21 Communications-part of the RempelGroup

Horse Racing Should Be The Next Poker

I'm a novice horseplayer for the past couple years after a chance trip to the track on a date...and thoroughly enjoying it.   The education they plan to do to help educate the potential betting public caught my public relations/marketing communications professional eye.  If you want to sell, be prepared to educate first, most times. 
We went to a seminar the Downs held this summer and caught the fever.  $10 each for a seminar and nice meal on a Friday evening, with a hot date, and a chance to bet on the races with a bunch of expert horse players all around you....it didn't get any better than that....at that moment in time.  Now we've got a chance to win the same amounts as others by getting into the pools directly.  I may have to get the cable horse racing channel back earlier than the start of our next spring- summer season here, next year.  Horse racing may be the next poker...oh well, not likely but it should be.

The Winnipeg Free Press - other

Downs hopes new rules attract fresh bettors Wed Oct 26 2005 By Paul Wiecek



MANAGEMENT at Assiniboia Downs yesterday unveiled an ambitious new project to turn some Manitobans into millionaires.
And they plan to do it with New Yorkers' money.
Downs operations director Darren Dunn told a news conference at the Portage Avenue thoroughbred track that a change in the way Canadians bet on horse racing in the U.S. has the potential to generate huge -- possibly unprecedented -- payoffs for Manitoba horseplayers. And Dunn said management at the non-profit track is determined to teach its customers how to go get all that new money with a series of betting seminars with top local horse players, an online seminar that is coming soon to the Downs website and an aggressive recruitment drive aimed at teaching new horse players how to get in on the action.
"We're on a mission," Dunn said. "We're going to make Manitobans the highest rated, best handicappers in the world."

And the mission starts immediately, with Saturday's Breeders' Cup -- the world championships of horse racing -- providing the first big opportunity for Manitobans to cash in on a rule change that, beginning today, will allow bettors here to wager directly into the pools at New York tracks, including Belmont Park, host of this year's Breeders Cup.

Millenium Scholarship Look For Those That Standouts Not Just Participants

 
I noted the reference to leadership in sports and in other activities.  It's not enough to take part; leadership and excellence is what the top scholarship awarders look for.  This is a message I've tried to impart for the past 15 years in my work in this area, with somewhat mixed success.  Of course they are seeking the best and the brightest.
The Winnipeg Free Press - Local News

Applications out for Millennium scholarships Sat Oct 15 2005 By Nick Martin



GRADE 12 students should hustle to their guidance counsellors' offices -- applications for Canada Millennium Scholarships of up to $20,000 each are up for grabs. "January 20 is the deadline -- students should be going to their guidance counsellors in the next week and saying, 'Do you have the stuff in?'" Andrew Woodall, director of the Millennium Excellence Award program from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, said.
Applications are being distributed to high schools across Canada this week for the 2006 awards, he said. Manitoba is eligible for 38 Millennium scholarships for students now in Grade 12 -- three for $5,000 a year renewable for a total of four years, nine at $4,000 a year renewable for a total of up to four years, and 26 worth $4,000 for one year. Woodall was in the city to attend a reception at the University of Manitoba for 22 first-year students who received entrance awards, and an additional eight students in at least their second year of university, who received Millennium Scholarships in a separate awards category for university students. "We're looking at academic performance -- they have to have high marks," Woodall said. But marks aren't enough for high school students, he said. The CMSF is looking for students with a strong record of community involvement, volunteerism and leadership.



Having a sense of innovation in volunteer or non-profit activities is very important, Woodall said.
As for school athletics, "Being on the team isn't enough. You have to have led the team," he said.
Recipients will learn in May if they have received a Millennium Scholarship for university next fall, he said.
More information is available at www.millenniumscholarships.ca.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Sometimes it's just about make a bit more of an effort if your heart is in the right place

This is a post I made about two weeks that I posted to one of my website. I've decided I'd like to share the message more widely.

Last week, I gave blood, took part in the Terry Fox Run raising money for cancer research, and also the Rock for Relief fundraiser by the Canadian Red Cross/92 Citi Fm and Two Small Guys with Big Hearts Trucking raising money for Hurricane Katrina relief. A couple of quarters for a panhandler, a few more bucks here and there for other causes that approached, and lot of thinking about making a difference. Who is this masked man, others asked? The World's Rearranger (thank you Robert Plant)

A funeral for a fine young man, Dustin Hickie, 16, a close friend of my daughter, touched me deeply. Why is the answer to cancer's ravages still so elusive? There is so much more I can do in my life on earth to help others, even a bit, and I knew my effort had been weak at best so far.

So I gave myself a kick in the pants with the help of Dustin and my friend Del and my father and others who have gone before. But it still begs the questions, why does it often take someone leaving this world to get us to act? Why are we so insulated? How can we, as individuals, act against the pain and suffering, hunger and illness without turning ourselves inside out again and again with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness? How can we stop the tears for a while and see the lights of hope again?

The opportunities to to make a difference will appear, if we keep our eyes and ears open and we find out what touches us personally. What brings tears to our eyes and sobs to our chest? Or just get involved. What is the first thing we think of in the morning...the last thing at night. Your passion for these things will keep you coming back.

It took the death of a young man I didn't know well, but I liked, far too early in life, to give me better focus. Other events had hurt but did not have that effect. In this way he lives on with me and my daughter. You will find inspiration in your life to make a difference if you look.

I can do more! I hope you can to.