The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #56: August 4, 2005

Content summary: Presentation on podcasting to McGraw-Hill's communicators in New York City; conference questions-and-answers discussion.

Show notes for August 4, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 60-minute conversation recorded live from New York City, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 24MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Additional download - PowerPoint presentation (2.8Mb). Requires Microsoft PowerPoint or free PowerPoint viewer for Windows.

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:31 Neville introduces the show from the McGraw-Hill communicators' conference at the Digital Sandbox, New York City
• 01:06 Shel: we'll be discussing comments from the last show in next Monday's show; today's conference PowerPoint will be available for download

Presentation on podcasting to McGraw-Hill's communicators:

• 01:37 What is podcasting?
• 04:18 The background to podcasting
• 05:57 Why podcast as a business?
• 07:41 About For Immediate Release
• 09:00 Finding and subscribing to podcasts
• 10:03 RSS feeds, podcatchers, direct downloading and iTunes
• 11:35 Subscribing to podcasts through RSS aggregators
• 13:14 Producing podcasts and which businesses are doing it
• 15:06 What do you need to do a podcast - a look at software and equipment
• 17:54 Metadata and ID3 tags
• 18:48 Finding a place for your MP3 files
• 20:18 Updating the RSS feed and linking to it
• 21:03 Marketing and promoting your podcast
• 21:37 Conducting podcast interviews
• 22:34 Strategizing a business podcast and the communicator's role
• 26:09 Podcasts on intranets
• 27:24 Books about podcasting

Discussion - audience Q&A:

• 28:41 "You told us about making sure you have a good reason to start a podcast. Why did you start one?"
• 31:32 "Currently with iTunes, you can purchase music. Are there podcasts for sale, and do you think there's a buisness in actually being able to sell podcasts?"
• 35:47 "In a corporate environment, should there be complementarity between the messages that go out in the corporate blog and the messages in a podcast? And is there any tracking between what you write in your blog and what you talk about in your podcast?"
• 39:02 "Is it fair to say that the podcast would likely be more amenable to commercial applications than to a blog? Because in a business-to-business environment you don't want to put out value-added information that thousands of people can get which should be one-to-one. Is there accepted wisdom now that blogs need to be less commercial and perhaps podcasts?"
• 42:40 "If you're going to put the resources behind doing a podcast, you do want to know that it's being listened to. What are the metrics? How do you know how many people are listening to your podcast over time and who they are?"
• 48:50 "Should companies do podcasting even if they don't have the content right now just so they can be seen to be on the cutting edge?"
• 51:04 "Podcasting has a such an advantage over radio because you can play it back, but it also seems that it's hard to find a place in a podcast where the interesting thing was. Is there any way of capturing that, the same way a TV guide?"
• 53:31 "In a business-to-business situation, we sometimes provide content to a big customer on a contract basis. Do you know of anyone using this technology in that way? How do you think this will play out?"

Outro:

• 57:20 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 59:06 Shel thanks the participants and McGraw-Hill
• 59:16 Upcoming confirmed interviews - Jeff de Cagna, Associations Unorthodox on August 5; Constantin Basturea on August 9; Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, on August 16

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Digital Sandbox, McGraw-Hill.

Presentation - iPod, Dave Winer, Adam Curry, MTV, Daily Source Code, iTunes, Apple, FCC, Lee Hopkins, Dan York, Podcast Alley, iPodder, DopplerRadio, FeedDemon, Windows Media Player, NewsGator, FeedStation, Walt Disney Company, Michael Geoghagen, GM FastLane Podcasts, GM FastLane Blog, Purina, Skype, Plantronics, Hot Recorder, Audacity, Libsyn, Geek News Central, Virtual Audio Cable, Podcasting: The Do It Yourself Guide, Neville's book review.

Discussion/Q&A - PR Week, BBC Radio, Audible.com, Endurance Radio, Gatorade, Gartner, CNET News Headlines podcasts, Business Week, Behind the Scenes, Dawn & Drew Show, Rock & Roll Geek Show, Heather Green, Steve Rubel, Evil Genius Chronicles, Heineken, Podscope, Jupiter Research, Forrester Research, Duke University, Robert French, Virgin Atlantic podcasts, the podcasting vicar, WELS.

Outro - Jeff de Cagna, Constantin Basturea, Global PR Blog Week 2.0, Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday August 8...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Comments

[Robert French]

Thank you for mentioning our blogging efforts in classes during your presentation to McGraw-Hill's communicators.

I appreciate your participation in MarcomBlog and Shel's contributions to our interviews, for example.

The key for our success is aided greatly by your involvement. Thank you.

One thing I would like to correct, though. We are at Auburn University. But, we're in Alabama - not Mississippi. (wink) That's OK. Neville, you say Mississippi. Shel once said we were in Michigan. :o) But, you both get the university right. That's what matters.

Seriously, thank you for your support during our first full year of blogging. Year two starts next week.

All the best.

[Nevon]

You're welcome, Robert, and thanks for listening to FIR during the last seven months.

Sorry about the geographical slip ;)

[Robert French]

Thanks, Neville. No problem. I was just teasing you. Always enjoy FIR. Take care.