ZimmComm – New Media, LLC

I’m registering my vote to have Susan Bratton, Personal Life Media, back next year for a couple of sessions.

Susan (standing on the right) got interactive with her audience in her session on “Selling Advertising and Sponsorship for Your Audio or Video Content: What You Need To Know Now.”

In an hour I think she gave one of the best advertising sales how-to’s I’ve seen. She provided information on the language of the advertising agencies and then walked us through creating a media kit, proposal, contacting the buying rep, making the pitch, following up and servicing the order/client.

It validated for me how we do business and was a good reminder of some ideas we should be implementing in our own sales efforts.

This morning’s keynote address was a conversation between Podcast and New Media Expo founder Tim Bourquin and Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3.

Revision3 is the internet television network that includes Diggnation vidcast and the GigaOM Show. “Revision3 is the first media company that gets it, born from the Internet, on-demand generation. Unlike aggregators, mash-ups, clients and web sites, Revision3 is an actual TV network for the web, creating its own original content.”

The topic was Jim’s move away from traditional media to the new media space. I think his reasons mirror many who are here who have their roots in traditional media like broadcast television and radio. The creative freedom the internet provides is allowing many people to create content which can be viewed or listened to on demand and that’s becoming increasingly easy to do.

I’ve gotten a lot out of the Podcast and New Media Expo already. The trade show has been helpful.

I already visited the Podtrac booth. I’ve been using Podtrac for the measurement of several of our podcasts since late last year.

Right now there are some meet ups going on and here at the Ontario Marriott, Podtrac is featuring the French Maids of French Maid TV at theirs.

Right now I’m in a session called “Distributing Video in Various Formats: How to Make the Right Choice.” We’re learning a lot about various formats and I hope what some of the best codecs and formatting and compression choices are for making videos.

Before we got into our first session the trade show opened. I did a walk around and will be heading back there later today to check out some services and equipment.

I think I’m going to drop off my computer and backpack at my hotel because I’m tired of carrying it around. This means I’ll be doing some posts later this afternoon.

The founder and CEO of Personal Life Media is Susan Bratton. She produces 22 podcasts a week and is one of the main organizers of the Association for Downloadable Media.

After our initial meeting of the new organization today I interviewed her. She explains how why she and some others have gone to the trouble of creating a new organization. Basically it has to do with creating some new media industry standards that will allow those of us who create content to better monetize our products. I’m all for that.

You can listen to my interview with Susan here: pnme-07-bratton.mp3

The Podcast and New Media Expo is officially underway. Right now we’re listening to the opening keynote session.

Expo founder, Tim Bourquin, is interviewing Howard Lindzon, who started a video podcast called WallStrip which he sold to CBS News for a reported $5 million.

Basically he’s talking about how and why he started the show and the whole process of selling the show.

The Association for Downloadable Media is holding its first ever meeting in advance of the Podcast and New Media Expo. I got it a few minutes late so I don’t know who everyone is yet.

One of the main things we’re supposed to accomplish is a method to standardize advertising standards and measurement reporting for our new medium. Right now we’re hearing from people who have submitted their names for board positions and I guess we’ll be holding an election after we’re that.

I’ll be posting throughout the day as events unfold. I’m also posting photos to my Flickr account so be sure to check it periodically over the next few days: Podcast and New Media Expo Photo Album

I know I don’t post too often here but that’ll change over the next several days since I’ll be attending the third annual Podcast & New Media Expo. I’m finding it hard to believe we’ve been doing this new media thing in agribusiness for over 3 years now. Starting Friday, I’ll be getting my new media fix with educational sessions and a trade show.

I’ll be attending the conference with longtime friend and former business partner (now client), Gary Cooper, Southeast AgNet. The activities take place at the Ontario, CA Convention Center.

Friday – Sept. 28, 2007
Keynotes & Conference – 9:00am-4:15pm
Exhibit Hall – 10:00am-4:00pm
Attendee Reception – 4:00pm-5:30pm
CultureCatch Salon – 8:00pm-11:00pm

Saturday – Sept. 29, 2007
Keynotes & Conference – 9:00am-4:15pm
Exhibit Hall – 10:00am-4:00pm
Expo Concert – 6:30pm-9:00pm

Sunday – Sept. 30, 2007
Keynotes & Conference – 9:00am-12:45pm
Exhibit Hall – 10:00am-1:30pm

After a week of blogging in Japan it’s nice to be back in the USA. Between Cindy and myself we’ve blogged from 4 different countries in the last 2 weeks. One of the things that I would encourage conference organizers everywhere to keep in mind when planning events is good internet access and some time built into the schedule to use it.

This certainly goes for today’s media representatives who need that access and time to post their stories but I think it also applies to anyone who’s on the road at an event. We’re beginning to see more attention paid to this element of planning for events but there’s a ways to go.

I’ll be attending the Podcast and New Media Expo later this week. I would certainly hope we’ve got good open access there! Look for some posts from that event here and on AgWired.

I thought this was interesting. According to a survey by BIGResearch bloggers are trusted more than media.

You can request a complimentary Top Line report from the most recent survey online.

BIGresearch’s American Pulse™ Survey is collected online every month, utilizing Survey Sampling International’s (SSI) U.S. Panel exclusively. BIGresearch conducts this survey to find out what Americans really think and feel about topics like politics, religion, pop culture and the economy…just to name a few. American Pulse™ provides a platform for participants to voice their true opinions about real and timely issues in our society.

I think it’s interesting that they’re separating bloggers from media. How do you do that today? We publish several news sites that use the blog format and consider ourselves bloggers. However, we register as media at events we cover and are considered media by most people I know and work with. I know many mainstream media reporters who have their own news blog.

Maybe it’s the fact that blogging is more personal generally speaking and that creates more of a trusting atmosphere for the blog reader? I’m betting that’s part of it. It’s one of the reasons we encourage blogging. Put a more personal face on you and your company!