Podonomics

Geez, I’d fire this consultant. Just the example I need to include in my book. British Columbia’s Agricultural Minister, Pat Bell, thought it would be a good idea to convey new information from his office through a video series launched on YouTube, as well as through a podcast.

Problem is that most farmers live in rural areas and the only way they can affordably get online is to use dial-up. And dial-up is miserable for those who want to watch or listen to multi-media files since it’s slow. Globe & Mail reported it as a flop (although now you have to subscribe to see the article).

Although anyone can podcast, not everyone should. In this case, I would’ve assessed the Agricultural Minister’s target market and would’ve advised not to launch anything online - yet.

The government owned liquor stores here in Ontario, the LCBO, has launched a summer video podcast series. I took a look at the 2 that are available and I give it my thumbs up. It’s nice to see when corporations get it and do podcasting so well.

What I Liked:

• They chose the right format to show how to mix drinks - a video.
• The hosts are comfortable with the subject matter and are not reading from a script.
• The hosts also have great chemistry together.
• Great call to action at the end. They encourage people to go to their stores to buy products to mix their own featured drink.
• The production quality looks great, but isn’t too slick. Too many corporations believe that they have to hire a Hollywood production team to get it just right, however, the LCBO video podcasts has the right quality.

What Could Be Improved:

• Only one thing - Make the podcast link more prominent. Took about 4 clicks for me to get there. And it wasn’t until I went back this morning that I saw the blue area in the top right corner with “podcasts” listed. Fine, I’m a ditz, but then again, a confused mind always say no. Make it less confusing so your audience doesn’t get lost.

Well done LCBO.

Borrowed the title of this post from Rob, who borrowed it from Leo. The Mesh mini-podcasts are coming. Seven in total, all under 10-mins. Not sure when they’ll be posted, but I’ll link to them once I see them on the Mesh blog.

Unfortunately, I was using an omnidirectional mic which picked up everything. Silly me, I should’ve taken my condenser mic instead. Because of this, there was little I could do in post-production to remove the background chatter and music.

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Many cities across Southern Ontario are in the home stretch of a boring and uneventful election campaign to vote in mayors, city councillors and school board trustees.

Toronto’s municipal election is prominent simply because it’s a big city and big city politics seem to be more exciting. It isn’t, believe me, but at least it makes for interesting TV with 29 people running for the mayor’s seat.

The incumbent, David Miller, is said to be the front runner and will most likely retain his seat. The 2 other contenders - Jane Pitfield and Stephen LeDrew - are given much love in the media.

What’s important about these 3 is that they’re turning to social media to help get their message out. They’re using blogs, YouTube, MySpace and other Web 2.0 devices to tell people about their platform.

Out of the 3 front runners, the one who uses social media the best is Stephen LeDrew. Why?

• His website IS a blogsite. The front page changes often as Stephen (or someone from his team) updates the blog with key information. Nothing is stale or static and I don’t have to click around just to find out what Stephen is thinking. His blogsite shows that he’s current and that he get information out quickly.
• His blogsite includes lots of video. The videos are uploaded to Google and then embedded into his blogsite. They’re short, punchy and deliver key messages.
• LeDrew’s blogsite is actually a blog. Miller also has a real blog, but Pitfield, unfortunately, doesn’t. Although her website points us to a blog, it’s actually just text on a webpage.

One thing that Stephen LeDrew didn’t do that David Miller did is identify that there will be others aside from the mayoral candidate updating the blog.

Miller did that in this post and I didn’t see a similar message on LeDrew’s blog. That could just mean that LeDrew is updating the blog himself, however, if that’s the case, please identify yourself with a name other than admin.

Aside from this obvious faux pas, LeDrew gets my vote of having the most innovative mayoral campaign. Now, if only he could get his own domain name.

Technorati: david miller, stephen ledrew, jane pitfield, toronto, toronto politics,

Remember a few weeks ago I said I may be planning a Web 2.0 related event here in Toronto?
Well, after my experience at Podcamp, I put out a call to a few people on the GTA Podcasters mailing and 3 people bit the bullet. Jay, Dave & Brent are the first people to join me in bringing Podcamp to Toronto.

If you’re a podcasting consultant, enthusiast, hobbyist, or just pod-curious, head over to the wiki and add your name to the list. We need a venue, a few sponsors, panelists, presenters, attendees, etc. etc.

We’re looking at having this event towards the end of February, sometime after Dave’s corporate podcasting event. Maybe February should become podcasting awareness month in Toronto?

Update: My favourite Montreal podcaster, Julien, has joined as an organizer.

Technorati: podcasting, podcamp, podcamptoronto2006

Dave & Terry over at InsidePR.ca are just absolutely witty. Sort of like Frasier-funny, but without all the big words and complicated sentence structures.

You know who else should be podcasting? Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard and Stephen LeDrew, former President of the federal Liberal Party. These 2 firecrackers are on opposite sides of the political spectrum and their varying opinions about the Canadian political landscape is just a hoot to watch.

They’re typically on Global National on Sundays, but their airtime is very limited. For a paltry 2-minutes, these 2 chaps go at it - in a sophisticated way - and argue their political slant on a national issue. And after the blowout is over, they smile and say goodnight to each other in an ever so polite way. How beautifully Canadian.

I would love to see Ezra and Stephen extend their debate into a weekly 30-minute podcast. I’m so eager to see this happen, I’ll even help to get them started.

I promise, these 2 together on a podcast would be the best podcast ever. Shall we see these 2 men battle it out every week in a podcast? Time will only tell.
Technorati: podcasting, ezra levant. stephen ledrew

I was quoted in today’s Toronto Star, not as a podcaster, but as President of my Toastmaster’s club called Toronto Business Toastmasters. The article focused on Stephen Harper’s speaking style and his unwillingness to engage in conversations.

One thing that stuck out in the article was that Stephen Harper enjoys one-way communications. Our Prime Minister seems to enjoy giving information, yet scurries away whenever someone tries to engage him in dialogue. In particular, Susan Delacourt wrote:

“This is coming to be seen as one of Harper’s signature traits — viewing communication as a one-way exercise: telling, not explaining or persuading or listening. Prime ministerial communication, as this current office-holder describes it, is all about “getting the message out,” and rarely about taking any messages in.”

I guess that’s why our Prime Minister enjoys podcasting so much. He can create the message, send it out and leave no room for anyone to engage in a conversation with him.

Don’t believe me? Check this page. All that’s provided are the podcast feeds and nothing more. Not only does our Prime Minister enjoy hiding behind props when he speaks, but he also hides behind podcasting to discourage dialogue. How odd.

I was over at Amber’s blog where she wrote up about the results of the Canadian Podcasting Survey that I co-authored.

Some chap said that while I was presenting at CaseCamp, I said that I had my friends fill out the survey.

To which I replied:

“Then I must have alot of friends. Just under 1000 of them. All across Canada. Wonder if I’m related to them all as well?”

My friends? They number in the ones, by golly, not in the hundreds. I asked people with blogs, large mailing lists, huge discussion boards and the like to help spread the word about filling out this survey. From there, word of mouth took over.

This is clearly explained in the methodology section of the report. I certainly didn’t write that part of my methodology was to ask my “legion of friends” to fill it out.

Gimme a break, dude.

Technorati Tags: podcasting, canadian podcasting, amber macarthur, casecamp

I posted my lesson learned to a listserv, but wanted to post them here as well. As the feedback comes in regarding the Canadian Podcasting Survey, I see some larger issues emerging.

Namely:

1. Collaborations are awesome if those involved compliment each other. Sequentia is an expert in communications, my company is an expert in podcasting. We complimented each other’s expertise which made working on this survey that much easier.
2. Word-of-mouth through social media works. We got just under 1000 respondents and we only paid $50 for 1 ad. Anyone want to calculate the ROI here? Word-of-mouth helped us get a good sample size and it’s helping us disseminate the results. Even Robert Scoble commented on how powerful word-of-mouth is in the online world.
3. Focus on a niche issue if you run a survey. We focused on a niche technology (podcasting) and a niche country (Canada). While we may alienate those not interested in Canadian issues or podcasting, we’d like to be seen as an authority in the Canadian podcasting space.

There may be other lessons learned, but these are my top 3.

Thoughts?

Technorati Tags: canadian podcasting, partnerships, word of mouth, Viral Marketing, Buzz Marketing, jennifer evans, Niche Marketing, collaborations

(**sigh**) I found out by way of these comments posted by Brian of commandN that Canada’s favourite podcast isn’t Canadian afterall.

Although This Week In Tech (TWIT) has some connection to Canada, it’s fully produced on American soil. By way of my colleague Dave, Amber (who hosts a podcast in the TWIT family called Inside the Net) confirmed that it is indeed American.

Woe is me, I made a mistake. I mean, something so well produced has to be Canadian, right?

Not in this case.

So, as quickly as you could say Web 2.0, the PDF was updated and a note was added to the download site explaining the change.

Slap me on the wrist. Roast me over coals. To all my fellow Canucks, TWIT is indeed American.

Lesson learned?

1. Just because it projects like a Canuck, sounds like a Canuck and smells like a Canuck, it ain’t necessarily one.

Note to self - Don’t write and watch the dishy Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean at the same time. There’s way too much distraction.

Technorati Tags: canadian podcasting