Tag: Podcast Awards

Hosting Meet-Ups for Your Podcast – #7

Hosting Meet-Ups for Your Podcast

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As podcasters, we spend a great deal of time building and engaging with our communities. Since this is an online world, most of these interactions are typically online. But, some of the best socializing you can do with your audience is in person. On this week’s episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we’re talking about hosting meet-ups for your podcast.

News

  • Corey talks about his trip to Arizona (and Colorado) on behalf of his podcast, Ivy Envy. He talks about using Meerkat to conduct a Reddit AMA style session. He and his co-host Andy Round also had the opportunity to serve as audio engineers for the Cubs radio broadcast for a game and he talks about how that came about.
  • The Podcast Awards voting is over!!!
  • New Media Expo is just a few weeks away.  Nick and Corey will be presenting at NMX and tell you what they will be presenting on and when you can attend those sessions.

Hosting Meet-ups for your Podcast

Ivy Envy's meet-up at Spring Training last week.

Ivy Envy’s recent meet-up at Spring Training.

One of the best community building activities you can do with your podcast is to host a meet-up. In this discussion, we talk about why podcasters may want to host a meet-up. We talk about our own experiences with meet-ups with our podcasts. Corey has hosted a number of meet-ups, as recently as last week. Tawny tells us about social media meet-ups that can accomplish the same results as an in-person meet-up. Nick has his first official meet-up for his podcast, Inside the Jungle in April.

We also look at some of the concerns a podcaster might have about hosting a meet-up and address some of the things that might be holding podcasters back. What if nobody shows up? Well, we talk about that. Meet-ups also don’t have to be a big production. We talk about keeping it simple and really focusing on the benefit of hosting meet-ups for your podcast.

App/Service of the Week

This week, Tawny talks about A Beautiful Mess, which is available on iOS and Android. This is a really powerful image editing app that will allow you to create impactful images for your podcast. If you don’t have Photoshop skills, A Beautiful Mess allows you to do create brand consistency with your images. Check the app out and if you’d like to see how Tawny’s podcast, Mommy’s Cocktail Hour uses it, check out their Instagram – @MommysCocktailHour.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – Simple Life Together
Nick – Wirecast
Corey – The World of Phil Hendrie

Next Week’s Episode

Next week, we will be talking about podcasting influences. We’re going to share who helped shape us as podcasters. We’d love to hear who your podcasting influences are. Record an audio clip and send it to [email protected] or call our voicemail line – (309) 517-0624.

March 26, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Video Podcasting – #6

Video Podcasting

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We all know that video podcasting isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible! On this week’s episode, we talk about the world of video podcasting with special guest host Ray Ortega from The Podcasters’ Studio and Podcasters’ Roundtable.

News:

  • Podcast AwardsVoting for the 10th Annual Podcast Awards continues. There are several podcasts in our Google+ Community. Please consider including the podcasts from our group in your ballot. Podcast Awards voting continues through March 24th. We’re hoping to see SEVERAL of the Google+ community members take the stage in Las Vegas in April as winners in their respective categories.
  • Looking back at Episode 5 of PGT we talked about Podcast Avatars and John Bukenas from our Google+ Community was kind enough to send us this avatar.

    “The avatar for this podcast is Brad. Brad is a 35 yr old dude. He’s married or divorced with children. Brad is looking for a new hobby or interest that fits his lifestyle change from single guy to married man with children. He works a white collar job in the technology field. Brad is just starting his career or has been promoted to middle management. Brad started listening to podcasts and decided he could be a podcaster. Brad is as interested in the technology of Podcasting as the finish product. Brad loves to talk podcasting but has no one in his personal circles of friends and family share his podcast interest.”

Video Podcasting

Ray Ortega got his START in podcasting as a video podcaster which is not something you see very often from podcasters. Why is this? Well, to be honest video podcasting is very involved and takes longer to produce. Usually for every hour of audio that you record you have approximately another hour of editing/producing. With video, for every hour of video you produce you can expect to spend an additional 4-5 hours of production in order to make your video really stand out.

The other factors behind video podcasting that really limit you is the fact that hosting your large video files isn’t cheap. Sure you can try to host your file on free sites like Archive.org but it could take you hours just to get that file uploaded. Then who knows how long that file will stay around on their servers.

Youtube is a great place to be found for video podcasters, however, Youtube is NOT a video podcast host. You can upload your videos there but there is no way to put your video into an RSS feed. There are ways to use Youtube to promote your show whether you’re producing audio OR video.

App/Service of The Week

We talk about using Google+ Hangouts on Air to live stream our different shows. Are you using Hangouts on Air to live stream your shows? What challenges did you face when you first started recording live broadcasts?

Picks of the Week

Tawny – Vegetarian Zen
Ray – Meerkat
Nick – Couple Things Podcast

Next Week’s Episode

On next week’s episode, Corey will be back to tell us all about the awesome thing’s he’s been able to do in Arizona, all because of his Ivy Envy podcast.

March 20, 2015By Nick SeuberlingIn Podcast Archives1 Comment

Your Podcast Avatar – #5

Podcast Avatar

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What is the best way to decide if certain content will resonate with your listeners? On this week’s episode, Jeff Brown from The Read to Lead Podcast and Podcaster Academy tells us how to develop a podcast avatar and why you should do it.

News:

  • Podcast AwardsVoting for the 10th Annual Podcast Awards continues. There are several podcasts in our Google+ Community. Please consider including the podcasts from our group in your ballot. Podcast Awards voting continues through March 24th. We’re hoping to see SEVERAL of the Google+ community members take the stage in Las Vegas in April as winners in their respective categories.
  • Corey was a judge for a category with the Podcast Awards and talks about how podcasts were judged. A surprising number of podcasts were lacking things like: visible RSS feed, visible iTunes link, ways to contact the host, etc. If you are focused on audio content, it’s easy to forget that your website might need updated or might be lacking certain things. If you were not a finalist in the Podcast Awards, you’ll hear what the podcasts were judged on and you can get your website in order for next year’s Podcast Awards.

Your Podcast’s Avatar

We heard Jeff Brown on Dave Jackson’s School of Podcasting last week. While determining what our topic would be this week, we found ourselves discussing one of the topics that Jeff talked about on that episode with Dave, your podcast avatar.

Jeff explains this idea of developing an avatar for your audience and using that fictional individual to base decisions on your podcast and the content you produce. Creating your podcast avatar isn’t something you HAVE to do before you launch your podcast, but it should be considered. Jeff also talks about using singular language and connecting with your audience by making them feel like you are speaking directly to them.

We then talk about what we feel is our individual podcasts’ avatars and we attempt (notice I said attempt) to create an avatar for THIS podcast.

App/Service of The Week

Nick talks about using Adobe Audition to achieve the loudness standard of -16 LUFS. We talk about this idea and Nick refers back to this video by Mike Russell of Music Radio Creative.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – She Podcasts
Corey – I Hate Critics interview with Diamond Dallas Page
Nick’s anti-pick is Meerkat

Next Week’s Episode

On next week’s episode, we’ll be joined by Ray Ortega from The Podcasters Studio and Podcasters Roundtable. We’re going to talk about video production with your podcast and if you’re talking video, there’s no better podcaster to talk with than Ray. If you do your podcast in video or have found creative ways to enhance your podcast or brand with audio, we’d love to hear about it. You can email us audio clips – [email protected]. Also, if you have any questions you’d like us to ask Ray, send those over too!

Podcast Avatar
March 12, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Breaking Podcasting Rules – #4

Breaking Podcasting Rules

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Welcome to the 4th episode of Podcasters Group Therapy. On this episode, we’re talking about breaking the podcasting rules and practices that the experts say you should adhere to. Podcasting is about doing what you want, how you want and so we’re talking about doing your own thing.

The News in Podcasting

  • Podcast AwardsPodcasters in our Google+ Community have 10 podcasts that are finalists in the 10th Annual Podcast Awards.

    BEST PRODUCED
    ONCE Podcast – hosted by Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.Mx Network

    BUSINESS
    Beyond the To-Do List Daniel J. Lewis, Noodle.Mx Network

    GENERAL
    The Productive Woman Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.Mx Network

    MOVIES/FILM
    Sci Fi Movie Podcast – Remi Lavictoire and Tim Allen

    POLITICS
    Congressional Dish – Jen Briney

    RELIGION
    Are You Just Watching – Daniel J. Lewis, Noodle.Mx Network

    SPORTS
    Ivy Envy – Corey Fineran, Relentless Podcast Network
    Inside the Jungle – Nick Seuberling, SPNT Podcast Network

    TECH
    The Audacity to Podcast – Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.MX Network
    The Waves of Tech – Dave Lee and Steve Lee, Netcast Studio

  • There has been some recent news about the future of G+ and we discuss the impact this could have on podcasters.  We focus on G+ Communities (since that’s where this group is based) and Hangouts/Hangouts On Air, since a lot of podcasters use that service to record with hosts in other locations and to live broadcast.
  • We have a ticket to New Media Expo to give away!  To enter to win this ticket, we’d like to hear you finish the following statement: “I love podcasting because…”  You can submit your entries in audio or email form.  Email [email protected].  The cut-off for entries is 11:59pm Eastern on Monday, March 9th.  Last week we talked about NMX and now we’d like to get you in the door!

Breaking Podcasting Rules

Podcasting is a medium that allows for a lot of creativity. When you decide you want to podcast and buy your domain, hosting or microphone, you aren’t delivered a podcasting rule book. The idea of this episode is that we want to talk about the things that we do that fly in the face of the podcasting experts and the conventional wisdom.

Tawny – Swearing and Sound Quality.
Nick – Self Hosting his audio
Corey – No Mailing List. Condenser Microphones. Use of Licensed Music.

We also have some great feedback from podcasters in our Google+ community that talk about how they do their own thing. Albie Burdge from The Quantum Leap Podcast tells us why he compresses his audio at a higher quality than most experts would suggest. He also explains that his podcast episodes are significantly longer than conventional wisdom tells us episodes should be.

Bob Zerull from I Hate Critics Podcast does his own thing by not niching down. He also calls podcasting “punk rock” because you can do your own thing.

Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting talks about a unique interviewing style he has that would probably go against any professional opinions on how to conduct interviews.

JD Sutter from Porchlight Family Media shares that he does his own thing by not adhering to a weekly schedule, but instead releases podcast episodes once a month.

App/Service of the Week

meerkat-appThis week, Corey talks about Meerkat which allows you to stream live video from your phone to Twitter. Simply open the app and click “Stream” and your Twitter followers will be notified that you are live broadcasting. Viewers can ask questions that are displayed on your screen. When you end the broadcast, you are able to save your video, but the video is not available to the public unless you post it on YouTube, your website or any other location.

This is a really interesting way to connect with your audience. The three of us talk about how we might use Meerkat with our podcasts.

Picks of the Week

Nick – Comments on his statement last week about “podcasting” on Soundcloud with no RSS feed.
Tawny – Invisibilia, especially the “How to Become Batman” episode.
Corey – Pod on Pod

Next Week on Podcasters Group Therapy

On the 5th episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we’re going to be talking about our podcasts’ avatars. We’re also going to workshop during this episode and try to create an avatar for this podcast. We want to hear about your podcast’s avatar. Do you have one? How did you decide what your podcast’s avatar is? After our discussion on this episode about doing your own thing, do you NEED an avatar for your podcast? We want to hear from you, send your audio clips to [email protected].

March 5, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

PGT Represented in the 2015 Podcast Awards

Podcast Awards

The final slate for the 2015 Podcast Awards were announced late on Sunday night March 1st. After all the dust settled and the announcement had been completed, it was nice to look around and see some of the members of Podcasters Group Therapy listed as finalists! Here’s the list of members that are finalists! Enjoy!

Here are the Podcast Awards Finalists from Podcasters Group Therapy

BEST PRODUCED
ONCE Podcast – hosted by Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.Mx Network

BUSINESS
Beyond the To-Do List Daniel J. Lewis, Noodle.Mx Network

GENERAL
The Productive Woman Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.Mx Network

MOVIES/FILM
Sci Fi Movie Podcast – Remi Lavictoire and Tim Allen

POLITICS
Congressional Dish – Jen Briney

RELIGION
Are You Just Watching – Daniel J. Lewis, Noodle.Mx Network

SPORTS
Ivy Envy – Corey Fineran, Relentless Podcast Network
Inside the Jungle – Nick Seuberling, SPNT Podcast Network

TECH
The Audacity to Podcast – Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.MX Network
The Waves of Tech – Dave Lee and Steve Lee, Netcast Studio

Voting will begin on March 3rd. You can vote once per day at PodcastAwards.com. Congratulations again to all the finalists who are members of the Podcasters Group Therapy Community!

March 2, 2015By Nick SeuberlingIn BlogNo Comment

Conferences for Podcasters – #3

#3

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On this week’s episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we’re talking conferences for podcasters. New Media Expo is coming up in April and Podcast Movement is releasing names of new speakers and keynote presenters. Should you attend a conference for podcasters? If you can only financially afford one, which one do you choose?

The News in Podcasting

  • Stitcher Smart Radio is experiencing some updating issues. If your podcast is on Stitcher, you probably received an email from them to let you know updates were moving slowly. Corey shares his experience and explains why Ivy Envy not being updated in Stitcher is a very big deal for his show and his listeners. We also use this opportunity to each discuss our podcast’s audience on Stitcher.
  • The finalists for the 10th Annual Podcast Awards are to be announced this upcoming Sunday, March 1st at 9pm Eastern. We decided that it’d be fun to do a G+ Hangout for our Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Community during the announcements. If you have not yet joined our G+ Community, do so to participate in this Podcast Awards Hangout and our PGT Sessions, which we do every other Monday night. The next PGT Session will be on Monday, March 9th.

Conferences for Podcasters

New Media Expo 2015 (Las Vegas, Nevada) is coming up soon and Podcast Movement (Fort Worth, Texas) is announcing speakers every couple of days. In this episode, we describe these conferences. We talk about the sessions, the networking during the conference and the evening networking events.

Most podcasters are doing this as a hobby and/or on a budget and if you’re in that boat, we do our best to explain the differences between the two conferences and describe what kind of podcaster each conference seems to be geared toward.

App/Service of the Week

On this week’s episode, we talk about some of the different apps that exist for listening to podcasts. Nick and Corey are both using Pocketcasts by Shifty Jelly. Tawny moves around a bit more with her listening apps. She talks about Stitcher, Pocketcasts and the iOS Podcasts app. We also talk about other services like TuneIn.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – Ivy Envy Podcast: Baseball Card Episode – 6.59
Nick uses this opportunity to talk about people who use the term “podcast”, but their show lacks something very essential to the term, an RSS feed.
Corey – Effectively Wild Podcast. This is a baseball podcast that discusses the game with an advanced statistics slant. On Friday’s episode, the hosts shared the news that an Independent League baseball team, the Sonoma Stompers, have asked them to run the team’s front office for the 2015, implementing the concepts they discuss on their podcast. We believe this is the first instance of a podcast being given the keys to ownership of an entity.

Listener Feedback

John Bukenas shares his “Holy Crap!” moment with us. John is “currently podfading” at Let’s Reverse Obesity. We also get a “Holy Crap!” moment from Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting. Both of these “Holy Crap!” moments have to do with listener feedback, and I think all of us get that feeling whenever we hear from our listeners.

Next Week on Podcasters Group Therapy

Next week’s episode will be entitled “Doing Your Own Thing”. The idea behind this is that you don’t have to do what the professionals tell you. We will share instances from our podcasts and podcasting journeys when we have bucked the conventional wisdom. We’d love to hear about the things you do with your podcast that go against the podcasting conventional wisdom. Send your audio clips to [email protected]

Follow Nick on Twitter – @NickSeuberling
Follow Corey on Twitter – @CoreyFineran
Follow Tawny on Twitter – @tawny_lynne

Join the Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Group

February 26, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Podcasting Workflows – #2

Podcast Workflow

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On this episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we are talking about our own personal podcasting workflows. One of the beautiful things about podcasting is that you have total control over your show. You can talk about any topic, record for any length of time, release whenever you want and you can record your episode in the way that best suits you.

The News in Podcasting

In the news portion of this episode, we talk about the announcement of The Academy of Podcasters Awards. The Academy of Podcasters Awards is presented by Podcast Movement and Stitcher. The ceremony for these awards will be held in Fort Worth, Texas on July 31st, the night before Podcast Movement starts. We talk about both the Podcast Awards and The Academy of Podcasters Awards, comparing the two and discussing the difference between these two awards.

Podcasting Workflows

Each of us have a different podcasting workflow, which we define as topic development to socially sharing the episode. We cover everything from 5 minute episodes recorded entirely on BossJock and don’t have show-notes to regular long-form 45-60 minute episodes to video podcast production. We also each explain how we include co-hosts in the recording. Two of our podcasts also involve live broadcasts and we describe that set-up, too.

We’d love to hear what your podcasting workflow is? What services and equipment do you use to produce your episodes?

App/Service of the Week

This week, Corey talks about Twitter Analytics. Twitter Analytics is a great way to measure the effectiveness of your Twitter strategy. By displaying the impressions, engagements and engagement rate, you are able to determine what types of tweets are most appealing to your followers. This information would be crucial if you are an entrepreneur using your podcast and your Twitter account to sell a product or service. Even if you’re a hobbyist podcaster though, if you’re going to use Twitter, you want to be effective with it and serve your followers in the best way possible, so I think Twitter Analytics is useful to anyone that has a strategy with their Twitter account.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – I Hate Critics Podcast episode on 50 Shades of Grey
Nick – NeoSounds.com
Corey – The Walking Deadcast

Next week, we’ll be talking about podcasting conferences. Why should you attend conferences? If you can only go to one podcast conference, which should you go to? We’ll discuss these topics and many more on next week’s episode of Podcasters Group Therapy.

Follow Nick on Twitter – @NickSeuberling
Follow Corey on Twitter – @CoreyFineran
Follow Tawny on Twitter – @tawny_lynne

Join the Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Group

February 19, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment