Monday, September 24, 2007
Why I love the podcasting community
When Apple launched the new iPods and I realized that we were going to be demonstrating more products at iProng's booth at Podcast Expo than could be handled by one person, I realized we were going to be one pair of good hands short in our booth setup, so I did what podcasters do when they need a little help from their friends: I asked for it.
And I received it in spades. Now, not only are the holes in our booth rotation covered, Expo attendees have the opportunity to come and learn about the new products from their favorite podcaster. A lot of these volunteers have sufficiently popular podcasts that they don't need whatever measure of publicity they'll get by doing this; they're doing it because they want to do it. I'm not quite sure if anyone has ever turned to crowdsourcing for their booth staff, and in some other community I'm not sure it would work. But this is the podcasting community, and we're doing this together, and I've got a really good feeling about the people who've jumped on board.
Some of them are tech-oriented podcasters; Adam (MacCast) and Victor (Typical Mac User) are coming over from the adjacent OC Podcasters booth to demo the iPhone and iPod together right when the exhibit hall first opens Friday morning so that I'll be free to moderate the Music in Podcasting panel at the adjacent LA Podcasters booth. Then there are podcasters like Elsie (Elsie's Yoga Class) and Steve (Lifespring) whose podcasts have nothing to do with technology whatsoever.
There's Ginger (Brain Science Podcast) who I met at a past PodCamp. There are podcasters such as Dave (PopCast) whom I haven't even met; they simply offered to help out. Let's not forget Shooby Kumar, who's sixteen years old and knows more about the iPhone than I do. And there are Expo session presenters such as KFC (SkyDiverGirls) and Don (ScreenCastsOnline) who are helping us with the demos as well. On top of that, there are those such as Ken (Mac OS Ken) and Irina who didn't want to do product demos and instead volunteered to help us out at the prize table. How cool is that?
And these are just the folks who have already been able to commit 100 percent; there are others who will likely be added to the schedule as we get closer to the Expo (the finalized schedule will be posted each day at our booth). Hopefully, by doing it this way, these awesome podcasters will have a cool new way to connect with their audience members who are in attendance. Many of them are volunteering do to this despite already-crowded Expo schedules, and I can't thank them enough. It feels like a win-win scenario to me, and I think it demonstrates everything that I love about the podcasting community.
When Apple launched the new iPods and I realized that we were going to be demonstrating more products at iProng's booth at Podcast Expo than could be handled by one person, I realized we were going to be one pair of good hands short in our booth setup, so I did what podcasters do when they need a little help from their friends: I asked for it.
And I received it in spades. Now, not only are the holes in our booth rotation covered, Expo attendees have the opportunity to come and learn about the new products from their favorite podcaster. A lot of these volunteers have sufficiently popular podcasts that they don't need whatever measure of publicity they'll get by doing this; they're doing it because they want to do it. I'm not quite sure if anyone has ever turned to crowdsourcing for their booth staff, and in some other community I'm not sure it would work. But this is the podcasting community, and we're doing this together, and I've got a really good feeling about the people who've jumped on board.
Some of them are tech-oriented podcasters; Adam (MacCast) and Victor (Typical Mac User) are coming over from the adjacent OC Podcasters booth to demo the iPhone and iPod together right when the exhibit hall first opens Friday morning so that I'll be free to moderate the Music in Podcasting panel at the adjacent LA Podcasters booth. Then there are podcasters like Elsie (Elsie's Yoga Class) and Steve (Lifespring) whose podcasts have nothing to do with technology whatsoever.
There's Ginger (Brain Science Podcast) who I met at a past PodCamp. There are podcasters such as Dave (PopCast) whom I haven't even met; they simply offered to help out. Let's not forget Shooby Kumar, who's sixteen years old and knows more about the iPhone than I do. And there are Expo session presenters such as KFC (SkyDiverGirls) and Don (ScreenCastsOnline) who are helping us with the demos as well. On top of that, there are those such as Ken (Mac OS Ken) and Irina who didn't want to do product demos and instead volunteered to help us out at the prize table. How cool is that?
And these are just the folks who have already been able to commit 100 percent; there are others who will likely be added to the schedule as we get closer to the Expo (the finalized schedule will be posted each day at our booth). Hopefully, by doing it this way, these awesome podcasters will have a cool new way to connect with their audience members who are in attendance. Many of them are volunteering do to this despite already-crowded Expo schedules, and I can't thank them enough. It feels like a win-win scenario to me, and I think it demonstrates everything that I love about the podcasting community.
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