During her presentation at PAB2008, Whitney Hoffman provided her analysis of a fledgling and still relatively unknown podcast network that had great promise when it was launched last September. Whitney outlined what appears to be a breakdown in communications, lack of transparency and possibly the use of bloated claims to market the network to would-be members and sponsors. The problem is that the network never gelled as a cohesive group and has been unable to establish a community among members and audience.

In fairness, most podcast networks have had a difficult time making a success of themselves; the most public of these being Podshow which is trying to distance itself from its earlier mistakes as it goes through its reinvention as an entertainment company.

I believe that there are two types of networks in this space: the Rabbit Network and the Turtle Network.

The Rabbit Network seeks to build market share for financial reasons. These networks face two distinct challenges. First, the early adopters of new media (including podcasting) were hobbyists that struggled with the delivery and/or production of their content. This is in no way a knock at the content creators because most of the content that was (and still is) being produced was fresh and (in some cases) edgy. The content they were creating, though, was marketed to commercial interests that had a difficult time identifying any commercial appeal. This is particularly true where the second challenge comes in — the business model. It’s hard to convince potential sponsors and investors to take a financial risk on an unproven and relatively disruptive technology. The value couldn’t be measured so the potential sponsors avoided the risk. Traditional business models were used where new business models were merited. Because the big players preferred to play safe, the word about the podcasting didn’t move as quickly. This means that it was hard to establish, and ultimately appreciate, the value of the media.

Having said that, there have been some notable sponsorships. As Whitney points out, though, it is unclear whether the sponsorships were achieved based on genuine metrics. Regardless, there is data that suggests some so-called small scale podcasts have greater penetration and engagement than the shows that are getting the big sponsorship deals.

The Rabbit Networks usually make a big splash when they launch and become marginalized over time. Some people believe this is because mainstream media loses interest or that the latest and greatest Rabbit Network has come along to replace the one thatís making the same mistakes as its predecessors. Based on my understanding, the Rabbit Networks almost always disintegrate because of hidden agendas and lack of communication.

The Turtle Network is a group of like-minded content producers that band together in a show of support and to help promote one-another’s shows. There is no expectation of financial gain and in many cases the bond is a mutual (and sometimes vocal) disinterest in sponsorship and advertising. These networks have no specific goals and, for the outsider, appear to be nothing more than a public pronouncement of friendship and a way to help listeners identify content that the producer(s) enjoy.

It’s easy to be dismissive of the Turtle Networks since they never really seem to accomplish anything. However, their organic approach to building and engaging an audience, and their quietly-chug-away approach to creating programs, means that they serve a niche that will follow them and forgive them their absences and production mistakes. The Turtles survive because of their regular, honest and transparent communication.

Perhaps networks haven’t succeeded, yet, because noone’s figured out a way to cross-breed a Rabbit and a Turtle.

As you may have heard, Ross (Zee and Zed, Dry Shave) had a heart attack and triple bypass surgery last week. Bob Goyetche and I have been in contact with Ross and Karen and have found out what they need and where to send it.

Please send your humourous get well cards by May 5 to:

Zee
c/o Mark Blevis
PO Box 4813, Station E
Ottawa, ON K1S 5H9
Canada

I will forward them on to Ross to enjoy.

The conversation about ways to exploit the unconference model as well as reinvent the PodCamp format continues. Not surprisingly, the first out of the gate are the PodCamp founders.

Chris Brogan has put up a post called Thoughts for Future Podcamps in which he endorses the Zero to Podcasting track (unveiled at PodCamp Toronto) as a way to help newcomers and veterans with their new media skills and strategies. He also throws his support behind Whitney Hoffman’s push for PodCamp verticals as a great way to cater to the unique qualities of various communities of interest (a great idea!!!) .

Chris Penn blogged about some of the great ideas that were incorporated into NewBCamp this past weekend (Reflections on NewBCamp 08). The one that struck me as most interesting is Sara Streeter’s Speed Mentoring, modeled after Speed Dating.

I often talk about relationships and connections on my blog. I see the PodCamp-inspired initiatives (Speed Mentoring and Tommy Vallier’s Mentorship Lounge) to connect individual newcomers and veterans as the best chance to ignite both levels of experience through co-operative and bi-directional mentorship opportunities. This is what the veterans need to reinvigorate themselves with the passion and enthusiasm that newcomers bring to the community.

Earlier this evening I was notified that the Bring Da King initiative — organized by Dave and Isabelle of Broca’s Area and Scarborough Dude of DicksnJanes –  to raise funds to help bring James Whittingham to Podcasters Across Borders has been closed up and collected funds returned to generous contributors.

I have learned that there are two reasons for this decision.  The first is that the campaign is still well short of its goal of $1000 which suggests not enough people were interested — or, more likely, that people who planned to contribute never got around to doing so.

The more distressing of the reasons is that some folks in the community have expressed their disapproval to raise funds to help a friend.

I appreciate that some people may not feel inclined to kick in any of their personal funds, however small, for their own reasons.  I’m good with that.  What concerns me is that some people feel it is their responsibility to discredit and dismiss the generosity of others.

My sincere congratulations to Dave, Iza and Scarborough Dude for taking it upon themselves to organize the campaign, demonstrating the true spirit of community, leadership and friendship.  I am so sorry that your efforts were scrutinized.  I’m also very sorry for James who was caught in the middle of this.

My family and I just returned from a send-off party. One of the community parents is leaving this Sunday to complete preparations before he departs for a tour of duty in Afghanistan. A large group of families gathered to wish him well and show support to his family.

I have been committed to the Red Fridays movement since attending a major rally on Parliament Hill in September 2006.   Red Fridays is a simple idea; wear some red every Friday to show support for Canadian troops and their families (similar programs may exist in other countries). It’s not about ideology. It’s not about political leanings. It’s not about religion. It’s not about money. It’s about people — real people.

I’m looking forward to the big celebration we throw when our friend returns, safely, to his family and community.

Support our troops image: redfridays.ca

For the month of December, I will donate $1 to the Children’s Wish Foundation for each comment on my blog that contributes to the conversation.  Have your voice heard and make a difference at the same time.

I challenge other bloggers and podcasters to do the same!

In its heyday in the 1960’s, NASA invested in two key areas of the space program: the technology and the people. The premise of this spending decision was that NASA couldn’t get to the moon without the tools to get there (and of course, the people who knew how to use those tools) and the excitement and support of the public. The latter led to astronauts being sent to charm school. They learned how to dress, be social and communicate with the public. The astronauts understood NASA’s operating goals so they could communicate them in their own words, with their own passion and the values of the organization. Public relations junkets became the norm for the months and years following each mission during which the astronauts were expected to speak on behalf of the organization. Despite its operational and public-relations problems, NASA has been around and intact for forty-nine years.

When I started my career in the mid-1990’s, management sold the staff on our importance by sending us to technology and customer service ‘boot camps’ — five day courses compressed into two because we were ‘the elite’ and being away from our desks cost money. We were expected to memorize and recite, verbatim, the mission statement of the company. Whether or not we believed in the mission statement and whether or not it was anything more than a string of platitudes was inconsequential so long as we could regurgitate it to anyone that asked about the company. If the person with whom we were speaking started to ask additional questions about the company, we were expected to defer up the chain of command and if anyone from the press approached us, even reciting the mission statement was considered a no-no. That company lasted a little more than two years before being bought for a song, converted into a few business units each of which was sold off and ultimately dissolved less than five years after the original company had started.

I continue to see examples of the corporate communications trends of the 1990’s in the new millennium.

As the world of technology and communication has evolved, it would seem that the world of management and marketing has generally devolved. Companies are investing heavily to develop and deliver the same old top-down message to a more critical public using newer and sexier technology. They should be investing in all of their people — sending them to Web 2.0 charm school for customer service courses, public speaking workshops and writing classes.

Web 2.0 is a culture, not a technology. If you embrace the culture throughout your organization, your people and technology will help you build a strong community of real-life and online relationships central to your brand.

Those of you that have attended or follow the Podcasters Across Borders conference know that James Whittingham is just as much a part of the event as everyone who attends, and he manages that from his home in Regina while everyone else is talking, listening, drinking and hugging in Kingston. The cost of travel from Regina to Kingston is more than James can afford right now.

Dave and Isabelle of Broca’s Area have started a collection to “Bring Da King” to PAB2008. Their goal is to raise $1000 through Paypal donations at bringdaking.blogspot.com.

Update 2007-01-21: Scarborough Dude (DicksnJanes) is also behind this great initiative.

Tod Maffin is to blame for a lot of things. If you’re keeping score, one of his deeds was introducing me to Bob Goyetche.

That act took place on June 9, 2005 at Le Cafe in Ottawa. Tod was doing some cross country travelling and organized meetups at each of his destinations. Bob, Cat, Simon, Julien, AJ and Interplanet Janet made the trip in from Montreal.

I don’t remember how it actually happened — that Bob and I figured out we could be good friends and that we were a good team in the making. I think we just decided one day to try a few ideas out and they worked. And if something works, you take care of it; you invest more into it and see how far you can take it. At least, that’s what I like to do.

If I had to pick the single most significant quality of our partnership, it’s that we care about the people we interact with and the activities in which we participate. In our “outside lives”, we both deal with political agendas, lack of commitment, inability to make and act on decisions, and absence of fun. Working together is refreshing and invigorating.

Bob and I will be recording episode 71 of the Canadian Podcast Buffet in a few minutes — the last episode of season two. Like last year, we’ll take some time off to get to know our families, again, and get involved in some of our own projects, and then kick off season three of the Buffet in September. Like good friends, though, we will remain in close contact. It’s hard to be in a great community and not swing by the same intersection once in a while.

Thanks for a another great season of CPB and a second great PAB, Bob! And a very special thanks to Cat and Simon, and Andrea, Lucy and Bayla for your patience and support (I don’t know how you guys put up with us).

I thought PAB2007 would end and I would be able to return to a normal life. Not so. I have been constantly thinking about what I’ve learned from the conference, about conference planning, and how we even planned this thing in the first place. You can expect a number of posts as a result.

Here is some of what I’ve learned from co-organizing/co-running PAB2007.

Lesson 1: Be transparent then trust and believe in the community
It’s not easy being shouldered with tough decisions — especially when they result from your own mistakes. Take, for example, the Saturday afternoon draw for the Zoom H4. That was a closed draw that was to exclude speakers, sponsors and organizers. So, when we drew the name Chris Sherry, who is affiliated with one of the sponsors and didn’t catch it, we had the potential of a real problem. We decided to come clean with our mistake and include the community in the decision. The community unanimously forgave our mistake. Immediately after that was resolved, Chris Penn stepped up and donated a second Zoom H4 for the Sunday draw. This leads me to the next lesson learned.

Lesson 2: Include everyone
For our first Zoom H4 draw we announced that speakers, sponsors and organizers were specifically excluded from qualifying for the draw. Many speakers rightfully expressed their disappointment — after all, they weren’t paid and they are part of the community. For the second Zoom H4 draw we decided that all paid registrants, speakers and sponsors who were in the room at the time of the draw qualified to win.

Lesson 3: Share the love
As part of PAB2007, we held a children’s book drive for Kingston’s Central Public School. The drive was a huge hit. We collected 86 amazing kids books and the community felt great being a part of that. Later in the weekend we held a collection to raise money to replace Bruce Murray’s camera after it had disappeared from the conference room the night before. The community raised $291 before Bruce’s camera turned up. When we talked about having a 50/50 draw as a possible use of the collection, Chris Penn piped up with the suggestion that we donate the money to Central Public School. The community immediately approved of the idea.

Lesson 4: Remain calm; the problem can be solved
Actually… what I told a few people — and practiced — during the weekend was to “remain calm and the problem will solve itself”. Many people say that a lot can go wrong at a conference, failing to acknowledge that there is a lot that goes famously well. More importantly, if you think creatively — and keep your wits about you — there is likely to be many possible solutions for every problem (if nothing else, you won’t be stressed).