Many of the Next Internet Millionaire Top 50 have submitted their semi final audition videos to YouTube to find that they are taking forever to process. YouTube has officially announced that they are experiencing high volume right now causing delays.

Eric Holmlund, the Next Internet Millionaire Producer is on top of it and working with contestants to get their videos uploaded through their corporate YouTube account.

I wanted to work on my video until the last minute making it the best possible. But I had heard about the delays and wanted to get mine submitted. I uploaded it shortly after midnight (about 12 hours ago) and it is still processing.

I hope this works out and we can start the voting on Wednesday.

I was notified last night that I made it into the semi final round of the Next Internet Millionaire web reality show, affectionately known as the Top 50. It was great to have the judges recognize my genuineness, skills and passion. I am totally excited about the semi final round.

I have made quite a few new friends during this journey thus far. Some made it in the Top 50 and some did not. For those who made it…well I am looking forward to a friendly competition over the next couple of weeks and I definitely expect to see some of you in Colorado in July. For my friends who were not selected…don’t give up. There is a place for eveyone in the Next Internet Millionaire value chain. So find your place and stay engaged. For some of the more creative minds out there, I am sure you will find a way to participate and capitalize on the buzz.

So what is next and how can you help?

I have to create a new video and get it uploaded by midnight on June 12th. The semi final round of voting starts on June 13th and that is where I need your help. I really need a strong showing in the voting on this round. Last round my voting was a little lackluster, but my creativity and passion must have pulled me through.

Please note that the semi final round is one vote per person. This is an excerpt from the notification email I received about being in the Top 50.

The second round will be from June 13th - June 27th. You may also wish to note that we are enacting a new rule that viewers may only vote for each contestant one time. We will prevent automated votes, and any votes we deem to be manipulated will not be counted.

So that should level the playing field a little and make the voting a more meaningful component of the overall score.

I will keep you posted along the way. Thanks for your support to date.

Well, Round 1 of the Next Internet Millionaire web reality show is …as they say… in the books. Although I see that you can still vote, my understanding is that the Voting is over as far as it will impact anyone’s Round 1 score. The show producers put out an email yesterday saying that they would announce the Top 50 who make it into Round 2 in a few days. I hit their help desk and asked for clarification, since the rules clearly state that they will announce the semi-finalists on June 7th. And the semi-finalists will need the full five days before Round 2 kicks off to do their updated video. They responded to let me know that the semi-finalists will be notified on June 7th but the list will not be made public for a couple of days. I guess that is a decent compromise.

I also asked the producers why they allowed several videos on the Featured Auditions list that were in direct violation of the rules. Some are way over 2 minutes, some have more than 1 person in the video and some were not really family friendly. They did not answer that question.

My Round 1 tally was at around 580 votes. I did not find out until the last day that it was OK for people to cast multiple votes…at a tune of 1 vote per hour. So that is why so many people had a few thousand votes. I wish I had known earlier. In one of my emails to the producers early into the contest I was alerted to the fact that some people appeared to be voting down certain contestants videos (like mine) and attempting to game the system. Well, my thinking was that multiple votes was a similar method of gaming the system. So I did not encourage that and it really cost me a lot of votes in comparison to the other videos. But I am hoping that my creativity and professionalism will put me into Round 2.

Only time will tell.

Best wishes to all involved in this history-making adventure.

By the way, you can still find my Next Internet Millionaire Round 1 audition video at …

http://www.nextinternetmillionaire.com/show.php?id=658

There are only a couple of days until Round One of the Next Internet Millionaire web reality show is in the books. There has been a pretty good surge of creative and competitive videos in the last week. So it is going to be tough to get into Round Two.

I am as confident as ever that I will get into Round Two, but would really like to drive some additional voting in these last days. So if you have not already voted, go do so now and a 10 would be great.

You can find my Next Internet Millionaire audition video at …

http://www.nextinternetmillionaire.com/show.php?id=658

There are more Next Internet Millionaire auditions being uploaded daily. So go to Next Internet Millionaire and check them out.

I am impressed with how the quality and creativity of many of the videos continues to rise. There is also some interesting chatter going on in the Next Internet Millionaire Forums. There are not as many contributors as there might be, but the content is interesting to read nonetheless.

Only a little over a week until voting for the Top 50 closes. So go check out the videos and vote for Cliff Hammock….to push me back into the Top 50. Now that would be great!

As a part of spreading the word regarding Next Internet Millionaire, I have issued a press release through PR Free. Currently the PR can be found on the home page of www.prfree.com. Additionally, the PR will be available at this link.
http://www.prfree.com/index.php?cur=index&action=preview&id=65127

I will be alerting the local media to my bid to be on Next Internet Millionaire and will provide them copies of the PR as well. Hopefully this will drive some voting traffic for me. I have currently dropped from mid 20s to below the Top 50. So I need your support now more than ever. Go vote for Cliff Hammock at Next Internet Millionaire.

Next Internet Millionaire is really taking off. To create an even more viral effect, Joel has asked everyone to continue spreading the word about Next Internet Millionaire by posting his video. So I have uploaded it here for your review.

Well, my Next Internet Millionaire audition tape has been up for a couple of days now and the votes are starting to trickle in. Looks like I have around 30 votes and I am still in the top 25. The great thing is that the top 50 move forward to round 2. That should be really interesting and competitive.

But I need more votes just to make sure to be in the Top 50.

So if you get a chance….go vote and a 10 would be highly appreciated.

I finally finished up my Next Internet Millionaire audition tape late last night and got it posted on YouTube and submitted. It was up on the site this morning and to my surprise I was already ranking in the top 50.

I am a week late in getting my video posted since I did not have the luxury of getting my audition filmed at The Big Seminar. So I had to learn everything from scratch. Video capture, green screen, editing, posting…everything. I tried to add in some creativity to my video and hopefully I will be rewarded for that with higher votes…and higher marks from the judges…since voting is only 50% of the score.

That is about it for now. All I can ask is that you head over to Next Internet Millionaire and vote for Cliff Hammock. I really need some 10’s to propel me to the top.

If you want me to keep in touch about the results, then Register on my site with your Name and Email.

Thanks for your support.

Well…green screen work can be a challenge to say the least. But I did finally find the right combination of lighting, distance from screen, clothing and MovieMaker settings to get some decent chroma-key effects last night. So now that I have the keys to the green screen kingdom, I hope to actually complete my Next Internet Millionaire audition video tonight.

I know…time is running out. Just get the audition tape up there. But only 50% of the first round decision is public voting, with the other criteria listed below.

• Vote popularity/rank – 50%

• Creativity – 25%

• Professionalism - 10%

• Clear communication – 10%

• Overall impression/impact – 5% 

…and public voting is even less in round two…so I really need to know how to get the best video possible. Hopefully this strategy will not fail me.

Well, my next post will be AUDITION TAPE POSTED! or at least it better be. Until then, have a great day!