PodCampAZ is rapidly approaching and Douglas is speaking again this year!

For the 3rd year in a row, I will be speaking at PodCampAZ, (November 14 & 15, 2009) which I consider to be the premiere New Media event for the Southwest. Even better, it’s FREE!

I will presenting on 2 topics this year:

My Podcasting Workflow – Audio and Video – A Real World Example

Need some help getting your podcast started. Join veteran podcaster Douglas E. Welch as he takes you through his audio and video podcast process, including discussion on recording, editing, hosting, RSS and more. This is a “Real World Example” showing you the process Douglas has developed over years of podcasting and offering you lessons learned in the trenches.

Stay in control of your RSS feed

In order to maintain complete control over your podcast you need to guard access to your RSS feeds religiously. While services such as Feedburner and others can greatly enhance your podcasting RSS feeds, you need to take some basic steps to maintain control in case your RSS service disappears or tries to control your RSS feed. Learn how web site re-directs, WordPress press plugins and more can help you maintain control over your RSS feeds and keep your podcast in your hands.

As you can see, I am concentrating on some of the nuts and bolts aspects of getting your podcast going. After doing this for 5 years, I understand how fun, important, enlightening, podcasting can be and I want to share that power with everyone.

About PodCampAZ…

It’s that time of year again – PodCamp AZ is coming to the University of Advancing Technology November 14th and 15th! PodCampAZ is a FREE networking media unconference, dedicated to blogging, video blogging, podcasting, social networking, and all other relevant media. At the heart of the unconference is the opportunity to have a conversation at large with those innovators which have created a successful blend of relevant media and put it to work for them. Speakers will address emerging trends and best practices on everything from print and radio to mobile, interactive web, and in real life information exchange. During PodCamp sessions, attendees are free to drop in, listen and learn about what is relevant to their needs, and if they choose to, move on to other sessions. You can also become an interactive part of the experience by sharing your knowledge as a speaker or stimulating ideas and asking questions as an active attendee.

If you are an established or aspiring blogger, podcaster, video blogger, or social media advocote and want to meet hundreds of people with the same interests, head over to podcampaz.org to get more information about this exciting event. And above all else, register to attend PodCamp AZ!

New Media Answers Celebrates 1st Anniversary!

Looking over the New Media Interchange site tonight, preparing some other information, I was pleasantly surprised to see the our first show, New Media Answers, celebrated its 1st Anniversary in August 2009. Tracy Pattin and myself (Douglas E. Welch) have produced 16 episodes of this series, designed to help answer some of the most basic questions about New Media.

Please let us know if there are any questions we can answer for you in future shows. We love getting to the heart of your New Media questions and giving you the information you need to move forward with your own projects.

You can find all the past New Media Answers shows on the New Media Interchange Web Site under New Media Answers (direct link)

Thanks to Tracy for her great work. She now has 2 podcasts of her own, Sizzle in the Middle (Adventurize Your Mid-Lfe) and Voicebank.net’s VoiceRegistry blog and podcast where can learn about the amazing world of voiceover acting through interviews with many of its most important people.

As for me, I will be celebrating the 5th Anniversary of my show, Career Opportunities: Helping to Build the Career You Deserve on September 24, 2009. I was one of the pioneer podcasters and still greatly enjoy it after all these years. It is this enjoyment that drives me to introduce everyone to the power of New Media and led directly to the creation of New Media Interchange. You can find more of my audio and video productions on my other blogs and podcasting, My Word with Douglas E. Welch, A Gardener’s Notebook, TechnologyIQ and Careers in New Media. You’ll find links to all of these on my web site at http://welchwrite.com/.

Please be sure to check out the New Media Interchange Commmunity site, where you can ask your New Media questions and discuss issues with your fellow NMI members.

New Media is about sharing your message, not being a star

Douglas E. Welch, Founder, New Media Interchange

When I talk to people about the opportunities of New Media, especially here in Los Angeles, their thoughts often turn to the stereotypical image of television or radio shows. They see elaborate sets, expensive lighting and sound equipment and maybe even a live audience. This is NOT what New Media is about. Sure, New Media shows often take on some of the forms of radio or television shows since these are our most familiar examples of media. That said, New Media can have a higher goal than simply entertainment. New Media is about sharing your message with the world, not about being a star.

Sure, there are pure entertainment shows out there in the New Media world. That is the message that those people have decided they want to share. That doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to that framework. Television isn’t made up of only scripted drama series. There are a variety of show types. New Media takes that variety and adds countless new concepts.

For the first time in the history of media, you now have the ability to take your message, about anything, directly to your audience. This is a great power which almost anyone can use. Do you have a real estate company? Use New Media to communicate directly with the buyers and sellers who are most interested. Run a restaurant? Communicate directly with both your biggest fans and people who know nothing about you. Have a freelance business? Develop your own show to share the best of your knowledge and skills with those that need it most — and are therefore more willing to pay for it!

“For me, New Media isn’t about the show as a property unto itself. It is about the message.”

For me, New Media isn’t about the show as a property unto itself. It is about the message. In most cases, you will not make money on your New Media show alone, you will make it on the customers that it brings to your business, the side products that you sell and the attention and authority the show and the quality information you offer bring to you as an individual.

Since New Media is not about being a star, we don’t have to worry about huge budgets, fancy lighting, costumes, actors and more. Your show is about you, at a very personal level. People will come to you looking for great information and, in many cases, to know you better as a person. There is an intimacy to coming into someone’s computer and home on a regular basis. You will learn more about your viewers, your customers, your fellow hobbyists as they learn more about you.

Don’t let your long experience with mainstream media limit your view of what New Media can be or what it can do for you. We are still at the very beginning of New Media, still finding its power and its limits. This is the time for innovation and play. Let’s see how far we can stretch the bounds of this new tool. Let’s see how it can change our work, our businesses, our lives for the better.

It has been said that complete freedom can be one of the most frightening things in our lives. It paralyzes us with the possibilities. New Media Interchange is dedicated to breaking through this paralysis and helping you find a way to make New Media work for you, regardless of what message you are trying to share with the world.

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NMI members enter “Your Parks” video contest

New Media Interchange members, Keri Dearborn and Michael Lawshe have posted their entry in the National Parks Foundation “Your Parks” contest. You can view, and vote for, their video by clicking the image below.

Contests like this are one way you can hone your new media skills while having a good time, and perhaps, helping out a good cause. Do you know a charity that could use some short videos for their web sites? Consider helping the out and putting your knowledge to work at the same time.

Open up your company, store, and life to the world

Image via Wikipedia

I posted this tip today on the NewMediaTips Twitter feed today, but I wanted to expand on it here.

“Stores have viewing windows and open kitchens for a reason. New media opens your viewing window to the world, not just those nearby”

Nearly everyone likes to see behind the scenes. Cake stores have viewing windows into the decorating area and more and more restaurants are designed with open kitchens where diners can take in the entire process of preparing their meal. Krispy Kreme Donuts exposed their entire production line, making it a show unto itself. Factory tours are everywhere and their are entire television shows dedicated to showing “How it’s made”

Considering the public’s love for behind the scenes information, why not use new media tools to expose your business, your work, your life, to those who might be interested. New Media is like opening your viewing window, your backstage, to the world instead of just the few people who happen to walk by your storefront. Increasingly, the Internet is your storefront and you should be using New Media to give people a look, a taste, of what is happening.

You can do this by putting photos on your web site, recording audio interview with your staff, or taking video of a particular process. All of these types of media can be easily captured and shared using inexpensive equipment and cheap or free Internet services.

What’s stopping you? Leave our questions and comments on this post and I will give your some great ideas for getting started today.

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Email is still alive – New Media Answers 016

Tracy Pattin and Douglas E. Welch discuss talk All Things Email in this edition of their on-going series, New Media Answers.

iPod Ready Video

Listen to past New Media Answers episodes

Get New Media Tips via Twitter