1.Shel Holtz (a guy who really does know about business podcasting) tells of sitting in the audience at a business conference listening to a so called expert demonstrate a total lack of basic podcasting skills let alone expertise in business

2.hello Shel,

Agree with your position entirely. We would have made the same mistake, had it not been for Neville telling us every step of the way to avoid it. His constant reminders NOT to treat the medium as a direct advertising tool were invaluable in establishing our credibility and developing a solid listener base. That said, the pressure internally to "get the company message out" is intense.
Your post will help as a I pass it on to others who need to get the message.

Alex

3.I was actually in the same room, and when the presenter said that I thought to myself: 'He didn't just say that. There's no way he could possibly be that naive.'

What's more is he was presenting the 'best of site awards' to a convention of Webmasters!

Good point on the treating the podcast more as an interactive tool than just a professional audio recording and pushing it upon the visitors of your site.

Also: great presentation on media relations today, I really enjoyed it.

4.Shel:

I think this is indicative of the "old guard" trying to use the new tools. So many people see podcasts, blogs, and other social media tools as, "Hey, people are listening to podcasts...we can use that medium to tell them how great we are!" The problem is, they're not that great.

I am stuck on a thought in my head of the fact that there is just way too much "me too" in business. "Oh, our competitor is doing a podcast, well look at us, we add pictures in WMP!" (Incidentally, when people load it to their iPod or other MP3 Player, those pictures don't do a hell of a lot do they?"

The truly successful companies will be the ones that understand the new way of marketing, the new way of promoting and truly engage with their customers.

By the way, why weren't you giving the presentation about podcasting. It must have been intimidating for him to be presenting (poorly!) about podcasting with one of the greats in the audience!

Kevin

5.So, the next obvious question is: Who was the speaker? Hey, have to ask.

Shel, here's hoping you gently pointed out to him the error of his ways after the presentation, in hopes that he doesn't spout this nonsense again?

6.No way, Bryan; biting the hand and all that. I was the speaker who followed him, and the last thing I want to do is offend the people behind this conference (especially since I've already been invited to speak at their 2007 event)! I had to sleep on it before even deciding to post the vague item I did.

Somebody else had evidently already gotten to the guy before I was able to find him and explain the Windows Media Player visualizations -- and I addressed the idea of scripted, traditional recordings and their incompatbility with podcasting during my session, so he heard me on that!

7.Wow, that's crazy. I remember the same sorts of things happening when the commercial internet was new (and have been seeing it again lately). People are rushing into, sometimes being pulled into a vortex created by the math: There are simply too many questions, and not enough smart people to answer them...yet. That'll change soon enough, and we'll have a more normal, "standard" level of misunderstanding in the next few years - just like we do with the web overall now.

It's as hard to swallow now as it was in 1996 though!

8.I was at the conference as well. I really enjoyed your talk, I was equally astonished at WM comment. Welcome to ehellth.

9.Holy smokes. You are so right: I've heard people say some really odd things about podcasting, proving that they DO NOT understand the medium! I hope they hire YOU to talk about podcasting next time, Shel.

10.I wasn't at the conference, but I'm not suprised. What the presenter (and so many communicators) is missing is that nobody likes gladhanding or propaganda, no matter the channel. So podcasting is a new channel. There will always be new channels. What doesn't change is the need to truly understand what the audience needs and can accept -- regardless of HOW we choose to communicate it.