Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Escalate LIVE Gravy Train Diverted, Speakers May Seek Real Work

New development: PZN has been keeping a close eye on ticket sales, and with only 26 days left to sell tickets priced at $256.22, the organizers of Escalate Live have sold ONLY 220 tickets. This is a far reach from the 600 seats of cash flow Dane Sanders & company were looking forward to pocket. With numerous attendees jumping off after realizing this train was taking them and their wallets for a ride, they are looking to sell their prematurely purchased tickets to someone who doesn't mind lining the pockets of people that rely on taking advantage of those too naive or blinded by savvy marketing. Many more have lost interest in the event and more so, have lost respect for the speakers of this event.

PZN may have already taken out all the hot air that part time photographers Dane Sanders, Chris Becker, Jasmine Star, David Jay, and the rest of the company were planning on using to float across beautiful California blue skies with wads of cash in their pockets. Dreams of starting a seminar that would could someday become a lucrative cash flow for the speakers who could use a controlled platform to promote their own products, services, and workshops to an unsuspecting audience, assuring an annual pay day for giving inspiration speeches without much substance. A private little WPPI if you will. Only this time, a handful of part-time wedding photographers/full-time motivational speakers & bloggers would be collecting bags of booty as they made their way to the banks.

PZN asked Photogzilla for a comment on the pathetic ticket sales for an event with less then 26 days away.

"This is a clear sign that professional photographers everywhere are far more intelligent then these speakers give them credit for. Hard working people don't want to waste their money on fluff, and they're sending these 'self-proclaimed leaders' a clear message that they cannot be taken advantage of anymore. This gravy train on biscuit wheels, thinly disguised as some kind of educational seminar, is now coming to a slow grind before it has even left the station. My objective from the beginning was to educate the masses about these unethical and veiled techniques these people are using to make money. This is a big step in helping our industry realize it needs to realign back to the thinking that hard work and dedication based on a solid foundation is what is required to be successful as a photographer."

PZN will continue to keep a close eye on any new updates and whether the organizers will cancel the event. We do know for a fact that the speakers have had numerous discussions on how Photogzilla has thrown off their entire plans and have been redoing their speeches and presentations in an attempt to salvage their reputation. However, what is worse is that none of the speakers have responded to Photogzilla's numerous attempts to get even a comment. No one from Escalate Live seems to really care what people have to say and simply block anyone from following them on their Twitter page that they don't agree with. We feel that if you are a person has who has chosen to lead a public figure life, you cannot ignore the public that questions you and be selective to keep as an audience only those that you are able to fool. Photogzilla commented, "Not only did most of the speakers block me on Twitter, even @EscalateLive blocked me for asking some tough questions. David Jay even called two people 'clueless' for asking why doesn't he respond to questions. These people have some really huge egos and history teaches us this is the downfall of many."

PZN knows all of the speakers have been keeping a close eye on Photogzilla, because the organizers have even changed the iStock micro stock images they were using on a...wait for it....photographer's conference! One of them went out and took a few snaps to change around things on the Escalate Live website. PZN broke this news to our readers in an earlier report how EscalateLive had used a selective coloring image. What's really sad is that the images being used now are actually far worse in quality then the iStock photos. Photogzilla fell out of his chair when he saw the new images, "And these are professional photographers?? Can't even take high quality images themselves? What is wrong with these people?!? The humanity! If you DON'T know how to take professional quality images, what are you doing teaching a conference about photography? I guess, when your best is just not good enough as a wedding photographer, you become a motivational speaker for other wedding photographers. This is such a train wreck."

Now, the PR minds at Escalate LIVE have decided to offer a live stream for free. The speakers are trying utilize any method they can to salvage their reputation, so they'll do anything to save their public image. Here is Photogzilla again.

"This is another clear sign that Dane and company are desperate to save themselves. They are going to try to play this giveaway free seminar to gain points from sympathizers. It's just so sad. What's even more moronic is what they will have to do with the 220 people that HAVE bought a ticket already to attend what is now a FREE seminar. Who's the moron running this train wreck?? Oh yeah. The speakers. I think they need to focus on their wedding photography business. They apparently aren't making enough money on that, so their wasting everyone's time and money on this recycled and regurgitated garbage. I can tell you right now, they have changed their entire presentation to NOT plug their products and are going to try to look like angels by trying to give away a free presentation. They should just cancel the event and go home. Cut your losses. Focus on becoming better photographers or seek another line of work. Don't try to be the next Tony Robbins, who I might add is who Dane & company have been ripping off and plagiarizing. Oh, and did you know that line Jasmine always says 'I'd rather fail at something I love then succeed at something I hated' that you hear at every seminar she speaks at...She says her husband JD said it to her. Turns out, it's also ripped straight from the Cameron Diaz movie "What Happens In Vegas," where Cameron's character turns down her promotion in the board room scene. Go check it out for yourself. Unoriginal. Fluff. Empty motivations. Just full pockets with money from deceived photographers who trusted these people. Very sad."


If you would like for the speakers to respond, ask them on Twitter by pasting the following: @DaneSanders @_DavidJay @JasmineStar @JessicaClaire @theBecker Why are u ignoring legit questions from @Photogzilla - http://bit.ly/aATAN7


We also invite our PZN readers & Photogzilla followers from Twitter to take our poll to see what should happen next.





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