Trafcom News

The challenge of staging a social-media conference

Now that I can peek out from under the pile of work to be tended to in yet another post-conference period, I can fully reflect on my experience in California last week.

Jen McClure and the team at the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR), who ran the New Communications Forum in Santa Rosa, did a wonderful job. In particular, Jen was everywhere, making sure we were all busy, happy and well fed (including this picnic lunch in the garden). Thank you, SNCR!

I can only imagine the difficulty in trying to come up with a program to satisfy everyone, especially when the crowd represents a mixed bag of seasoned social-media pros who are familiar with all the shiny toys, and newbies who aren’t blogging, haven’t heard of Twitter, don’t know how to download a podcast, and aren’t yet monitoring their presence on the Internet.

Phil Gomes, one of the people I finally met in person (along with his lovely wife Leticia), wrote an interesting post about NewComms Forum attendees not seeing the doughnut for the hole: ignoring big-picture issues (like net neutrality) in favour of tactical stuff like the social media news release. Phil is a very smart guy, and I see his point. But let me look at this from another perspective. I too am keenly interested in the issue of net neutrality, and try to keep up to date on its developments in my online and mainstream reading. But I didn’t fly across the continent to learn about net neutrality. 

Someone like me, a small-business owner who has to plan for a month to get away from the office (and home!) for a full work week (including two days of travel), wants to come away from a conference with information I can use – not necessarily immediately, but soon. Agency types who have to justify the expense of a conference may be in the same boat. A session like Shel Holtz’s, on “Employees are the Brand,” was perfect in my view, because Shel presented a trend and then backed it up with solid examples. And then there was the panel with Mike Manuel, Jeff Rubenstein and Patrick Seybold, on “An Inside Look at Bringing the Sony PlayStation Blog to Life.” Again, a well-executed talk that was presented as a case study. Great stuff. Ditto Francois Gossieaux’s session on “How to Measure Progress and Success in Business Communities.” A little more esoteric than the others I mentioned, but interesting and valuable.

Attendees like me, who came away from some sessions scratching their heads, might have been confused by the names of the sessions listed in the program. If I’d known that “Using Social Networks to Build Your Professional and Personal Brand” was actually “LinkedIn 101,” I would have skipped it. Perhaps we need longer blurbs to explain what the sessions are about, to help us choose from among five tracks. Overall, there was a lot of excellent content, but it was hard to decide where to go at any given hour.

Everyone talks about the real-life networking at these events. And it’s true. I loved catching up with people I’ve schmoozed with before, and meeting the faces I only know online, like Kami Watson Huyse, Jim Long, Joseph Jaffe, and, at long last, “Professor” Sallie Goetsch, someone I’ve been acquainted with online for about three years (pictured in her Podcast Asylum coat). I won’t name the other people I was delighted to meet, because I know I’ll leave someone out.

Others more erudite than I have reported on the conference.  If you’re a conference organizer, I’d love to hear your take on designing sessions to meet broad audiences, and on writing program copy.

Back to podcasting basics: Validating your feed

When I first started podcasting, I was concerned about my RSS feed and whether it was valid, especially for iTunes. Fortunately, there's a handy tool called Feed Validator that can flag problems in your feed. (Of course, you have to know how to fix them!) If you're using the combination of TypePad and Feedburner, as I am, the whole feed business is actually pretty straightforward.

Most of the time.

Yesterday I posted episode 74 of the Trafcom News Podcast. I was pleased with the interviews in it, and eager to get it online, so I did my usual series of steps after editing and mixing:

• edited my ID3 tags
• uploaded the MP3 file to Libsyn
• uploaded my show notes to my podcast blog
• uploaded my short blog post on this blog
• clicked on all the links to make sure everything worked.

So I was done. Or so I thought.

Later in the day, Corey Taratuta, who produces the Irish Fireside Podcast, sent me an email to say that he had seen my blog post, but that my podcast wasn't yet available in iTunes. Thinking that iTunes was slow, I pinged them. (If you don't know how to do this, read these simple instructions.) Still no go. Then I noticed that the Blubrry player on my site and on the Blubrry site wasn't featuring my latest episode either.

So I went back to basics and validated my feed. I couldn't remember the last time I'd validated it. For months and months, I had really forgotten about the good ol' feed.  Well, after running Feed Validator, I discovered an error in my code. A very silly mistake: an extra space in the file name for my MP3 file. It was odd because you could still click on the link and retrieve the MP3 file, but iTunes and Blubrry didn't like the invalid feed. So I quickly fixed it and thought everything was fine.

But the podcasting gods were conspiring against me (and every other podcaster on TypePad!). Today either TypePad or Feedburner experienced some kind of outage that caused my feed to run all of two lines. That's a little short!

The fix is now in progress. By the time you read this, all should be well.

Lesson one learned: Always validate your feed!

Lesson two learned: Podcasting friends are terrific because they look out for each other. Thanks, Corey!

Why Google hates podcasters

If you're a podcaster,  please consider the role of show notes as a marketing tool and a service to your audience. As you'll learn by listening to Trafcom News Podcast 74, The secrets of show notes, "Google hates you" if you're a podcaster who doesn't take the time to write show notes.

In this  22-minute podcast, you'll get advice from experienced podcasters: Nicole Simon, Christopher S. Penn, Dave Jones, Wayne MacPhail and Aaron Strout.

And be sure to listen to Chris Penn's secret for getting his show notes picked up in the Google News feed!

Book review: How to Write a Non-Fiction Book in 60 Days

In this guide to writing a non-fiction book quickly and painlessly, Paul Lima outlines the entire process step by step, emphasizing that:

• It takes an idea.
• It takes purpose.
• It takes knowledge of your reader.
• It takes time.

But that’s not all. He goes into great detail, with an engaging and highly readable approach, sharing his hard-won advice on how you can get organized, conduct your research, produce an outline, and then start churning out copy. He also shares his successful experience with publishing on demand through Lulu.com.

I wish I’d had Paul’s How to Write a Non-Fiction Book in 60 Days when I wrote a parenting book about 10 years ago. I stumbled my way through the process, and I happened  upon some of the techniques that he describes in the book. However, if you have a book in you – waiting to get out –  I’d advise that you avoid the trip-ups typical of the first-time author, and follow Paul’s guidance instead. You’ll be glad you did.

Paul Lima is a freelance writer, author and writing trainer. You can read more about his books online at www.paullima.com/books. You’ll find this particular title here.

Recording on the road

Mark Blevis shares some excellent tips about taking your digital recorder on the road. I would add one more: carry a backup machine with you. I’m grateful that I’ve never had to rely on my second machine while on a podcasting assignment, but I certainly gain a sense of security knowing that it’s safely stowed in my bag.

Oh, one more thing – I always pack my audio gear in my carry-on bag when I fly. In fact, this bag never leaves my hand. I’m like the guy who accompanies the U.S. president, toting the briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes.

Do you end the interview too soon?

Have you ever experienced premature interview termination? Here’s how it goes: At the end of an interview – whether it’s for a magazine article, corporate newsletter piece or podcast – you thank the subject, snap your notebook shut and switch off your recorder. In the chatter that follows, your interviewee utters the most quotable quote of the last half hour.

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me. So, over the years, I’ve learned to not turn off the recorder until the last possible minute – way beyond the thank-yous – and to keep my pen poised to capture every juicy bit.  Half the time, the best material emanates from those last comments.

There’s a lesson here for the interview subject too: Don’t assume that what you believe to be an off-hand comment won’t actually be on the record. (Of course, in the corporate world, endless rounds of approvals will ensure that the final product won’t violate anyone’s sensibilities; for external publications, it’s a different matter.)

What do you think?