Participating in NaPodPoMo this year has taught me a lot of things. I’ve created a whole new show Tech in Twenty with co-host, Luis Sandoval using a live show format. This has in turn spurred my sister and co-host of the Morning BrewCast and I to revive our long-running podcast in the same live show format.
How about you? What has NaPodPoMo done for you?
Mobile post sent by jennifer using Utterli. Replies.  mp3
Next, I’ve had some family come into town unexpectedly. My Cousin Jaime is in town for a few days and it will be great to reconnect. My sister is back in town. She’s converting…… to what, is anyone’s guess.
Lastly, Jackie and I have decided to try our hand at a live Morning BrewCast on Sunday. Check us out and have some cheer. 🙂
Mobile post sent by jennifer using Utterli. Replies. mp3
Mobile post sent by jennifer using Utterli. Replies. mp3
I begin a new series titled, “From Evangelist to Muse”
Here we are on the first day of the podcasting marathon that is the National Podcast Post Month.
Thanks to all the brave souls who have decided to embark on this fun and crazy ride.
I will be keeping my daily postings on one of a few shows.
First is Living the Dream, Second, will be a show Luis Sandoval and I are co-hosting on Blog Talk Radio called Tech in Twenty. Third, will be a series of shows related to cultivating community.
Now I’m off to listen to all of YOUR shows for day 1. 🙂
Cheers!
Theme music is Dangerous Things by George Fletchers Bourbon Renewel
Last year, I was watching all the Twitter folks chat about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) and thought, “Oh, that’s cool.” Then I saw videobloggers chatting about NaVloPoMo (National Vlog Post Month) and thought, “Hey, if the videobloggers can create video every day in the month of November, then I should be able to podcast, too.”
So I began my search for the podcasters who were participating in the November fun. Lo and behold, I discovered there was no such group. I was astounded. How could the writers, bloggers and vloggers be participating in the November daily postings but not the podcasters? It just seems crazy to think that as active and chatty as podcasters are that we didn’t have something to rally around.
So following the lead of NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo and NaVloPomo I created NaPodPoMo or National Podcast Post Month. Of course I did this on October 30, 2007 and NaPodPoMo was set to start on November 1, 2007. Not a lot of advance planning or opportunity to let folks know this even existed. I’ve always been a “fly-by-the-set-of-my-pants” kind of gal, but this was ridiculous even for me.
I set out to let my peers know what I was doing by making the announcement on Twitter and posting to the Podcasting YahooGroup. Those two simple steps launched NaPodPoMo and introduced me to a whole new group of podcasters I had never heard before. It seemed so daunting at first. These thoughts ran through my head, “A podcasts in a row for 30 whole days?! What was I thinking?”. After a while it was, “Hey, I’m halfway through this and I’m having a great time.” Finally, towards the end, “It’s almost over. I’m going to miss NaPodPoMo.”
When the 30 days were complete, I discovered alot about myself and met some amazing folks along the way. So, now when I think about this year’s NaPodPoMo, I think, “I can’t wait to get started!”
Cheers!
NaPodPoMo created badge created by Shawno
P.S. Below is a copy of the post I sent out to both the NaPodPoMo Alumni and the Podcasting YahooGroup.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
It’s that time of year again.
No, not Fall,
NaPodPoMo!
From November 1-30th we’ll be participating in the annual event which is the National Podcast Post Month.
The conversations are already happening on the NaPoPoMo Ning site so swing on by to add your voice. http://napodpomo.ning.com
The rules for the November 1-30th NaPodPoMo are simple:
•Post audio in any form every day
That’s it!
Feel free to be creative. You can post a traditional podcast or use Utterli, BlogTalkRadio, TalkShoe, etc… Some folks have even incorporated video into their posts.
There is no time limit. Got a one minute tip show or an hour long diatribe? As long as you post audio every day, it all counts.
The site is open for new registrations. Tell your friends and start training now for the podcast marathon that is NaPodPoMo.
http://napodpomo.ning.com
Remember, hydration is key ;-D
Cheers!
On the off chance you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard the news, we just held the first ever Barcamp in San Antonio this past weekend. It was an amazing success and by far the easiest camp-like event I’ve organized. Considering I’ve done two Podcamps and a Startup Weekend in the last 16 months that says a lot.
When we were planning Podcamp San Antonio in May 2007, it was a challenge to obtain sponsorship, spread the word and facilitate registrations for a first-time event. Fast forward 16 months to Barcamp San Antonio which had generous companies contacting us to sponsor, pre and post press coverage and “sold out” registration twice! So what has been the difference?
I believe it’s a combination of a few things: First, the Camp-phenomenon is finally becoming main stream. Second, because of previous events, San Antonio is more aware of camps. Third, We have been lucky enough to have increased coverage in the traditional press.
Something else which has helped to bring our participation level up is the camp-to-camp attendance within the state. By attending camps in Austin, DFW and Houston we’ve been able to increase awareness statewide of what the Tech/Creative Class are doing in San Antonio.
When I first started attending Camps and talking about San Antonio, I would hear, “Oh, you’re from San Antonio? We never see or hear from folks in San Antonio. You guys are so quiet down there. We wondered if you all had any tech geeks and if you did what you all were doing.” It surprised me to hear these comments.
While I am a Native Texan, I was not a Native San Antonian. The fact that folks outside of San Antonio were unaware of the local tech culture seemed unfathomable. By being an active part of the community at large and encouraging other to do the same, that perception has changed. What I hear nowadays is, “Hey, it’s the San Antonio peeps! So glad you guys made the trek. When are you holding your next event? We’ll be there! I’ve got an event I’m planning, can you help us spread the word?”
I do believe folks who are part of the Camp movement epitomize the whole, “Learn, Share, Grow” mentality. We inherently want to help not just our local community but by extension the communities in our state, country and world. Camps are found on almost every continent. (If anyone knows about a Camp being held in Antarctica let me know.) There is an energy surrounding a Camp which is so powerful it’s almost a physical entity.
By attending camps around the state and organizing camps in San Antonio, I’ve found other creative folks who are just as passionate about tech, media and the community as I am. It’s both refreshing and enlightening. Most of the time we work in obscurity within our chosen medium and rarely find other like-minded folks to share these passions with locally. Sure, we’ve got our online community to inspire and motivate, but the face to face connection never goes out of style.
So my thoughts on Barcamp San Antonio really revolve around the whole growth and shift in local and state-wide interest and involvement. With annual Camps planned in April, May, June and September, the time has never been better to be involved in the Tech/Creative Class in San Antonio.
This morning we wanted to go out for a walk, but we were also hungry. So, I asked, “Why don’t we walk to breakfast?” We paused for a moment to consider distance and temperature. It was early morning so it was still cool outside and the restaurant we wanted to eat at wasn’t far at all. Off we went on our morning adventure.
I knew I’d been more sedentary than usual because of various projects, but I didn’t realize how much so until I found myself out of breath while John and I were chatting. Granted we were walking up an incline, but still it made me realize just how little I’ve been active lately. Of course, John thought the solution to my being winded while chatting was for me to just not talk. Yeah, everyone’s a comedienne in my house.
We got to our destination, ordered our breakfast and coffee, sat outside and talked about how easy this was. Instead skipping our walk to stay home to eat breakfast or jumping in the car to pick up breakfast we opted to do both. We walked to our meal, enjoyed it and proceeded to stroll back. I say stroll because with a full belly it is best to stroll.
The idea of doing something like this on a more regular basis came to us over coffee. It would be a way to get some exercise, save on fuel and really get to know our local venues. We have access to many restaurants and businesses all within walking distance of our neighborhood. Even my favorite coffee roasters are easily accessible. It really got us thinking about making an effort to conduct this Green Experiment. One thing is for sure, I’m glad I live in a somewhat hilly part of town which does offer more of a variable workout just by walking. I’ll keep you posted.
If you look to the right of my blog you’ll see a section titled, “The things I’m doing, The places I’ll be”. Underneath is a list of events with dates. Some I’m organizing like Barcamp San Antonio and others like “Five Web 2.0 Tools” I’m simply an attendee. Either way these are events I believe in and if you are interested in the whole New Media, Social Networking, Podcamp/Barcamp thing you might want to consider taking a look.
One of the things coming up this week is a 3-part Social Media webinar series I’ve partnered up with my long-time mentor and friend Rhea Perry to teach. Rhea is a homeschooling entrepreneurial mom who holds seminars/training courses all over the country teaching parents and their teenagers how to become financially free. She does these events through her company, Educating For Success. Due to the knowledge and training folks have received from these events there are quite a few Dads who have left Corporate America behind.
I’ve been a member of her Entrepreneurs at Home Yahoo group since 2003, attended a few of her events both in person and virtually. She is an energetic dynamo who has a real passion for helping families gain control of their own financial destiny. For this and many other reasons, I am honored to introduce Social Media to the Entrepreneurs at Home group,
On June 25th at 3pm CST the first of the 3-part series on Social Media Sites will begin. The second class will be on July 2nd and the last class on July 9th. Each class will be held on a Wednesday afternoon, recorded and accessible at any time to course participants. If you’ve been wanting to discovery Social Media and wonder how or if you can utilize Social Networking for your business or group then this course is for you. Course participants will not only learn the background of Social Media but interact with one another on the Social Networking sites. Since I’m a big believer that “doing” is important in the learning process, the first people we will interact with will be fellow Social Sites Class participants.
Since I’m a fan, I highly recommend taking the time to get to know Rhea Perry and discover for yourself the amazing things she is doing to encourage entrepreneurial families. Head on over to the Educating For Sucess site and do take a peak at her blog. She calls her posts “Rheavings” and I think after you’ve read a post or three you’ll understand why ;-D
On Wednesday evening the folks from MeetupHQ were in San Antonio. As far as I’m aware this is the first time Meetup has ever been to the Alamo City. They did come to share some of the recent site changes but mostly they came to listen. They wanted to know what we as organizers of groups needed. How could they help us do what we do better? Did we have a wish list of things we would like on the site? They were very sincere and honest about what was in the works, what they could and couldn’t do. They took notes, responded and offered their own experiences as Meetup Organizers.
There are 200+ meetup groups in San Antonio. Out of all of the Organizers that are running these groups only 9 folks showed up to spend time learning and sharing with Meetup HQ. I was glad to be able to represent San Antonio and be part of the Think Tank. We offered ideas, suggestion and a wish list which MeetupHQ will take back to their headquarters.
It was great to have the opportunity to exchange tips with my fellow Organizers. There was plenty of conversation regarding venues, RSVP’s, group participation, keeping a group active, even the pay or no-pay option organizers use to help fund their groups.
The biggest bomb shell that came out of this was that for the single monthly payment each organizer uses to fund a group you can actually run three groups. When I heard this I was stunned! I asked how long that had been in effect and their response was, “Oh, it’s always been that way.” I asked the other Organizers if they were aware of this 3 for the price of 1 feature and the resounding answer was, “No”. As a matter of fact there was one gentleman who was organizing 3 groups who was paying for all three groups. His annual payments for all three groups was $432. However he could have been doing the exact same thing for only $144! I’ll admit to having been upset when hearing about this apparent long time feature that no one knew about. When I pressed them for a reason this their response was, “We have found that when a person runs more than one group the failure rate for their groups increases.” My response was, “Well if I’m paying my $20* a month and want to create three groups and they all fail, I’m paying for the right to do it.” Now granted, I certainly don’t encourage folks to create a bunch of groups and then allow them to languish, but you get my point.
*Disclaimer: The actual amount you pay on the site is dependent on how you prefer to be billed. $19 for one month, $45 for three months or $72 for six months. Obviously the more months you pay for in advance the less expensive the per month cost. They had a $120 per year price, which was great, but they’ve done away with it since it was their least used plan.
The thing that restored my faith and good humor happened at then end of the evening. Meetup HQ gave the Organizers of San Antonio a check for $500! They called it Seed Money. It is meant for us to use in any manner we see fit to promote our Meetup Groups in San Antonio. Talk about a “WOW!” moment. We decided to create a “San Antonio Organizers Meetup” and use the money to promote Meetup with a monthly business card size ad in the San Antonio Current. The goal is to reach the hobbyist or enthusiast who may not be internet savvy but would enjoy connecting with like-minded folks. In other words it is a way to bring new blood to the San Antonio Meetup Family.
I can say it quite the informative event. As someone who has been organizing a group since 2005, I had a few hard hitting questions and plenty of suggestions. They took what I gave them and were sincere in their responses. I respect that. It was apparent they enjoy and love what they do.
While I have been utilizing the Meetup.com services for a while I haven’t followed the company inner workings. If the four people I met this past week are an indicator of the corporate culture of Meetup, I can say they’ve got passionate employees who not only care about the company but are it’s biggest fans.
Thank you MeetupHQ for being willing to come down to the grass roots level to really find out about the local Meetups.