I just finished upgrading from version 2.7 to version 3.2.  I know it is a pretty big jump, but that’s part of why I kept putting it off.  WordPress 3.2 requires a newer MYSQL database and PHP language.  I was running an older versions.  Here is the process that worked for me.  Hopefully it will give you a place to look if you have trouble.

• Created a backup of the current database using the hosts tool and a WordPress plug-in (WP-DBManager).
• Auto update did not work because of the requirement for a newer database and language
• Used the host tool to create new MYSQL 5.0+ database
• Used the host tool to upgrade to latest version of PHP.
• Saved a copy of the current ‘wp-config.php’ file.
• Edited the file with the new database info.
• I got a fatal error.
• I archived the main directory and the wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes folders
• I did a manual install of the new WordPress 3.2
• I renamed the current wp-config.php file (just in case…)
• I opened and updated the wp-config-sample.php file with the new database info.
• I deleted the ‘-sample’ out of the file name and my blog came back to life using the new database, php, and software.

I hope this helps!

I’ve seen them in magazines.  I’ve seen them included in some street advertisements.  I’ve seen them on the doors of some businesses.  What the heck are they?

Great Error correction in 2D bar code

These are QR Codes – Quick Response codes.  The technology has been around since the 1970′s in different versions (think barcode at the grocery store).  The one I’m using above is known as the 2d barcode (as in two dimensional). These QR codes allow an ever increasing number of smart phone users to use an app on their phone to access the extra information included in the 2d barcode.  This can be a unique message, an internet web address, or link to a special offer.  In the case above, you get my email address, my web address, and a quick message.

To create the QR code above, I used the RACO Industries QR code generator which allows for different levels of error correction.  That means I can stick my silly mug in the middle of the barcode and still have enough information available to correctly convey the message.  It works really well.  Try it out.

If you don’t have a barcode reader, check here:

• Android
• Apple
• BlackBerry

Use your smarthphone app and point your phone at the QR code.  Pretty cool, eh?  Gets you thinking about all the possibilities.  Doesn’t it?  How will you use it?

My QR code above is going on my business card.  How about you?

Over the last few years, I’ve experimented with many different collaboration tools in my businesses and in my profession.  I’ve made recommendations and learned some lessons along the way.

The First and Last Lesson

Keep it Simple.  Very Simple.

Not everyone is tech savvy.  I play, learn, poke, and toy with this stuff all the time.  Most people don’t.  What is a low threshold for me may be insurmountable for the next person on the team.  If the threshold is too high for them, they won’t participate and that kills the collaboration.  So, my recommendation is to find the simplest solution that will meet your needs.  Period.  Added features will cater to fewer and fewer people making it ever more difficult for the majority.  That’s why Google has kept its tool so simple – a search box and two buttons.  Anyone and everyone can use it.

Here are some collaboration tools I recently recommended:

• Ning.com – A social offering, but certainly allows for discussion and collaboration.  I used this back when it was a free and is pretty simple to set up.  The new “mini” service is a great place to check it out.
• Pbwiki.com – For the more tech capable crowd.  This company has grown its offerings from just wikis to much bigger solutions.
• Proboards.com – I haven’t used this solution, but I have used paid forum solutions in the past.  Good for discussions, but difficult to reference documents.
• zoho.com – I set up an account with them when they were brand new.  Their offerings have gotten better and broader.  I think the Free project management solution is worth a look.  The learning curve for the administrator can be pretty high.
• Google Groups – I tried this with some not so savvy people.  I stayed way too busy answering questions just to get them in the tool.  It has all the pieces, but the barriers to entry still seemed too high for some.

What do you use and recommend for a diverse, dispersed group of collaborators?

Oh, how I wish I could have been there to see his presentation.  These slides only convey a snippet of his message.

Ray makes two points I really want to highlight:

• Don’t Technologize a bad business process
• Email is not CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Just like you, I get lots of email.  Lots of links to articles.  Lots of tweets.  Lots to read.  Lots to consume.  All these bits of info swirl around in my head until I can synthesize something of value.  Here’s today’s synthesized nugget…

Here are four related items that popped up in recent days and are important to know in context:

• Microsoft is dropping the “new” Kin phone less than two months after bringing it to market
• Apple sold  600,000 iPhone 4s on the first day
• Apple’s market capitalization exceeds Microsoft’s for the first time.
• Jeff Walker just released the “Product Launch Formula 3.0″

I’m sure you can see how the first two points relate.  Apple kicks Microsoft’s butt.  The stock market confirms that in the third point.  No real surprise.  Now, how does the fourth point relate to the other three?  Who is Jeff Walker?  You may not know him, but you’ve seen his work.  If you knew Apple was coming out with a new iPhone, you’ve been affected by his methods and didn’t even known it.

In his own “launch,”  Jeff Walker makes it clear he consulted with Apple on how to “launch” the iPhone 4.  Apple applied many of the tactics of his Product Launch Formula.

Why is this important?  The techniques work.  Obviously.

When you are working on a project, struggling to get it out done and out on time, take the time to plan the roll out. Building a technically superior product will not alone win the masses.  “Build it and they will come” will not change behavior.  “Build it, Launch it, and they will come” certainly looks like a better way.

Plan the roll out.  Enjoy the results.

Take Action

What project are you working on?  Are you so focused on getting it done you haven’t thought about how you will roll it out?   Take a few moments.  Plan a few steps.  Start communicating.  Build the relationship.  Build the interest.  Build desire.  Strengthen the relationship.

• Clarify customer’s problem, frustrations, needs, and wishes
• Share screenshots, images, videos, interviews…
• Describe myths and reality surrounding the project
• Build awareness of the solution
• Put a face to regular communications through multiple channels
• Strategically build interest along the way leading to a carefully planned release

We all aren’t Apple, but we can apply the same strategy and tactics when you are rolling out a new product, policy, or program.

This question is for internal corporate communicators:

Do you have paper based communications you create and share digitally, or do you have electronic communication products people can consume any way they want including print?

“Take a memo!”  That is SOoo  1960.  This is 2010!  We don’t have typewriters.  Of course, we all have computers.  But, do you or your staff, craft a memo on a computer and then distribute it as an attachment to an email?  Do you post a PDF of the memo on your intranet?  Congratulations!  You are using the tools.  That’s good.  Unfortunately, you are limiting the capability of the tools by not having the right mindset.  You are still thinking “Memo!”

Flip it around!  Don’t think “I have to write a memo.”  Think, “I have some important information to share.  What will be my primary tool to communicate this?  What will be my backup channels?  How can these channels support each other?  Where will this information reside for the long term?”

The plethora of new communications tools requires a shift in the paradigm.  Your employees no longer have a 12″ by 15″ wooden “IN BOX” on their desk to receive your paper memo.

I know you are thinking “You’re right! We got rid of those old wooden boxes long ago.  I send it to them via email… That’s the modern communication channel.”

It is just one of many new communications channels.  And “Yes,” it is a hugely important part of any communications system, but it isn’t the only channel.  It is only one leg of a many legged stool.

Just because email is popular doesn’t mean it is the best channel for sharing the information you have to communicate.  Pick the strongest tool for the task, then back it up with several other channels.  You will have a robust, integrated communications system that can provide a printed memo, if needed.

Academy: 10 ways to say it with prezi on Prezi

When I work on a project, I usually whiteboard it, then work in outline mode of Microsoft Word.  I will sometimes use a mind map program like MindMeister to capture my thoughts.  The benefits of the Word outline mode  and the electronic mind map is that I can move whole sections around and show scale at the same time.

Prezi does all of this AND allows me to draw a path through it so I can show others.  What a fantastic tool.  It is THE  “mind map” and presentation tool.  I hope you agree.

April’s roll out of the Apple iPad overshadowed another special bit of computing history.  H. Edward Roberts, the designer of one of the very first personal computers died this month.  His Altair 8800 inspired Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop Microsoft Basic which would become the world’s largest software company.  That’s 1975 to 2010.  Thirty-five years.  That’s all.  From a computer with no display screen to a beautiful display screen with a computer, times have certainly changed.

There is  a running debate whether the iPad is an appliance or a computer.  I say it doesn’t really matter.   The iPad opens the internet, email, and social networks to a whole new group of users.  They don’t need to be computer savvy; they just need to be iPad savvy.

Bringing more people to the internet, email and social networking is a good thing.  I’ll see you there.

For a few years now, I’ve been answering people’s questions with video.  It takes a little long to do, but it leaves them with a tool they can refer to over and over again.  In a way, it has made our lives easier.

Here is one I created on setting up the basics of a WordPress blog.

It is also a way for me to experiment with the video player tools that are available.

I’ve been looking at HTML5 as a way to get video to all those people who have iPads, iPods, and Touches. Up to this point all my audio and video web based players have been Flash based. Until now, that has been OK. The HTML5 standard isn’t widely adopted yet, so I will continue to default to a Flash player with a downloadable file that can be viewed “locally” on the reader’s personal device.

Here is a link to THE BEST discussion of all the gory details about video on the web.  My compliments to Mark Pilgrim.

Seth Godin‘s Book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (affiliate link)
is a fantastic book. I finished it already and can’t recommend it highly enough.

Here are just some of the notes I made to myself:

• The world I got an education and training for doesn’t exist anymore.
• The rules of the game has changed
• I can’t look at the world through my “old” glasses
• I’m on the right track: blogging, podcasting, videocasting, social mediaizing (learning new skills and tools)
• Mediocre is easy
• Add charm to frustration to get “Linchpin”
• “By the book” stifles creativity and relationships
• Low attachment to outcome plus passion equals “Linchpin”

Here is a video from a Skype call with Seth at the Atlanta Blogger‘s Meetup in May.

Video Interview With Seth Godin from Atlanta bloggers on Vimeo.

I’ve got a mashup of ideas in my head, but that’s not new.  Here are the pieces bumping together right now:

• I just finished the Seth Godin’s book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
• This month is the 28 th anniversary of my graduation from the USAF Academy
• I saw this video from TED where Rory Sutherland mentions placebo education (If you much skip ahead, go to 2:40 minutes into the video).

All three touch on education.   By most measures, I had a very “good” education.  I studied engineering, learned logical approaches to problems solving, and definitely learned how to fit in and follow the rules.  If you watched the video, I also had quite the placebo education.  Like Rory said in the video, I learned how to deal with details of Reality and not the world for Perception.

Or, did I?

It is about other peoples’ reality and my reality.  It is about other peoples’ perceptions and my perceptions.

I used to joke that it took me over a decade to un-learn everything I had learned at the academy.  At the time, I couldn’t explain it any better than that.  I just knew I had received a good technical education  by other peoples’ measures, but not a well rounded education by my measure.  I knew there we holes in my education, but didn’t know exactly where they were.  Rory has clarified this further for me.  At the academy, I was taught (and I guess I learned) to deal with reality in many different ways – technically, logically, practically.  But, not in a perceptual way and definitely not in a feeling fashion.

Interestingly, I did learn about perceptions, though it wasn’t in the curriculum.   To survive the academy, you had to create the perception you were “squared away” with a perfectly neat uniform, a “tight-as-a-drum bed, and an “un-flappable” demeanor.

• Perception:  Perfect parade uniform.  Reality:  Uniform shirt beneath my jacket cut off below the ribs to keep me cool in the summer parade.
• Perception:  Perfectly made bed.  Reality:  Single sheet used for “show bed.”  Sleeping beneath the sheets was impossible.
• Perception: Calm demeanor while preparing to parachute out of an airplane.  Reality:  “Holy Shit!”

“Thank You!” Rory Sutherland for helping me understand I was formally educated to deal with reality and continually told what a great education I received.  All the while, informally educated to deal with perceptions.  It only took me 28 years to figure it out.

Click through to see a great compilation of photos for the Delta Heritage Museum Ship 41 – DC-3 which was restored at the original Hanger 1 at Delta Air Lines headquarters.

This is a video recorded by one of the attendees at the Podcamp. I had a great time meeting the whole Salt Lake City crowd.

This week, I visited with my manager before leaving on a trip.  He passed me Monday Morning Leadership: 8 Mentoring Sessions You Can’t Afford to Miss, by David Cottrell. He said this is what his boss recommended.  Here are the notes I took while reading it:

• Focus on the objectives not on distractions
• Always ask “What will you change to make this week better?”
• What’s the main thing?  That goes for you and for your organization.
• People quit people, not companies.
• Recognize “Super Star” behavior.
• Fix the problem.  Don’t continue to live with it.
• Protect your integrity.
• Develop an action plan before a crisis.
• Your time is your responsibility.  Make better decisions about how to spend your time.
• Use the right tool the right way.
• Set aside “planning time.”
• Touch paper once (this applies to email too).
• Eliminate time wasters.
• Clump activities together.
• Give feedback that is: Sincere, Specific, Timely and aligned with values of receiver.
• Set goals

I also had an original idea that grew from reading the book…  It is good to be a life long learner, but as you learn and grow, it benefits everyone if you share and produce content, as well.  Just being a consumer of content is not enough.  Synthesizing and sharing benefits everyone.

When I began podcasting, I remember Rob Walch always saying “Content is King; Quality is Queen.” He said compelling content was more important than a perfect recording. I took his saying and used it in more places than podcasting. I really felt that it applied to PowerPoint presentations, blog posts, videos, and so many other things. The message was most important.

Well, I’ve broadened it further and added my twist to it. “Context is King; Content is Queen; Quality is Prince.” Here’s my point: A message has more value when the time and place are right. If you have compelling content with good quality, but the time is wrong for the receiver, it doesn’t matter. If you have compelling content with good quality at just the time and place the receiver needs it, you can’t help but have an impact.

Directions to a new restaurant in Boston aren’t very important when you are still in San Francisco. The same directions are much more valuable the night you are driving your friends to the restaurant. Having the right content at the right time in the right place definitely matters.

This fits in with another saying: “You will win the customer if you can resolve their urgent need or point of pain.” Time and place matter. If you can present the solution (the right content) of good quality that resolves a prospects need or pain at just the right time and place, you will gain a customer. This is what built Google. Google puts the right ad in front of a searcher looking for a solution at just the right time.

This is changing.  In a post by the Marketing Profs,  “Mobile Ad Campaigns More Effective Than Online” mobile advertising is already outperforming online advertising five to one across a number of measure according to a study by InsightExpress.  Mobile phones obviously put the right message in the right place at the right time.

Context is King; Content is Queen; Quality is Prince.

The Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) just published their Key Finding from the 2009 Middleberg/SNCR Survey of Media in the Wired World.  The study involved 341 journalists from around the world with more than half from the United States.  Here are the findings I found most notable:

• 70 percent of journalists use social networking sites, up 28% from the previous year
• 2/3 of journalists use blogs
• 48 percent use online video

Clearly, professional journalists are embracing new media, social media, and new communications tools at an increasing rate.  The reports indicates journalists aren’t just using these tools to disseminate news, but to

“…find story ideas and sources, monitor sentiments and discussions, research individuals and organizations, keep up on issues and topics of interest and participate in conversations.”

I’ve mentioned in the past that you can use social media tools to:

• Listen
• Share
• Discuss
• Drive Action

While traditional journalists aren’t always interested in “Driving Action,” they always keep an ear to the ground to know what is going on.  They have always had to “listen” to get the scoop.  Now journalists are embracing social media as a new way to “listen” to what is going on in the world.  They can monitor social media for trends, and use keyword searches to research and monitor specific people, organizations, and topics. They can also use social media to discuss a topic and use the “wisdom of the crowd” to guide the research.  Finally, journalists are increasingly sharing their content through new communications tools.

Action Step:  Use the tools the pros are using.  Do a Twitter Search on your name, right now.  Let me know what you learn.

Brand Image… If you lead, teach, learn, work, manage, or not, you are a brand. How you build and manage that brand is up to you. In a recent article in the WSJ’s India Chief Mentor blog, Mahesh Murthy highlights the fact that

…online media are the most important place for your brand image to be established, defended and grown. This is where your offering comes face-to-face with your audience and where its responses can be measured, shaped and—if need be—countered in real time. This is where perceptions can be built, person by person. This brand building is more effective than the mode we’ve employed until now: TV commercials with 30 seconds of well-produced fiction that try to sell a brand image. It is more credible and much less expensive.

In the newest decade of the new millennium, online is the place where more and more people are spending their time. It is the place where brand and reputations will be built and grown. Mahesh recommends the same tactics I do. Google yourself. Did you find what you expected? Mahesh continues:

Among the results will be your Web site, news items about you, other Web users who mention you, blogs about you, tweets about you, videos starring you and such. Now work to own the presence in each of these elements.

Refine your website, respond to tweets, strengthen your Facebook fan page, add videos to YouTube. Make the top ten Google search results reflect exactly what you want. Own your online brand.

People ask me over and over “What can Twitter do for me?”   They vary from people with no online presence, people running for elected office, to business managers, and more…

Watch this video then I’ll expand on what Twitter can do for you.

Since this video was created, Twitter has evolved into a more mainstream communications tool.  But, what can it do for you?  I believe Twitter can help you do four things:

• Listen
• Share
• Discuss
• Drive Action

Listen

You can use Twitter and its offshoots to monitor what is going on in the Twittershere.   If you have a hot topic, you can search it and see what people are saying about the topic on Twitter.  You may think this is no better than searching on Google, but searching the Twitter stream gives you a near real time picture of people’s thoughts and opinions on a particular topic.   If you work for a brand or are the brand, these near, real-time searches allow you to respond in a timely manner to those tweets.  How surprised will a customer or constituent be when they get a quick response from you?  Here are my favorite Twitter Search tools:

• Search.Twitter.com
• TweetScan.com
• BackTweets.com – shows all the tweets pointing back to a particular URL regardless of the shortening tool.

Share

This is what most people do.  Most people answer these two questions with their tweets:

• What am I doing?
• What do I find interesting?

Answers to the first question may turn some readers off.  “I don’t care that you are having a hot dog for lunch.”  But, there can be a benefit to sharing some of the smaller bits of your life.  Over time, followers will learn more about you.  They will learn things that you wouldn’t put into a blog post, email, or a letter to the editor.  The mosaic of your 140 character tweets will produce a clearer picture of who you are.  Your followers will get to know and hopefully, like you.

The second question is where you can add value for your followers.  When you regularly tweet items of interest, you increasingly become a “trusted agent” for your followers.  They trust your judgment and will use you as a filter providing them with value.  That is usually in the form of links to information valuable to your follower.  It could also be nuggets from a conference or book.

Discuss

As the number of your followers grows, you can ask them a question through Twitter.   This can result in an ongoing discussion in the Twitter stream.  I’ve seen these questions grow into twitter “discussions” that evolve into blog posts which get fleshed out into ebooks and eventually into actual books.

Drive Action

Sadly, many people use twitter only for this.  They continually pitch sales to their followers.  This is not adding value for the follower.  This is asking something of the follower.  I recommend giving value first.  Only after your followers know, like, and trust you, should you ever ask them to take action on your behalf.

So, if you are new to twitter, start by listening.  Then, add value by sharing what is important to you.  Ask your followers for their opinions.  Finally, when your followers know, like, and trust you, you can ask them to act.

This is the recorder that started it all for me.  I started podcasting in 2005 and latched on to the iRiver MP3 player because it also could record with an external or internal mic.  It is a great tool and was very popular among early podcasters.  Since then quite a few solid state recorders have come along like the my Edirol and Marantz PMD-660.

I have kept my collection of iRivers for one reason.  I can use record several people all at the same time at a remote location.  With my four recorders, I can record eight people with excellent fidelity.  That would get expensive with newer recorders.

I did have a panic when the iRiver software would not work with Windows Vista.  After some searching on Google. I found the solution to keep the iRivers in my toolbox.  Here is what I did to upgrade my iRivers:

• Find a Windows XP computer.
• Load the iRiver Music Manager 3.17 software from iRiver USA.
• Download iFP-800 Series Firmware V1.95 UMS and extract it.
• Connect the iRiver and use the Music Manger to upgrade the firmware.
• You now have the equivalent of a USB drive.  You can record and then download the files when the Vista computer recognizes the  iRiver as an external drive.

I was so excited to be able to extend the life of my iRiver recorders.  The Edirol is my primary recorder, but I regularly carry a backup (or two).  Even when recording video, I will record a separate track of just audio – just in case.

My thanks to Jan Karlsbjerg for the details to make the firmware upgrade work. 

It is final.  Scott Brown won the senate race in Massachuttes.  I say social media won, as well.  There were many factors that helped him win, but I think his use of social media will be highlighted as crucial to his success.

I have to point out the caveat again - ”‘a correlation does not necessarily mean there is a cause and effect.”‘  Scott Brown did not win just because he had more Facebook fans and Twitter followers.  But, it is interesting his campaign did leverage the Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube to a greater degree than Martha Coakley.

Whether a cause or just a coincidence, I think social media is the winner in this off season election.  Social and new media tools will be critical in the upcoming election season.  Here are some others who think so too:   Real Clear Politics and ePolitics.

Obama did it in 2008.  Will Scott Brown do it in 2010?

New Media tools and Social Media tools are certainly finding their place in election campaigns.  For the last few election cycles, the campaign website has been a given.  What is new is the integration of  new media and social media tools.  This early special election in Massachusetts between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley will foretell the direction of the social media winds in the upcoming election season.

Since today is election day,   I don’t know the results of the race.  So, I can’t say yet if each campaigner’s online presence affected the outcome.  But, I can say Scott Brown’s use of new media and social media tools has brought him from underdog status to race equal.  That is clear.  As I did my research for this post, there we some subjective points that mirrored the numbers.  As I show the numbers below, I’ll explain my other observations.  Here is a quick look at how the two campaigners stack up in the social media arena.

Scott Brown is clearly the numeric leader in the Facebook race.  On election day, Martha Coakley has 17,540 fans and Scott Brown has 95,946 fans.  That’s a ratio of about 5:1.  What does this say?  Only that Scott Brown put more effort into Facebook.  When I searched for Martha Coakley’s Facebook page, I found three fan pages each with a different picture.  One of the fan pages was a “negative” fan page.  Another of the fan pages was in support of her, but contained negative images from “fans.”

Update:  As I get ready to publish this, the two “negative” fan pages do not appear after a search.  This clearly demonstrates how dynamic this online environment is.

Although Martha’s website had video on it, her real fan page did not.  In contrast, Scott’s fan page did have video.  For the latest post on each page, Scott had 4,394 “Like This…” and 1,225 comments.  Martha 352 “Like this…” and 106 comments.  Clearly, Scott Brown has far more interaction and participation with his fans in Facebook.

The story is similar in the Twitter space.  Scott Brown has 12,280 Followers to Martha Coakley’s 4,073.  This is a ratio of about 3:1.  Both have a similar number of tweets.  On the qualitative side, Martha Coakley seems to be interacting a bit more with her followers while Scott Brown appears to be using Twitter as a “broadcast” tool.  Scott Brown has a very clear call to action on his twitter page.  This “action image” changed to be perfectly appropriate for the day- election day.  This shows me Scott Brown has an online election campaign strategy in place to leverage social media tools.

My statistics teacher would be proud that I remember “A correlation does not necessarily mean cause and effect.”  If Scott Brown wins today, it does not mean he won because he leveraged social media better than Martha Coakley.  It just means there is a correlation.  It is something to watch.  I’ll leave it to the researchers to decide whether leveraging new media and social media is the new winner in election campaign strategy.

Jakob Nielsen, called the guru of web page design by the New York Times, just published his report, 10 Best Intranets of 2010.

Three points from the report stand out for me.

Mobile access Only 30% of winners had mobile enabled intranets. This is low compared to many world wide websites. The report sees this as a growth area.

Social networking tools Social media tools were common on the winning intranets. This included features for both employees as individuals and workgroup connections.

Emergency Preparedness 40% of the winning intranets had integrated some features for use in crisis situations. Some winners had learned from experiences with previous disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The inclusion of emergency preparedness indicates intranets are becoming a key part of the enterprise, communication infrastructure.

What can you do with this info?  Plan to integrate these winning features into your intranet and external website.   I know I’m extrapolating from a report on intranets to external websites, but the reports acknowledges faster adoption of these tools and techniques on external websites.  So,  if your enterprise lags in either arena, start planning.

This report reinforces something I say all the time.  You have to be where the people are. Seems obvious enough.  The report says people are increasingly in two places – on their smartphones and on social networks.

More people are using smartphones in their personal lives and in their business lives.   So whether it is for business or pleasure, the tool is there.  The smartphone is the “forth” screen after Big screen, the TV screen, and the computer screen.  You have to be where the people are.  This is just as true for your external customer as it is for your widely dispersed, mobile workforce.

As the use of the world wide social web grows, the thought of connecting and collaborating through social networks will become less novelty and more reality.  Enterprises can plan now to enable workgroups to be more engaged, involved, and  productive.

On the last point, Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “… plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”  Nobody can have the perfect plan for an emergency, but the process of planning for it will be invaluable.  So start planning how to leverage your website and intranet during an emergency.

Be where the people are – mobile and social media; leverage web technologies during emergencies.  These are what top businesses are doing.  What are you doing?

This brings back the feeling of soaring for me. I hope it stirs something for you, too.

(Affiliate Link)

• Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera
• Samson SE50T Headworn Micro Miniature Omni Directional Microphone
• Stereo – Mono Y adapter
• Remote for Zi8
• Extension Cable (Affiliate Link)

Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera

Of all the mini-flash based “Flip” style cameras, the Kodak Zi8 is the only one with an 1/8 inch stereo microphone input jack.  This allows me to use external mics to record excellent audio.  The menus in the camera allow me to adjust the input levels of the external mics

Samson SE50T Headworn Mic

These mics are remarkably small with excellent audio.  They are adjustable and relatively stable on the ear.  The Samson model is cheaper than the Audio-Technica head mics that I also own.   These mics are omni-directional so they will pick up any ambient noise.  If these “pro” quality mics are still to expensive, you can substitute a “Skype” capable computer mic with an 1/8″ plug.  I have used the Logitech “Clear Chat” model with noise canceling capabilities in noisy environments with great results.

Stereo – Mono Y adapter

This is an important part of the setup and requires explanation.  With my setup, you will be able to record two people on the separate, stereo tracks.  In the post production editing, you can adjust the levels if needed.  I’ve found two vendors for this Y adapter.  Go to www.Markertek.com search for model Y-MPS-2MF then scroll down the page to the correct model number.   Cablemart also has a model in Amazon.

Other Options

A tripod, remote, and extension cable for the mic cords are all helpful, but not required.  Another useful microphone is the Audio Technica ATR-6550 Video Camera Condenser Shotgun Microphone (Affiliate Link).  This shotgun mic can be hand held and provide more traditional interview style presentation.  It requires a single AA battery and will plug-into the Y-adapter.

Update:  Here is a quick video to demonstrate a Logitech “ClearChat” headset mic used with the Kodak Zi8 with a gas powered weed trimmer running in the back ground. This really shows the advantage of using a headmic with this camera.

If you’ve found any other solutions, please add them in the comments.

While at the BlogWorld and New Media expo, I got to play with Layar, the augmented reality tool for mobile phones.  I was very impressed by what it did.  Others are not so impressed at the state of the art right now.  But, I could see the potential beyond the tool.  Augmented reality will be huge.

Here’s another prediction.  The new AR tools will have to allow for temporal search of the “augmented” content.  It won’t matter for Wikipedia content, but it will matter for near real-time Twitter Tweets.  No sense “seeing” where someone tweeted three hours ago, if I want to find and meet them now.

I went to lunch recently with some managers at my organization. As usual, I couldn’t help but bring up the topic of social media and how we as managers can leverage those tools to the organization’s benefit. I hit a road block. Or, rather a concrete wall.

“I just don’t get Twitter… I don’t care what somebody had for lunch. I don’t care. I don’t get it.”
“My kids spend so much time on Facebook. I don’t get that either.”

So, what’s the problem? They don’t get it.

Now, I have a choice. I can complain that they don’t get it, or I can find away around the concrete wall. I choose to keep going. I do understand what’s going on in this situation. These managers have a set of tools on their tool belts that have served them well for many years. They don’t have an urgent pain or an immediate need they can’t mitigate with their familiar, well worn, tools. There is no new pain, problem or need.

Yet.

The marketplace always has a way of creating pain, problems and needs. Sometimes, it comes as a crisis – painful and urgent. When the worst occurs, that is not the time to realize the limitations of the old tools and scramble to find new tools.

I said, I have a choice. I said I choose to keep going. I understand new/social media. Some managers don’t. I will try to educate them on the benefits of the new tools.

These may be the old standards managers have been dealing with for years. Techniques, tools, and rules are always changing. Like any tool, social media can be used for good or for bad. If the manager is managerially risk tolerant, they will probably want to experiment to see how social media can be used for a competitive advantage. If the manager is risk averse and unwilling to explore the social media tools, they run the risk of having social media tools used against them. Then when a crisis occurs, they will be struggling to play catch up.

In a proactive form, social media can be used to foster relationships with customer and even highlight a cadre of evangelists for your product or service. These evangelists can react quickly in support of the company, in near real time, when a crisis occurs. A company can use the social media tools to go where the customers are rather than wait for the customers to come to the company.

Used defensively, social media tools can highlight issues before they gain enough momentum to gain negative media attention. Social media tools can help the company scan the far horizon for trouble. Conversations about your company are taking place in social media all the time. Why wouldn’t you want to be aware of what’s being said?

With all that said, I am committing to leading a seminar in our corporate auditorium to educate people about social media tools. Whether the managers are risk tolerant or risk averse in nature, we, as an organization, will be better off for it.

This is a video of Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who gives his thoughts on how Web 2.o technologies are breaking into the enterprise.  His  book, Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization’s Toughest Challenges (affiliate link), examines how leading enterprises are bringing Web 2.0 tools to internal processes.

I haven’t read it yet, but from the video, I think I will have to…

Social Media is here whether we want it to be or not. It is not a fad. It is here. More and more tools are pouring into the market, on our computers, on our phones. Social networks, crowd sourcing, restaurant recommendations, job possibilities – All of these are here right now.

I’ve watched this 5 times.  I’m still amazed.  What a great conversation starter for an social media education seminar.

Watch this video and let me know what you think…

While this was the first combined expo for bloggers and new media creators, this was my fifth new media expo. My biggest take away of the event… It is all about relationships. While we may all think we are incredibly “social” through the new online tools, there is nothing as “social” as shaking a hand, talking over coffee, or discussing ideas over dinner. That will always be the best kind of “social” for me.

2009 BlogWorld New Media Expo

Here is the best wrap up of the BlogWorld and New Media expo I attended in Las Vegas. My friends, Rene and Erik have built their DigiRedo into a powerful business as consultants and producers of new media for internal and external communications. This is their view of the expo. And, I agree with them…

Blogworld and New Media Expo 2009 HD from DigiRedo on Vimeo.

Critical mass – New definition: When the comments to a post add as much value as the original post. See Jeff Jarvis’ post on Google SideWiki. Scroll through the comments. He clearly has critical mass. The discussion in the comments is as important as the original content.

That’s where the rub is. Google just introduced the SideWiki to the mix. Where you may have had a vibrant community commenting on your website where all visitors to your site could see the discussion, Google’s SideWiki may start to siphon off some of the comments. Commentors will have to choose where to leave their comments. Comments may live in two places. Two separate communities may begin to evolve around a website. You may have comments on your website and you may have comments that exist only in Google SideWiki. If you were close to critical mass before, you just hit a major set back.

Google’s SideWiki is new. The full effect has not been realized yet. It is, however, something website owners need to be aware of. Community and critical mass are the target.

I’ll put the best first: Edirol R-09HR with two Samson SE-50 head mics. That is my new portable recording set up with a model Y-MPS-2MF Y mic adapter.

My first portable setup included the iRiver 899 with two plug-in powered, computer head mics. I consider this my ultra-portable setup and often take this on my trips. When I began recording executives at my corporation, I wanted to improve my equipment. I had several requirements:

· Good audio quality

· XLR inputs

· Removable batteries

· Common storage medium

I purchased the Marantz PMD660 Professional Portable Digital Recorderand have been very satisfied ever since.

While I have used the XLR inputs, I no longer consider this a personal requirement. I have used a variety of mics to record conversations in conference rooms and offices. I learned I could get the best recording with little ambient noise if I used a head mic. Since I was using a wireless mic at several speaking engagements I purchased the AT-892 head mic for both the speaking engagements and my portable recording setup. The AT-892 is a great mic, but can only be purchased terminated for a particular brand of wireless mic. I chose the Audio-Technica brand. This then required an adapter to fit the A-T plug to the XLR of the Marantz recorder.

I was very excited to find the Samson SE-50 head mic which includes adapters for a variety of brands. This allows me to use the 3.5 mm plug which will fit in the iRiver recorder or the Edirol R-09.

Why do I tweet?  Why do I podcast?  Why do I blog?  or Retweet? or email?  “Times, they are a changin’”  All of this technology is taking power out of the hands of the few and putting it in the hands of the many.  Do we know how that will change the world?  Absolutely not, but I know it will be big.  That’s why I’m continuting to stay involved in all aspects of new and social media.  Is it as big as the industrial age?  The information age?  I think so.

Here is a video of Jeff Pulver talking about the  Twitter.  The interviewer wants to know the valuation of Twitter.  Jeff talks about the value of Twitter.  Two different directions, but an interesting discussion.  Let me know what you think.

While cleaning up my files, I ran across my “rules for survival.”  These have been evolving since I turned 20.  Yes, that’s a long time ago.  Here is one “rule” written in pencil on the tattered list…

“When things are at their absolute worst, that’s when the least amount of extra effort will pay the largest dividends.” 

When things are good, it is easy to work long and hard.  It may even be fun.  But, everyone else is working hard too, so your efforts as compared to your competition will not have as big an effect.  Mathematically, when you put in 110 units of work when everyone is putting in 100, you are only 10% ahead. 

It is when the situation is so bad that nobody wants to do anything, that any extra effort can swing the tide.   When things look terribly bleak, or it is too cold to move, or everyone is too exhausted to do anything,  that is exactly the time when your effort will be leveraged many times bringing you out ahead of your competition.  If your competitors are sulking around feeling hopeless and only putting in 5 units of work waiting for better times to return, and you put in only 10 units of work, you will be 100% ahead of your competition. 

Who doesn’t want to be 100% ahead of the competition in the business arena?  

The trick of leadership is to show that the deepest, darkest, bleakest moment may yield the greatest reward with some extra effort.

I’ve had several people ask me recently about my thoughts on email as a social / new media / business tool.  Email is the “killer” app of our age.  When grand-parents are comfortable  emailing pictures and stories around the world, no one can question the efficacy of email as a communication tool.

When you start emailing larger and larger groups, the list management can become quite a problem.  That’s where the email service providers (ESPs) step in.  As with most things, there are a range of prices for a range of services.  Here is a list of a few that I am familiar with.

• Cheetahmail
• Blue Sky Factory
• MyEmma
• Constant Contact
• iContact
• Aweber
• Yahoo or Google Groups

Cheetahmail, at the top of the list, is an enterprise solution.  Some of its customers include Sears, Borders Books, H&R Block, and even some airlines.  You can see by the brands, millions of customers means millions of emails.  Cheetahmail uses robust systems to ensure the delivery of those millions of emails while providing dynamic creation tools, specialized segmentation tools, and powerful administrative, management, and reporting capabilities. Cheetahmail has a full service staff able to help with dynamic content creation, creative material creation.

Blue Sky Factory and Emma are more of a “boutique shop” provider.  They will provide highly personalized service at a medium price for a mid-size email list.

I will clump Constant Contact, iContact, and Aweber togather in the bottom tier.  They are very much a “self-service” providers.  This doesn’t mean their services won’t provide a very useful improvement over a Google or Yahoo group email list.  Some of these lower tier services will allow unlimited emails for a fixed cost per month.  I know many people who are happy with these services. 

In a future post, I’ll explain what these Email Service Providers actually do for you.

I made a presentation recently where I talked about the steps I use to change other people’s behaviors and beliefs.   I wish I could claim this as my own, but I can’t.  I’ve copied it from someone smarter than I am.  But, I can’t even remember who to credit.  That doesn’t diminish the value of these steps.   Here are the steps:

• Attention
• Permission
• Interaction
• Trust
• Influence

As I was preparing for my presentation, I realized I had used this approach to introduce New Media / Social Media in my workplace.  I hadn’t planned it with that clarity, but I did pass thru each of the above steps.

Early on, I presented a manager with an MP3 player with some sample podcasts pre-loaded.  I had his attention.  I checked back and got his permission to talk more about the possibilities of new media.  We met periodically where I could talk more about the benefits and possibilities.  These interactions continued over the months and I began to produce some sample podcasts.  I gained his trust that I could produce and manage a quality podcast.  With the trust in place, I was able to formalize and ligitimize the podcast as a new communications channel in my organization.

 I have since used these steps with other projects, as well.  If you know where this list originated, please let me know in the comments.   

I’ve been invited to work all of December in our corporate offices.  My main focus will be on getting an vendor email service provider tool integrated into our business processes.  On my first day in the offices, I had several ad hoc conversations about some new media tools that could help with some business processes.  I had the opportunity to discuss several tools:

• wikis
• forums
• blogs
• social networks – ning.com, groups.google.com
• email service providers
• conference call to MP3 podcasts

While I am comfortable with all these tools, it was very clear that our highly regulated industry does not lend itself to the transparency of new media tools.  So, the question is:  “Does the legislative oversight of your industry shape the new media tools used in your organization?”

One of my long time complaints about the Apple iTunes / iPhone platform was that you had to dock your iPhone to get the latest podcasts off of your computer.  I was disappointed that even though you had great connectivity through the cell network or wifi, you couldn’t automatically download podcasts straight to the iPhone.  You had to use iTunes on your computer as the podcast catcher.  Then someone created an iPhone app to “catch” the podcasts right on the phone.  Apple pulled it down from the iPhone app store only to receive complaints from the users.  This week, Apple released iPhone update 2.2  which allows on the fly downloads of audio and video podcasts straight to the iPhone through wifi or the cell network.   This makes the iPhone a much more useful tool when you are on the road without your computer.

What a tough name.  First off, it isn’t just for corporate communicators.  It is for all organizations – non-profit, educational, any enterprise with a group of people who need to be communicated with.  I just got tired of trying to get the “perfect” name.  So, there you have it…   You can say NMICC, as in “ANEMIC.”  (Thanks to Shwen)

So much for the name.  I have talked with a number of people over the last few years about using new media / social media tools within an organization.  Lots of effort has gone into using these tools with the external customer, but I wanted to leverage these tools internally.  That is where a lot of my energy has gone.

 If you are at all interested in leveraging new media / social media tools for internal enterprise communication, I hope you will join the group at the NMICC.  You can find the group at http://newcorpcomm.com.  See you there.

Here is the quick and dirty welcome video to the NMICC.

Find more videos like this on New Media for Internal Corporate Communicators

What do you have if you don’t have your reputation?  Not much, I say.  We all know it:  “Your reputation precedes you.”  Have you ever Googled a job candidate?  Your boss?  Your new business partner?  Have you Googled yourself, lately?  If you haven’t, someone else has.   Go ahead, Google your self now, then come back.

Are you surprised at what you found at the top of the search?  How about the first five items?  Did you expect what you found?  I want to scare you a little first then show you some ways to protect your online reputation.

Google is a reputation management system.  Do you “own” your online reputation?  If you don’t, claim it while you can.  The consequences can be ugly.   It can take a little work, but what do you have if you don’t have a reputation.

Glenn Tilton is the CEO of United Airlines.  Mr. Tilton didn’t claim GlennTilton.com, so now the pilot’s union has it.   Take a look.  It isn’t pretty.  I will bet, Mr. Tilton wishes he owned GlennTilton.com.  Are you in a position where something like this could happen to you?  Could something like this happen to you in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?  You bet it could.  It is very cheap to buy a domain name and hold it.  Consider it insurance – very cheap insurance.

So, I’ve convinced you to buy your own domain name.  Great.  Now what about your LinkedIn profile or your MySpace page?  I suggest you take a look.  What if there is someone out there who uses the same name as you, has a less than stellar reputation, and is ranked highly by Google?  Their profile will show up whenever anyone searches for your name.  You can prevent this by staking your claim to your name on all the popular social networks.  This will take some time, but when you go to your next job interview, you’ll be glad you did.  Here is a GREAT tool to claim your profile on social networks.

One last suggestion…  If Google doesn’t have you or your favored profile at the top of the search list, you can move yourself up the Google search by making your new website a blog.  With regular posts, you can move your website to the top of the Google search.  Help people find what you want them to find.  It takes a little time and effort, but you can control your online reputation.

UPDATE:  Ping.fm is a great way to manage all of your online networks.  Many more networks are represented there.

UPDATE 2:  Be sure to check out Rex Whisman’s post on this very subject.

Update:  No construction required.  I finally found the Y-adapter I’ve been looking for:  Y-MPS-2MF  Scroll down to the correct model number.  This will save all of us lots of work.

iRiver Setup – Two electret headmics and custom “Y adapter” to record 2-track conversation.

To create the stereo – two electret mic adapter, I used a regular “Stereo earphone “Y – adapter.” I split the outer covering with a razor on both legs. On one side, I cut the red wire and on the other side, I cut the yellow wire. Closed it all back up and and plugged two electret head mics into the female ends of the adapters and then the male end into the iRiver. This allows you to record two separate tracks with pretty good results. Some of the other “Y adapters” I used had some aluminium shielding wrapped around the wires. For those, I did the same thing, but used some heat shrink tubing on the cut ends to make sure nothing grounded against the shielding.

Here some pics to help. Click on them to see a larger image.

An additional tip, I use three of these setups to record a group of six. Obviously I get three separate stereo recordings, but I just put them all together in my favorite audio editing software. To help synch the separate recordings, I create a spike by clapping one time into all the recorders. Then, when I’m editing, I just line up the spike on all the tracks. It isn’t perfect, but it works amazingly well.

Here is a show that was recorded this way using a single recorder – InsytWorks Marriage Projections

The second one was recorded using three iRivers, Y adapters, and head mics – TheDivaCast Harley Ride . It did take some postproduction, but it worked.

Here is a Electret Powered Mic page I used to create my iRiver Stereo adapter.

The Altec Lansing AH302i I use is no longer available, but here is the larger, newer version

Something like this will also work.

I really think any mic designed to be plugged directly in the “mic” input on a computer or laptop will work.

Crowdsourcing was best described in Wired Magazine in 2006.  Centralization is out.  Decentralizing is in.  In the past, complex problems often were solved using a focused team using a very linear process.  Now because of better and faster communications and the ability to cheaply capture and distribute data, problems can be solved.  And, if they aren’t solved completely, an adequate solution will certainly present itself where no solution existed before.  It is all about scale.  If you have a problem you haven’t been able to devote resources to in the past because of the cost, perhaps you can find a 90% solution using lots of empirical data, cheap recorders, cheap communications, and software tools. 

Here is a recent example validating the crowdsourcing approach:  TomTom’s GPS navigation data services will start selling their driving condition information to other GPS navigation device manufactures.  By recording, communicating, and aggragating navigation data, TomTom has gleaned valuable information and knowledge it can now sell.   

At great expense, TomTom could have gathered its own data, using its own resources, and developed a pretty good way of getting from A to B.  Using the data from huge numbers if users, TomTom captured the “best” route from A to B as travelled by the locals who know it best.   The crowds of local experts are providing the information to TomTom.  This is a validation of crowdsourcing process. 

 How can you use crowdsourcing to solve a long standing business problem?  Think:

• Lots of data points
• Cheap capture methods,
• Cheap communication tools
• Distilling data into information for 90% solution

Let me know your example.  And, don’t remind me that I used a crowdsourced tool,  Wikipedia, to define crowdsourcing…

This Technorati Report is a must read if you are in the new media space.  Or, even if you aren’t, yet.  In the business environment, blogs are not to be overlooked.  This report makes that clear.  It focuses on blogging, but podcasting and videocasting will certainly follow a similar trajectory.  The report is broken down into five sections

1.  Who are the Bloggers
2.  What and Why of Blogging
3.  How of Blogging
4.  Blogging for Profit
5.  Brands and Blogging

This report validates what many of us have been saying about the new media space.  Blogs are not only growing in numbers, but also in validity.  Ninety-five percent of the top 100 US newspapers now have reporter blogs. Bloggers are regularly quoted by mainstream media.  Rick Sanchez at CNN regularly fields questions and comments through Twitter and Facebook.  The main source for the Natalie Holloway story was a blogger.  Pay attention.  Blogs are here.  If you aren’t leveraging a blog for business, you will be left behind. 

I had the opportunity at the New Media Expo to record a conversation with a long time podcaster – Andrew McCaskey of SDRnews.com.  I have always enjoyed my conversations with Andy.  I’m glad I was able to record one for you to listen to.  We talk about the the current state of new media and some ways podcasting can be used within an organization.

I will be at Podcamp Pittsburgh on Saturday, 18 Oct to talk about Internal Enterprise Podcasting. If you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover, add them in the comments below.

At the Expo, I met an increasing number of people interested in the Enterprise/Corporate use of podcasting and videocasting. Rene van den Bos, Erik van der Zijden, and Anne Mieke of DigiRedo are an example. The have formed a company that focuses solely on the corporate podcast. I was impressed with their energy, focus, and committment to enterprise podcasting. Here is their interview of me.

New Media Expo 2008 Interview: Robin Maiden (Delta Airlines) from DigiRedo on Vimeo.

Don’t miss MY interview with Rene below.  I mentioned awarded the “Lever Award” for his efforts in leveraging the capabilites of new media in the corporate world. More on that later…

One of the biggest questions for me has been “How do I change peoples’ behavior?” and more recently “How do I change people’s opinion?” The first is concrete and measureable. The second is softer and for more difficult to measure.

In a recent article in Forbes online about transforming your company for growth I found some help. One of the quotable quotes:

”Prioritize Tangible Projects Over Intangible ‘Cultural Change’ Efforts – Remember, culture is a lagging, not a leading, variable. Culture changes when people change what they do and how they interact. Working on tangible projects first can be a way to encourage these changes.”

As a manager, lead with the behaviors and those projects that will change behaviors. The opinions and culture will follow.  

@ricksanchezcnn Good job integrating new media into big media.

Do you twitter? Rick Sanchez at CNN does. Maybe you should too. I was watching CNN over the weekend and was fascinated to see Rick Sanchez integrating twitter right into his newscast. He led a panel discussing Barack Obama’s choice for Vice President. The real story was out shined by political immediacy and glare of the left and right wing panelists.

He gracefully posed questions from his Twitter feed and from his Facebook wall to the panelists. I was less interested in the content than the fact he was making his newscast interactive and engaging some of his audience in the conversation.  THAT was the real story to me.  Twitter and Facebook were being use by mainstream media.

I commend Rick for experimenting, learning, and pulling from the new media arena. He tried to make some news by showing the disparity between the McCain and Obama campaigns’ use of new media. The numbers pointed dramatically towards the Obama camp. Will new media / social media “pick” the next president? Just ask the Clintons. Did Obama’s new media / social media efforts beat out Hillary Clinton’s efforts? Looks like it to me. I’ll bet she doesn’t make that mistake again. Just watch.

Leave your thoughts about how new media / social media is changing the world around us… from politics to news. Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/robinmaiden

Perceptions and Reality about personal goals and expectations – That’s what the blog buzz about the latest New Media Expo is all about. Some people have complained about the Expo this year as compared to years past.

I did attend this year and have attended every year since the beginning. I can tell you about the reality I saw. The Expo has changed. The venue has changed. The participants have changed. But, that’s OK. I’m in this for the long haul. Change doesn’t always mean bad. It was just different. I want to know what is going on in podcasting and new media. I want to strengthen my relationships. I want to build new relationships. I want to see the latest tools, technology, software and such. And I did. I went. And I’m very glad I did. I wasn’t overly excited about Vegas (been there done that.) But, it worked. People still gathered in the halls and at the bar – smaller groups maybe, but people still got together thanks to Twitter.

It is obvious we all have different goals and expectations about how we fit into the New Media space. The Expo is going to satisfy those goals differently for everyone. I think Tim and Emile Bourquin took a risk and did their best to create a place and space where good things could happen. Good things did happen. They were different from shows past, but good things definitely happened.

This year, I met many people interested in using new media inside the corporation/enterprise: Rene van den Bos and Erik van der Zijden, Donna Papacosta, Mike McAllen , Shwen Gwee, Andy McCaskey, Eric Larson, and Paolo Tosolini , and Shel Holtz . At different times, we had great discussions on New Media in the business and I hope to have many, many more.

While I’m not interested in the “Spring Break” aspect of the Expo, I do miss the dippin’ dots, next day stories of the Libsyn party, and the buzz of Adam sightings. I go to learn, meet, and share. I’m always so glad to meet new people and reconnected with my podcaster friends. Yet, being out and about at the Expo, I still managed to miss others. Well, there’s always next year. I hope to
see you there.

My conversation with Steve Fisher about the history and future of podcasting.  We take a few minutes between sessions at Podcamp Boston 3 to sit and talk.

My presentation on Internal Enterprise Podcasts is complete.  I’ve uploaded the slides to SlideShare.com and imbedded them below.  

My main points in my presentation revolved around Relationships and Expectations.   I really feel success in anything revolves around building and strengthening relationships and constantly clarifying expectations on both sides.   I listened to Jason Van Orden’s presentation and he also spoke consistantly about the “trust factor” and the importance of relationships.

Here is the audio from my presentation on Internal Enterprise Podcasts at the PodcampBoston3 in 2008.  I also created a video version with the slides from my presentation.  I’m always trying to re-purpose my content…

I was up early this morning to finish polishing my presentation on Internal Enterprise Podcasting.  The slides are here.  I also talked about my conversation guide which is available here. 

I was just reading Paul Colligan’s latest post about growing your podcast’s audience. He made some great points and I agree with all of them. It prompted me to discuss my view of how to make money with podcasting.

“One legged stools don’t work very well.”

Producing a podcast and waiting for the big bucks to roll in is a failed strategy. The podcast can’t be the sole “product.” When I talk to people about starting a podcast, I make it make it clear the podcast can be a product, but it is ALSO a channel – a tool. It has to be part of a bigger plan – one leg of a many legged stool. The podcast has to point to other legs of the stool – a website, vidcast, forum, book, Facebook page, email sign-up, meet-up… There can be many legs to the stool. Each of these legs must support the other legs of the stool. It is the combination of all of those channels and spaces (read: legs) that will help build stable platform where you can build a following that can lead to income.

Notice I said “following” and not “audience?” You may have people who don’t listen to the podcast, but read the blog. Or, who discover, buy, and read your book. Or, who follow you on Twitter and buy your next book.

As Paul Colligan points out, it is very hard to generate a real income just by advertising in podcasts. If advertising in your podcast is your main focus, then you are selling your audience’s attention to the advertisers. Your audience is your product. If you don’ t have an audience, you don’t have a product. Your efforts should focus on audience generation. As Paul points out, you can’t depend on anyone else to do that for you. Your focus should be on building an audience outside of the podishpere.
If your income generation plan is broader, to include premium services, books, affiliate programs, paid gatherings, then your time should be spent on fostering the relationship with your narrower, niche, following. A smaller faithful, following can produce more income than a larger transient audience.

With all this said, we are still VERY early in the growth of new media. Tell me how you do it…

At a time when big corporations are trying to adapt to all the change in their business environment, many are taking small, incremental steps when bigger steps are needed.  One of my favorite quotes is by Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel:  “Innovate or die.”  True, but with my twist…

”If your internal rate of improvement is less than the rate of change of your environment, you will die.”

You can adapt reactively or innovate proactively.  I prefer to be proactive.  Big business can fall into a comfortable, internal state of continuous improvement.  The company feels that it has a viable improvement program, but the whole codified, improvement process itself can stifle true innovation.  External change forces can be evolutionary, disruptive, or even disasterous.   A company’s internal devotion to innovation has to at least match the rate of change of the external environment. 

My friend C.C. Chapman wrote a blog post for Entrepreneur.com about the Boston Globe’s use of their photo content and photo staff.  C.C. had some great, low cost, low risk ideas the Boston Globe could use to leverage their current and future assests.  Innovate.  Embrace the new technology faster than the competition.  Innovate now rather than playing catch-up when it is too late.  “Innovate or Die.”  C.C. sounded a little sad and frustrated with the Boston Globe.  He shouldn’t be.  He is an innovator.  He is proactive.  He is willing to take risks.  He is certainly changing faster than his business environment.  C.C. will thrive.  The Boston Globe, I’m not so sure about.

Thanks to David Buchanan at CoefficientMedia.com for his work on recording all the sessions at Podcamp Ohio 2008. I am glad to be able to go listen to the sessions I missed. Let me know what you think.

“‘Superiority in the physical environment is of little value unless it can be translated into an advantage in the information environment.” – Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, “The Transformation of Strategic Affairs”

I have not read the book, but what a great quote.  Everyone agrees the world has moved into the information age.  Boundaries, borders, and physical bonds have less and less meaning in the new information world.  Connections, information, and knowledge are the currency of this new age. 

Leaders who do not look for and win the battle for the strategic high ground in the information environment will lose the war even if they win the battle in the physical environment.    Managers may have the best plan, people, and programs, but without also leading in the communications and information environment, success will be allusive.  

Interestingly, I could not find much about this book nor author in the information environment (read: google). He and his book were there, but it is quite obvious that he is more interested in the strategic and military value of information and narrative to turn a conflict than in selling books.

  I’m just back home.  What a great experience.  It was an opportunity to connect with old friends and create new ones.  My session on Internal Enterprise Podcasts went well.  I’ve included the audio from my presentation here.  My slides for the presentation are at slideshare.com. Don’t forget to use my podcast interview guide .

Don’t forget New Media Expo Registration rate of $349 is good until June 30th and $399 after that. You can register for FREE, if you just want to visit the Exhibit Hall and Keynotes.

Are you a problem solver? Can you define the problem, gather data, expand the team, brainstorm solutions, and execute on the best one? Great! That puts you way ahead of the pack. Problem solving skills are highly valued by every manager around. But, what about sniffing out the bigger problem? Is there a bigger problem? Whenever I see a problem, I do try to accomplish the above steps AND see if the problem could be a symptom of a bigger problem.

I think so many people are satisfied just by completing the first part – just solving the problem. That is great and most managers will be very happy you did that.

But, I’m challenging you to look beyond the immediate and see if there is a trend or a larger issue that needs to be resolved. This secondary problem will certainly be more abstract and strategic in nature. This problem may be beyond the scope of your position to resolve – maybe even beyond your manager’s scope or interest. That just means it is an even more important problem to solve. Keep gathering data on the smaller problems and the bigger issue you think they point to. Then present to your manager or you manager’s boss.

Are you sympton sleuth AND a problem solver?

“Should I stay or Should I go?”  This was the gist of a recent email from a friend.  My friend had a concern that a conference wasn’t exactly in line with their area of interest. 

Here is my philosophy…  Life is about relationships. 

Conferences are an opportunity to build new relationships around a common interest.  The context of the show may be a little off, but it provides the backdrop and opportunity to strengthen the relationships you already have and build new ones.  I am confident the relationships you make or foster will last longer than the information you learned at the conference.

Go for it!  Attend an expo, conference, or convention with the intention of meeting old friends, making new ones, and learning a little something from the conference itself. 

 I will speak at Podcamp Ohio (June), Podcamp Boston 3 (July), and the New Media Expo (August).  Another corporate podcaster has submitted a proposal for us to speak at Web 2.0 in NYC (16-19 Sep).  If that comes through, I don’t think I’d be able to make it to the Blog World Expo (20-21 Sep).  The proposal deadline for Blog World Expo is 14 May. 

Don’t forget New Media Expo Registration rate of $299 goes up after April 30th to $349 until June 30th and $399 after that. You can register for FREE, if you just want to visit the Exhibit Hall and Keynotes.

I will be presenting this at Podcamp Ohio, Podcamp Boston 3, and the New Media Expo. Follow along and help me as I prepare my Expo Presentation. I’ll keep this page updated as I create it and once done, this will be the place to see what was actually presented. Add your thoughts in the comments or call them in to 678-884-0524. Thanks for the help.

_________________________________________

50 minute presentation – To me that breaks down to this:

5 minutes – Intro

• Write this down: http://www.robinmaiden.com/expo2008/
• Put your Pens Down! These Presentation available at our websites: (Pens down)
• Who we are
• What credibility we have
• Just Start

5 minutes – Hurdles

• Convincing the Bosses
  • Corporate Environment
  • Serve Corporate Purpose?
  • Buy in
  • Manager Sponsor
  • Additional Support Channel or Main Channel
  • Verifiability
• Producing the Show
• Just Start

5 minutes – How To’s

• Convincing the bosses (Greek – speak their language)
  • Benefits not features (new car window sticker)
    • What You Want (Trump talking)
    • When you want (commute time)
    • Where you want (canoe on lake)
  • ROI – Return on Investment
    • Cost Benefit Analysis
    • Cheap
    • Opportunity Cost of NOT doing it
• Producing the Show
• Just Start

5 minutes – Just Start

10 – Sample Demo Start to Finish

5 minutes – Wrap up

• How to find slid show to presentation: www.RobinMaiden.com

15 minutes – Q&A

Just because you can, does that mean you should? The costs associated with blogging and podcasting are so low, the question can become “Why don’t I make it longer?” or Why don’t I put out more content?”  Just because we can podcast for 87 minutes straight, does that mean we should? Traditional media has been constrained for a long time by the commercial break. We’ve all been trained to adjust our behaviors around those breaks. But, now consuming what you want, when you want and where you want, has erased the need for the traditional structure of our media. But, back to the question. Should we? Is some structure good? Is some time constraint and frequency constraint good?

As is my normal approach to things, I’m firmly on the fence about this. There is room for everyone. Some people will go too long; some people will go too short. Notice I didn’t mention a time. One person’s “too long” may be another person’s “too short.” If we are trying to grow an audience and produce something of value to someone else, then we are in a service industry and have to pay attention to what the audience wants. Does the listener want it longer or shorter? Does the listener want it more often? It always depends on the listener.

Don’t let the False Economy of the cost of production allow you to create something just because you can. Unless, of course, that is what you want to do without regard for an audience.  Let the audience drive the length and frequency.

So, with that in mind, am I blogging often enough? Long enough? Should I be podcasting? Audience, let me know. 678-884-0524.

I just registered to attend Podcamp Boston3, 19-20 July, 2008.  This has been a great, podcamp.  I highly recommend it if you can make it.  This year will be different as they will be charging $50 to attend.  There will be some discussion about this, but $50 is so much less than so many other conferences.  I hope to see you there.

Here is my brain dump of links I sent out to others today:

• Twitter Creators Video - Robert Scoble inteviews.
• Robin’s Twitter – If you know what this is, follow me.
• Taxes and Podcasting – Wired Magazine article
• Association for Downloadable Media – Proposed Standards for Advertising and Audience measurement
• New Media Expo Registration – Click to register.  I am a paid speaker, but have to refer people to be in the paid speaker pool.

Give me your thoughts on any of the above in the comments.

“Brilliant!” I say. I wanted to be the first to say that.  I want to talk about why I think it is so good. I’m not telling you the link to the video, because I don’t want you to get caught up in the message and miss the elegance of the method.

Separating the message from the method, here are the reasons the creator(s) got it right. They carefully:

• picked a controversial subject
• leveraged someone else’s celebrity
• kept the call to action very subtle, but clear
• made it easy to spread virally
• made it easy to spend money

Before I give you the link to the video, set your personal beliefs aside for a few minutes and watch it with the critical eye of a new media strategist. The video is called “The Church of Oprah Exposed.”

The creators, obviously, planned carefully to put all these pieces together. They fit beautifully. It is a controversial subject. It will be the topic at the water cooler and coffee shop for months. There is a zealous audience for the content. There is a celebrity to hang on the coat tails of. The video has great production values that do not detract from the message. The creators used YouTube just because the video could and did “go viral.” The video has 4.2 million views in three weeks.  The creators included a single, simple call to action – go to a website.

What is the purpose to all this careful planning? To change your opinion about the Church of Oprah? No! The purpose of this video is to get the viewer to go to a website and purchase a product while still feeling passionate about the subject. It is a sales pitch. If you follow the call to action, you will find three products to choose from: digital download, paperback book, and companion DVD. Brilliant! Instant gratification at the moment of passion. Advertisers have long known messages that stir the emotions are more effective.

That’s why I’m creating a new award – “The Lever” to give to those who effectively leverage new media. If anyone knows the strategist behind this video, I would like to personally present them with “The Lever.”  If you have a comment about the methods used, leave a comment here.  If you have a comment about the message, go to www.InsytWorks.com.

[HTML1]Now about the message. I am a Christian. I also believe in the concepts in Eckhart Tolle’s book – A New Earth. I’m not upset at all by Oprah’s comments. I like them. I believe in them. I don’t feel this makes me anti-Christian at all. It may make me anti-fundamentalist, but I’ve been against fundamentalism in any religion. See my other podcast and website – http://www.insytworks.com for more insights into my spiritual beliefs.

Here is the link to Arbitron’s highlights of the report: The Infinite Dial 2008: Radio’s Digital Platforms. Here are the interesting points I found in the actual Edison Research slide deck.

• Slide 27 -iPod/MP3 player ownership continues to grow by 20 plus percent per year across all ages.
• Slide 30 – When I do the math on the slide, of the 35 percent of the people who actually own iPod/MP3 players, 28% are listening to radio less. The title of the slide is “Only 10% Report Less Radio Listening due to Time Spent with iPod/MP3 Player.” We are both correct, however. It just depends on how you look at it and who you are “selling” your report to. Refer to slide 27, if you are in the traditional radio business.
• Slide 34 -The numbers keep going up. More people are consuming audio podcasts as more people buy iPods or MP3 players. Although the number is up five percent from last year, surprisingly, only 18 percent of people have ever listened to a podcast. I see this as good news. There is still LOTS of room for this industry to grow. That’s why I’m here.
• There are some interesting conclusions at the end that seem a little defensive about traditional radio, but point to the in-roads, new media, social media, and hardware convergence are all making in the broader media landscape.
• Comments were turned off on the Edison Media page.   I have to wonder why…

In the past month, two people I know personally have made the huge leap, leaving full time jobs so they can devote all their time and effort to new media. Congrats to Carrie and Debba. I’m proud to know these pioneers. This report points to your future success.

Check out the post at  More than Talk about corporate communications.   I agree hugely with the first three points which I think are all related.

• Point 1. My take on it is, if your speed of communicating isn’t up to par with other sources, people will migrate to those other sources for their info.  Your value and credibility will be  diminished.  Iterate.  This isn’t a print world anymore.  You don’t have to get it exactly right before going to “print.”  You can get it close then send  updates with refinements and details.
• Point 2.  On this point, I believe over-controlling the message will reduce speed.
• Point 3.   I agree.  Transparency is key.  Always assume what you say or do could appear on YouTube.

This is a concept that has been ingrained through my military training.   Things will always change.  Change happens.  I’m always about getting better.  I want to be better personally.  I want projects and systems I’m involved with to improve.   Things will change without anybody doing anything.  Change can be good or bad.  Improvement by definition is good.  This difference is that improvement requires intent and action to provide feedback.   Not everyone has this as part of their ethos.  This is were skill and style come in.  Can you create the environment such that people are willing to accept the feedback so the whole can improve? Can you do this often enough that it becomes part of the organizational and individual’s ethos?  Please share how you do it.  I want to know.

I started a list when I was about 24 years old.    I just started writing down sayings that I thought were right on target with what I’ve learned.  Some are my twist on other peoples’ work.  Sometimes fun, sometimes serious.  I don’t claim all of them, nor do I claim to quote them exactly if I got them from someone else.  These are the “Best of” so many other people that I may or may not have given my tweak to.  I’ll roll these rules out occasionally.

I just read an article in Technology Review about Microsoft’s new Photosynth software. The quote that got me was by Alexei A. Efros from Carnegie Mellon. He said “As you get more and more visual data, the quantity become quality. And as you get amazing amounts of data, it starts to tell you things you didn’t know before.” The Photosynth software is able to infer 3D information from 2D photos. “This is something out of nothing,” says Alexei. I am impressed. “Quantity becomes quality.” With the capabilities of the network and SO much data available, I think there will be a proliferation of software advances mining this data and refining it into information that wasn’t there before. Or taking information and mashing it together in huge quantities to derive a new knowledge. This fits with the concept of Wikinomics.

As we connect more and more, in ever increasing numbers, bringing disparate data, information, and concepts together, we will create “something out of nothing.”

Is that stating the obvious or what?

I just registered to speak at PodCamp Ohio.  I will be talking about podcasting and new media for internal corporate communications.  Here are the sessions.

Here are a few links I’ve found helpful on the subject of cold weather flying / altimetry:

• GOVERNMENT/INDUSTRY AERONAUTICAL CHARTING FORUM Notes
• PilotOutlook.com – Basic info
• Aviation.com.ca – Article by John Tomkinson
• FlyingSafety Article – by Monique Yates – USAF Advanced Instrument School
• Transport Canada Regs – section 9.16
• Boeing Magazine Aero 16 – Airline training requirements for polar flying
• Flight Safety Foundation – Howard Long
• SANDEL AVIONICS ST3400 – For Beech King Air – Interesting use of inflight cold weather altimetry.

Don’t forget to watch my video on the subject here – Cold Weather Altimetry

I just read an interesting article in Wired magazine called “Free” by Chris Anderson. The timing was perfect. I’ve had some conversations with people on how to monetize their podcasts. They are considering making their podcast a “premium podcast” with a price.

I try to look at the world as a big, bell shaped curve. In other words, the world isn’t black and white, it is mostly gray. If I remember my stats correctly, two-thirds of everything exists within one standard deviation of the mean. So how does my view fit with the article? I think there will be many ways to monetize podcasts and new media. I just think most people will find a similar method. There will be fewer at either extreme, but they will be there and they, too, will be successful.  Can I predict what will be at the extremes?  No.  Can I predict what will be in the middle of the normal curve?  No.  I just know that there is room for all methods and room within the same business for different approaches.I believe that the “expected” consumer price for a podcast will be $0.00.  But, if you create products covering the whole of the curve you will have access to the largest market. Having free podcasts, high-end premium cast, and everthing in between, will yield the greatest rewards. While a free podcast may not bring in much money, it may bring great audience size. At the other end, a high priced premium cast will have a much smaller audience, but, it may generate an equal amount of income. I do think a “premium cast” will be a powerful money maker when partnered with a free podcast. And every “free” listener has the potential to become a “premium” listener.  This concept is not new.  It has been described as the sales funnel.  Get people using the free version, build a relationship, offer a low-priced, paid product to get the customer used to paying for an enhanced version, continue to build the relationship, offer yet a higher-priced premium version.  This can continue to some pretty lofty prices as long as there are customers willing to pay for truely exclusive, premium content. 

I just added some items to the “About” page. I finished it up with one of my favorite native American sayings: “If what is in my head, is in my heart and is what I speak, then I am on the right path.” I can’t say it any more clearly than that. I’m always trying to make sure my head and my heart are in the same place AND that is what I speak. It is always a goal.

I’ve just been asked to speak at this years New Media Expo. Here is my working title: Internal Corporate Podcasts: Hurdles and How To’s. I will try to flesh out my presentation right here in my blog. Join along. Leave your comments and suggestions on the Expo2008 page.

I ran across this video on the web. I wasn’t flying “Ship 41″ on this trip, but I have flown this plane.

When are you reading this? It’s not when I wrote it. If you leave a comment, when will I respond to it? We could have a protracted “conversation” via the comments. Am I with you? When did the “conversation” take place? Is it real? Absolutely.  Just like technology has allowed conversations from different locations, it also allows time shifted conversations.  The sense of time is changing. 

I know in times past conversations would be protracted because of the time to deliver a hand written letter.  The collection of letters between Jung and Pauli spanned 26 YEARS!  Talk about a time shifted conversation.  Although we think we are changing things with new media, time shifting isn’t one of them. 

 From Jung and Pauli’s time conversations advance to be more “in the now” with telegraphs and telephones.  Asynchronous convesations could only be done with the written word.  With the advent of answering machines and voicemail, we have RE-entered the world of time shifted conversations.  We can now have time shifted conversations. 

 So when is now?  What is your frame of reference?  Is it when you are listening to a message or when the message was recorded?  I favor when it was recorded.  It is just a snap shot of that moment in time. 

So, I’m a little behind on my backups of this website.  Ugh.  Nobody likes it, but it is a necessary evil.  AND I know better.  If your looking at this in FireFox, there is a bug.  If you are looking at this in Internet Explorer, it renders just fine.  So, I’m in the midst of backing up the database and updating WordPress.  Live and learn.  Again.  It definitely sounds like I need to improve my process.  Practice what I preach.

This video explains how to use iTunes to update the ID3 tags within an MP3 file. For future podcasting tutorials, I will add them here and on the new podcasting tutorial page on the website. If you have any comments or future tutorial subjects, please let me know.

It’s starting. Here is a very interesting article at eMarketer. How they come up with the growth rates is anyone’s guess. I do want to point out my post about non-linear growth. I think it could grow at a much faster rate than described. I just can’t say when.

As we approach the Super Bowl, hints of some of the upcoming video advertisements are hitting the news shows and the net. The question for me is: Are the advertisements effective? Do people just remember the ads or do they go buy the product. Same thing with viral videos on the net – do people take action because of the video, or do they just pass it on.

Is this video going to make you buy a domain name? Are you going to remember GoDaddy for some time into the future? Obviously, all the advertisers with these kinds of videos think so. According to an eMarketer article , there are an ever increasing number of online video viewers, but I still want to know: Are people actually taking action because of those videos?I’m a podcaster and I’m fascinated by how strong the relationship between the podcaster and the listener is. There are also a number of video podcasts that have a strong relationship with their subscribed viewers. It is this relationship that I think will shape advertising in the future. Other people have pointed out this relationship marketing. I’m certainly not the first to talk about it. What I do think is going to happen in the near future is that there will be new tools to specifically measure the effectiveness of video and audio podcast advertising. Then when the hard numbers show the strength and value of the audio and video podcast medium, advertisers will flock to podcasters to capitalize on the relationship.Just as internet banner ads and Google ads have siphoned advertising money away from print and radio, podscasts with their relationship marketing will siphon more money away from the traditional “broadcast” advertising mediums. Advertising, will get more and more targeted with built-in tools to measure their effectiveness.

Here is a video I put together quickly to explain cold weather altimetry. Please leave your comments below.

I’ve been working on a proposal recently.  Today, I used the term “opportunity cost.”  My point was that given some of the decisions made in the past using an accounting cost analysis, the long-term total, economic costs ended up being higher.

Opportunity cost is what you miss by making a choice between several options.  If, after high school, you chose to go to college rather than go straight into the work force, your opportunity cost was the money you could have earned during the time you were in college.  That is fairly easy to figure out.  In reverse, if you went straight into the workforce rather than to college, your opportunity cost would be the education that could have led to a non-linear growth in your pay over time.  That non-linear aspect of what an education can provide makes the accounting cost very hard to figure out.

In the business world, capital expenditures are always difficult decisions.  Where do you put limited resources?  Given my previous post about geometric growth and change and my belief that technology has a propensity for this geometric growth and change, I strongly feel:

“NOT investing in technology will yield “surprise” opportunity costs over time. “

Faced with the choice of capital expenditures between something with a history of linear “returns” and technology with the possibility of geometric “returns,”  I’ll vote for the technology.  If you choose against the technology, there is the risk the total, economic cost of the decision will be a huge opportunity cost over time.

We just had a wintry mix of rain, sleet, and snow here in the south. Although I didn’t want to be on the roads, I had to drive to work. I caught myself testing the road conditions regularly – a habit learned from my father. On a straight section of road with a low risk of hitting anything or anyone, I would hit the brakes aggressively to see if I could slide the tires. If they slid, I knew I needed to drive carefully. If I didn’t slide, I knew conditions were better. Either way, I knew the conditions. I didn’t have to guess. I didn’t have to listen to the weather on the radio. I didn’t have to infer conditions from the temperature displayed on the car display. I knew I could stop safely, or if I needed to slow even more. I got the information I needed during low risk times, so I knew what I could expect at critical times.

The more I thought about it, I thought this is a real metaphor for life. You can live your life based on opinions and judgments of so called “experts.” Or, you can gain the knowledge through direct experience. In the low risk times, do you test the conditions to see if your judgment of the conditions is correct? Leave you life metaphors in the comments.

Jason Van Orden , podcasting consultant, has asked his audience for their #1 podcasting tip learned in 2007.  I answered him and added it here for you.

TIP:  Clean up every aspect of the process.  Simplify, simplify, simplify.  Think speed and efficiency.  90% is good enough.  Get it out the door.  If you get bogged down in too many steps in your process, you will find it harder and harder to bring yourself to record another show.   Re-evaluate ALL the steps to see which ones can be dropped or combined to simplify the overall process.

The biggest combination of steps for me was to move the compression and EQ process to the front end, before everything goes into the recorder.  Purists will say that I’m losing the ability to selectively clean things up in post-production.  That’s the whole point. I don’t want to spend the time “doing it in post-production.”  My ideal show would require no post-production.  I want it out the door.

On TheDivaCast, I record five women.  We spend some time in the show planning process with the goal of recording it all in one take requiring no post-production.  Over time, we have cleaned up our process and moved some tasks around for the better.  Just so you know, we have recorded one show so far, where we did no post-production.  It’s still a goal…

Leave your best tips in the comments.

This article in Advertising Age really demonstrates one of my favorite terms – corporate inertia. Nothing new in the concept of corporate inertia – just lots of people with a slow rate of change. Organizations that can adapt quickly to change, win.

This article shows the corporate inertia in the advertising industry. As a podcaster, I “know” there is an incredible relationship that is fostered between the podcaster and the consumer. The strength of this relationship is real, but hasn’t be measured, yet. Advertisers are using the metrics they know. Exposure, Eyeballs,… Advertisers are buying “exposure to” consumers not the “relationship with” the consumer. I do think this will change as the strength of the new media – podcasting relationship will be measured and fed back to the advertisers. The ADM – Association of Downloadable Media is working on this. I’m also sure PodShow, Podango, and Wizzard Media are all gathering their facts and figures to change the opinions of the advertising world.

If a conventional advertising conversion rate of 2% could be upped to 5% through the relationship strength of a podcast, I see huge advertising money moving into the new media arena. That’s why I’m playing in this sandbox.

More and more of my computing is moving into the “cloud.”  I have Outlook on my laptop, but I can’t figure out how to get my wife’s laptop to look at the same calendar.  Step in Google calendar.  I can set it up so we can layer lots of different calendars together for family calendar.  Where is the calendar, really?  Google.  Google where?  I don’t know.  I don’t care.  I can get it just about anywhere as the internet “cloud” gets more pervasive.

So, what’s next.  iTunes.  I have an iPod Nano.  I like to listen to podcasts.  I like to update my podcasts.  However, using iTunes, I have to synch my iPod to my laptop which may be 2000 miles away when I want to get the latest shows on my iPod.  I really thought the iPhone would solve this.  All the bandwidth you can eat and a direct link to the music store.  No.  You can’t download podcasts thru the ATT network.   I can understand that perfectly.  If I were ATT, I wouldn’t want to supply the pipe for someone to download free content (read podcasts) without getting something in return.   I’ll bet that was part of the agreement between ATT and Apple.  Apple would not allow podcasts to be downloaded thru iTunes to the iPhone.   You have to synch it thru a computer with an iTunes account.  I didn’t buy the iPhone.

Then there was the iPod Touch with wifi.  I thought this would be great.  Find a wifi access point and update my podcasts on the fly.  Wrong.  Can’t do that either.   You have to synch it thru a computer with an iTunes account.   I didn’t buy the iPod Touch.

Right now, my iTunes podcast subscription list lives in my laptop.  This needs to move into the device or into the “cloud.”  It could be at Apple.  I don’t care.  I should be able to plug my device into the network, USB, Bluetooth, wifi, cellular network and get my latest episodes on my device.   This will be a big change for the iTunes architecture, but it has to change and I predict it will.

I know Podcast Ready has a system that will do this.  Do you know of another way to do this?  Add it in the comments.

I flew with him on three continents. I chased him down black diamond slopes. I helped introduce him to his wife. I was his best man at his wedding. We talked about flying from every angle. More than once. Floatplanes, gliders, antiques, airliners, biz-jets, military jets. We talked about it all. We even talked about Cockpit Resource Management – CRM. That’s airline speak for “How do you work with the other pilot in the cockpit to safely operate the airplane?”

Andy was killed in a biz-jet crash this month two years ago. He was the co-pilot in a Cessna Citation. What bugs me is the links in the chain of events leading to his death began well before the early morning crash. His death has more to do with the softer side of aviation than the harder side. What do I mean by that? I think it is more about the personalities and the emotions involved than the technical skills involved. I think the relationship between pilots in the cockpit was huge factor in the accident. The cockpit recorder doesn’t tell the whole story – just the minutes leading up to the end.

The final factual report has been published by the NTSB Final Report

Was I surprised by the tapes? Not really. Andy did what we had talked about at different times. How do you tell the othe pilot in the cockpit you are uncomfortable with what he is doing. My answer and plan has always been to start out subtle and build up from there. According to the report, Andy did that. He started out gently telling the captain he had concerns about being high. He then asked more directly if the captain wanted to use speedbrakes. That’s what I would have done. Then the captain didn’t do what he said he would do. He did his own thing without communicating his “real” intentions to his co-pilot.

What do I learn from this? Starting out subtle is OK, but you have to finish strong. Maybe really, really strong. It may change the relationship forever, but at least you will be alive to have the other pilot pissed at you. If you are uncomfortable with the way the other pilot is flying, let them know. Then escalate you concerns until they respond in a way that puts the plane in a position you are comfortable with. You can discuss the details later. I wish Andy had.

When do you speak up? How do you do it? How long will you wait to speak up? How forcefully will you make your point? Put your thoughs in the comments.

I don’t know where I read it or heard it, but someone was talking about how we, as humans, think linearly. We look at past trends and forecast along a straight line. This isn’t in all cases, obviously, but in a lot of things, I think we do. But, change doesn’t happen that way. Populations, demand, growth, acceptance, … can all change exponentially or geometrically. Think viral videos.

The take away from this… plan and think how things in your business can change geometrically. If you only use linear forecasts, you will be surprised. If you plan that your forecasts will “turn the corner” and go viral, you will be prepared and not playing catch-up, slack jawed, with watery, wide eyes.

The hard part is “when.” Exponential growth does follow a pretty linear path until it does “turn the corner.”

If anyone knows where I might have heard or read this, please put it in the comments.

I’m continually amazed what our new technology can do.  Through podcasting and new media, I have made many new friends and Friends around the world.  I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to connect with people who have similar interests AND then get to know them.   I know this isn’t breaking news, but I think of how isolated some of our unique thinkers from our past must have felt.   Now with the new tools, we can gather, virtually, around a common interest.  This is changing the world.  National borders have less of a meaning.  Local clubs have less meaning.  Geographically local anything has less meaning.  With the internet, global is local.  People are clumping together around common interests rather than local interests.  This virtual clumping leads to a proximity that is tangible, but has nothing to do with geography.  Is this leading to a diminuation of geographical entities like national governments?  Will there be a power shift from geographical power to virtual proximal power? 

I am working on a special project at my airline.  As part of the training, we had a review of Threat and Error management.  It is a tool used to improve safety at many airlines.  Here is the really short version…

Threats are those things that we don’t have control over.  These can be environmental, operational, and more; that’s weather, traffic, mechanical problems…

 Errors are just that – things we do wrong.  We can make procedural errors, judgement errors, and more.

 I’m being purposefully vague in my terms because I really think there is a cross-over into other businesses.  Here’s what I mean.  Every business should survey the landscape for possible threats and have a plan for those threats when they do occur.  The business should have a method to identify those threats when they do appear.  Similarly, identification is the key to internal errors.  You have to identify them before you can take action to correct them.

It’s said quite often in the aviation business that no one single item caused an accident, but rather a chain of events.   If any link in the chain could have been broken, the accident could have been prevented.  

So, the take away:  Do you have systems to identify the external threats and the internal errors in your business?  Do you have processes to mitigate the potential threats and errors?   

I listened to the Manager-Tools podcast about time management and couldn’t agree more.  It is really about managing our priorities not time.  Does the way I use my time match my priorities in life?

Thought for the day…  Can we really change things by just talking?  Talking with our peers?  Friends, Neighbors?

Maybe.  But, I think it is all about audience.  You have to have the actual numbers behind you, now, to create change.  Audience is it.  That’s what makes blogs so powerful.

I’ve always said I’m a process guy, but after posting two podcasts tonight,  I guess I’m not.  I’m using lots of different tools to get these podcasts out there.  I’m going to search for better tools to shorten up my process.  I record with one tool, edit with another, use the Levelator, edit some more, edit ID3 tags with yet another.  I then post to PodShow and mirror much of the same info to the site.  Whew.  I’ve got to fix this.  Any suggestions?