I recently stumbled across the Forum Q&A streams. They are crammed with styling and design content which is golden. Ryan said he didn’t know why more people didn’t take advantage of that format. I think it’s possible that people don’t know that the content exists or what it’s about. When I look at the full library this content doesn’t show up, instead I have to filter on ‘advanced’. Similarly when I filter on ‘extended cut’ I only get 6 items listed. So I have two questions
1 - do I need to do something different to expose more of the library content
2 - has anyone managed to convince Rafi to do their homework for them
Some archived streams are available to tier 1 members, but in order to get full access you have to go pro. When you’re a pro member you get access to sub-section of the forum called The Apex. In it there’s a weekly thread for that week’s Forum Q&A session. It’s well worth it. Not only to ask questions about your trees, but to also see Ryan’s thoughts on trees that are more realistic for us mere mortals.
Then there’s the live Q&A too. You get to ask two questions. No pics. The live stream chat is fun as well. More of a hanging out kinda thing, but you obviously you get to ask questions during Tues streams.
As a standard member, the Q&A’s sometimes show up on the main page for me when I log in. It’s fun to get a glimpse at what you pro members get to take advantage of. I don’t know if it’s a mistake or if they are planning on opening the archives up a bit more for standard members (we still won’t be able to participate obviously).
As for the other question about other “hidden” videos, there are more videos that are not easily accessible. There are extended videos that sometimes only show up as a link from the main video. There’s a video of a panel discussion at PBM regarding the natives exhibit which is only accessible by first going to the Exploring Natives video first. I’ve never been able to find it any other way.
When Mirai ran the 15% off pro membership covid special I did the math and found that it was only $34 more than paying month to month for a standard membership. No-brainer at that point.
Yeah that’s not bad at all. I can almost never participate in any of the live events but the forum q&as are the one thing that seems super valuable because I can do that asynchronously.
@nmhansen I am never able to participate live. But I sure can post a forum post on Monday and wait for the video. It has been well worth every penny for me.
Thanks for all the contributions to this so far. Looks like I missed a trick in the 15% offer.
Nmhansen seems to be confirming that there may be a problem in the display of some videos. Clearly regular members have access to some of the pro member videos but it is unclear if this is a mistake or a feature that they only appear once you dig down (filter) as a standard member. As a pro member does one get visibility of every available video in the unfiltered library view? My premise here is that filtering should only ever reduce the number of videos displayed not display new content.
Hey, Rafi here. I can’t tell if it is an error or on purpose that regular members can see the forum Q&A and the live Q&A - these are the most valuable tools from Mirai Live. I learn a lot from my own questions as well as seeing the questions others in situations and with material similar to mine have. Whereas Burslf didn’t mention why he titled this thread the way he did, I can tell that this idea of challenging Ryan to give you a homework is really fun and I can only imagine that there might be many other interesting ways to use the Forum Q&A to maximize your growth as bonsai practitioners.
Exactly. I was linking the approach you have taken, which I have found equally useful (golden) even as an observer, to Ryan’s comments that he didn’t know why more people didn’t use the forum q&a in that way. If the forum q&a is meant to be seen then I have highlighted that it is hidden to standard members unless they filter (which seems odd functionality). More ‘advertising ‘ of the concept could encourage more people to upgrade and take part, is the main point that comes out of this.
Thanks for consistently offering up different types of material that, as you say, we can all learn from. Hope you don’t mind the reference to school days and getting someone to do my homework for me. No offence intended. Keep up the good work.
