As an engineer by training I have had a love / hate relationship with sales people. “Why can’t they just sell the product we have instead of some product we don’t yet have” was a constant lament. Don’t get me wrong, my father was a salesman and was, in fact, the top salesman for his company for years. He worked in an industry that relied on repeat sales so his customers were his friends and a sales call was having coffee with a friend.

But having spent the last 7 months as a full-time solo entrepreneur I am reminded of the benefit of having a good salesperson working with you. I am not a salesperson. I would rather do just about anything else than pick up the phone and sell an ad for the Amateur Traveler podcast so instead of picking up the phone I do… just about anything else.

We want for people to appreciate what we do. We want for people to want to be associated with us. But sometimes that does involve picking up the phone and explaining this to people. My writing is improving as is my video editing. I am a good interviewer and audio editor. I can make my own graphics, create and run my own websites. I can create custom themes and plug-ins for my site. I can run engineering teams, manage project and product managers, coax designers, and corral operation groups. But sales, so far eludes me.

So to all the good sales people I have not appreciated in the past, my sincere apologies.

On November 20th  I will be teaching a one day short course at DeAnza College called “Blogging for Profit”.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will look at

• How to pick a topic for blogging
• How to use keyword research
• How to setup and maintain a blog using WordPress
• How to personalize your blog using templates and plugins
• How to maintain your blog
• How to get advertising for your blog
• How to sell products using affiliate links
• How to use your blog to build your reputation
• How to work with PR firms

There is no materials fee, but blog hosting is recommended and costs around $7 a month and other tools will be discussed but not required.

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHY:
Chris left his day job in January 2010 to focus on consulting, podcasting and blogging including his popular Amateur Traveler podcast / blog. He was the Executive Vice President of Engineering and Operations for a company in Silicon Valley (LiveWorld) that runs online communities for companies like eBay, Marriott, American Express, Campbells, Kimberly Clark, A&E, and Mini Cooper.

SCHEDULE:
November 20, 2010 – 1 Week(s) – Sat – 9 AM to 5 PM

REGISTRATION:

Registration will open later in August at Impact Short Courses

Tomorrow is a coming out party for Tourism Marketing Consulting which is a project that Jen Leo and I have been working on for a few months. We are kicking off this joint venture with a free webinar called “Social Media 101“.

Jen and I met at the speaker’s dinner last year at the Travel Blog Exchange conference in Chicago. We hit it off immediately and soon after Gary Arndt and I asked her to join us starting the This Week in Travel podcast. Jen confessed recently that she thought she was being asked to be on one episode and did not realize that she was being asked to be a regular host. That is probably just as well as she might have said “no” as her job as the lead travel blogger with the LA Times was keeping her pretty busy.

Jen has much more experience in travel than I do and seems to know all the other travel editors and travel writers. I have a bit more social media experience since I was building internet communities full time starting in 1996. She is a blogger and I am a podcaster. I am afraid to ask, but since she lives in southern California she might even be a Dodgers fan. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful partnership. I hope you can join us tomorrow.

Running an online community is like throwing a party. That’s what Jenna Woodul LiveWorld’s Chief Community Officer told me sometime in the 1990s. I have always liked the analogy.

I attended my first meeting of a particular meetup group recently. I arrived with my artichoke dip and entered into a house full of strangers. I did not know whose house I was in. Even by the time I left, I still did not know who was the owner of the house. I did not know where to put my dip so I stood there for a few minutes like… well… a dip. I talked to some people but there were no name tags and no introductions. No one said “Chris, you are new here, I would like you to meet…”. The main presentation was by a husband and wife. It was interesting but the couple bickered the entire time. It is unlikely I will return to that group. Some changes to that meetup or to you community will increase the chance that people will return.

Whose house am I in?

Well run communities have context. When I come to your community I want to know whose community this is and what it stands for. Some of this sense of place should come from the branding even before I interact with anyone in the community.

Where do I put the dip?

How do things run here? Prompts, categories and seeded content help give me a sense of how this community works. A lot of communities put up a community standards in the registration process and think they are done. But why do I decide to register? Why should I join your merry band? Did you let your lawyers write your community standards? Do people read it?

Introductions

Think about a time or place on your community where people can introduce themselves. People like to be welcomed and acknowledged.

Who in your community is an official host or an unofficial one? If you are greeted when you join a community you will be more likely to see that as the way this community works.

Some people here are new

In a lot of communities that I have seen over the years the new person finds out what the expectations are by breaking them. Think I am exaggerating? How about this answer from a typical forum:

what camera is best.. really is stupid unanswerable question and
its time we starting saying so to the myriad of people that keep
asking it…

…and welcome to the community. When that kind of answer becomes tolerated or expected then the community will have a hard time attracting new users.

Bickering

It is very awkward to sit through a presentation where the presenters bicker with one another. Communities are the same way. As communities age sometimes cliques or factions can develop. I am not necessarily even talking about the big picture differences between people who arrived with different world views on politics, religion or the New York Yankees but people who have developed bad blood over time. Ever been to a family reunion or a family wedding like that? Even the best communities need ongoing hosting.

Values

People will imitate the behaviors they see you model, promote or tolerate on your community. Does your community reflect what your company or organization values?

recipe for artichoke dip

I often get asked how I get so much done. Granted I got asked that more before I quit the day job. I have learned that one of the best ways to be productive is to focus. But I only have so much focus in me so the trick that I use involves a timer.

The Amateur Traveler podcast that I put out pretty much every Saturday morning takes hours of production. The problem with that schedule means is I am often working on it late into the night on Friday nights. If there is one night that I don’t particularly feel like working it would probably be Friday. Now the smart person would probably finish the production work on Thursday but this is not a post on how to be smart.

Most weeks I finish the show by bribing myself. I set a timer for 25 minutes. During that 25 minutes I focus only on the show. I don’t answer email. I don’t look at twitter, AIM, or Skype. I don’t listen to podcasts. I don’t check facebook. I don’t sit within the sound of a TV or a radio. Then when the timer goes off I set it again for 5 minutes. During that 5 minutes I play. My game of choice is Age of Mythology. I don’t play it online where I could be caught up in something that would be hard to stop, because after 5 minutes the process repeats. 25 minutes of work, 5 minutes of play.

Sometimes I get sucked into more than 5 minutes of play but more often I get sucked into more than 25 minutes of work. In theory, I could finish faster if I did not take time out for a break every 25 minutes, but what I have found is that without that break I would find excuses to do something else. My mind wants to wander. During that 5 minutes I might instead catch up on twitter or facebook. I probably listen to a podcast while I play. I might check my email, AIM or Skype, but then it’s back to work.

So my suggestion is to find time to focus… but also find time to play.

Last month I had the opportunity to join airline pilot / podcaster Joe d’Eon on his new live video show on uStream.tv – Fly with Me Live. It used to be that production of a live broadcast video show would require at least a cable access studio with thousands of dollars of hardware. And even then who watches cable access? The internet has brought video broadcast costs down to the hundreds of dollars. Joe’s setup is for two people with two cameras.
Audio:

• T.C. Electronic Konnekt 8 firewire interface (they are no making these, but you can find them on ebay)
• Heil PR 40 mic
• Shure SM 58 mic
• Behringer Mixer

Video:

• 2 x QuickCam® Vision Pro webcams

Joe’s setup is more complicated to run since he is taking Skype calls  live from listeners. If you just want to broadcast via uStream.tv you just need a uStream account, camera and microphone. The software setup Joe is using is free:

• Skype – Joe takes calls via Skype. Add in a Skype-in account and people could also call from a normal phone.
• uStream.tv – uStream supports a large number of users watching the video stream. It also adds the ability to have a chat associated with the event and records the event for the people who missed the live broadcast. It does all of this for free.
• Camtwist - Camtwist is a great piece of free software (Mac OS) that allows you to switch between different video setups. You can program in setups like a lower third graphic, a slide show, picture and picture and also switch between video cameras and showing your desktop.
• Soundflower – Camtwist is cool, but soundflower is arcane. This piece of software helps you take the audio output of one program and feed it into another. So soundflower is needed so that you can hear the callers on Skype and still have the audio be broadcast to listeners.

Joe and his lovely wife Sarah (who hides off camera) go through a pre-flight check list before the show to make sure all the settings are set. Sarah also monitors the chat room for questions. I look forward to where you can do this same functionality with on itegrated package. You don’t have to be a jet plane pilot to run your own live video call-in show… but it doesn’t hurt either.

They say that the first step in dealing with an addiction is admitting that you have a problem. I have a problem. The list of 71 podcasts below are shows that I listen to or watch. I do occasionally skip an episode but generally consume every episode of the following shows. I do actually subscribe to more shows than this but I did not include any show that does not come out regularly or has not come out recently.

How do I listen to so many shows? I listen mostly on my iPhone at double speed which means that it is easier for an audio show to get my attention than a video show.

There are of course other podcasts out there that are terrific but honestly… I feel I am doing my part. So the list has no knitting podcasts or sports podcasts but clearly reflects my personal interests. But I listen to an awful lot of podcasts so I think my opinion has some merit. It is easier to get on my list if your show is short because of the number of shows I subscribe to.

I put my favorites in bold. This list is subject to change but these favorite podcasts are the ones I am most committed to.

Yes, I did include my 4 podcasts, but what did you expect?

Technology

• GeekBrief.TV rss – video – Shiny happy gadget news from my friends Cali Lewis and Neal Campbell. Anyone who wants to make a video podcast would be well to see what GeekBrief does.
• net@night rss – audio – This is the best show in the TWIT podcast network in my opinion. TWIT shows tend to be long but this show is packed with content.
• Buzz Out Loud rss – audio – This is a weekday tech show with a great crew and strong community. The show can get a bit shrill and repetitive, especially for Apple fan boys like me. I will miss Tom Merritt who is leaving next week and going to the TWIT network. If you listen to BOL then the CNet video podcasts will have a fair amount of overlap in information.
• commandN rss – video – Amber Mac leads a great team to bring tech news. It is somewhat redundant with net@night.
• MacCast – For Mac Geeks, by Mac Geeks rss – enhanced audio – A great enhanced podcast with chapters from my friend Adam Christianson. If you don’t like a particular segment use the chapters to skip to the next segment.
• David Pogue rss – video – This show has humorous gadget reviews by the always funny David Pogue.
• Buzz Report (SD) rss – video – This is a video podcast from CNet. It is as much an editorial and comedy show as a tech news show.  The show stars Molly Wood.
• School of Podcasting – Learn To Podcast rss – audio – Serial podcaster Dave Jackson talks about all sorts of issues for podcasters.
• Typical Mac User Podcast rss – audio – Victor Cajiao started with the Typical PC User podcast but then switched to the mac. Victor is a great guy and this show goes in great detail. I do tend to sample this show because I have had Macs since 1988 and this show targets newer users.
• Today in iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch Podcast – The Unofficial iPhone News and iPhone Apps Podcast rss – audio – Rob Walsh from LibSyn deals with apps, jail-breaking, and stupid things people predicted about the iPhone.
• Evernote Blogcast rss – audio – A fun podcast for people who use the Evernote tool and a good example of a corporate podcast.
• Mac Power Users rss – audio – One of the most recent additions to this list. A monthly podcast that gets way down into the niddly bits of how to use the Mac.
• Loaded rss – video – A weekday video news podcast from CNet with the lovely and smart Natalie Del Conte. This show is much more straight news than CNet’s Buzz Report.
• The Apple Byte (SD) rss – video – This is CNet’s Apple centric video show. Brian Tong is a bit of an acquired taste and the show can occasionally goes over the top.

Business

• Marketing Over Coffee Marketing Podcast rss – audio – How John Wall and Christopher Penn can record a show at 5:30am and have it be useful is beyond me.
• For Immediate Release Podcast rss – audio – Neville Hobson and Shell Holtz look at issues in communications and PR. They just went from two-hour long shows a week to one. So now I have another hour available for consuming a new podcast.
• The Digital Marketer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Growing Your Business with Digital Tools – rss – audio – This is a short audio show from the Quick and Dirty Tips network which often leaves me looking up some new website.
• Internet Marketing This Week rss – audio – A quartet of entertaining and informative internet marketers. I started listening because of Paul Coligan who I have known for almost 5 years. Ed Dale, Lynne Terry and Michelle Macphearson also host this show.
• Managing the Gray – Positive Advice That Everyone Can Use to Succeed rss – audio – CC Chapman is a friend and a very excitable social media proponent.
• DishyMix: Success Secrets from Famous Media and Internet Business Executives rss – audio – Susan Braton is another friend who has very interesting guests. Susan is many things, but never boring.
• BusinessWeek — Behind This Week’s Cover Story rss – audio – BusinessWeek’s editor interviews the reporter behind the cover story.
• Struggling Entrepreneur rss – audio – Fred Castaneda looks at the issues and challenges in running a small business.
• “Help! My Business Sucks!” Marketing ideas, plans, and news with Andrew Lock. The Web TV Show for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. rss – audio – Andrew Lock looks at lessons from major brands and nifty new tools. Recent changes to the show have made it a bit more like an infomercial.
• Power To The Small Business rss – audio – This show deals primarily with marketing issues for small businesses.
• Read This First rss – audio book – This is the only audio book delivered as a podcast I have on the list. This is friend and social media consultant Ron Ploof’s intro to social media for executives.
• The Public Speaker’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Your Communication Skills rss – audio – Another great show from the Quick and Dirty Tips network on public speaking.
• Inbound Marketing – HubSpot TV rss – video – One of the best corporate video podcasts and a great marketing podcast.
• Internet Business Mastery: Business Development and Internet Marketing for the Web 2.0 Age » Podcast rss – Jay and Sterling want to help people quit their day job and start and internet business. I quit my day job and started an internet business. I blame them.
• Internet Marketing Podcast Network rss – This is a new addition to my list. It is a show out of the UK on internet marketing.
• Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Insights – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image rss – audio – I find that this show varies a lot in quality from week to week depending on who is on the show with Mitch.
• 10 Golden Rules of Internet Marketing Podcast rss – Jay Berkowitz’s show has great content although the sound quality is sometimes poor when it is recorded on a phone conference line.

English

• Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing rss – audio – Mignon Fogarty  is the head of the Quick and Dirty Tips network and her show is the flagship content.
• podictionary – for word lovers – dictionary etymology, trivia & history rss – audio – This show is for real word nerds and I learned about from the wonderful but podfaded Word Nerds podcast. I is for people who love to know where words come from.

History

• The History of Rome rss – audio – This is probably one of my two favorite podcasts. A show that can come out so regularly and come out with such high quality episodes is admirable.
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History rss – audio – Dan’s show is much less frequent but another popular show for history buffs.
• BBC History Magazine rss – audio – This show is a new addition for me and I find it a bit hit and miss.

Productivity

• Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More rss – audio – Any show that uses examples of dealing with your zombie army to illustrate for how to manage your time is a must listen for me. This is probably my other favorite podcast.
• The Bigg Success Show rss – audio – George and Marilynn are friends and I enjoy their daily short take on life. The laughter can be a bit canned.
• David Allen Company Updates rss – audio – This podcast is from the people behind the GTD (Get Things Done) system.

Comedy

• Dilbert Animated Cartoons rss – video – This show is short and funny for geeks like me.
• Onion Radio News rss – audio – This show is occasionally crude, often politically incorrect and almost always funny.
• The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd Official Podcast rss – audio – Grab your secret decoder ring for this family friendly, educational and mostly just funny show. Grant Baciocco & Doug Price are the podcasters most deserving of their own network TV show.
• The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd Video Podcast rss – video – …and they make good puppeteers also
• APM: A Prairie Home Companion’s News from Lake Wobegon rss – audio – Garrison Keiler is still funny after all these years as he broadcasts the monologue about his mythical hometown.
• Scam School rss – video – Spiky-haired magician Brian Brushwood is either the podcasters most likely to scam you for a beer or most likely to get arrested… depending on the episode.

News

• NPR: Story of the Day Podcast rss – audio – This show is a great window into the wonderful content that NPR is producing.

Travel

• Amateur Traveler Podcast – the best places to travel to rss – enhanced audio – The Amateur Traveler is an interview show focusing on travel destinations. This is my show.
• Amateur Traveler Video rss – video – This again is my podcast which shows videos from my travel.
• This Week in Travel rss – audio – I swear this is the last travel show I do. This Week in Travel is a roundtable discussion with Gary Arndt, Jen Leo, a guest and I looking at travel news.
• Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! rss – audio – Betty N. Thesky is a flight attendant with a major airline who records crazy stories about air travel.
• Fly With Me rss – audio – Joe d’Eon is a pilot for a major airline that also records stories on air travel. Joe got Betty (above) started in podcasting.
• WOR – Arthur Frommer rss – audio – Arthur and Pauline Frommer are each a font of knowledge on travel, although the questions they get asked on this call-in show do get a bit redundant.
• Peter Greenberg Worldwide rss – audio – I have no desire to travel as much as Peter Greenberg does. Peter has great guests from the travel industry as he broadcasts from a new destination each week.
• Redbelly Radio rss – audio – This is another great company podcast from Southwest Airlines.
• TravelCommons rss – video – My friend Mark Peacock talks about life as a road warrior business traveler.
• Travel with Rick Steves rss – audio – Rick Steves interviews his guides or authors. The content is great but the show has two musical segments I fast forward through since he is repurposing his radio show.
• Home Based Travel Agent Podcast rss – audio – This is obviously a niche show by my friends Barry Kantz and Lorene Romero.
• Travel in 10: 10 Minute Travel Podcast rss – audio and video – David Brodie, yes another travel podcaster friend of mine, does a show that is travel destination focused.
• ontravel.com rss – audio – Veteran travel journalists Paul Lasley and Elizabeth Harrington host perhaps the shortest travel show.
• The Indie Travel Podcast rss – enhanced audio – My friends Craig and Linda are Kiwis who host perhaps the best travel podcast for the backpack and hostel crowd.
• Heather on her travels Podcasts rss – audio – Heather may have gotten her podcasting start on the Amateur Traveler but now has her own new travel show.
• TravellingTwo: Bicycle Touring Around The World » Radio Shows rss – audio – Andrew and Friedel may have gotten their podcasting start on the Amateur Traveler but they now host a show about bike travel.
• Galavanting rss – video – Kim Mance and her crew have one of the nicest looking video travel shows. At times the conversation seems scripted… just like on the Travel Channel which would do well to bring these ladies on board.
• TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: The Travel Destination Podcast rss – audio – Gary Bembridge does a travel show targeting more of the POSH style of travel like crossing the atlantic on the QE2. Gary always gives practical tips.
• Lonely Planet Travelcasts rss – audio – This show is a bit hit and miss for my tastes as they try to cover the more unusual side of travel.
• Hostelworld.com Podcasts rss – audio – This is another travel podcast targeting the backpack and hostel crowd.

Faith

• The Bible Study Podcast rss – audio – OK, this is the last of my podcasts. The goal of this podcast is to cover the bible without all the politics.

Photography

• Typical Shutterbug Podcast rss – audio – Victor Cajiao takes his congenial podcast ways (Typical Mac User podcast) and applies them to his hobby of photography.

Music

• Accident Hash rss – audio – CC Chapman’s oldest podcast is this music show that looks at more independent bands. CC gets excited about music also.
• Build the Church rss – audio – Podcaster Mark Linder knows I hate the opening and closing of this contemporary Christian music podcast, but I loved the music… usually. Mark’s show runs the gamut from blues and soft rock to head banging and rap.

Storytelling

• Griddlecakes Radio rss – audio – Ron Ploof is a story-teller and this highly produced podcast shows that the art of story telling is not dead.

Google Buzz has been out for almost 3 months now and I think it is time to take another look. I find that I am not using Google Buzz and I think there are a few design decisions that have hampered its acceptance.

Privacy

Clearly Google biffed their original roll out with all sorts of bad privacy choices and defaults, but it seems that they have learned from their mistakes and have fixed most of the issues. That is at least better than one large social networking company (which rhymes with acebook) that keeps making bad decisions in the privacy area.

My Login is My Email

The one area of privacy that has not been addressed is that Google took a social network and made the public handle for me my email address. Every single update to Google Buzz is a message to the world what your email address is. Now I built and ran online communities since 1996 and we never had a customer who chose to make the email address the public user name for their community. As your email address is available publically it opens you up to more spam. Google Buzz only has that issue to the extent that your updates are public and can be scraped by bots. But, if you are not selective about who you add to your social graph then expect more spam.

I Don’t Follow Popular People

One thing I did not expect is that I have stopped following anyone who has a popular following. Google decided in Buzz that anytime someone replies to someone I follow that the reply belongs in my update feed. That means when I followed Robert Scoble or Chris Pirillo, to name two, my buzz feed was now just about them. Anyone less popular was lost in the noise. I don’t get that issue on twitter. Now communities and message boards have dealt with those issues for many years. Most message board systems provide different ways of filtering information. They usually show me just the threads in a discussion and let me know which ones have new replies and don’t require that I get all updates for every post. I think that Google could learn something from some of these older methods. Maybe I should only get updates after I have commented or maybe they can give me an option of telling them which discussions I want to follow. This is not a new problem. There are proven solutions.

Do You Want Community In My Email?

I am not a big gmail user so I don’t know the answer to the last question. Is my inbox the best place to put a social network? With so many people overwhelmed by keeping up with their email, is Google Buzz just the wrong place to be social?

Since I left the day job in January I have been doing more voice over work including some voice acting for an upcoming animated short film from the Netherlands. Here are some of the demos that I created:

relaxed

commercial with humor

commercial – warm with humor

Continental Airlines phone

24 Promo

Powered by Voice123 – Voice-Over

Voice work and voiceovers seemed like a natural extension after recording 400+ podcasts. I have had people comment on my telephone and podcast voice over the years. So if you hear my voice on the next Dreamworks film… or more likely on someone’s voicemail tree please let me know. See my voice over profile on Voice123.

I am reminded this morning how much I love teaching about Social Media. I had the opportunity to speak on the Google campus to a group of RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) alumni and guests on Social Media. Since I live in the social media echo chamber it is easy for me to forget that not everyone knows terms like RSS, podcast, and social network. I love getting a chance to explain what social media is and how it can actually help your business. Consistently when I have been speaking recently I am told that actually talking about business strategy and social media is not common. Why is that?

If you are interested, here is my slide deck, but my slides are not the kind where you sit in the room and read my presentation.

I don’t have the audio from this event but part of the talk on strategy is similar to what I talked about at a recent Social Media Breakfast presentation which was captured on For Immediate Release Speakers & Speaches series.