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Bloody Words 2009
About Bloody Words 2009 Mystery Conference
 Bloody Words is a national yearly conference of Canadian published mystery crime authors along with agents, dealers, publishers, and fans. The hosting city changes every year. The 2010 event will be held in Toronto. In 2011, the event will be held in Victoria. Ottawa has the honour of hosting in 2009.
I was invited to sit on the steering committee to manage and develop their web and print needs as a volunteer. I was responsible for creating the "Mystery is afoot in Ottawa" theme along with the event logo.
If you click on the cover image, the Acrobat PDF file load in a new window. Please note: It is 52 pages with several images. In other words, it's a big file. It may take a while to load.
Event Program Guide
- 52 pages including cover. Cover printed 4/4. Interior pages black & white. Printed by Gilmore printers.
- Endorsed by the Canada Council for the Arts, The Minister of Heritage Canada, the Mayor of Ottawa, and the Mayor of Vanier
- Media personalities included CBC, Radio-One, the Ottawa Citizen, and more...
- They gave me free advertisement on the back cover
Web Site for the Event
- Flash Banner Animation
- Liquid Pages (content expands according to the visitor monitor size)
- Accordion Expandable Javascript Sidebar Menu
- eForms were created for the registration forms
- Perle CGI script and database for record management
- Web site design and content evolved over the year as the content became available.
- Weekly updates were made to the "Usual Suspect" page - attendees
 Other Promo Items
- Bookmarks
- Posters
- Tote Bags
- T-shirts
- Xmas Gift Cards
- Ads
- News Releases
Original Artwork
- I drew all the support visuals like the parliament building, justice building, bridge, trolley, etc...
Challenges
- No content at the beginning of the project.
- Supplied artwork of the Official Bloody Words logo was not in the appropriate file format for printing purposes. I recreated an illustrator version of the logo. The right panel of the logo changes depending on the hosting city. For example, last year it was held at in Toronto. Therefore, the right panel of the logo showed the CN Tower. When I was asked to create a last minute ad for the 2011 event in Victoria, I had to only show the left side of the logo as I did not know what the image will be on the right.
 
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"The word THANKS doesn't even touch on the depth of my appreciation for the work Guy Mercier did on the Bloody Words Mystery Writers Conference.
In addition to the brilliant creative on the website, and on the collateral (posters, bookmarks, t-shirts, program book, etc.) Guy provided us with ideas on how to market and promote the conference. He came up with the slogan - Mystery is afoot in Ottawa, and incorporated bloody footsteps into the design.
Attendees to the conference remarked on how professional the event was. It was Guy who did that -- he gave us that look and feel. And it was also that professional look and feel that attracted the interest of the media. I delivered the 50 page program book to the CBC and a producer called the next day. They had scoured the book, came down to the event and interviewed writers, and we ended up on the news every hour that weekend.
My genuine thanks for everything Guy -- without you the sales would not have been what they were, and we would not have hosted such a successful event."
Katherine Hobbs
Chair - Bloody Words 2009 Steering Committee
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