Lots of Conversation, Lots of Energy

This week was chock full of conversations with people interested in how podcasting can work for their business. The amount of enthusiasm and energy I consistently received from across the table blew me away. Two other things that struck me:

  1. The people I’m talking with aren’t currently that far away from podcasting. It’s just a matter of connecting the dots.
  2. At least 3 really cool ideas for a podcast came out of each conversation. Ideas playing to the strengths of both podcasting and the organization.

As we all know, there’s still a layer of geek needed for the podcasting magic to happen. I can’t wait until that’s no longer an issue.

To Improv-a-Go-Go We Went

Every Sunday night at the Brave New Workshop presents, Improv-A-Go-Go. $1 buys you 2 hours of local improv. A good deal no matter how hit and miss the comedy.

Tonight’s performance was definitely so:

  • Straight From Uranus started off rough and quickly got their stride. Knowing when to end a scene, improv or otherwise is the biggest gift a performer can offer their audience. This young group knew when to end a scene and they were funny.
  • Resist Butch! answered 2 questions. First, can jumping from dramatic to comedic improv be done well? Yes. Second, can 2 performers pull off playing 3 characters, often switching back and forth, in the same scene? Yes.
  • Perhaps it’s something in the air, some ‘Spy’ meme that’s going around. Late last week, I laughed all the way through Little Gray Book lecture #2 – Secrets of the Secret Agents and tonight the Brave New Workshop provided episode two of their sketch “Spies are Everywhere.” A brilliant idea, take a normally banal scene and put spies in it. Almost as funny as Superheros doing banal things, or people in animal costumes acting normal. I love that stuff.
  • I knew something was fishy when 3 players get on stage, ask for suggestions, proclaim “We’re off to improv, we’ll be back”, and leave. Um. Sure, I’ll play along. An hour and 45 minutes later, Regrettable Breakfast returns with a recording of a dramatic improv far more uncomfortable than watching Eyes Wide Shut with your grandmother. Yes, watching an improv scene unfold in a kitchen is an interesting idea, that’s still no reason to mic the cupboard doors, nor is it a reason to videotape it, inherently disconnecting the players from the audience. Thereby not knowing when to cut the scene.

For a dollar, I’ll be back. It’s far more entertaining than not winning the lottery.

As a final note, Secrets of the Secret Agents is the most recent addition to my Garrick’s Podcast Picks podcast at Gigadial.

Podcasting is Closer to Voicemail than Radio

Yesterday, I listened to the latest from the Podcast Brothers featuring an interview with Todd Storch. You’ve probably gleaned that I don’t see the viability of an ad subsidized podcast. As I’ve mentioned in the economics of podcasting, existing broadcasters have huge amounts of money sunk into transmitters, spectrum, studios, and talent. The easiest way to get a return on that investment is from advertisers. These sunk costs don’t exist in podcasting. So, there’s no financial pain for advertisers to heal.

For the sake of not having the advertiser conversation for a moment, let’s put down the radio metaphor.

If someone calls my phone and leaves a message – I get it automatically. When Dave Winer, Tim Elliot, Cayenne Chris, or Dave Slusher publish a new audio file, I get it automatically.

Phone messages are also very personal, relevant to a topic I’m concerned with, and vary both in frequency and duration. All characteristics of a good podcast. Voicemail also isn’t ad subsidized.

As Doc Searls famously asked in the BloggerCon Making Money session:

“What’s the business model of my telephone?”

Lawyers, accountants, coaches, and other professional consultants stake each paycheck on answering clients’ questions expertly and immediately. What’s the value of a voicemail from your accountant? Depends on the question.

How much would you pay for your accountant to leave a voicemail answering a question just before you ask it?

That’s how to make money podcasting.

In Podcasting is the New Voicemail, Ross Mayfield is thinking along the same lines:

“Soon it will be one of the simplest ways to communicate with groups.”

My Car Won’t Run E85, Maybe Yours?

Yesterday, I noticed the signage at the gas station up the street was showing prices for unleaded gasoline and E85, the fuel made of 85% ethanol and just 15% petroleum. E85 can be made from sugar cane, corn, wheat, just about any starch. Here in the midwest the obvious choice is corn.

As a quick aside, on our last cross-country road trip Jen and I noticed Nebraskan gas stations were promoting the higher percentage of ethanol in the fuels they sold. Next door in Wyoming, the signs proclaimed “There’s No Corn in our Gas!”. With Wyoming not known for their corn production prowess it seemed like a fairly empty statement.

Back to E85, if you’re driving a Flexible Fuel Vehicle like a Ford Explorer or Chrysler minivan, E85 is 30 to 50 cents cheaper per gallon than regular unleaded. Frankly, I’m pretty surprised at the list of Flexible Fuel Vehicles, all trucks and SUVs. Considering how poor their mileage is to begin with, definitely a good thing. Still, I was disappointed not to see the Neon or PT Cruiser on the list.

Minnesota Public Radio’s story on E85.

The IKEA Furnishings Subscription Model

I had a couple of apartments completely furnished via IKEA. As I’m sure you know, once assembled Billy isn’t going anywhere. Drooping and wabbly, the Billy entertainment system lasted – to the day – as my last rental lease. Not a bad thing, I didn’t have to move it. Though it did leave me without a bookcase.

Tonight, browsing their rug selection and picking up a couple things for the office, I pondered again the potential for an IKEA Furnishings Subscription Model. Yes, subscription-based furnishings. IKEA’s furniture prices are low enough where refurnishing is like putting on a fresh coat of paint and like that coat of paint, it only lasts a couple years. Two-years later, when that bookcase is sagging and worn, no worries – it’s replacement has been paid for. The delivery truck will be here tomorrow. Same with the sofa and dining room set and eventually the entire house?

First Crack 45. Cayenne Chris’s Sketch Comedy Podcast

On a beautiful Minneapolis summer day, Cayenne Chris Conroy from Teknikal Diffikulties and I sit down for a backyard-cast to discuss his sketch comedy podcast, creating and keeping track of characters, sound effects, radio theater, the right length for a podcast.

Listen to Teknikal Diffikulties with Cayenne Chris [37 min]

First Crack 44. Building Community, Building Bridges

David Motzenbecker, Mark Hinds, and I talk about how to get a bridge built. Specifically, a pedestrian bridge to re-connect the Bryant and Kingfield neighborhoods of south Minneapolis, two neighborhoods long separated by interstate highway 35W.

Listen to Building Community, Building Bridges [33 min]

Lucero Survived the Culling of SXSW Showcase Music

I’ve got a smart iTunes playlist set up entitled ‘Getting Things Done’ – it holds my tried and true favorites, songs that are just the right combination of ‘covering background noise’ (lawn mowers and road construction) and ‘keep me motivated’.

Specifically, the list contains tracks I’ve rated greater than 2 stars that aren’t in my ‘Most Played’ list (play count > 18) and aren’t podcasts or audio books.

So it’s a nice mix of 118 songs. Right off the bat That Much Further West played from Lucero. A great tune by a band reminding of the best parts of Uncle Tupelo, the Replacements, and any number of long broken up indy country bands.

Lucero came to me via the SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artists download. That’s right 2.6+ gigs of indy music – and I’ve got 70 unplayed songs left. Lucero and 615 others stay, all the death metal – gone.


Other surviving SXSW Showcasing Artists:
Go Betty Go
Daphne Loves Derby
Richmond Fontaine
Melissa Ferrick
Hayes Carll
Linus Pauling Quartet
Rob McColley

Podcasting is Ron Popeil for the Radio

Mark Ramsey at Radio Marketing Nexus nails the value of podcasting to business:

Podcasting is to Radio spots as infomercials are to TV spots.

I’ve used the informercial comparison before, I’m glad others see it also. The traditional model of commerical spots interrupting a regularly scheduled program falls apart in podcasting. Podcasts can shrink and expand to whatever length makes sense and economics of it mean businesses can publish them in-house faster and easier than waiting to get on a networks schedule.

A good podcast is about one idea, like a good sentence. Traditional interruption-based advertising duct-tapes on a second idea. Earlier, this would be the only way to distribute the commercial message – outside of an infomercial. With podcasting businesses go direct to customers – plus now the commerical message won’t be interupted by the regularly scheduled program.

Beside, when you get far enough down the long tail, everything is both information and advertisement.

Elsewhere 22 April 2007

“Commercial information will be opt-in, long-form, information-rich and entertaining, or people won’t watch it.” – Dave Winer