Beginning Monday, June 8th, 2009, Dr. Robert White and Josh Budde, both Support Reps for Talkshoe, will begin hosting a new Live Support Show at Show ID 875, starting at 7:00pm EST every Monday Night.

The show will begin promptly at 7:00pm and there will be a short explanation of the shows format before the recording is started. Everyone will come into the show muted, however, the chat room will be open during the entire show.

Once the recording begins, there will be a 10 to 15 minute training that will be recorded and then the recording will be stopped. Once the recording has stopped, the phone lines will be opened and a Q&A Session will begin. We will go until all questions have been answered or fielded.

We urge all hosts and listeners alike to attend this show every week. We will take your support requests, comments and suggestions and then either answer your questions right there and then or if additional research or support is needed, it will be handled immediately following the show.

This new show is just another way that Talkshoe is getting you the support you need and want. Remember, that every Friday Night on Podcaster Training, there is also a time for Talkshoe Support added to that show too!

See you on Monday Night!

Since the inception of this show, almost 3 years ago now, I have always had a Co-Host. For some shows, a Co-Host may not work out well, however, for most, having a Co-Host is almost like breathing new life into your podcast.

Many podcasters begin solo and they do alright, then over time, the broken toaster effect starts to set in (we all remember the broken toaster episode a few weeks ago) and then the podcaster simply vanishes into the night, never to be heard from again.

Enter the Co-Host. This is a person who mans the “second chair” for your show. Kind of like Ed McMahon to Johnny Carson…ok, I just dated myself there, didn’t I? But I think you get the idea.

A couple of years ago, I had an idea for a business oriented show here on Talkshoe. I invited Patti Serrano to join me for the first show as a guest host and the mix was just right and I asked her to stay on as a permanent Co-Host for that show. We ran that show for almost 1 and a half years and it was very successful as a downloaded show.

When I started this show, it was started as a Talkshoe Support show and Tommy Vallier, then the only support rep for Talkshoe, came in on my first episode and became my Co-Host and was here for more than a year before he moved on to bigger and better things. As time progressed, this show evolved and I picked up another Co-Host, Jeff Chandler, who went on to start up his own Wordpress Weekly show, something he had done prior, and is still going strong today. After flying solo for a few months, I then invited Josh Budde on as my current Co-Host. This show is more of a two host style show and it just flows better with two hosts.

Of course, prior to bringing Josh on, I brought in the concept of Segment Hosts. A Segment Host is kinda like a Co-Host, except they only do a short 3 to 5 minute segment during your show. Maybe this would enhance your show, much like it did mine. A Segment Host can add more details to any show and the nice part about a Segment Host is that they don’t have to talk about what you are talking about, thus adding content to your show.

Now, consider your show that you have right now. Depending on the niche you are serving, you may be able to bring in a Co-Host easily and begin enhancing your show. So, just how do you find this ever elusive Co-Host? Easy! Start listening to other shows that are in the same niche that you are serving. If you can’t find one that way, look at your current listeners and see who is coming in faithfully on most every show. Start by asking them, as a group, to see if there is any interest. If you have more than one, then you can pick and choose, otherwise go with your gut and give this person a try out and see if there is a fit.

Now, you have a Co-Host, the next step is to set a time, once a week, if your show is a weekly show, for example, to get together on Skype or a Private Call and put your heads together and decide how the show will progress and collaborate on Show Notes, etc. to make sure you will have a good flow. I would suggest using something like Google Docs to collaborate your Show Notes, so that both you and your Co-Host can easily make modifications to the notes and both can easily stay on the same page.

Also, don’t forget, that when you have a Co-Host, you need to include your Co-Host in certain activities and discussions that will give your listeners a different voice to hear during your show.

Now with Segment Hosts, this operates a on a little different scale. With a Segment Host, they will most likely be talking on a subject that is different from your main show and something that they are familiar with. Because they aren’t really involved in the main discussion of the show, give your Segment Hosts their 3 to 5 minutes (or how ever long you have decided for them) to do their spot and then take back the reigns again and continue on. There is normally no collarboration with Segment Hosts, unless they are centering their segment around what you are talking about on that show. For example, if you have a Movie Review style show and you have a segment host coming in, they may want to know what movie you will be reviewing so that they can talk about when this movie is being released to DVD or maybe some special features that the DVD release will offer.

Ok, let’s say you have implemented a Co-Host and maybe even some Segment Hosts. Should you give them space in your blog or web site for their own show notes, commentaries, etc.? You betcha! Make sure that your Co-Host has their own category or seperate space and each Segment Host too. Now, not everyone will want to do this, but make sure you make the offer just the same!

Listen to this extended version of the show in the player below!

Last week, we discussed the Basics of Talkshoe and continuing with that line of thinking, this week, we will discuss Broadcasting on a Shoestring.

Everyone has the ability to produce a good sounding, professional style show, and most everyone has the inclination to do so. Sometimes, your financial situation, especially during these hard, economic times, can get in the way of allowing you to do this.

Tonight, we will discuss different hardware, equipment and software that you can use to setup your home studio to produce a more professional style podcast. You may need to spend a few bucks to do this, however, we will attempt to show you the most inexpensive way to get yourself setup.

To begin with, when using Talkshoe, of course, the service itself is free. The service is free, but consider that your Internet connection is not! Look at your current provider or ISP and see what package you are subscribed to. If you are wanting to do just audio broadcasting, then you can easily get by with a lower end package of say 1mb down and 128k up. However, if you are wanting to do audio AND video broadcasting, then you will want a higher end package with at least 1mb to 3mb up and maybe 3mb to 6 mb down. When broadcasting, your upload speed is more critical than your download speed. Check with your ISP or Internet provider to see what packages they offer and you might even be able to upgrade for only a few dollars more a month!

Now, once your Internet connection is worked out, you will want to look at how you are connecting to the Talkshoe Service. Talkshoe allows several methods of connecting including landline or cell phone by way of 724-444-7444 and of course this may be a toll call depending on your phone service, so expect long distance charges when calling this number, especially if you don’t have a good long distance plan on your land line or cell phone. Another way to connect is by the SIP Interface using Gizmo, SJPhone or XLite and of course, don’t forget the Shoephone that is built into the Talkshoe Pro Client. And then of course, there is Skype. With Skype, you can purchase an outgoing plan for around $36.00 US per year and you will have the ability to dial into Talkshoe using the 724-444-7444 number WITHOUT long distance charges! We’ll talk more about these alternate methods of dialing in shortly when we discuss some of the equipment you will need.

Ok, one quick comment about dialing in before we move on, remember, depending on how you are dialing in or connecting to the Talkshoe service, will greatly affect your audio quality and your recording quality. If you dial in using a cell phone, for example, then you quality will be lower as this will be an analog or phone quality audio. When you connect using Skype or SIP, then you will have a higher quality, because your connection is a higher quality connection. Again, we’ll talk more about quality when we discuss the equipment later.

Talking about equipment, a good microphone and headset will go a long way to helping you to have a great quality audio and recording. Most places such as Radio Shack, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and even Wal-Mart carry quality products at low prices to get you started.

Listen to this episode in the player below to hear what some of the listeners had to say about this topic!

Tonight, we will discuss the Basics of the Talkshoe Service. As many of you already know, I am a Support Rep for Talkshoe, so what we are talking about tonight will come, partially from, some of the requests that have come across the support lines.

To begin with, Talkshoe, as you already know, allows you to host and listen to, live, interactive podcasts. Some of you newer hosts may have questions pertaining to the service or how to do certain features, etc. We will attempt to answer all of your questions tonight, so feel free to chime in at anytime and ask, in case we miss something!

Now, to start off, the first thing you want to do, is to register for your free account at Talkshoe. This takes only a couple of minutes and like I said, it’s free! Once you have this done, you are ready to begin listening to shows or even host a show or shows of your own.

Next, let’s walk through the steps to setup a new show on Talkshoe.

To see a visual demonstration of this section of the show, please visit http://www.newmediapro.tv and click on Video On Demand.

Many times in past episodes, you have heard me mention using WordPress, not only for blogging, but as a web site too. Since it’s early days, WordPress has developed into, what many feel, is the Number One software for blogging.

Tonight, we will discuss using WordPress as a platform for your podcast. No, not to host your podcast, but to give your podcast an additional presence in the Internet Real Estate Arena.

To begin with, let’s talk about what WordPress is. WordPress is a software package that you run on the Internet and it is commonly known as a Content Management System or CMS. With the availability of literally thousands of plugins and themes, you can easily make your WordPress site do anything you need and look completely different from the millions of other WordPress sites running today.

Podcaster Training and it’s parent site, The NMP Network, each operate a WordPress site. Using a News Style or Magazine Style Theme, these sites do not resemble a typical blog, but they are organized and easy to use. Along with several plugins, oh, a plugin is a smaller extension program that adds functionality and normally provides a specific task to the site, each site has lots of features not normally found in your typical blog. Again, giving a unique perspective to your site.

Now, to bring a very unique perspective to this discussion, Jeff Chandler from WordPress Weekly is with us tonight and I hope he will share his insights on this topic with you.

We discussed the various themes and plugins that Jeff, Josh and myself use and had some input from a new listener about his site and how he uses WordPress.

You will definitely want to listen to this episode to find out more and be sure to tune into Jeff’s WordPress Weekly show on Talkshoe every Friday Night at 8:00pm EST (or you can at least subscribe to his RSS Feed so that you don’t miss my show!)

Be sure to follow Podcaster Training on Twitter @podcasttraining and Jeff @wptavern and Josh @buddemedia

Popularity: 3% [?]

Due to something coming up last minute, I had to reschedule last night’s episode of Podcaster Training until next week. Nothing drastic, just a family dinner announced at the last minute.

Had I had more time, I would have tried to get someone to sit in for me, however, there just wasn’t enough time to do that, so I apologize to everyone for the short notice.

I am considering moving the show to another day and time, but haven’t decided on just when and where to move it to just yet. If you have any preferences, please leave them in the comments to this post so that everyone else can see your preferences and I will make a decision within the next couple of weeks about this new move.

If you weren’t aware of the short notice, please take a minute to follow me on Twitter at @podcasttraining as I will be posting all announcements for this show via that account.

Catch the show again next week at http://www.newmediapro.tv and at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/16829 … See you then!

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Every Friday Night, Podcaster Training presents specialized training on New Media, podcasting, videocasting and screencasting. Here is some of the topics that will be presented over the next few weeks. Not necessarily in this order, and this list is subject to change without notice! Ok, enough of the disclaimer…here’s the list:

A Full Presentation on Mogulus
A Complete Basics Presentation on Audacity
Working with Wordpress as a blogging platform
The Basics of Talkshoe
Adding Intros and Outros to your Recordings
Putting the Cast Back into Podcasting
Broadcasting On A Shoestring
Giving Your Podcast An Extreme Makeover

Also, with our new format of handling listener issues and questions during the show, this will add a new element to each episode as we will be covering other topics too!

If you have any suggestions for future topics, please feel free to contact me with your suggestions and I will implement them as quickly as possible.

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If you are reading this post, then you already know that I have changed the Podcaster Training site once again!  I have decided to begin posting the show notes and other relevant posts here and will also syndicate them over at The NMP Network blog too.

I have most everything setup and running here and will begin using this blog site immediately for Podcaster Training.

Another new change that happened today, Podcaster Training is on Twitter!  @podcasttraining is the Twitter name, so be sure to follow the show!

More changes to come!  Watch this site for details!

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Earlier this week, I announced, by way of a blog post, of changes coming to the format of the show. Tonight, I will be implementing these changes. Even though they aren’t real big changes, they are changes none the less.

First off, for those of you that catch my videocasts each week, I am now streaming live (and recorded) on Mogulus instead of uStream.tv. I have revamped my live page at http://www.newmediapro.tv to reflect these changes to the video streaming.

Now, most of the show will remain as it was, such as the segment hosts will still come in an deliver their segments each week. The main change to the format is in the Main Topic area. I will choose a topic for the episode to discuss, however, the floor will remain open for anyone, and I stress anyone, that wants to come on and discuss other things, like how to use Talkshoe for example. This will allow the new hosts to Talkshoe to come in and to learn, like a hands on approach (thanks to the video) how to do the things they are wanting to learn how to do.

Anyway, the topic for tonight is What is REALLY important to your podcast. Now, since I am a Support Rep for Talkshoe, I see some really strange requests sometimes that are bugging people about the service or their shows, and so I have come up with a list of things that a podcaster should be looking at and not sweating the small stuff.

You can add to this list if you like, as there may be things that you feel is important to your podcast and I may have overlooked. This is NOT an all inclusive list!

Important things to a podcaster:
1. Make sure your equipment is working BEFORE you go live!
This is probably the most important item in the whole list. Now I know, better than anyone, that technical difficulties can happen after you press the Record button. However, it is extremely important that you mak sure your mic is working with your VOIP program (Shoephone, Gizmo, Skype, etc.) and that you know how to use the aformentioned VOIP program to log into Talkshoe to do your show. If you are using a landline or cell phone, again make sure your batteries are charged (like for a cordless phone or cell phone) and that you know the shortcut keys to use in case you need them. Remember, *2*1 to start and stop the recording, *8 to Raise Your Hand (For listeners) and *6 to mute and unmute.

2. Before you start the recording, and if you have someone else in the chat room with you, make sure your audio is functioning properly.
There is nothing worse than to go into your show and then find out that your mic was muted or turned off and that no one can hear you. If you are in doubt, then take an extra minute to double check BEFORE you start your show!

3. Decide how to handle hecklers during your show, BEFORE you begin!
Make sure you know how to mute the chat room users and how to mute the live phone in listeners. When you get that ever present podcrasher, and you will (we all do) be ready to mute them both in the chat and on the phone. To do this, as a host, simply click on the computer icon next to their name to mute/unmute their chatroom and click on the phone icon next to their name to mute/unmute their live conversations. And if you get someone that is being persistant in wanting to be unmuted, think twice unless you know the person and know that they aren’t wanting to disrupt your show.

4. If you are inviting someone in for an interview, make sure they know how to log into Talkshoe on the phone (at the very least) and that they have an account. This way your invited person isn’t coming in as a guest and you are trying to second guess yourself as to who or where they are.

5. After your show is finished, don’t rush right out and “hope” that the recording is there. It most likely won’t be. You may have to wait for up to 30 minutes or more before your recorded show will appear. Also, the recording will not appear until AFTER you have terminated the show and exited your chat room.

6. Going along with number 5, don’t look for the stats to be immediately updated. They most likely won’t be. The stats are usually updated daily and they aren’t updated on the fly. If you want to check your stats, that’s ok, but don’t make this a priority and then generate a support ticket when they aren’t there 10 seconds after your show if finished!! Wait until the next day and check them, if 24 hours have passed and they still haven’t updated, then go to GetSatisfaction and let Talkshoe know. There may be an issue with the Stats Server that needs to be looked at.

7. When scheduling your future shows, take a few minutes to learn how to use this interface. It’s not too complicated and once you learn it, you can schedule a show within a few minutes and send out your invites and be done. Again, don’t just jump out and generate a ticket because you don’t want to take a few minutes to learn how to do it right!

8. Speaking of scheduled shows, once you schedule a future show, make sure you actually show up to do the show! When listeners see you are live and they go into the chatroom and no one is there, especially the host, then they will tend to quickly migrate to another show and not want to come back. Now, I understand that sometimes life can get in the way, so take a second to go out and reschedule the show to another day or time and in this way, you will be able to retain more listeners when you can’t make it.

9. Take some time to update your profiles.
When you are hosting a show, make sure your show profile is updated with a proper name and description. This will help new listeners decide whether or not they want to come in and check you out. If your profile is incomplete or blank, they will most likely keep moving along and won’t stop in. Your personal profile is especially important to make sure you have it updated. There is nothing more frustrating to a host to click on a listeners name to find nothing, just a blank profile. Also, include your proper age. If you are a teenager or pre-teen trying to act like an adult, believe me, adults can tell the difference. The more honest you are in your profile, the more respect you will earn from your fellow hosts and listeners.

10. If you don’t know how to do something, just ask someone!
Whether you are just starting out or have been doing this for a while, you may see something new or hear of something new that you would like to incorporate into your podcast. If you can’t figure it out, don’t get upset just because someone else if making it work, ask someone. Usually the host that is using the new technology will be more than happy to explain what they are doing and how they are doing it. If all else fails, come onto a show like Podcaster Training or submit a support ticket to Talkshoe and ask how to do this. You might be surprised of the amount of information you will get back in return!

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WordPress MU 2.7.1 Released – Although it’s gone through a few delays, WordPress MU 2.7.1 is now available. This release features a revamped plugin system where you can activate and deactivate plugins across the entire site. The admin bar at the top has been removed and is now a plugin. And the site admin can now set a global dashboard blog for users who don’t have blogs. If you’re using WordPress MU 2.7 you should be able to use the core update functionality to upgrade to the new version. - http://ocaoimh.ie/2009/04/21/wordpress-mu-271/

Blo.gs Acquired – Matt Mullenweg announced on April 20th that Automattic had acquired a service known as Blo.gs. Blo.gs was owned by Yahoo and was a service that enabled you to easily keep an eye on your favorite blogs via web and email. Essentially, you could embed Blo.gs into your blogs sidebar and it would reorder your favorite blogs based on their most recent post. Automattic has said that they plan on beefing up the service while giving it a refresh. Will ping-o-matic and blo.gs merge into one service? Only time will tell. - http://ma.tt/2009/04/blogs-lives-on/

Contact Form 7 – Earlier this week, it was discovered that the WordPress plugin Contact Form 7 contained a serious security vulnerability which was actively being exploited. This is a popular plugin that is used to create simple contact forms. Over the past few days, the plugin author has worked with a few other people and has since released a new version containing the necessary security fixes. If you use this plugin, be sure to upgrade to the latest version.

Plugin Pick Of The Week – Odiogo Listen Button – Odiogo.com is a service that takes your text based blog posts and provides a listen button where end users can listen to a synthesized voice read the blog post. This makes your blog a little more accessible to those with vision problems. The voice isn’t bad but you can tell we still have a long way to go for natural sounding speech. http://www.odiogo.com/listen_button_wordpress.php

If you’re interested in WordPress, head on over to WPTavern.com where all sorts of WordPress related information can be consumed. While you’re there, hop in the forum and join the conversation while enjoying your favorite beverage because at the WordPress Tavern the drinks, are always on the house.

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