BlogKing September 13th, 2007
This past weekend was PodCamp Philly at Drexel University. Even though I only attended Saturday I made some amazing contacts and learned a few tidbits of useful information.
I had the opportunity to hear CC Chapman expound on audio recording devices and pod-casting techniques. He is one of the first pod-casters I followed with his excellent Managing the Grey. I used to live in Boston for a few years and his show came out of Babson Bentley College in Waltham. The very first podcast I became a fan of was The Hobson and Holtz Report. Another podcast about public relations. I guess PR people excel at talking in an engaging way.
Later at the after party at Victory Brewpub I had a chat with another early pioneer, one of the first video bloggers, Steve Garfield. His original show is The Carol and Steve Show which is a travelogue roundabout Boston with his wife. Very gracious and down to earth. That was a thrill. I tiped him off to using HitTail for tracking long tail terms searchers used to find his sites. Maybe he will discover interesting insights.
Check this video by Steve with Kathryn Jones about 35, her “compelling, character rich, plot driven, scripted webisode to be broadcast LIVE (starting Sept 19) over the internet” at Synchronis.tv. Kathryn is full of energy and is excited about this production that will be filmed with three Panasonic DVX100’s and switched live with a Tricaster Studio.
The session Thinking Like a Producer by Joel Mark Witt from the Maryland Zoo was informative and humorous. Especially filming the camel rides. [Does the Philly Zoo have that?] Take aways: tell a story, create a cinematic moment(change in style), know your audience. You will need release forms for on camera people. He pointed out that 95% of video pod-casting is in getting quality audio. People can put up with varying video quality but if they can’t make out what you are saying you are done for.
Chris Penn spoke at the session Social Networking 101. Social networking sites are software tools where people are the network. FaceBook is still mostly college students with strong collaboration groups. 300,000 new people a day! Be sure to read the terms of service agreement. Most state that they have rights to whatever you upload, so don’t put original artwork that you want to sell elsewhere.
The goal therefore is to get people to visit your own domain where you are in control. Get an email address, sell an ebook or seminar etc. So SN sites should be written with slant to entice the click. For branding reasons, keep your name tag the same at all your SN sites. People may just look you up on the same term at different sites.
People on mySpace are taking their network private so can’t access unless know one of the members. Twitter is good for interaction, get known.
Spoke with Larry Genkin, publisher of the excellent new magazine Blogger and Podcaster. You know an industry is coalescing when specialized trade magazine appear. Every attendee got a free copy of the glossy print version. Read it online.
Attended a session by Apple system engineer Michael Wolf on the new version of Garage Band. When I get my next PC, those gorgeous 24″ iMac’s, the first thing I want to delve into is Garage Band.
Oliver Picher, a PR expert I met recently before PodCamp, won an iPhone at the closing session raffle. Check out his report.
Whew! And I missed the live Best Damn Tech Show,Period production on Sunday.
Other wrap ups: Indy Hall , Flicker group, Search marketing Gurus
Day 2: bliptv
