotional range but not go as high where you can maybe stay within this height even though I mean technically if you go by thirds it's a bit more pleasing and we're a bit a way too low here my argue that we're a bit too center here so maybe a bit higher but I wouldn't have this crazy big change you can also say all of this so from here to here he takes all this time to get to maybe the eyes are lower here but to a higher point like he slowly raises where he says the whole thing with that shrug at the end I think that's cool same thing here I wouldn't drop this much again this is a big move and then overall once you come all that stuff down the same thing with eyebrows in the mouth shapes it seems pretty good till now again it's all stepped in it's gonna be different once you spline it but it's nothing standing out crazy but then it kind of starts with stuff like this where oh you're really breaking that upper lip and then here where it's kind of feels off to the side it just feels over complicated careful with sudden shifts going from left to right again with your jaw this once you spline this you're gonna have to take out a lot of keys space inside a bit differently there's just too much stuff going on even through here where you have these sudden shape changes so I think in this case just like with your sit down it's going to be helpful to spline the whole thing and see what's going on because even stuff like this where you have this sudden corner shape bubble kind of simplified that a bit more and not go into are you to suddenly this this seems a bit better I'm just gonna reduce this a bit and then watch out for your geometry overlap there but I wouldn't go from here to here just it just seems like too much and then you go back down here where according goes from here to here it just all seems very very busy I think if I have to say one word to describe this take it's just very busy I think in general it's cool I like your your acting choices I like how you're the body variation that you have this is all very cool it just seems very busy and messy so I think spline this and go into your cleanup mode and then we can go there all right thank you all right there's an email you can sign up you can start whenever you want you can submit whatever you want you get 16 submissions either way a like and subscribe would be awesome all right thank you


Hi everyone, Joe for Jaspy's casebrakes.com doing the second half of the Opulence case we opened up last week, 2019 Panini Opulence Basketball one box, random team break number 12. All 30 teams are in, we sold 30 spots, we gave away some spots in that filler break as well. That's why I have a little rooftop next to your name. So congrats to those people right there. Big thanks to the people who bought spots straight up as well, we appreciate that. There's all the teams, so let's do it, let's roll it, let's randomize it. Six and a four, 10 times for each list. One, two, three, four, nine, and 10th and final time. After 10 times right there, we got Thaddeus down to Matt. Six and a four, 10 times for the teams, one. And 10th and final time, after 10 times, we got the Hornets all the way down to the Pacers. And we'll pause the video for a little bit after I read off these names and teams for a little bit of a trade window. All right, Thaddeus with the Hornets, Robert with the Rockets, Kang with the Wizards, Michael with the Grizz. Robert with the Celtics, Josh with the Nuggets, Robert with my Lakers, Mavs as well. Andrew with the Hawks, Darren, Mackenzie with the Pelicans. Robert with the Jazz, Pistons, Bucks, Magic, Knicks. Matt with the T-Wills, Nick with the Warriors, JC with the Bulls, Robert with the Trailblazer, Sean with the Clippers, Corey with the Kings, Robert with the Thunder, Cavs and Nets, Nick with the Spurs, Oliver with the Sons, Robert with the Sixers and the Heat, Danny with the Raptors and Matt with the Indiana Pacers. All right, let's get all this on one page and sort by team. Let me know if you need to see your teams again and let me know if there's gonna be any trades. We're gonna pause the video, when we come back, we'll see if there's any trades. And then we'll have this one box break. Stick around, we'll be right back. All right, welcome back, folks. A little extra toner right there on the beat. There's the final printout, hot off the presses. Thanks, everyone, for getting into the action. Really appreciate it. Remember, I marked that RT-12. So we all, so we know it's from the same case. Sleeve, can't contain the hits here. So the face card trying to pop out of there. All right, slide that here. Book on top, looks like a redemption in the middle. All right, right there on top, Steph Curry. One out of 10, Warriors, Nick. The autograph, Luxurious Auto, it's TJ Ford, Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee, that goes to Robert. We got Karis Levert, Luxurious Autograph, for the Brooklyn Nets. That'll be for Robert and Brooklyn. That could be a really strong team next year. Kyrie and Katie, healthy. That is 40 out of 49. The TJ Ford was 21 out of 49. I don't know if I mentioned that. All right, the next Luxurious Autograph is Ralph Samson. King's edition. I feel like I usually see him in Rocket's gear, don't we? This one is King's edition, that's gonna go to Corey. And look at that. That is three out of five. Out of fives and under, gets the train whistle. Corey, all aboard, the big hit express, whoop whoop. Yeah, King's edition, Oliver, I didn't realize. I'm so used to seeing him as Rocket's edition. So there you go. We got a two color, three color patch and autograph. It's Cameron Johnson. Nice, these look really sharp. Going to Phoenix, that'll be for Ollie. Oliver Soria won that spot in that filler break that we did. Nice, 28 out of 79, nice rookie patch auto. It's got some upside there, not bad for a winning spot. DeCons was guessing Cambridge or Barkley as their redemption. It's Charles Barkley. Magnificent autographs, hollow gold, Card 29, Charles Barkley. Sir Charles did play for a number of teams, so let's go to cardboardconnection.com and figure out which edition of Charles this is gonna be. Card 29, cardboardconnection is down today, okay? Groupbreakchecklist.com, Opulence, there it is. Group Break Team Checklist, Barkley. Card 29, Card 31 is Sixers, 18 Sixers. Card 29 Magnificent is Sixers. There you go, Charles Barkley, Auto, Magnificent, plus parallels. I don't know what the hollow gold is gonna be, but it's Sixers edition. If you look on your, I'll switch screens just for a second right there. So you can see Charles Barkley, Magnificent, Card 29, 76ers, and that'll be for Robert Runkle. So Philadelphia with that one. And the book is a rookie patch booklet, 17 out of 35, and it's gonna be just the patch. Nice big patch right there, and out of 35. Whoa, Nick Jaspy saying hollow gold is out of five? So that nice patch goes to Danny Connell and the Raptors. And look at this. There you go, Robert with the Sixers, all aboard the Big Hit Express. Woo-hoo. And there you go, ladies and gentlemen, nice. I'm Joe for Jaspy's casebreaks.com. I'll see you next time for the next one. Charles, sign your cards.


Two New Jersey firefighters were killed and five injured while battling an intense blaze overnight on a cargo ship packed with hundreds of vehicles docked at Port Newark, officials said on July 6. The Italian-flagged Grande Costa D'Avoreo was carrying 1,200 new and used vehicles when a fire broke out on its 10th deck at about 10.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, vessel operator Grimaldi Deepsie said in a statement. As members of the Newark fire department responded, the blaze quickly spread to the 11th and 12th levels, Chief Rufus Jackson said during a news conference. Firefighters battling the blaze were pushed back by the intense heat, he said. Firefighters continued to battle the blaze on Thursday afternoon.


You know, bottom line is we're really close to playing a really good brand and a complete game or just, you know, break down here and there that are that are really costing us. That Brantley ball, I believe, to left in the seventh. Did you think Frazier should have caught that? I mean, it's a tough play.  Those are the kind of plays in these games where, you know, you're up against a good team and a good pitcher. You know, those are the plays that can obviously swing a game. Chad Green looks like he has struggled a little bit this season, clearly looked off today. What do you see going on from him on the mound? Yeah, I mean, today he lost strikes on a little bit, which is kind of uncharacteristic for him. But, you know, just got to get back to that life on the fastball. You know, obviously, they, you know, I think sell out at times for knowing that he's got that good characteristic on his fastball, especially when he's up in the zone. So to be able to mix in enough, you know, slider, change up just to keep them on us and then get back to playing that fastball up in the zone, you know, is the key for him. But uncharacteristic for him to lose strikes on a little bit there. You're surprised that Arthur didn't run after that one? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was. What was his explanation on that? I think just read it as being foul and just got jammed up.  And that's one of those very uncharacteristic plays for a guy that's usually really good at the intangible things. How much more difficult road is it for you now that you know you're not going to have to separate him for a long time? Well, I mean, there's no denying how important he is and how good of a pitcher he is. But we're also very close to making this thing run at a high level. I mean, there's no doubt in my mind. And even in these two games, you know, some mistakes or plays that we didn't make tonight that we could have, you know, swings the game. The bottom line is we've gone up against two pitchers and had leads late and just haven't been able to hold them. I feel like we're close to breaking out. And, you know, the guys that have needed to step up in some degrees really have and are getting opportunities right now. And there's no doubt in my mind, we'll get this baby rolling. Were you surprised when you heard the diagnosis? I guess a little bit, but, you know, also, I don't know if relief's the right word, but, you know, a little bit like, OK, now we know what it is. A little relief that it's not a surgery thing. Obviously, it's going to take more time now. But a little comfort in knowing, OK, this is what it is. It appears to be treatable. Just going to take some time, obviously. And hopefully, you know, we'll get a healthy, strong and fresh, heavy back for a good portion of the season. What can you do to see? Lois has come out like that before, like gangbusters, and that sort of loses it. What can you do to get him through? It's just experience. You're seeing a young, talented pitcher that flashes it so much. And it's just, you know, sometimes the learning curve at the big league level. You know, sometimes it's tough to make that final step. But I think everyone that watches can see how close he is and can see how dominant the stuff can be. You know, just inevitably, though, he just gets, you know, trouble usually a couple endings in with the pitch count and throwing a lot of pitches and working real hard and, you know, a little bit of diminished stuff as he gets deeper into the game. But, you know, there's a lot to be excited about there. And he's just close but hasn't turned that corner to become the guy I think we believe he can be. Aaron, we've asked you about mistakes, sloppiness, more than a few times early on in the season. Is there one thing that you can attribute it to? No, you know, I feel like we're prepared. I feel like the guys are focused. I love the way the guys are competing.  And, you know, it's important that, you know, we learn from, you know, every time there is a bump in a road, every time there is a little bit of a mistake, important that we learn from it and grow from it and confident we will.


Want to learn how to become a freelance videographer? We're gonna tell you how today on the journey in today's world video is king or queen Exactly. Everyone wants video to be part of their content creation Whether that's for their social media their blog or their website Yeah, and did you know video is protection makeup almost 80% of all internet traffic this year So no matter who you are you have to have videography as a part of your skill set Now there's a lot more to being a freelance videographer than just having your phone or shooting some video, right? So nowadays everyone has their phone. They can record high quality video or take, you know, those great photos in portrait mode But what's gonna set you apart? How are you gonna actually make money from this? So the first question is what kind of education or training do I need, right? So there's two different ways you can go with this, you know I went to school and learned a lot about different photography Videography those type of skills. So that's one route you can take or you can take a different route where you know You don't necessarily have to go to college and get a degree in that There are a lot of different other options you can do. I know you kind of dabble in videography So whenever you were first starting out, you know, it wasn't through a college Degree where you learned those types of things. How did you really teach yourself the different tips and tricks? Yeah, I think it was a combination I'd really like to get like just hands on it and just try and figure things out Failed a lot, but then also looking at what other people are doing, especially with those courses Like I took a couple on you to me and then I followed a couple people on youtube that really helped out a lot Peter McKinnon being one of them. He's a pretty famous youtuber in the video sphere And he has like incredibly quality videos where he just explains his processes or teach you different things And it's helped me out a lot, especially with my transitions and just creating different b-roll Footage and creating the videos themselves love a good transition But I think that the main thing here is just getting that hands on practice So however you learn the basics really you're not going to truly get it until you get out there You start practicing shooting different videos things like that. That's the best way you're going to learn how All right, another question that you need to ask yourself when becoming that freelance videographer is what equipment should we be using? Yeah, you know at the very least of course you need that high quality video camera, obviously But what else do you need? Yeah, so I think it's going to vary there are lots and lots of things you can buy when it comes to videography and camera and equipment accessories the list go on and on and on But just starting out you really want to go with the basics You don't need thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars of equipment to be a freelance videographer I know there are plenty of people that do videography gigs with their phone or some pretty basic beginner cameras I know with me just starting out. This is more of a hobby, but I have A couple things here. I have a little cheapo tripod. I think I got for like 20 bucks just something to prop it up and It's really lightweight easy to take along with you. That's why I got it It's one of the travel ones and I just throw my backpack and it's good to go Then I got a beginner camera just a rebel t7i. It was as pretty inexpensive compared to a lot of other cameras Pretty good quality You're gonna need some type of mic You can either go a couple of different routes. You can go maybe like a lavalier mic where it's hooked up I know if you're a reporter you might have had a ton of those And nowadays they actually have lavalier mics that attach to your phone So if you're recording video on your phone, obviously the audio is not going to be great through your phone So that's a lot better for like interviews or things like that where you want to get better actual better quality audio and then on top of my camera here I have what's called a shotgun mic. This is really important when you're just doing a footage on the go or out and about It's very directionally focused So it's going to capture the audio right in front and hopefully Not all the background noise and accessories that might be going on And then moving on to lenses lenses probably going to be the most expensive part of Being a videographer lenses can get pretty costly with just how many different variations there are and how many different things And focal lenses and apertures all these things get confusing and most importantly expensive I have on here just a Canon 28 millimeter prime lens Now there are a couple different lenses that you can get They're starting with that just the standard zoom lens.  These are a little bit more crystal clear and have a bit better quality But the downfall is I have to get up if I want to zoom in and it's right in your face and It might not be the best in most situations So check out those lenses.  This is the dead camera not prepared not prepared Another important thing to have is that great lighting right as Lizzo said you need that bomb lighting So one of the ways that you can do that even without purchasing any equipment is getting that natural sunlight in So if you go in front of a window that way the light is coming in on you You get that really great lighting that looks amazing. You know youtubers who do makeup tutorials They know all about that you got to have the great lighting to really make you stand out Yeah, the more natural light you can get the better and now if maybe you're in a dungeon that does not have any windows You're going to need some lighting equipment. There are ring lights that are pretty cool Especially if it's just face shots that you're doing. Yeah, and there's also soft boxes that you get There's plenty of kits that you can probably get on amazon for relatively cheap or your local camera shop And then they're like 10 bucks those clamp lights from hardware stores Super inexpensive way to get some awesome lighting The more lighting that you can get that isn't harsh and just overpowering the better You don't want just a dark shot And now if you're outside and you get that bit of lens flare on your camera the sun's directly on there Uh, what's another thing you get that's pretty inexpensive. It's just a lens hood They're pretty cheap on amazon or your local camera shop Just goes right on the end of the lens and it blocks that sun So as neely mentioned earlier, you know start out with the basics, you know And then once you're growing you're making a little bit more money You can splurge on some of the really cool things to set you apart So I know whenever someone uses a drone and gets that aerial footage Like that is such a wow factor and really makes your videos Stand out like whether that's you know a travel video or like wedding videos They tend to use that even real estate agents and like home inspection Now they're using you know these drones to help get that full aerial area coverage And so you never know I mean there's a lot of money that could be made just by knowing how to operate and use a drone Now the next question like really once you're getting used to Filming and editing and putting it all together is how do you really break into the field? And I think you can do that a couple different ways Now if you want to shoot weddings Maybe you'll go to different weddings and shoot for free or find different people that are already shooting and ask to Just shadow them and shoot some videos and give them from some free shots Or maybe you want to go to like a public speaking event Or a conference and just film and then provide it to them for free and even add it to your own portfolio It's going to take a lot of what I call sweat equity is Just giving yourself a way for free but building up your portfolio so you can get those bigger fish Yeah, so start out with networking and then move on to you know It honestly you're probably going to have to either volunteer your services or offer them for really cheap So you can reach out to people that you know your friends family Who may need these services just to get started get that hands-on experience Or you could even offer to trade your services So I mean say an accountant is wanting some video of him you could offer that and in exchange He does your taxes for you. It's a win-win. All right. So the next step to becoming a freelance videographer is branding yourself I mean you've already gotten your feet wet. You're ready to go. I mean you could just use your name But that's boring, you know create this brand for yourself and your identity, right? So some things to think about would be like what's your niche audience going to be right? What type of videos are you actually going to you know shoot? Yeah, and I think branding yourself not only as just yourself But as a company really adds like a next level of professionalism and legitimacy for your business for your brand Yeah, and there are a lot of different elements that go into your branding, right? So you want to start out with your website, right? That's one thing to think about The next thing would be social media, right? All of these pages really work together and create your brand And now with the website and with social media and in your name All these different things can house your portfolio I know a lot of people will go and put part of the work on social media, especially instagram and youtube They're very visual video heavy social media platforms Then your website itself you can direct all that traffic to the website to really check out more about you And maybe even hire you. Yeah, I mean your portfolio is really the most important part, right? Because that's what people want to see they want to see what your work has been like in the past I know some of the best ways that I've seen videographers show up It'll be on like facebook, right a really popular wedding video gets shared or things along those lines All right, our last question and this is the important one. When can I start making money? Yeah, it's all fun and games until you can't pay rent See the reality is you're going to have to start small making little or no money Remember we talked about volunteering your time and building up that portfolio Now you never know. I mean you could start off with a bang be really lucky And you know just gain a lot of traction really quickly But you know most likely you're probably gonna have to start out small Build that portfolio build those clients really spreading that word of mouth and then grow from there Yeah, and I think you really have to figure out different ways to to stand out There are a ton of videographers out there. There's a ton of people competing for the same jobs You might be so what can you do to stand out from the crowd? Now one person I follow a lot is Jesse driftwood What really caught my attention with him and he's he does these crazy just super high quality daily instagram stories of Just his life right like there's different little videos I showed you one earlier with this cool transitions and it was just him opening up a window But he made it into like this giant scene and that really stands out versus everyone else So if you can do something just super unique and super just amazing to watch That's how you stand out. We really hope this helped you really understand how to break in to becoming a freelance videographer And just most importantly get you inspired make sure you like this video add a comment below And don't forget to subscribe to our channel and ring that bell so that you'll know whenever we upload new videos This is the journey ceiling


In my language, say Uyghur. Uyghur. Uyghur, yes. Uyghur. Oh my goodness. I'm definitely getting that. Yeah. To let the world know, we're welcoming people. It's some of the best lamb I've ever had in my life. David, the things you do for the YouTube viewers. Come to try Uyghur food. Episode one of what Chinese food are you actually eating found us in the Shanghai Watertown region. For episode two, we're going all the way west to the arid lands and delicious cumin lamb of the Xinjiang province, which borders Central Asia. There's a ton of influence from the ancient Silk Road routes that ran from China to Persia and even Italy. So the Xinjiang food to many people seems like a fascinating mix of Middle East and Far East. We're starting off in Flushing Queens at Nerlin Uyghur restaurant to meet up with Shazade. All right, you guys, we are here with Shazade. And when you guys say it in your own language, how do you guys say Uyghur? Because a lot of people say Uyghur. Some people say Uyghur. How do you guys say it? Yeah, I know. In my language, say Uyghur. Uyghur. Uyghur. Uyghur. Uyghur. So in English translated to in English, so it's going to be like Uyghur. Yeah, some people say like Uyghur. So it's a little bit complicated. I know, yeah. Uyghur. Uyghur. You guys, we had to come all the way to Flushing in the Nerlin Uyghur cuisine because there were two dishes that we could not find in Manhattan. One of these was the Kordak right here. This non-Kordak is really good. And you know what's really interesting, Andrew, is we were always talking about how a lot of some of the Uyghur food, sometimes it looks the same, but the flavor is very different. Sort of like lag mom versus the stir fried noodles. I think in a dish like this, you really feel that salsa vibe that is more central Asian. This is definitely not like Dapanji. Dapanji tastes much more Asian or Chinese. Of course, we're going to break the samosa right here. I love trying everybody's version. Everybody does it differently. Here, this is Nerlin Uyghurs. You know what I like about this version? It's extra fatty. Maybe dipping the samosa in this is not particularly traditional, but you can't say I'm the first one to do it. That's good. That's really good. Wow. If a people ask me like what kind of food is this? So it's not the Chinese food. Like our traditional food, Uyghur food, and it's because we are located by like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan. So that country is all with a little bit mix. Yeah, so that's why when we're riding, like it's totally different, but speaking it's close to 99% Turkish. Yeah. Oh, okay. Turkish people, when they are speaking, so we understand, and they understand the word we're talking for. I'm a Loni Uyghur Tamakhani, Titişin Lanık Karşılma. That means come to try Uyghur food. All right, thank you. No problem. Thank you so much, buf. Next up, we're headed to the financial district, Uyghur Karavan, where the restaurant is run by an entire family. All right, you guys, we are at Karavan Uyghur cuisine here in the financial district. It has a lot of great decor that's gonna give you the vibe and kind of tell you a history about Xinjiang and Uyghurs in general. Dude, I can tell you straight off the rip, this milk tea is very salty, but actually, you know, salt is just there to enhance flavor. This does remind me almost of a little bit of like some Tibetan or Mongolian tea, Dapangji. Amen. So right off the bat, I mean, David, what looks different about this Dapangji than other ones that we've had because we've definitely had this dish before and we are gonna have this dish at other spots, but everybody does it a little bit differently. It's a little bit more soup-like and it's very, very peppery.  Mm, man. This is called Nareen. It's gonna be chunks of lamb on top of like this really thin noodle. Almost looks like a really small, like tagliatelle pasta. Nareen, one thing you guys will notice about Xinjiang beef and Xinjiang lamb is that it's really, really ultra high quality and especially the lamb really lacks any sort of gaminess. Wow.  Yo, I gotta go in for more Nareen, man. This is my thing. Like I said, I've had a lot of Xinjiang food in my life. This is the first time I had this dish. Of course, Andrew, we cannot talk about anything unless we talk about the Xinjiang kebabs. In modern day, you can get Xinjiang kebabs everywhere in China, but this is the root. When you think of Chinese skewers in 2021, this is the root dish. I mean, these are obviously a little bit more brolic and bigger, but yes, this is where it comes from. It has the same spice in it. Honestly, guys, I actually think that these are the best kebabs in the world. In Uyghur, these are called kueh kuwap or, you know, in Mandarin, yang rou tuan. Tender, big pieces of lamb. With the Uyghur kebabs, Xinjiang ones, they definitely put the emphasis on the meat. And there's not that many spices. It's cumin, it's salt, pepper, maybe one other thing, but it's not too crazy. All right, here we got the chicken kebab. Lots of flavor, very tender, not too fatty. The food here is actually really clean. These are gigantic lamb kidneys. Now, there's even a dish on this menu that they had called sheep lung, and that, you know, they couldn't even serve it anymore, even though that's a traditional dish.  It's not bad. Wow. All right, man, I'm going in on the kidney.  And of course, Andrew, we got the lamb soup. We've got lamb with naan right here. Instead of noodles, you have naan, and instead of chicken, you have lamb. I mean, but it's probably a different flavor. I think we gotta go for it. Cause this is a dish that not every week a restaurant is even gonna serve. Naan right here. Ooh, this naan has been soaking. Wow. Wow, wow. Oh man, look at this lamb. Look at that, just fall apart. Oh my goodness. You see that bone and that bone marrow inside? I'm definitely getting that. Yeah, you see that bone marrow? It's soft. Oh my goodness. Yo, this is good. I gotta try this. Guys, I have some bone marrow with a lamb slice on top of me eating it like a pizza. It's New York after all. Guys, I'm going in for another piece of lamb. Like you said, the marrow is soft. I mean, I've got to say guys, I think that this Xinjiang lamb is some of the best lamb I've ever had in my life and it is affordable. You got to come here. This is a steal. You are looking at the Uyghur polo. You can get this with beef or lamb. He gave us the beef version.  That's a lamb bone, man. That's clean, clear stew. It's going to have all the lamb flavor in it. Not even that many extra spices, very pure. Man.  A lot of different countries eat this.  David, the things you do for the YouTube viewers. It's really interesting because obviously, you know, Xinjiang being so far west, you get a lot of like Western flavors that you almost might find also similarities in like Georgian food. And I cannot stop eating the polo. Finishing off the meal here. The Uyghur yogurt. Ooh. I like the inclusion of the dates and the raisins at the same time. Mmm. In Xinjiang, there are several different ethnic groups that impact the cuisine. The largest of which are the Uyghurs. The others are the Hui, Dongxia, Mongolian, Xinbei, Shibo, and Hang. Several of the groups are Muslims, so pork dishes are overall pretty rare in the region. The focus is on roast lamb, non-breads, handmade noodles, and oh yeah, lots of cumin, cinnamon, saffron, and pepper. The flavors come together in a way that is super unique and incredibly delicious. All right, you guys. We are at Tengri Uyghur cuisine. They are from Urumqi, Andrew, which is like sort of the big city, where it's actually really, really mixed. That's almost like they're New York. Urumqi, Andrew, more than, for example, Kashgar has a ton of Chinese people in there, too. Hot and Chinese. And that would explain the presence of things like this, which is their version of a Roja Mua, which is obviously a very popular dish in China. All right, so here, David, we have the lagmen noodles. Yeah, this is a lamb pancake. This is a roving in Mandarin. It's Gaoshanan in Uyghur. This is in Mandarin called Ding Ding Chao Mian. I believe it is a take sort of on a Xi'an, Yang Rou Pao Moa. This is a polo. They call it a polo, but obviously it sounds like Pulao. Pulao sounds like pilaf. So this is a very Central Asian thing. Of course, Samza sounds like samosa. What makes this spot unique from even other Uyghur restaurants in New York is that they have a special take on Chinese dishes. So this is a Roja Mua and a clamshell bun. But you can tell even the bread that they use is different. This is almost more like, feels more like a Western-style bread. Andrew, I know that you have always been sort of like, I don't want to say a critic of the Roja Mua. Oh, I'm critical of the Roja Mua because sometimes it's just stew pork and they don't add any extra garnishes or flavors or spices to it. I'm like, guys, this sandwich could be so much more. So Xi'an actually was the landing place of the Silk Road, but Xinjiang was the place that the Silk Road went through. All right, guys, this is known to be the Chinese hamburger. So we're going to Roja Mua. Moving on, guys, we have to cover what I believe is super unique here at Tengri, which is the Uyghur wonton dish right here. This is lamb wontons. That's pretty interesting. And it does remind me a little bit more of like Huai Zutai, Huai people being from a lot of places like Sichuan. Wow, look at all the flavor, man. You can really see there's like layers of fat on top. David, I'm sure that's really hot for you, guys. I can't believe you were holding that up. Guys, man! What were you doing? Anything for the shot, guys. Why'd you hold it up, though? It's so hot. God, I'm going to let it cool down. Those are really good. Those were bursting with juice, man. Lamb soup was just flowing everywhere, and it was super hot. I'm not going to lie. I think I burned the roof of my mouth, but those are delicious. You know what these taste a little bit like? Beef shumais from Northern China. Hold on. I got to try this broth, man. This broth is hot with lots of oil on top. The rest of the mutton bread in there. Oh, my goodness. Soaking up all the fat, baby. I want it all. Bro. That was good. Oh, my goodness, Andrew. This is delicious. This might be one of the best things I had this month. Pearl noodle. This is called the Mandarin Ding Ding Chao Mian. Is that you get all the flavor from a noodle dish, but you don't have to use chopsticks. You can just scoop it up. This is scoopable noodles. In fact, you can't use chopsticks. All right, here we got the SAMSA. It's similar to a samosa in the triangle shape, but it's got a flakier crust. Let's see what's inside of it. Oh, it's like a meatball. Oh, yeah. It's probably lamb. The SAMSAs are up there. This is like one of my favorite meat pies. Wow. Strong lamb flavor, strong pepper flavor, pastry crust. You guys dip it in the lamb one-ton soup. Come on. Kind of tastes like a croissant. There you go. All right, you guys. We have two different dishes here, one a little bit more traditional, sort of almost the most exemplifying the sort of the silk road mixture of Xinjiang. And then for me, and we've got just their take on like jiaozi, boiled dumplings, lamb cabbage and cumin dumplings. Wow. These are actually really good. Mmm.  Shout out to her. She was really cool. By the way, guys, this noodle is one entire piece. So they're not going to be broken up. It does make it a little bit complicated to serve, but I think it kind of adds to the fun. Stir-fried lamb noodles. Lagman. I got to get more. Hold on, man. This food is too good. Damn. Yo, everything was really good. And it's so crazy to say, Andrew. I'd have to say that that stir-fried lamb noodle might have been my favorite. All right, you guys. This is the lamb polo, aka the pulau, the pilaf, Andrew. And you are looking at a gaushan. Yo, gaushan, aka meat pie. There's a lot of different versions from it. I think it might more... I think the Chinese one, the jingdong roping, might even more come from this side of the world. I don't know, but it's very possible. Hey, the silk road was a long time ago. Gaushan. And David, the back of this actually really reminds me of the texture that you get from the Chinese like curled dough, the mahua, right? And so it's very kind of hard and crispy, but the mahua is used to dip into a lot of things and what do you think I'm going to do? I really like how this dish has carrots and raisins. Adds sweetness to it. And I'm always interested in trying this dish at any restaurant that we're at. You know, it can come from the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks. I think even... Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan. Do Pakistanis have this too? I think parts of Pakistan that eat this as well. You know, just a lot of different countries have this dish, have some form of it, and it's just always cool to see the slight difference. This is probably the most hand-central Asian dish you can find. I remember we went to a spot in Afghanistan.  Honestly, all the food here at Tengri was really good. Top to bottom, side to side. But I think the thing that's going to stand out to most people as the most unique, even setting itself apart from other Xinjiang Uyghur spots, is sort of like the Han Chinese fusion Uyghur dishes. Right. Man, just everything was really good. Honestly, everything was hidden. Even these dumplings, these are some of the better dumplings I've had recently. I'll tell you this.  And they were super good. Oh my God, the lamb was so good. Yeah, the lamb. People expect a monster of cooking lamb, so I love it. I hope people can learn about our culture, about the food. I think that's one of the easiest way to connect if I eat with you, eat your food specifically. And I want to let the world know like we're welcoming people, right? And we want our food to represent that. And I hope everyone who comes here have a good time, chat up, have some food. What's your favorite thing on the menu for yourself? My favorite thing isn't on the menu. Like I do like ask my dad to cook me specific type of food. Okay. But on the menu, I like the noodle. Because like that's one of our... And I grew up eating them, right? So for me, that's always an option. For me, I could eat Lagman, Dapanji, and Uyghur polo every day. I think that Xinjiang food is such an ancient fusion cuisine that has become so seamless over the years. It reminds me of Malaysian or Georgian food in the sense that Xinjiang sits at the crossroads of different worlds and the cuisine is so reflective of that. It's no wonder why the lamb kebabs where Xinjiang Yanrochuan have made it everywhere in China. Who knows? Maybe one day it could be known around the world like a hamburger or pizza. I really think it could because they are that good. Alright, you guys. Our last and final spot on the Xinjiang food crawl is Zhang's Kitchen. That Zhang is from Xinjiang. And the owner here is actually a Kuei Muslim from Beijing. He's not Uyghur, but he spent a lot of time in Xinjiang and wanted to pay homage to the entire Northwestern region. So that's Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi. That's where this noodle is from. And it's pretty cool. So we definitely got some Uyghur stuff on the menu. It is all halal. There's no pork. Let's get into it. Of course, we got to go with the Dapanji. If you guys know the history of this dish, it was actually invented by some Huizuren, which are Chinese Muslims. But their Han, they were immigrating to Xinjiang and they were from Sichuan. So that's why it's kind of like a hybrid of, you know, this culture, that culture. Alright, you guys. Let's take a look at the potato. I always judge the potatoes on a good Dapanji. Dapanji solid, I would say middle, middle tone. This Dapanji here at Zhang's Kitchen is really good. There's a soy garlic vibe to it, which is more Chinese. But man, I'll tell you this, every region does Dapanji differently. Alright, you guys. Let's check out this samza right here. Now we are looking at a Shanxi rolled wheat noodle with beef. This is still halal. It reminds you a little bit of the flavors all in the Northwestern region. They do share some similarity. And man, I'm actually really, really excited to try this. Dude, this definitely feels like a pasta.  But man, this is an awesome way to get the flavor really sucked into each noodle. It's almost like a boat of the cumin every time you take a bite. Alright, so here I got a whole bunch of dishes that have a lot of crazy history. I mean, when you're talking about where dishes come from, especially in China, you know, such an old culture with so many different influences, it is really hard to track exactly where these dishes came from.  It's sprinkled with the Xinjiang spices, but it could have heavy Mongolian influence. Here you have fried lamb that's super fatty and you have like sour cream and pitas on the side. So obviously, you know, this side is going to be more of your Turkish influence. And this is a traditional kind of way to eat fried lamb amongst the Hui people. And here you have these Xiao Mai's that are going to be actually sort of a fusion between the southern one that you know from Dim Sum and then like the Mongolian version and the Beijing version and then even like Uyghur Monty. So these are just like, just different dumplings. I don't know, it's very hard to say exactly what is what, but I can tell you this, that it's all good and it's all halal. Ooh, I'm about to get in the lamb meat. I'm very excited. Oh my gosh, I'm about to just pull it apart. Dude, he told me this lamb takes like three hours to cook, serving pitas with it is something that you do not get at other restaurants. So man, all right, I might just, I just got to go in and eat it like, man, if it's from the Mongolians, I gotta go Mongol style. That was one of the most tender lamb ribs I've maybe ever had. You got the fried lamb. He told us that this is a dish that a lot of Hui people eat. So maybe it's a Hui style, you know, but also like I said, delivering the sour cream and the little side pickles, that's definitely not like what you think of as Chinese food. So Chinese food is just really, really diverse. Again, you know, so I'm going to just dip it in some sour cream, dip it in this sauce. I don't even know what this is, but it looks like a chili sauce. A little dabble of the seasoning. Throughout this whole video, I think I've had the best lamb I've ever had in my life. All right, so I got this stewed lamb about to dip it into this actually chive flour sauce. It's going to be very, very salty, and it actually comes from the Mongolians. A long, long time ago, just unlike. This is definitely the definition of fall off the bone. Man, I mean, you know, the root of this food, it could be Mongolian, it could be Manchurian, it could be Uyghur. I mean, a lot of those people and cultures did share a history, you know, obviously the Mongolians went everywhere. So of course there's some of that influence as well. But man, it's all halal and actually everybody can eat it and it's all delicious. All I know is that it really feels like some kind of like nomadic food. In Beijing, during the Yuan Dynasty was taken over by the Mongolians. So actually Beijing actually has a lot of Mongolian influence. Even the hutongs that we all know of in Beijing, that word actually comes from the Mongolians. So here we're going to try the lamb, shall we? And I do want to know that the other Uyghur restaurants that we went to, they actually have a manti, but they actually sold out of it by the time we got there, both of them, because it's so popular. So who knows, we might have to go back and get it. I just feel like, man, just the lamb has just been so good. I'm excited. Goodness, when I was filming, Andrew going in on this Mongolian lamb. That was really good. That was really good, man. Andrew, do I need the sour cream or not? A little bit. Just to tell it down. Let me tell you about this, guys. This Jiu Tai flour sauce, this tastes like it's like a thousand years old. I mean, just the fact that the owner here could put like a pita and some sour cream down next to this lamb and it like basically makes sense is because Xinjiang is an area that borders Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey. And then of course, obviously, for example, in our first episode of Shanghai, what's next to the water?  So it just goes to show you that Chinese cuisine is so massive. It really is influenced by like whatever it's next to. I hope people can learn about our culture, about the food. I think that's one of the easiest way to connect if I eat with you.


Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is Adrian Monk from the World Economic Forum. Delighted to welcome you to this launch of Connect Americas, which is an initiative of the IADB in partnership with a number of companies, including Google. I have with me Luis Alberto Moreno of the IADB to introduce the concept behind Connect Americas and explain a little the background to the initiative. And also joined by Adriana Noreña from Google, who can talk about some of the technology that's powering it and driving what we hope will become a very successful platform for connecting Latin and South America's entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses. So without further ado, I'm going to ask any English speakers to put on their headphones. And that's probably me, I have to say. And we'll be conducting the press launch in Spanish. And I'm going to ask Luis Alberto Moreno to explain a little bit about the background to this initiative and what it hopes to achieve. Sir. Well, thank you very much. First of all, I would like to salute all of the members of the main table. Connect Americas is a platform that we have been thinking about for a long time, over a year and a half to be exact, because the IADB is actually an institution that can call upon both the public and private sectors, as well as development agencies and export agencies and chambers of commerce. And within the last few years, we've had great influence over the SMEs. We have Connect Americas will actually allow for the connection of many SMEs within the region. Many of the SMEs in the region represent about 60% of the employment and nearly 90% of the businesses in the region. If we think about what is the challenge that we find in this region in terms of productivity, the challenge is faced mostly by the SMEs, which is something that is also similar to what is faced by the large businesses in the region. But the challenge in terms of productivity is six times greater for SMEs. We are well connected and thanks to cell phones. Latin Americans have about 110 cell phones for every 100 people. If we think about it, some of the cell phones that we have are smartphones, others are not. But the truth is that about 75% of our cell phones will be smartphones within the next years. Brazil is one of the countries that dedicates most of their most hours to the use of smartphones. It's almost 900% of the usage of smartphones comes from our continent. That means that we're a highly interconnected continent. That's why Connect America wants to make this region the core of its platform. We are building on three main pillars. One is connection. And this means that we would like to connect with the community of professionals in the different industrial sectors for these professionals to be able to connect with their possible vendors, clients, investors. And we would like to recommend that each of them could use the best possible way to communicate within this network and within this community where they will be able to talk to one another, understand the needs of all. And that's why this is one of the fundamental pillars of what we're doing. We have thought about the transparency-related issues for many months also. We've thought about responsibility, our reputation. So we are verifying the users to ensure that they use the best possible filters for this purpose and not only understand how the connection is being made, but also the transparency of the same. We also have the learning component which uses practical information on how to improve the knowledge that we have about international business. This includes articles, interactive databases, logs, videos, online trainings, access to video streaming or online streaming, which is something that is done today in the different industrial sectors so that they can support the work that is being done by all these communities. We have a compact that we created for the food industry for many years. The development bank has been working with the LAC flavors, which is basically working with the industry that produces food and how these can become international industries. The third pillar has to do with financial topics. And basically what we would like to explain here to different communities is how they can interact with the different financial actors, the different investors, and the different countries where they operate. There is information about the financial support and the technical cooperation given by the bank through the Inter-American Corporation for Investments and the Investment Funds. There are other programs that are supported by the governments both on the public and private end. So in summary, what we can count on today is that thanks to the support that we get from Google, DHL, Alibaba, and Visa, we have four important partners that are our main partners that are supporting this initiative. These are partners that have a set of experience from the logistical, financial, technological part. And they can help us to integrate with one another far more. The idea is for you to get to know this platform, which is already online. We have conducted several tests throughout the last couple of months. And outside this room for almost a week, the number of users has increased. Thank you, Adrienne. This is really something that we have a lot of faith in this project. And we believe that without a doubt, it will allow for the globalization of the SMEs. And as they become globalized, the trade in the region should generate a source for growth that is very important when we compare this region to Europe. We see that the trade in Europe is three times what we find in Latin America, which is 20% of the overall global trade. So 50% of world trade occurs within this region. That's why we need to be a part of this value change. And we know that this platform will help accelerate that process. So thank you. $4 million or so small and medium enterprises across the region. It's quite a technological challenge to help support a platform that can bring all of them together. And Google have taken up that challenge. And joining us to explain a little bit about how that's working and how that support will make itself felt is Adriana Noreña. And Adriana, can I ask you just to explain a little bit more about how the platform works? And maybe tell us a little bit about who is using it currently and what you're experiencing from having just launched it. Bueno, gracias. Well, thank you. I was coming here yesterday thinking about the history. I'm a bit of a romantic. I wanted to talk about the romantic side of Connect Me America. And what a better place for that than Panama. I was coming from the airport and thinking, why? Well, there cannot be a better place to do this than Panama. Let's think about the great fact that makes Panama famous. And that is the Panama Canal. And when we think about what the Panama Canal does, we see that, basically, it joins two different oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic. And this opens doors to an international world. And this is aligned with what Connect America has in mind. And that is to open the door for SMEs to the world, to international trade in a way that they will become more competitive and, obviously, makes it a lot easier and a lot cheaper for them to interact with the international community. So I was thinking about all the material that was digged up to build the Panama Canal if we put one train right next to the other that will go around the world several times. And I think that's a basic objective of Connect America. Connect America is based on two main premises. The first one, assumptions. The first one is that there is an opportunity that has not been yet taken by the SMEs in the region to reach international markets. And just to give you some figures, that is 4 million SMEs in the region that represent about 90% of the companies in the region. A little over 50% of the employees' employments or jobs in the region, but only 10% of those jobs are exported. And that shows what they represent for the international market. The second assumption is the opportunity to take advantage of technology and how technology will allow us to get closer to these markets. Today, technology has overcome any physical barriers. Now, a company doesn't need to have a large building to reach other markets. We know that our consumers are only a click away, and that is basically what this platform does. Today, if you look at the online advertisement, you see that any small or medium enterprise can reach China within one or two minutes. They just need to know the tools and know how to do it. The second thing is that technology also allows us to overcome the language barrier. Now, we have online translators that allow us to reach these markets. And the third point is that there are companies like Alibaba, eBay, Amazon, Google. All of these companies are companies that support e-commerce. And e-commerce is actually something that has made international trade become smaller. There are no physical barriers based on what Mr. Moreno mentioned. These are the three pillars on which Connect America is based. Google will give us what? We are great dreamers. So we believe in the value and the contribution that the SMEs provide for our economies. That is 30% to 50% of the GDP in our countries. And we know that we can support this initiative from two standpoints. One, obviously, by becoming the technological partner for IDB and the other partners. And two, is by providing specific benefits through our online advertising platform. Number two, it's also by assisting or supporting SMEs, helping them have that more efficient operation by having their operations in the cloud, the Google Apps for Business. That is how they can use collaboration tools, how they can use so many other tools so they can communicate more efficiently and take advantage of the platforms. Also, opening the SMEs to the platforms of the world among those Google Maps. And the other pillar is where we believe that we could have a greater impact is by learning, learning, learning, or teaching, teaching, teaching. I had an SME in the past, and we are always afraid thinking that technology is only available for large companies. That is not true. It's all about learning and learning how to use these technological tools. And who better than us, who have a lot of clients and have the necessary means to reach other markets and have all the tools to enable these small and medium enterprises to reach these other regions of the world. So you'll see a lot of investment from Google in terms of a lot of hours dedicated to online training to make this SMEs more competitive. This is basically the message. We are very committed to this. We're happy to see that it's been online for four days now. There is a lot of interest. I want you to try out the platform. It's very easy. Just go to the website, www.connectamericas.com. Go in, log in. It's very easy. Just a click away and two fields that you need to complete, that you need to fill out. It's very easy for SMEs to use it, and that's the true value of it. Thank you. Very much. Can I just get a sense in the room of folks with questions, please? And just pop your hand up if there's something you'd like to ask, unless you're very busy right now, actually getting on the website and trying to play with it. So lady at the front and lady behind. And if you could just tell us your organization and where you're from. Please feel free to speak in Spanish. I'm the only person here who needs to use the translation facilities. Gracias. Thank you, Sasha, from Mayor Capital Financiero. I would like to know how much will it cost for SMEs to subscribe to your platform? And how are you going to promote or encourage SMEs to add themselves one by one? Will you take that one or should I? We can both answer that this is made on the basis of this being a service for the SMEs without any means for profit. Part of the objective is to make the SMEs connect and grow from this. When we look at our success, it will be based on that. What you just asked, how many out of those 4 million have subscribed to this? And have they learned how to connect and finance any of the operations that they actually want to conduct? That is the spirit of our partners as well. What we're trying to do is we're trying to build a service that was not there before. And it's a platform that is broad enough or open enough for it to be an entry point, as our technological partners explained. It has only one field, as you mentioned. It is a very simple way to enter into it. I don't know if you would like to add anything. Yes, and another added value to all this as to how we're going to generate that momentum is that one fundamental aspect is that it's self-managed. There will be reviews from the users where they're going to rate the experience that they have with a vendor, with a potential business partner. And that's going to generate that momentum for others to log in and start rating if the system has that quality that businesses need. Good afternoon, Cecilia Rodriguez from Caribbean News Digital and Economica River from Venezuela. I'm a Google user myself. I believe that we're all slaves to Google. Yes, we are. We all have to use Google and Gmail and all that. And that connection makes us be more connected, in fact. But something that happens to us as users, and I think this also translates to the SMEs, is that sometimes we don't understand how Google finds us. I mean, the platform will teach us how Google finds us, how we can create better relationships among ourselves because we have the technological part of everything that Google knows about us. But we don't know how Google actually works. Many people do. Many people don't know how it works. And one of the great obstacles in Latin America is that we all want to be in Google, but we don't know how to. Well, the platform teaches that. I think there are two separate issues. Google doesn't find us, first of all. It makes our lives easier by providing us information as fast as possible. And with that, I would like to say that there is a similarity to Connect America. The idea is for that SME to find what they need quickly within that huge social network. That is what we've called it, where you, as a company, will have your own profile, and you'll be willing to promote your products for potential buyers or vendors. And that is the large similarity. The SME will come to realize that value as they use it, just like you do when you use Google as a user. So it's not how they find you. It's how we find one another. Correct. One question embedded in that was also the issue of what you'll do to protect the privacy of the companies using that. So how will you protect their information? Because obviously, they want to know that when they're interacting, they feel safe and secure on that platform. Yes. I will then provide the floor, give the floor to the IDB. But the verification process is very important. You will start making transactions, and they have invested in systems for a specific verification, just like when a user opens an email account, and there are several steps to verify that that is the actual user. See it? Yes, just very quickly. In Connect Americas, we have the confidentiality and the privacy of the information will be completely insured. The IDB, as an international organization without any profit means, will not use this information for any business purposes, and we will verify the companies as well. When the user registers the SME, there will be a verification process. Thanks. Just aware that we're a little tight for time, so I'm just going to see if I can get the questions from these three folks, and then we'll perhaps roll them up and present them to Luis Alberto and Adriana. Thank you. Lady then. Lorena Maria. Lorena Maria Farías from LaTOM Investor. In your presentation, you mentioned advertising. Can you please explain a little bit more about how SMEs can have access to it, and also, as my colleague explained, not all SMEs understand how to use the ad that you offer. Will there be a difference? The lady there and the gentleman at the front. That'd be great. Good afternoon. Andrea Jimenez from Panama, America. I'd like to know how many companies have already signed up to the platform in these five days, and which sector of SMEs, which sector do they come from that is the most interested? Good afternoon. My name is Marcos Monroy from Nova Group. First, I'd like to congratulate the partners and the teams for their achievement, and I have a specific question. The platform, is it mainly a way for buyers and sellers to find each other of services, or will it also include transactions on the platform? Can somebody sell their product through the platform? Is there going to be any way of being able to achieve this so that the parties get to meet and can conduct transactions offline? And also, how will you measure the volume of transactions reached in case there are transactions done offline? I will take the advertising question first, and you can have the other two about advertising. There is a differentiating element. I think one of the challenges, and I'm optimistic, opportunities of our education, how we can educate any small, medium, big company to use advertising tools to, let's say, enhance its well-being. Yes, then what I would mention is that we will have many online trainings so that these companies can meet, and they can find out how to use the platform, webinars, videos, et cetera, and with positive experiences. So US and SME will be able to view the videos and learn by yourself how to use the platform. Google obviously has equipment all over in America to support and provide answers to questions. For example, how to launch an ad campaign. And an added economic benefit is they will have a benefit to use our advertising platform to test them right away and continue using them. And regarding how many companies, we have 1,600 up to the minute. And the sectors that opened initially to the idea was the professional services sector and the food sector, the food industry sector. These are the two areas in which we have the 1,600 users regarding the framework. This is a tool that basically has been designed to facilitate connections, learning, and financing of whichever transactions result. It's not a clearinghouse and not of that nature. And it's not something that we're ensuring that these transactions occur. What we're doing is the companies that sign up, they will do their due diligence, which is what Fabrizio was talking about, will verify the company where it's located, will have their footprint. But when it comes to a purchase or investment or a sale, the actual company interested in that transaction has to conduct its due diligence in order to proceed with the transaction in question. This is just a service, a potential. It's a market research tool. It's an international finance department that has a logistical component, important partners such as DHL, and that carries with it a whole learning component. This is basically what Connect Americas is, designed very openly with partners, with a recognized trajectory in these areas. And the rest, depending on how successful we are with a platform, we might create added services to Connect Americas. I'm sure you probably have more questions. Doubtless you'll have time to connect with both Lisa Beltemarena and Adriana Noreña through the meeting. In the meantime, thanks to both of them. Thanks to all of you. And here at the forum, we're very excited to be part of the launch of this very exciting initiative for small and medium enterprises. So thank you very much. Thank you. Gracias. Thanks very much. Gracias. Thank you very much. Gracias.


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