Notes from Podcamp Topeka

Yesterday, I spent most of my day at Podcamp Topeka – the first event I have ever organized. Judging by the comments, tweets, etc … it was a success!

If you want to read reactions from people who attended, search for #podcamptopeka on Twitter (ok – or just click this link).

I’ll post something next week about planning this type of event and what we could have done better. But for now, here’s a run-down of the sessions I attended – sorta sparse notes, but it’ll give you an idea of the day:

Session 1: Balancing Personal/Business Use of Twitter

you have ability to destroy yourself online
One guy doesn’t cuss in Twitter because it turns some people off
TV News guy – doesn’t say some stuff that he wants to
talking back & forth – sharing yourself is important
remembers he represents a company – always has that in the back of his mind
News guy again – because of sharing themselves on Twitter, they get news tips from people
Helps get stories written because he’s connected to twitter – because of the relationships they’ve developed
TV News guy again – they are talking to other local TV stations! Very different than five years ago
discussion about community/following people locally vs anyone for business

Session 2 – Comment Boxes and Community

I shared about the library
anonymous or profile?
Local newspaper tends to have crazies – not much registration/monitoring there
getting people to register – are there any non-bribery ways to get people to register? One idea – Business gave away free stuff to get sign-ups
other ways to share? Comment box, polls, ratings, etc – without just sharing in a text box
viral marketing campaign (I think she was from a radio station) – had some hateful comments – ended up having to block someone’s IP address
how to get more comments? Ask questions, ask what do you think
separate actual story from comments
part of your job should be commenting on other people’s sites
personal responses are great – gave example of that
personal is the new hand-written note
marketing is conversation now
deleting one comment vs turning off whole thread – which works best? We generally agreed that turning off the whole thread (like Flickr sometimes does) seems like punishing others for one person’s mistakes
twitter is instant gratification

Session 3: Selling Yourself in 30 Frames per Second

T-Rave presented from t-rave.com – He’s very passionate about videoblogging!
trying to sell your brand – many times, that means selling yourself
when you were a baby trying to get attention and affection, you were selling yourself – so you do this all the time
big fan of gary vaynerckuk of winelibrary.tv
Word of mouth – that’s how T-Rave sells his product/himself
Using video is a great way to bring in viewers to your website/blog
t-rave.com attracts people of all ages (from 13-65), all states, international – check your demographics
People of all ages, all nationalities like video
You can feel connected by being approachable – on twitter, on video
be the same online, in video, in real life
passion + drive – interest, consistency, responding back to comments

Session 4: Basics of Videoblogging

T-Rave again
Went over various software to use
talked a little about cameras
talking about uploading to a service – how long it takes
Talked a bit about copyright and free music – likes jamendo.com for a free music service.
Uses Viddler quite a bit. They featured T-Rave the second week after he started making videos.
mentioning tubemogul.com – great place to upload video to more than one account automatically
Has a variety of cameras from the Flip to a large semi-pro camera
Very open to having people contact him with questions, suggestions for cameras, etc.
He does 5 videos a week – different theme every day. He did this for 6 months.
some discussion of posting video to Facebook vs another video service
Live Streaming video: upstream.tv, livestream
Good questions/discussion

Session #5: Monetizing a Podcast

Rob Walch, Podcast 411 and Wizzard Media spoke about podcasting
Come to Jesus – most of us will never really make money on this

Ways to make money with podcasts:

1st way to make money:

CPM – typical rate is around $10-15 per thousand downloads
More niche = higher CPM, but lower download numbers
Video gets a little higher CPM rate than audio alone
Not generally “quit your day job” money

2nd way to make money:

CPA model – or direct response ads
Netflicks – they pay $25 for everyone who signs up for an account that comes from the ad
Right audience at the right time can = some good money

3rd way – sponsorship model