Podonomics

Mitch Joel and C.C. Chapman are presenting on how to extend your brand through your podcast.

Some interesting points from Mitch:

• “You need to start listening to conversations to be able to improve the brand, and your story.”
• “We tell children not to talk to strangers. However your podcast allows you to talk to strangers. So don’t be afraid to create conversations and create a community.”

Some interesting points from C.C.:

• “Stop saying that you have a podcast. Instead tell people your compelling story and how you channel that through your podcast.”
• “You don’t have to change just because you got the feedback. Instead, use the feedback to continue creating relationships.”

This is one of the most clever podcasts I’ve come across in some time. At first, I thought this was a How to Podcast Podcast. Instead, the One Minute How To Podcast teaches you in under 60-seconds how to do something.

I say this is clever for the following reasons:

• It’s short.
• It’s snappy.
• It’s fun.
• It has a variety of guests, so a different voice each week.

Now, the only drawback is that the podcast itself is more than a minute, but each episode doesn’t appear to be more than 4-minutes in total. Still, I enjoy the concept of a one minute how to tip and would recommend this approach to any business.

I’m adding this one to my Podroll.

Nothing irks me more than stumbling upon a new podcast on someone’s website and the only option to listen to the podcast is to download the darn thing to my computer and have it launch through iTunes.

Please provide an online player, please!

If you’re using Wordpress to publish your podcast, you have no excuse. There are 2 awesome plug-ins that provide flash based players that you can include right in your posts. Podpress is one, Audio Player is another. See one of my client’s site for an example of Audio Player in Wordpress.

For Blogger, there are no plug-ins. However, you can use the flash players provided by Podcast Pickle or Odeo. See my podcast for an example. For Typepad, I’m not sure what the options are, so if you’re using Typepad to publish your podcasts, do leave your comments as to what you’re using.

In summary, if I stumble upon your podcast, don’t let me have to jump through hoops just to listen to it. Remember, because I stumbled upon it, I just want to get a taste of what you have to offer. Provide a flash player so I can listen right away.

Podcamp is 8 registrants away from hitting 300. I leave Friday afternoon with Jay and the rest of the Uncle Seth crew and I’m looking forward to finally putting voices to faces.

Here’s a list of individuals I’m looking forward to meeting or catching up with at Podcamp.

Mitch Joel - In an earlier post, I called Mitch the Canadian version of Seth Godin. I’ve never met Seth, but I’m guessing he’s just like Mitch - sarcastic, witty and has a mind that’s always working on the next big marketing idea. Mitch will be co-presenting with C.C. Chapman on how to extend your brand in your podcast. Thankfully, his session is the most interesting to me in that timeslot, so I’ll be attending.

Andrew Baron - The brains behind Rocketboom, I met Andrew at iSummit and at CaseCamp. He’s the most humble person I’ve ever met, so I’m anxious to catch up with him again. He will present a session on how to know your audience.
Joanne Colan - The new host of Rocketboom, she’s clearly shown that she can live up to the hype and skeptics.

Suzanne Falter-Barns - The Get Known Now coach, who recently had me on a teleclass on podcasting, will be there. She asked me to text her when I arrive. How cool is that? She’s presenting a session on how to attract the media to your blog or podcast.
John C. Havens - The About.com Guide for Podcasting, he and I have had a few chats over email about podcasting and why I didn’t like him at first. Now, he’s at the top of my “Really Very Likable Person” list. He’ll explore corporate podcasting in one of the Podcamp sessions.
Andrew Rosen - He interviewed me a while back for his podcast called The Working Podcast. He recently celebrated the 50th episode, so I shall catch up with him to find out how he keeps doing it.

C.C. Chapman - If Adam Curry is the sizzle in podcasting, C.C. is the steak. I’ve heard so much about him and I can’t wait to finally sit down for a chat. As I metioned earlier, he’s co-presenting a session with Mitch on how to extend your brand in your podcast.

Eric Olson - Feedburner’s techie guy, I chatted with him at the April International Podcasting Expo. I thought he was Canadian due to his accent, but he assured me that while he found my compliment a compliment, he was raised in the American north-east. I guess that’s Canadian enough. Of course, he’ll focus on how to use a feed to promote your podcast.
Jason Van Orden - Pretty smart guy when it comes to podcasting, he recently released a book called Promoting Your Podcast, a book I fully endorse and recommend to my clients.

Robert Allen - Someone I met at the April International Podcasting Expo, I distinctly remember that he has an awesome podcasting voice. I’m anxious to find out how his wedding podcasting strategy has panned out over the past several months.

Of course, this list doesn’t include Chris, Jay, Mark & Bob, Julien, Bryan, but I’ve mentioned them several times before. I’ll take lots of pictures and will update my blog throughout the weekend.

I read a press release announcing that some podcast now has two hosts. They are trying to piggy-back off of the hoopla over Katie Couric’s debut on some show.
Since when does adding a second host to your podcast become news? In my book, that’s not newsworthy at all. Here are some other ridiculous podcasting announcements that people are claiming is newsworthy:

• Releasing a podcast
• Releasing a new episode of a podcast that hasn’t been updated in months
• Releasing the 20th episode of a podcast
• Being listed in iTunes
• Saying that some unknown (or even known) person appeared as a guest on a podcast
• Going from 30-minutes to 15-minutes
• Getting some celebrity to produce your bumper
• Moving from a mono to stereo output
• Using a high definition microphone instead of just a mic

Here’s a tip folks - just because your podcast is now shorter, sounds better, features someone and is listed somewhere isn’t newsworthy. It just isn’t. All this hype about the frequency, sound and format of your podcast is just adding noise to the eternal clutter that permeates cyberspace. Only announce really newsworthy items.

Technorati Tags: podcasting, Technorati Profile

I was quoted in today’s Toronto Star, not as a podcaster, but as President of my Toastmaster’s club called Toronto Business Toastmasters. The article focused on Stephen Harper’s speaking style and his unwillingness to engage in conversations.

One thing that stuck out in the article was that Stephen Harper enjoys one-way communications. Our Prime Minister seems to enjoy giving information, yet scurries away whenever someone tries to engage him in dialogue. In particular, Susan Delacourt wrote:

“This is coming to be seen as one of Harper’s signature traits — viewing communication as a one-way exercise: telling, not explaining or persuading or listening. Prime ministerial communication, as this current office-holder describes it, is all about “getting the message out,” and rarely about taking any messages in.”

I guess that’s why our Prime Minister enjoys podcasting so much. He can create the message, send it out and leave no room for anyone to engage in a conversation with him.

Don’t believe me? Check this page. All that’s provided are the podcast feeds and nothing more. Not only does our Prime Minister enjoy hiding behind props when he speaks, but he also hides behind podcasting to discourage dialogue. How odd.

As you know, I loathe blogger. So, I’ve already started the process to move over to Wordpress. My domain name was registered months ago, and the template now sits waiting for me to post my thoughts. Yesterday, Jon started to import my posts from blogger to Wordpress. It didn’t work, so Jon is going to try again.

But now, all my posts are messed up. Everything is being posted as one long paragraph. It looks sloppy and I have no clue how to fix this.

(**sigh**)

After paying out millions of dollars in fines due to Janet Jackson baring her boob during the 2004 Super Bowl half time show, CBS is worried about airing a 9/11 documentary due to the profanity and graphic images.

I saw this documentary on CBS (or was it ABC) about 3-years ago. I taped it and I still have it on VHS. The documentary captured the sounds, sights and emotions of that day. It’s also the only known footage of the first plane hitting the North tower. It’s available for sale on Amazon.

This documentary was filmed by 2 French brothers - Jules and Gedeon Naudet - and the original intent of the documentary was to capture a typical day of a rookie firefighter. Of course, that typical day turned into one of the most dramatic days in American history.

It is indeed graphic. The brothers talked about some of the things they saw, but chose not to film. For example, a woman exited one of the elevators and she was engulfed in flames, according to one of the brothers. She was in the elevator when the plane hit and the kerosene dripped down the elevator shaft and she was the unfortunate victim. One of the brothers said he’s been haunted by that image ever since.

There was another scene where you could hear the sounds of those who jumped from the top floors hitting the ground below. I’ll never forget hearing that sound in the film. Never.

So, I can understand CBS’ nervousness. They don’t want to be hit with more fines. However, to censor the sights and sounds of that day doesn’t make sense to me. Each of us saw the mayhem, others experienced it first-hand. I remember being in my apartment at 2am after sleeping for about 6-hours, totally exhausted by the reality of that day. I was jumpy. Everytime I heard a plane go overhead, I sat up, worried that it was coming for my apartment. It took me 3-days before I could sleep without the lights on, and even then, every little sound I heard woke me up.

I wasn’t there in New York that day, but man, those images were just so surreal. My sisters and I thought it was a movie. When you don’t grow up around violence and you see it happening on TV in real life, we as North Americans can only equate it to a blockbuster Hollywood film.

At the end of the day and at this point in my life, nothing surprises me anymore. Emotions are still raw, even five years later. So, if CBS is nervous about airing the documentary, use YouTube. There’s no censorship and then people can have conversations about what they saw.

Now, I’m not advocating that the documentary be shown raw. The brothers who filmed the documentary did say that there were things they saw that they chose not to film. And frankly, I don’t need to see human suffering on TV. It’s the reason why I avoid films such as Saw, Hostel and anything produced by Quentin Tarantino.

However, put the video on YouTube and just let the conversations take place. Stop being so nervous and just let the people use the documentary as a way to remember and heal through dialogue.

Technorati Tags: youtube, Video, cbs, september 11th, september-11th, 911