I'll be speaking again at a Merit event in Warrington, UK on the 25th March 2008, this time the sole focus being Podcasting:
Warrington 2000+ International Business Centre, Delta Crescent, Westbrook, Warrington WA5 7WQ

From 11.00 a.m. Registration, 11.30 a.m. Presentation, 12.30 p.m. Lunch & Networking to 14.00 p.m.
Member cost: FREE
Non member cost: FREE

"Podcasting is all about the creation and distribution of digital media via the internet to computers, portable devices and even to the TV.

It allows anyone with a simple laptop computer, a microphone or a video camera to become their own digital publisher overnight with a potentially worldwide reach for little or no cost.

This session discuses the technology behind podcasting and explains just how easy and inexpensive it is for individuals or organisations of any size to take advantage of this revolution in digital publishing and new media.

Podcasting has enormous potential in all areas of business including marketing, sales, communication, advertising or any area where you have a message to communicate either internally or with your existing or potential customers.

The session will be delivered by one of the worlds top professional full time podcasters, Don McAllister. Don has been running a highly successful video podcast (ScreenCastsOnline.com) for over two years and has developed the podcast into his full time job and thriving business. As well as being an acknowledged expert in his field, Don has also an international reputation on Podcasting having recently spoken at Macworld 2008 in San Francisco and The Podcast & New Media Expo in Los Angeles."

If you want the lowdown on the latest in Podcasting and Podcasting Technologies, I'd love you to drop by and listen to the presentation, it's free!

Please register for the event on the Merit website - link

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One of the surprising things about this years Podcast and New Media Expo was that there was a Microsoft presence albeit as attendees and not as vendors.

I met up with with Paolo Tosolini, New Media Business Manager in the Enterprise & Partner Group at Microsoft, in the speakers room at the Expo and had a brief chat with him. Paolo was there with a couple of guys from the Microsoft Zune team (in case you hadn't heard the new Zune 2.0 is going to support podcasting). The fact that Microsoft is actually using the name "Podcasting" in association with one of their products is a great signal that they look as though they are preparing to make a leap into the Podcasting space and provide some well needed competition for Apple.

This can only be good for the New Media Industry as a whole.

However, one thing I hadn't heard about before was an internal project aimed at delivering the power and benefits of Corporate Podcasting as an internal communications tool throughout Microsoft. Whilst not a publicly available product (yet?), the "Microsoft Academy Mobile" project is an Enterprise podcasting product built on SharePoint server and is designed to provide easy information sharing and distribution via podcasting within large Enterprises. Check out the promo below:



This is definitely a product to keep an eye on and it will be interesting to see what tools Apple provide for matching this functionality when Leopard arrives at the end of the month!

Technorati Tags:
podcasting, New Media, newmediaexpo2007

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Shock, horror......


Well actually, I will still be going to the Expo, it's just that it's no longer called the "Podcast and New Media Expo" just the "New Media Expo". But read on for why I think this is an exceptionally significant move which has repercussions across the whole industry.

I've just got back from this years event in California and the issue of using the name "Podcasting" was up for discussion again, however, this year some speakers went to the length of declaring "Podcasting is Dead".

Now this is nothing new as the topic of "Podcasting" terminology was actually brought up in Leo Laportes keynote from last year, when he suggested that the name "Podcasting" was bad for the industry and may be held to blame for the plateau that many top "podcasts" appeared to have hit.

Since then, negative connotations with "user generated content", the detrimental effect of not having Microsoft fully supporting podcasts (although this seems now to be resolved at least for the Zune 2) and the general misunderstanding that podcasting was only available on iPods, all seem to have validated Leos suggestion on calling for a terminology change.

However, last year his voice was a solitary one and despite him re-branding his shows "NetCasts", the rest of us were happy to soldier on under the banner of podcasting.

With this years Expo however, the tide seems to be turning.

• The show was much more serious with a distinct slant on video and providing digital content as an independent media producer.
• The tracks on monetisation were well defined and well attended.
• There was no dismissal of commercial considerations and it felt good to be able to be one of the first to stand up and be counted as someone who is making a decent living as a digital media content creator.
• The keynotes focussed on the success stories of several New Media properties gaining ground in establishing themselves as valid and profitable ventures. All creating compelling content and utilising the new distribution channels now available to all media creators.

The dropping of the term "Podcast" from the Expo title is actually the second major change that Tim and Emile Bourquin (the Expo organisers) have made to the Expo. As of next year, the Expo is moving to the convention capital of the world - Las Vegas. Along with the name change, this is an attempt to pro-actively grow the Expo (and by association the industry) by legitimising the Expo to outsiders. The previous three years Expos have all been held in Ontario, California and based on remarks made in the excellent Podcast Brothers show, Tim and Emile have met resistance to growing and legitimising the Expo purely due to its location.

In two fell swoops, they've set the ground work for the show to grow significantly for next year.

So am I happy that they've dropped the Podcast entry from next years Expo and re-located?

Yes!

Is Podcasting dead?

Most certainly no BUT I'm 100% behind the push to redefine the term to remove some of the barriers preventing new media content becoming more widely adopted.

But what exactly is New Media and why is it different to Podcasting?

I think there are several distinct attributes that define "New Media"

Content - New Media is all about the content. The content has to be compelling, original and worthy. The method of distribution is not the end game, it's the content. This is the trap that we fall into by defining the industry by the delivery method. It's not about Podcasting, it's all about the content.

Consumer Choice - The New Media consumer wants choice. Choice on how, when and where they wish to consume their digital content. This extends to multiple formats, the ability to playback on any device they own, the removal of copy protection and the ability to move data between devices and locations.

Relationships - New Media has the potential to be a two way conversation between the producer and the audience. The audience has the ability to interact directly with the New Media producer and have their voice be heard.

Niche Markets - New Media is the perfect match for niche markets.

I do a weekly video tutorial all about Mac software. It's seen throughout the globe by thousands of people in virtually every country. I also produce High Definition premium content for the people in the audience who want more than the free content can provide. The premium content is chargeable and supports my efforts as a full time new media producer (as well as my mortgage, my family and my addition to Apple products!). My web and media hosting costs are fully covered by adsense ads. I have no staff, I do everything myself so the production costs for the show are in effect nil.

Compare that with traditional media costs. For example, a factual daytime show for the BBC costs between £10,000 to £60,000 per hour. Comedy starts at £110,000 rising to £600,000 for top shows.

Traditional (or old media) can't service the potential vast numbers of niche markets available to the New Media producer, it's just not economically feasible for them.

Digital Format - New Media is all bits and bytes. Whether audio, video, documentation, online web based or other content we've not even invented yet, it's all digital.

Distribution - New Media is distributed via a low cost, highly scaleable global distribution channel predominantly based on Real Simple Syndication or RSS.

Boundaries - New Media has no boundaries either legislative or geographic and can be distributed to a global audience just as easily by an individual as by a mega-corporation.

New Advertisement Models - New Media doesn't need the old CPM ad models.

New Media has a target audience of niche markets, communities of like minded people who are actively seeking out new content and who are not adverse to consuming ads as long as they have relevance to them and their interests. Advertising via New Media takes on a whole new perspective when considering not just the cost of views but crucially, the cost of influence. This represents a complete sea change in the current advertising models and one that has the potential to be exceptionally powerful.

And yes, all these apply to "Podcasting" as it stands today but we need to move forward.

We need to get over the barriers and hurdles that simple terminology puts in our way.

We need to grow our audiences and establish "New Media" as a credible supplement to traditional media. Not as an alternative to traditional media, but a distinct supplement.

So I'm happy to support the transition from "Podcasting" to whatever terminology becomes the norm. There's probably a fair amount of discussion to be had around the whole area of terminology but for now here's my first take:

I'm no longer a "Podcaster", I'm a "New Media Producer"

I no longer have a "Podcast", I have an "Internet TV show" which can be found in the Podcasts section of iTunes.

So sorry Leo, perhaps we should have listened to you last year (I still don't like the term "NetCasts" though!).

Technorati Tags:
newmediaexpo2007

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Following on from the success of the session back in July, I've been asked to give another session on Podcasting. This is a free seminar on 17th October 2007 and will be hosted at Chester Race Course.

Social Media: Building better 'web presence'

Date: Wednesday 17th October 2007
Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm
Place: Chester Race Course, Chester

This is a free event and includes a buffet lunch.

The seminar will also include a session by Katie Lips who'll be covering Social Media. If the event is as popular as the last one I'd recommend booking asap. The seminar is free so feel free to join us!

Full details are available here:

Link to Event Page

Note: You do need to pre-register

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Not long now before the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario, CA. It kicks off on the 28th September but I'm flying out a few days before and will be attending the Podcamp SoCal the day before.

I went to the Podcast Expo last year and had a blast. There are so many stellar sessions but the value of hooking up with so many fellow podcasters is not to be missed.

This year is slightly different as I'm actually presenting a session, all about screencasting. I've already mentioned on the blog about how delighted I was to be selected from such a large number of submissions but I've just seen a great blog post from Jason Van Orden (the author of "Promoting Your Podcast")

The blog post gives some great info and tips on attending the Expo but the icing on the cake is that Jason has rated my Screencasting 101 session as his number 4 recommendation to attend.

No pressure then Jason

Seriously, Thanks for the plug!

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Following on from the successful courses I've been running at the University of Wolverhampton campus in Telford, UK, I've been asked to host another 4 sessions in September and October.

Full details of the one day workshops can be found here

Feedback has been tremendous, some of which I've posted below:

"Brilliant presenter, excellent content, well worth attending!"

"Very informative and useful workshop...absolutely excellent tutor"

"Given great ideas about the use and purpose of podcasts, very structured and easy to follow. Cant wait until the advanced!"

"I liked the way that the session was organised. The ‘show’ and ‘do’ was very helpful and the handouts were very informative and will be useful for future use."

"Really inspiring workshop, well organised"

"A really good introduction which fulfilled all of my expectations. Thank you!"

"Very useful exercise – can see endless possibilities for the use of podcasts"

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The event on Thursday was a great success with about 100 people turning up for the presentations. Based on what regular visitors told me, this was one of the most well attended events that he had been to so I think the subjects of Social Media and Podcasting certainly hit a nerve and stimulated a great deal of interest.

As well as my session on Podcasting, Katie Lips (Social Media Strategist) gave a really informative and extremely comprehensive session on social media tools and services. The sheer number of these services and tools is absolutely mind boggling. I was pretty much up to speed on all of the services and tools she mentioned but a new one to me was SlideShare - basically a YouTube for presentation slideshows. Katie was going to send her slides to SlideShare to so I thought I'd check it out.

What an amazing service and such a valuable resource!

Ten minutes later, I'd signed up and uploaded my slide set from the session. You can see the slideset at the end of this post.

What really blew me away was today, I discover that there is a FaceBook app for SlideShare and within a minute of installing the FaceBook application, my slideset is made available to all my contacts and friends within FaceBook. That's along with all my other stuff that is rapidly becoming centralised and mashed up via FaceBook.

I truly think FaceBook is going to be huge.

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I was delighted to be asked to present at a seminar coming up on Thursday 26th July being hosted by Merseyside ICT. This is a free seminar on

Social Media: Building better 'web presence'

Date: Thursday 26 July 2007
Time: 11am - 2pm
Place: Lecture Theatre, ICDC, Edge Lane, Liverpool

This is a free event and includes a buffet lunch.

Agenda:
11am - 11.30am         Arrival & Networking
11.30am - 12.15pm   Session 1 - Introduction to Social Media & Tools
12.15pm - 12.45pm   Session 2 - Podcasting: Become your own global digital media publisher
12.45pm - 2pm           Lunch & Networking 

I'll be doing a session on Podcasting and will be joined by Katie Lips who'll be covering Social Media. I've met Katie before and she certainly knows her stuff around the Social Media space.

The seminar is free so feel free to join us!

Full details are available here:

Link to Event Page

Note: You do need to pre-register

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I attended last years Podcast & NewMedia Expo last year out in Ontario, California. It was a great event and the sessions and networking opportunities were invaluable. This years event is to be held in Ontario again on September 28-30, 2007.

This year though, I'll be attending as a speaker as I've been invited to give a session on screencasting and podcast monetisation.

I'm really looking forward to it as it's the premier podcasting event in the industry and I'm delighted to have been given the oportunity to speak. It will also be good to share a few bears with my podcasting buddies!

Link to my session

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Tim Verpoorten from the MacReviewCast kindly asked me to participate in this weeks Mac Roundtable Podcast

The Mac Roundtable podcast has just changed format so each of the four original members are producing shows on various subjects and this has allowed the show to open up to guests.

Tims show this week is all about podcasting and he has included contributions from Paul Figgiana (Audio Podcasting), Me (ScreenCasting) and Craig Syverson (Video Podcasting).

Give it a listen! - Link

Thanks for the opportunity to be in such esteemed company Tim!

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Well here's a surprise! You may remember I got asked onto the Mac Podcasters panel at MacWorld in San Fransisco back in January. This was a special event at the Apple store put together by Adam Christianson of the Maccast.

The panel consisted of many Mac podcast luminaries including Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsey, Merlin Mann, StuFF mc, and many others. It was a bit weird to be in such esteemed company.

Now it transpires that there is a video of the proceedings and StuFF mc of the Pomcast has hosted the video on his website.

So if you want to check out the video, nip across to Pomcast.com:

Thanks StuFF mc

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