Podcaster Training: Interview Larry Genkin, CEO, Blogger & Podcaster Media Network

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What does Podcast Pickle, Fuel My Blog, SocialRank and Blogger & Podcaster magazine all have in common?

We’ll find out in a few minutes. But first, I had planned to begin Phase 2 of the training this week, however, we will take a break from our current series tonight to bring on Larry Genkin, the CEO of the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network.

A few weeks ago, I read an article that came from a link I found from one of my Twitter pals that lead me to The Blogger and Podcaster Media Network. This service will allow the small time blogger and podcaster to make money with their hobby. Signup is free and it comes with a bunch of great benefits. I went ahead and read the article and then contemplated it for a few days and finally signed up. Why not, it’s free!

Well, long story short, I was recently accepted into the network and the CEO, Larry Genkin read a post on my blog about where I was talking about this new network and I invited him to come onto the show for an interview to tell all my listeners about his new network and explain the benefits of being a member.

Here are some of the questions that I will be asking Larry during the interview:

What exactly is the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network?

What does it cost to join this network?

Who can join?

What are the benefits of joining?

Do you have an affiliate program?

What makes your network different from other programs available?

How does a member make money?

Do you have to be an expert marketer in order to benefit from this network?

Do you have to have a certain type of blog or podcast in order to make this work?

What about amateurs, as we are not professionals, but more like hobbyists. Can we still make money here?

What if your blog or podcast only reaches a few people, not hundreds or thousands, can the network help promotion campaigns?

How does an individual go about signing up for the network?

I will also field questions from the listeners and visitors to the chat room as well.

Next week, we will have the Community Manager from DimDim, Kevin Micalizzi on our show to talk about the DimDim Web Conferencing Service.

Listen to this great interview in the player below!

Popularity: 21% [?]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Interview with Larry Genkin, CEO, Blogger Podcaster Media Network

Recently, I posted about the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network article and received a great comment from the CEO of the Blogger Podcaster Media Network, Larry Genkin.

Friday Night, November 14th, 2008, Larry will be my special guest on Podcaster Training and we will discuss the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network and take questions and comments from the listeners too!

You can find the link to the article at http://www.nmpnetwork.com/2008/11/11/the-blogger-podcaster-media-network-is-looking-fo-more-people/ and be sure to join us live at 8:00pm EST on Talkshoe for this great interview!

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Behind the Scenes: How Web Conferencing Works

Web conferencing programs are readily available in the market nowadays. Web conferencing offers instant messaging and hosting of group discussions. It is a great way for conducting meetings, seminars, even presentations or product roll-outs.

Conferencing technology has already achieved immense improvement. Teleconferencing is a product of the conferencing technology. With teleconferencing, it is mainly about conference calls where small to very large groups of people can participate to or listen to the phone conversation. With video conferencing, the presenter can appear on the screens of all the attendees or for small groups, all the attendees can appear on the screen in separate webcam windows.

Web conferencing is often confused with web seminars. There is just a thin line separating or differentiating each other, it is mainly about the number of the attendees or participants and the amount of interactivity in the meeting or presentation.

Web seminars are usually more than ten people and only the organizer and a small number of panelists would have the control over the discussion. With web conferencing, it is normally limited to ten people, where the attendees or participants would have the opportunity to present and take control of the flow of the discussion.

Web conferencing programs use internet communication to transfer and share files and applications. These programs combine HTML, Java scripts, flash animation, instant messaging and even audio and video streaming.

Through the combination of these, web conferencing can offer several features. These features are application and file sharing, desktop sharing, co-browsing the internet, white boards, polling/surveying, text messaging, PowerPoint presentations and even private meeting rooms.

There are two options to choose from if a company or any institution is interested in using web conferencing. There are conferencing software that can be installed in computers and host the meeting themselves. Another way is by using a hosting service that provides the software and server space to conduct the web-based meetings.

How web conferences run depend on the software, hosting and how the moderator or organizer runs the meeting. Prior to the meeting the moderator or organizer often compiles the documents and files for the meeting and have them distributed. The organizer then sends out e-mails or text messages inviting the guests and participants citing the certain day and time the web conference will start.

Attendees may accept or reject the invitation and their calendar program will add the meeting to their schedule. The invitation sent out includes a link to the conference and a password or access code to join the conference. The attendee just have to click the URL and enter the password or access code.

Once the attendees have already logged on to the conference, the organizer or presenter controls the meeting. The presenter has the ability to share the desktop and other documents and applications. Control of the flow of the discussion can be handed over to other attendees letting them to present. Participants can communicate to each other by audio or video, voice chat, instant messaging or desktop sharing.

Images from the presenter’s computer are constantly being uploaded to the server and sent to attendees, it is much like video streaming. Participants can share documents and applications because the files are temporarily available on the server where anyone with the right link and password can access. To end the conference or to log out of the meeting, participants just simply close their conferencing programs.

Web conferences are easy to set up and can forge strong working relationships among employees. Collaborations and cooperation made through web conferencing can play a very important role in improving the business and the operations of certain institutions.

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The Podcaster Training New Media Challenge is…

What…too hard? Too easy? Too silly? Of course, what I am referring to is the New Challenge that just started a couple of weeks ago on The Podcaster Training Show. Now, I admit, the first challenge was a bit easy, I mean, having to leave a comment about what you liked best about Jason Van Orden’s discussion that night? Ok, a little too easy, yes, but still, no one even tried!

Then, last week’s challenge, a little harder, get a sponsor, clickable ad or an advertiser for your blog, web site or podcast and then leave a comment AND tweet me at @robwhiteus with the location of the ad. A lot of work? Maybe, but still, no one has entered the challenge!

Don’t get the wrong idea here, I’m still going to present a challenge each week. These challenges, even I do to challenge myself and I don’t even get the reward of the free software I am giving away each week! You do though!

So, even if you do the challenge, but don’t report it, at least let me know so that I can reward you with the free software. You might as well get the best of the deal for your efforts!

Oh, and if you have an idea for a challenge or just want to help me to improve the challenges, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

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Trying out Justin.TV as a possible video platform

As most of you are aware, a few weeks ago, I went to a straight video format using uStream.TV and then podcast my audio after the Podcaster Training Show. Lately, uStream.TV has been experiencing video freezing as well as the chat room goes A.W.O.L. (Away Without Leave) and doesn’t come back!

Instead of trying to put up with even more distractions, I have reset my Live Page to reflect the video and chat room for Justin.TV. I have been doing some testing over the past couple of days and getting used to the broadcast interface and I must say, I like some of the features that they have built-in!

So, Friday Night, I will be broadcasting on Justin.TV and will see how well this holds up under actual broadcast conditions. My tests have went very well and so far, thanks to their automatic quality control, I have had no video freezing and the chat room has not went away one time!

As a point of reference, you might just want to go to the Live Page on Friday Night, in case I have to switch to a different platform. I don’t anticipate this happening, however, this will be the way to keep up with me in the interim!

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To Blog or Not To Blog, That is the question!

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Whether you have a business or just want to keep up with family, a blog is a very essential part of your online presence today. In this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of having a blog or not having a blog.

Of course, most of the hosts of this episode all have blogs, for business and other reasons, and so I figured that the discussion might become a little biased. Boy, was I wrong! The opposite was true, inc fact, as the discussion went for more than an hour and even carried over into the Business 101 Segment as we discussed Press Releases and Public Relations in Business and the importance of having a blog was discussed during this segment.

Josh didn’t make it this week, so we went onto the Wordpress News and talked about the new BluBrry Plugin for Wordpress (as used here now! See the player below) and then we moved onto Patti’s Broadcasting Tips. Patti is now incorporating video tips into her segment since we have segued into straight video for our live format now.

The After Show went for more than an hour and it is now podcasted for those that are interested. I will include a separate player below for the After Show podcasts.

uStream had a few issues with locking up and continually restarting the recording. I am podcasting the audio from a local recording now, so the lockups and freezing will not affect the podcasts recording any longer. I may be looking for a different video service, but the Live page will continue unaffected by this change.

Podcaster Training After Show

Podcaster Training August 8th, 2008

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The Transition to Video - Part 3

In my last two posts, I went over some of the history of how I got started and brought you up to speed with some of the basics as far as simple hardware that you probably already have so that you could start podcasting easily.

Today, I am going to outline the hardware I currently have that allows me to not only podcast, but videocast too!

Just a note here, I did not start out with all of this equipment. I have added it to my studio a little at a time and all of the equipment listed below has been funded by income from podcasting.

The Computer Equipment:

I use two PC’s in my studio, a Toshiba Notebook (1.8ghz CPU, 1.5gb RAM) and a Clone PC Desktop. I have two webcams, a standard webcam (hooked to the desktop PC) and a Digital Video Camera (hooked to my Notebook). I have three external hard drives (2 - 160gb and a 320gb) hooked to the Notebook. I have an Alesis MultiMix 8 USB Mixer hooked to the Notebook. I have a Shure SM-58 Microphone and headphones hooked to the Mixer and my main phone service is provided by MagicJack VOIP Phone Service.

The Software:

I use several pieces of software in my studio. ManyCam Virtual Webcam (for special effects while streaming), Audacity for audio editing and creation, Windows Movie Maker for video editing and Wordpress Self Hosted Blogging Software for all of my blogs.

The Services:

I use uStream.TV for live, video streaming. I have a Deluxe Hosting Package from GoDaddy, so I host my own podcasts, videos, downloads, etc. Quality Conference Call is my provider for my free, 250 person phone bridge for calling into the show live.

If you haven’t noticed a pattern here, for the software and services, the main ingredient is, they are all free! (Except for the Deluxe Hosting Package, of course).

I guess my point here is, you don’t have to spend a lot of money in order to support this hobby and that this hobby can support itself when monetized properly.

Ok, now let’s talk a few minutes about producing a live, interactive video stream. It’s really not as difficult as you made believe. First, you will need to setup a free account at uStream.TV. Next, go to Quality Conference Call and setup a free account and get your free 250 person phone conference line. After that, make sure you have your uStream account, profile and show page setup the way you want. I have a great video series I will be posting here in the next few days that covers this for you (in case you need any help). Print out the instructions for your phone conference bridge (so you can have them handy when you need them) and go ahead and make a test call to the phone bridge and make sure you know how to login as a moderator and start the call. If you get the web based version (I think you should, it’s free too), login to the web based conference manager and make sure you know how to see how this works. The conference manager lets you see who (by their phone number) is coming onto the call and you have the options of muting, unmuting and dropping them from the call.

After you have mastered the phone bridge, go to uStream and hit the Broadcast Now button (usually found at the top of the page) and make sure uStream can see you camera and microphone. Now, unless you are using Skype to call into the phone bridge and you have your PC setup to broadcast the audio across the Internet, no one watching your stream will be able to hear the audio from the phone bridge. You could use a speaker phone, however, this might cause some echoing or feedback, so this is something that is not highly recommended. Since my audio goes through my USB Mixer and my phone service is VOIP, I can easily send the audio from the phone bridge across to uStream so everyone can benefit from the conversation.

Ok, once uStream can see your camera and mic, and you have mastered the phone bridge (or at least can get the call started), next, you will want to add something like Manycam to your setup and this will allow you to put text on the screen, funny effects, scrolling text and more. You could even put the phone number of your conference line on the screen for your viewers to calls you easily.

Now, schedule a time to produce your show, let your viewers know when it will be on, and make sure to go into uStream and use the scheduling tab so that your show can be put on their Guide and then get ready to start your show!

I know it sounds like a lot. But really, once you get the hang of it, it’s not realy that bad. You can watch me live, every Friday Night at 8:00pm EST by visiting http://www.newmediapro.tv (that’s my live page for my uStream channel) and I will take you through these steps and more on my Podcaster Training Show.

Ok, that’s all for today. But don’t worry, there is still more to come in this series. How much more? Who knows, keep watching this space to find out!

See you next time…

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