Since its first episode in 2005, the Ask A Ninja series has been viewed over 35 million times, quoted on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, featured on NPR and endorsed on numerous blogs including BoingBoing, Digg and Rocketboom. Ask A Ninja was voted the Best Series of 2006 at the YouTube video awards and featured in the New York Times Magazine. Tim Bourquin, Founder of the Expo, will ask them about what specifically they did to attract an audience, how they capitalized on the momentum, how they monetized their show in creative ways, and what’s ahead for them. Presenters: Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, Creators of (and Ninja in) Ask A Ninja

Download mp3: Ask A Ninja Keynote Address (48:02 min 22.1 MB)

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Whether your organization serves a particular industry, advocates on behalf of social justice issues, or is a member driven professional society, podcasting and video podcasting are excellent ways to communicate your areas of expertise to members, advocates, stakeholders and the general public. In this session, you learn how to use new media to advance your organization’s mission, grow your membership, increase public awareness, communicate with members, cross-promote existing products, repurpose content, bolster media relations and support education initiatives. As internet delivered media approaches a tipping point and competes with traditional radio and television for an audience, now is the time to establish your organization as a content provider before someone else fills your niche. Instructor: Chris Condayan of American Society for Microbiology

Download mp3: Podcasting for Nonprofits, Associations and Societies: Leveraging Your Expertise and Resources (53:32 min 24.6 MB)

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Audio and video podcasters who want to leverage their content into business bank account deposits have several options when it comes to selling advertising and sponsorships. Some have found success acting as their own sales force and reaching out to prospects directly. Others are using third-party advertising services have launched to make a connection between ad agencies, their clients and the content creator. In this panel, you’ll hear from several passionate people who are tackling the issue in very different ways. After getting an overview of how each of the services differ, the panel will turn to a discussion of the pros and cons of using an outside service vs. securing your own sponsors. The panelists will also discuss how to price a sponsorship, selling the value of advertising in your podcast and how to help your advertisers measure return on their investment. Instructors: Mark McCrery of Podtrac, Lee Gibbons of Podango, Jonathan Cobb of Kiptronic, Greg Galant of RadioTail, Todd Cochrane of Blubrry.

Download mp3: Making Money with Sponsorships and Advertising (57:56 min 26.6 MB)

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Nothing is quite as challenging for a podcaster as recording high-quality interviews or “gang-style” shows from telephones or Skype. Add the requirement for remote video, and the challenges are multiplied tenfold. Doug Kaye, the founder of IT Conversations, Executive Director of the non-profit Conversations Network, and 2005 Podcasting Person of the Year, will explain a wide variety of tools and techniques that podcasters and videobloggers can use to record remote audio and video interviews. Topics covered will include Skype, digital hybrids, double-enders and tape syncs, conference-call recording, and remote real-time multi-camera video. Doug will also preview some exciting new free software tools coming from those wonderful people who brought you The Levelator. Instructor: Doug Kaye of The Conversations Network.

Download mp3: Remote Audio and Video Interview Techniques (1:02:37 min 28.7 MB)

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In the current internet climate, social media is a must-have tool for communicating with your market. In this session you’ll learn the best social media tools and techniques for extending your brand beyond the confines of your own web site and generating buzz throughout social networks and the blogoshpere. You’ll also learn how to build a dynamic online community around your brand. Finally, you’ll learn how YouTube can increase your search engine presence, the number one way to get more people to link to your content, and how to make your site more visible in social media searches. In an increasingly crowded space, you’ll learn how to stand out and get to the target market you want to reach and find new customers. Instructor: Jason Van Orden of Promoting Your Podcast: The Ultimate Guide to Building an Audience of Raving Fans

Download mp3: How to Generate Buzz and Extend Your Brand with Social Media (1:19:11 min 36.3 MB)

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I’m curious if anyone has any feedback. Is this a helpful tool if we continued to provide them?

I saw the advantages as:

• You can link to specific quotes on the transcript pages.
• It increases the relevance of content rich presentations for search.
• Allows presenters one more way to provide their presentations.
• All around good resource.

Obviously there is some cost involved (actually a significant cost) if we continue to do this. No big secret, if you see the pages, we deployed some ads. So we’ll continue to monitor our test to see if it is economically viable on a mass scale for all 153 hours of audio.

Meanwhile, if you like the transcript idea I’d appreciate you thoughts.  Here’s the link to the transcript post.

Thanks to Paul Colligan for the nudge to test this.

For educators of every stripe, the interview format is perhaps the simplest and, certainly, one of the most effective ways to go. You’ve heard of win/win? In this presentation, you’ll learn how the interview offers a 12-way win! In addition, you’ll learn both the technical and tactical strategies for effective interviewing. Podcasting promises to be one of the most revolutionary educational tools since Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. If you are a teacher or educational administrator, you can’t afford to be left behind by this game-changing development. In primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, trade schools and corporate-learning centers, leading-edge educators are pioneering ever more creative applications with these tools. Podcasting potentially offers you the largest classroom you’ve ever had and one that is global in its reach. Whether your motivation is non-profit or commercial, there is a world of opportunity awaiting you. Instructor: David Van Nuys, Ph.D. of Shrink Rap Radio

Download mp3: Educators and the Podcast Interview: Your Educational Ace In The Hole! (58:01 min 26.6 MB)

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Complete Transcript Included:

David Van Nuys: My name is David Van Nuys and I’m going to be talking about interviewing as an ideal vehicle in the educational context so if that’s what you’re interested in, then you’re in the right place.

One of the things that I found very challenging as I try to prepare for this was I didn’t know who was going to be here, who my audience is and so, it’s pretty hard to prepare a presentation when you don’t know who you’re going to be speaking to.

So I’m curious about who is here. How many of you are educators? Would you raise your hand if you’re educators? Okay, most people here are educators. There are some exceptions. How many of you are working primary, secondary education? Show of hands. People who are college university educators? Okay, more people. Any Ed-Tech people here, educational technology? Okay, good. Any categories I haven’t called?

Male: (inaudible)

David Van Nuys: What is it?

Male: (inaudible)

David Van Nuys: Regulatory body.

Male: (inaudible)

David Van Nuys: Okay, great. Well, at least now I know who I’m talking to so that’s good.

Male: The publishers to the educational community.

Beginners start here! In this session, you’ll learn the basic functions of sound editing with Audacity, a free open- source program available for anyone to download on the Internet. Although not required, it is recommended that attendees for this session bring their laptops and pre-install the Audacity program prior to arriving (Audacity can be found at: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). Audacity supports Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The instructor will be showing you step-by-step how to delete long pauses, “ums” and “ahs” and generally “clean up” your audio files so they sound professional and organized. In addition, you’ll learn how to import interviews, fade in and out music, insert intros, and align other audio content. Perfect for attendees who have never edited an audio file before. By the time you leave, you’ll have a basic understanding of how to edit and save audio files for your podcast. Instructor: Steve Holden of Aztec Media

Download mp3: Getting Started with Audacity: Hands On Demos With The Free Audio Editor (1:01:57 min 28.4 MB)

Want all the PNME 2006, 2007, 2008 presentations plus Podcast Academy bonuses immediately? Over 150 Episodes! Purchase them now!

Independent musicians have had great success promoting their music with new media. New media models like podcasts and MySpace pages are an inexpensive way for musicians to promote their music directly to their fans and earn new fans through sites offering personalized recommendations and social networking. However, getting noticed in an increasingly crowded “podsafe” directories is not easy. In this session, you’ll hear how you can promote your music in ways you may not have considered. You’ll also learn how to make the most of your recordings and reach out to potential “customers” directly without having to give up creative and business control of your music. You’ll hear from music podcasters themselves about how they like to be approached and best practices for bands who want to start or grow their own podcasts and video blogs. Instructors: David Jackson of Musician’s Cooler, Jason Evangelho of Insomnia Radio, Jasper Borgman of Plan Nine Rock Show, Mike Pfeiffer of Most People Are DJs

Download mp3: How To Promote Independent Music with Podcasts and Online Video (58:35 min 26.9 MB)

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Are you currently a video content creator looking to make your content available on small screens like cell phones and video IPods? Learn the dynamics of setting up and shooting video for small formats such as podcasts and other mobile video. You’ll see examples for live shoots, interviews, action and sports considerations will also be covered. The speaker will discuss various tips and techniques during capture that will help in the final post-production and encoding to get your final file size to the smallest possible compression levels. Anyone familiar with digital video who would like to begin shooting video for podcasts should attend this session. Instructors: Richard Burns and Dusty Wright of Culture Catch

Download mp3: Video Podcast Content Creation: The Real Story Behind Producing for Tiny Screens (1:04:07 min 29.4 MB)

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I’ve been experimenting recently with the new Marantz PMD661 handheld solid state recorder that was sent for me to test out. Over the last few years, I’ve owned just about every field recorder Marantz has produced: PMD 670, 671, 660 and 620; so you can count me a long time fan of their gear. I have to say I like the new 661 and consider it a real improvement over the 660.

First, the redesigned case has a solid feel to it with a nice black brushed aluminum face. It makes sense for its size and everything is laid out nicely including just about any connection you might need. The unit now sports a 1/4-inch sized headphone jack (a real improvement in my book), RCA stereo line out connections, S/PDIF digital input, USB 2.0 port and a spare 1/8-inch stereo line in. They have switched away from compact flash and now use removable SD or SDHC memory cards. (The unit ships with 1 GB card to get you started.) The two XLR inputs are mic/line switchable and have +48V phantom power if needed. (The fact that that the XLRs are now line level capable moves this unit up much closer to its big brother, the PMD671.) The LED meter bridge has been moved to the topside of the unit and is angled so that it is visible from top or front. The 661 has two built in condenser microphones and stereo playback speakers.

The unit ships with a carrying strap that lets you hang it from you shoulder and, like its predecessor, the XLRs are intelligently located on the bottom so that mic cables drape nicely. The 661 runs on 4 AA batteries with a stated record time of 5+ hours (not tested.) For studio use, the unit ships with an AC adapter in the box.

To me, the big news is now you can record uncompressed PCM in either 16 or 24 bit depth with sample rates of 44.1, 48 or 96 kHz. I have always recorded my audio for podcasting using 24-bit to take advantage of the extra headroom and I feel this a signifiant improvement over the 660. The best part from a form and function standpoint is the large OLED display. The display is big, bright and easy to read. An additional display feature I appreciate is the ability to cycle through various alternate information dislplays. The display options depend on the function being used: record, playback etc. I found myself using the “record level” option frequently so that in addition to the meter bridge I had ballistic style meters running on the bright OLED. This is a huge improvement over the previous model and when recording inside or at night I find displays like this to be a real plus.

As devices get smaller and have more features packed into them, the menu systems sometimes get too confusing. Sure you can set everything up for just about any unit when the manual is right in front of you but the real test comes six months later in the field when you need to make a change, can you find the menu option then? So I did my basic test - could I navigate the menus and get the unit set up without having to first read the manual. Success! The menu structure is intuitive and I was able to get everything configured and even went so far as to program the 3 presets without ever having to crack the manual.

The transport buttons are laid out intelligently and operation was easy. You can’t miss when you are in record mode. The ring around the record button lights up in bright red and is a nice touch.

Now for the most important question: how does it sound? I think it is an improvement over the 660 but with all these portable digital recorders microphone selection is key. I’ve posted two quick sound clips recorded with two dynamic ENG style interview microphones: Sennheiser MD46 and an ElectroVoice RE50N/D-B. I think this unit would definitely do better with a phantom-powered condenser microphone. And sure enough right there on page 24 of the manual that is what Marantz Professional recommends for the 661. But since the MD 46 and RE 50 are popular among podcasters for mobile interviews, those are the ones I tested.

Sennheiser MD46

ElectroVoice RE50N/D-B

I’ve also posted a file recorded with the internal mics. My guess is that they are the same as those used on the PMD620 - a unit I like for ultra-portable use. (I have an email out trying to confirm this.) Update: I got word back from Marantz Professional that, “the mic capsule is quite same as the PMD620 but the mechanical structure (how to support the mic unit), mic pre and power supply circuits, peripheral devices and parts …those are improved.”

Internal Mics

Overall, I like the unit. With its line capability on the XLRs it can serve double duty as your desktop recorder when behind your mixer and then you can pack it up and head out to capture field interviews. Just make sure you pick your mic carefully. The Marantz PMD661 is available through Amazon for $599.

Now that you’ve got a successful podcast, there are many means for you to build revenue through extending your podcast into other media, consulting, and learning communities. This session will provide you will a proven model for extending your podcast based on the highly successful Negotiating Tip of the Week podcast. This podcast has generated over $100K in revenues in the form of consulting, customized podcasts, training, and learning networks. If you are looking for indirect ways to generate real dollars for your company, this is the session to attend. Instructor: Kathleen Gilroy The Otter Group

Download mp3: Building a Multimedia Publishing, Consulting and Learning Programs Around Your Podcast (1:01:58 min 28.4 MB)

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“Help me, help you!” Remember that line from the movie, “Jerry Maguire?” Well that is the best way I can describe our need for your input and feedback.

With the New Year, comes new resolutions and business plans and we considering putingt together some Podcast Academy programs aimed at helping people reach their 2009 new media goals. But we need your help!

What do you we want from you? Great question! 3-4 minutes of your time to complete a simple 10 question survey. I promise - drop dead simple!

Here’s the link.

What is in it for you? As our way of saying “Thank you,” to anyone who completes the survey in the first 24 hours we’ll give you immediate access to download the complete recordings for Podcast Academy #1. [Note: This offer has since expired.]

Ready for a history lesson? The Podcast Academy #1 recordings have been offline for a while and trust us, it is fascinating to hear your favorite podcast pioneer opining on what they expect to happen next, along with great timeless hints and tips.

Your answers are completely anonymous, so have full confidence that your true opinion does matter and your identity will never be divulged to anyone (not even us!).

Do yourself (and us) a favor… take the survey now!

Thanks for your participation!

P.S. Why the 24 hour limit? Simple, we’d like to get the answers so we can move on to the next step.

[*** Note: This offer has since expired. However, you can still take the survey if you like***]

It’s been the buzz for some time now, but what’s the big deal about Second Life? From podcasting to live podsafe music, there has never been a better time to discover how Second Life and other virtual worlds can help grow listenership, develop content, and sometimes be the basis of a show on it’s own. Millions of people are gathering and networking in Second Life - and a huge opportunity to capitalize on this growing phenomenon awaits! New media and Second Life experts on this panel will show you the way and answer your questions on turning your content from 2D to 3D! Instructors: Lynette Young of Purple Stripe Productions, C.C. Chapman of The Advance Guard, Gary Leland of PodcastPickle.com, and Mark Linder of Second Life SoHo Island

Download mp3: 3D Your Content: Using Virtual Worlds Like Second Life to Find and Grow Your Show (1:00:03 min 27.6 MB)

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This session is all about stories and experiences of veteran podcasters who made all of the common “newbie” mistakes. New content creators will be able to shave two years off of their learning curve by listening to these panelists. Each of them has started their podcast from scratch and tried hundreds of things to deliver their message, grow their audience and promote their shows. The panelists will also cover the rewards of podcasting, whether it’s money for sponsorship, increased influence in their industry, or simply developing their reputation as a community expert. Finally, they’ll discuss how they stay motivated week after week, producing fresh content and keep from “podfading.” Instructors: Stephen Eley of Escape Pod, Matthew Wayne Selznick of MWS Media, Evo Terra of Podiobooks.com, Michael W. Dean of Clone of The Homeless Podcast and Ed Vawter of QD Information Services

Download mp3: 3D Your Content: Using Virtual Worlds Like Second Life to Find and Grow Your Show (1:01:06 min 28 MB)

Want all the PNME 2006, 2007, 2008 presentations plus Podcast Academy bonuses immediately? Over 150 Episodes! Purchase them now!