Managing the Gray - Marketing for the New Media Professional

I’m ALL about influencer outreach programs. I WANT politicians to figure out how to leverage new media in their campaigns. I love seeing them experimenting and I applaud them for that. BUT, the Edwards campaign just totally swung and missed in my general direction. But, just like I tell my son when he strikes out in baseball, I’m hoping they will do better next time.

I got a Twitter yesterday from Edwards camp asking me if I’d be interested in helping with a new online program they were going to do. I was curious and he’s one of the candidates I’m very interested in so I responded and the conversation switched to e-mail where I gave them my number and said I’d love to talk and find out more.

A few minutes ago I got a call from someone on the staff. Not the person that I had chatted with and agreed to talk with (bad move #1, don’t pawn me off onto someone else without telling me). This kid was good, but it felt like he was reading from a script. Worse part was they had not done even a five second search on who I was or what I was about. I had assumed the Twitter was because I had written about the campaign in the past, but now I’m thinking it was just a generic message to followers.

On the call I was actually asked if I had ever used MySpace or Delicious before? Are you kidding me? Come on. Do a little bit of homework and find out who you are talking to. I don’t mean this in a cocky sort of way, but at least find out if the person you are talking to has a blog or a podcast or anything. Know a little bit about them before getting them on the phone.

Then I was actually asked “so do you think you can push out some information and content to all your friends?” No direction, just get the information out there. Huh? You are kidding right? PLEASE tell me you are kidding. I wanted to school this kid on the phone but realized he’s just doing his job and it’s really the people heading up this outreach that I need to talk with.

It pains me that this felt more like a band’s street team approach then truly embracing new media. They are doing it right by going to where the conversations are happening, but they fall down in their outreach and approach. If you are going to just blanket reach out to people it is NOT going to work. Figure out who you are talking to and then talk to them appropriately. Find the people who are already talking about you and then tell them you’d love to give them more information.

I had made an assumption that they were reaching out to me because of my political views and because I’ve talked about how politicians can use new media. In the end it turns out I was another random face to them.

I hope the campaign (and all campaigns) can learn from this. As I’ve said before you can fall down in this space, get back up and be better for it. That is why I call this “the new media playground” because we are all learning how to play with the toys and the only way to get better is to keep trying and take advise from the other kids who might have been playing a bit longer.

I don’t want to share what they are doing behind the scenes, but it is a GREAT first step. Every campaign should be doing what they are doing and a lot more. We’ve got to move beyond baby steps and really get things going.

What will be interesting to see is if they will even notice this post and react? I guess it’s a little test for them. *grin*

Posted in Politics, Rants, New Media | Comments(27)

Today I was determined to clean out the voice mail box and play a ton of audio comments from all you great listeners. Of course if YOU want to be part of this fun you can call anytime to 206-309-4729 and leave a message or e-mailing me an MP3 works as well.

I actually started off the episode with a mini rant on some of the flack happening around the recent Nikon influencer outreach campaign and about influencer outreach in general. As I mentioned on the show I highly suggest giving this post from Eric Rice a read as I completely agree with what he said.

Links from the show:

• Looking Out the Window
• KC Weather Podcast
• Jerry Harrington
• Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter
• Scott Monty
• A.Connector

As I mentioned on the show my continued love and support to Madsumo and Cali Lewis for their help in making my opening credits what they are. You both rock!

Posted in Podcast | Comments(7)

I’ve been really impressed with the campaigns that Nikon has been doing for their line of digital SLR cameras. I’m a total photo head so taking pictures is something I love.

Last year I bought my first digital SLR. I had been using Nikon’s for years. I think I had been using them ever since I bought a CoolPix-990 for my office many moons ago.

When making a decision I went to all the websites and review sites, but in the end it was the people and conversations I had that helped me make up my mind. I talked to both hobbyists and full blown full time photographers about what they used and what the differences were and in the end I bought the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Lots of reasons behind it, but that’s not the point of this post.

Today a friend pointed me in the direction of the Nikon Picturetown and I was instantly hooked. This is similar in nature to the current blogger outreach they are running with the D80 line, but at the same time completely different. They gave a little small town a bunch of cameras and told them to shoot their lives. What they end up with is a gallery of people, activities and real life events showcasing that anyone in fact can use their cameras which is the point of the campaign.

There is some flack going back and forth about if giving bloggers cameras and encouraging them to talk about it is right or wrong. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that as long as a blogger discloses they are part of a campaign then it is ok. Right then the minute you read their post you know they are being a bit biased no matter what. It’s human nature.

I think the whole “Stunning Nikon” is an interesting approach across the board. But, the Picturetown part of it is definitely my favorite. Kudos to all involved.

Update: Because I’ve already been asked, I want to make it clear that I’m not part of any outreach from Nikon. They ignore me in their latest campaigns *grin* I’m just impressed by what they are doing and hope they keep it up.

Posted in Campaigns, New Media | Comments(1)

Machinima is the art of filming inside of video game engines. I’ve watched everything from short films to music videos done using it.

As computer processors get faster and the tools get easier to use I believe we are going to see more of this. With built in tool inside of Second Life I’ve seen even more of it lately. Crayon even has a little trailer for our island that we had someone put together for us.

Today I saw this new piece of machinima released from the team behind the Silverscreen island as a wrap up for the press event that they held for the movie 300. Full disclosure that crayon was involved a bit behind the scenes on this event, but had nothing to do with this video. I found it this morning while going through Bloglines.

What I like about this is that it’s not just straight up footage from the event. It is very nicely mixed up with a comic book theme and intercut with some footage from the movie. Overall it provides a very nice presentation that gives you a feel for the event but also drives home that it was more then just a press event. The shots at the end showcasing the island are more powerful then some of the other shots. I think I would have mixed those in or moved them up front so that people don’t miss them.

I look forward to seeing more companies and individuals mixing the mediums to take machinima to the next level.

Posted in Video, second life, Virtual Fun | Comments(1)

Earlier this week I put out a call looking for input on if I should get a MacBook or a MacBook Pro. For some reason Apple.com doesn’t this this is valuable information and don’t do a good job outside of spec sheets to give you input on the difference in the machines. But, YOU the users of the computers stepped up and gave me objective and passionate answers in both directions. I love that about the new media playground. We all love doing show and tell.

So today I had a great lunch and then walked into the Apple Store and pointed at one and said “I would like one of those!” The very cute lady informed me that they only had it in the most basic of configurations. Blargh. No impulse buy for me.

They almost lost the sale completely. I got home miffed that they only have a few configurations when you boil it down and the fact that they don’t even stock some different set ups makes no sense. That question of “should I get this or not” entered in my head. It wasn’t until I lost a document I was working on for reasons I still don’t know I said screw it and ordered it.

What Apple (and every other brand out there) needs to pay attention to is that I didn’t make this decision based on any marketing they had done anywhere. I didn’t make it based on the information they provide on their website. I made the decision by interacting with the brands consumers in real time via blogs, Twitter and IM. THAT is where the real power lies. If you provide your consumers with a good product and allow them to talk about and share with others they will. Don’t ever stifle that conversation ever.

So, now I have to sit and wait for my new shiny toy to arrive. I’m now going to reach out and ask they same community what software and other goodies I need to get. I know there are many goodies out there!

Final Score? MacBook Pro with 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM, 160 GB HD and Aperture installed

Posted in Community, Cool Tools, New Media | Comments(11)

C.C. Chapman: Hey everybody. Welcome to Managing the Gray  for May 1, 2007. Yeah, I know I do not usually put out dates, but it is May day today. I realized I was talking with the kids about it being May, so I figured, “You know what? Why not throw it into the opening of the show,” because it has been a little while since I have been here.

Now, since we last sat down together or we were in the gym together, wherever you are listening to this because that is what is cool about podcasting — I have been away. I have been dealing with a death in the family. My grandfather passed away. That is why I kind of disappeared off the grid for a little while. If I owe you an email, I promise that is coming back soon. It is just I have had a really hard time getting back in the groove of things. I have got a lot of things on my plate. I am just trying to get back in the groove because as fun as the new media playground is, life sometimes forces you not to have fun and sidetracks you from things. You just got to get back on. That is what I have been doing and it is a little bit slower than I am used to because usually I am one of those guys that just spring right back. Sometimes you cannot and it is just the way it is. Thankfully, I am surrounded by people, I work with people who understand that and embrace it and are okay with it. They know that it is not slack. It is just life. We are getting there and I am really excited to be sitting down the mic today. It is a beautiful day. The call-in line is always open. It is 206-309-4729. If it is easier to remember, it is 206-309-GRAY. Call in your comments, your feedback, your questions, your answers, anything you have got. I have got a huge pile of them. We are not going to focus on them today. I have other things I want to talk about.

So, I was sitting there going to start up Managing the Gray today and I said, “What do I want to talk about?” “What do I want to focus on?” As you know, one of the things about Managing the Gray is I like each episode to be focused on something. Here in the Chapman household, we are getting ready to sell our house. We are in the process of selling it. For those of you — I realize I said that the other day on something else and I freaked out some of my friends. We are not leaving the MetroWest area. We are just moving for a big — we are upgrading I guess. We are moving into a bigger house. We do not know where we are going yet. We are going to stay in the same town though.

This weekend, we got a huge dumpster, those big industrial-sized dumpsters, and we cleaned out the house and I could not believe that we filled this thing. My dad laughed when he showed up. He is like, “You’re never gonna fill that,” and we filled it. It was not a goal. It was just we wanted to get stuff done. They got me thinking. I mean it is spring cleaning mode and I thought, “You know what? There’s some definite tie in here to spring cleaning and new media,” so I thought we talk about new media spring cleaning today.

Just some tips on things that you can do. You can go out there right now. You have been cranked and you have been grooving. You have been playing with all the toys, but sometimes you usually need a pause and you need to do some spring cleaning. It is very, very true. These are just some tips and tricks, advice. Maybe this is partially like a Lifehacker or life hack or 43 Folders, kind of all together. I am not comparing myself to them because I love that stuff. Those sites are amazing. I will link to it in the show notes, but Lifehacker and 43 Folders are very good productivity websites and they are full, chuck, chuck, chuck full of information. I love those sites. They are two of the blogs I read very, very carefully. I skim lots of blogs. Those, I read.

First off, you have got to spend some quality time with your blog, your blog and your social media sites. I am going to group them together, but they are kind of different. What I mean is go through your blog, make sure you are up-to-date with the latest version of WordPress or Movable Type, or whatever you are using. Make sure you are up-to-date. Make sure it is cleaned out. You only run plug-ins you want to run. Your spam is cleaned out. Just kind of touch it up, look at it, make sure everything is right. If you are going to play under the covers a little bit, see if your keywords are still right, your description of your website, all the meta, the meat underneath the covers, make sure that is all up-to-date and it is the freshest thing you want. It is a perfect time. You forget about it. You set it up when you did the blog probably. You probably forgot about it. Really go look at that. If you are using WordPress under the theme, you just go Theme Editor and look at your meta. You do not have meta. If you are going, “Whoa, what is that?” Look up meta keywords on the web and figure out what you need to do because that helps with search engines. Yeah, I know it is not as important as some other things as it used to be, but make sure it is right.

Also, on social media sites, figure out what you are getting out of each of them. MySpace I have pretty much given up — not given up on, but I have let it run wild. Someone ask me as a friend, I have them. That is fine. I do not care who you are. I do not need to know who you are. That is what MySpace is. It is a place to post bulletins. It is a place to find people. Is a place, more importantly, for people to find me. I do use my top choices, top friends, I do use that specifically to put friends, but I have kind of let that — it is just happening. It is there. I do not spend a lot of time with it. If you messaged me through MySpace, I might not see it for a week. It is a bad way of doing it, but then something like LinkedIn I take very seriously. I have a lot of connections on LinkedIn, but I only connect with people that I actually know and I have met. I do not have to know them very, very, very well, but I like to connect with people that — I mean when I go to conferences, I love connecting with people afterwards. That is what LinkedIn is for me.

So, just take a minute. Look at your social network sites. Figure out what each one is doing for you. Do you have all the right information? Make sure your information in something like LinkedIn is updated. You want your profile to be as up-to-date as possible. Make new connections and all these things. Most of these tools now have emailing import. Now, I am not saying go spam your friends, but what I am saying is something like LinkedIn I go every so often and I have it sucking my Gmail inbox to see if anybody new that is on my connections that is in LinkedIn. I love that feature because it lets me go, “Oh, I want to connect with them.” So, you can get that going.

Something else you should do is stop, sit back, and seriously set goals for yourself. Whether it is your blog, maybe it is your company, maybe it is your virtual world space. Figure out what you want to do with that space in the next year. You have got a few months left in the year, so just stop and figure out by the end of 2007, what would I like to be doing differently? Maybe it is more readers, maybe it is posting more often, maybe it is winning an award, maybe it is being on — someone talks nice about you or writes an article about you. Whatever it is, seriously set goals. You do not have to publicly share these goals. If you want to, it is even better, but actually take a hard fast look at where you are in the new media space and figure out where do you want to become at the end of the year. It is something you should do anyways. You should do it every so often. I try to do it every six months, just try to look forward. I set bigger goals too, but I also set six months out, what do I want to be doing in my life, what do I want to be doing in this space, and it is something definitely to do. Get out there and renew your connections. I cannot stress this enough. Who have you not talked to in a while that you would love to talk to? Maybe it is an old podcast you used to email back and forth with. Maybe it is an old online buddy. Maybe it is someone you bumped into in Second Life. Whoever it is, reach out and renew that contact with them. We all get caught up. We all get busy. We all do not talk as much as we would like to. So, take your time, find somebody. Go look through your address book right now. Pause it or whatever. Go look at your address book and find someone that you have not talked to in a while and just draw them an email and say, “Hey, I was just thinking we haven’t talked in a while.” I guarantee you that person is probably thinking the same thing or if not, they are going to go, “Yeah. How you doing, man?” Take the time. Reach out because this space is all about the people and you want those connections to keep going.

I’m sorry, I feel like I am going to sneeze. I cannot believe I just sneezed on a podcast. I apologize. That is so bad form. See, the editing people will go back and edit that out. I am not going to unless it is really bad. I do not edit anyway. So, I apologize for that. I guess my body is doing some spring cleaning. Wow!

Okay. All right. Back to the show. I was talking about renewing connections. Make sure you keep those connections. Renew them. Find somebody. Making new ones is another thing. Clean out your inbox. All right. Get that inbox cleaned out. Now, listen, I know we all have inboxes that are huge. What I love about Gmail personally is I archive stuff. I just say “Archive,” get it out of my inbox. Go clean out that inbox. If you have unread inbox, emails in your inbox that are over a week old, go reply to them right now and then get them the heck out of your inbox. One thing I know, if you use Outlook — I have gotten used to Gmail where you can just archive and it is still there easily, Outlook does not have an easy way to get my inbox out of here. What I used to do and I still do is create year folders. If you do not have project folders or people folders, if you just got miscellaneous that you need to keep, I highly suggest just create a 2007 folder and if it is easier, create key 1, 2, 3, and 4 underneath it. Take that email and dump it. Dump it into those folders. It is still there. It is just not in your inbox. Having a cluttered inbox is not a good thing. I know I have some very close friends who listen to this podcast who have inboxes from hell and they scare the bejesus out of me. Seriously, get that inbox cleaned out. You have no idea how much happy that would be. There is a certain point where you are just not going to be able to hide all your email, but you should try to. Get that inbox cleaned out.

Also, get organized. I am looking at my desk right now. It is actually not that bad at the moment. I am one of those guys who do not believe in the messy desk philosophy. I have always had a messy desk. It is just part of my process. It is just a part of the way it is, but try to get organized even if it is your own organization method. I also highly recommend going through your computer and getting organized. Buy an external drive. They are super cheap nowadays. I just bought a terabyte external hard drive for under $500. Actually, I think it was $400, but get an external hard drive. Back up your files. Clear out stuff you do not need. I had seven years worth of photos on my computer. There is no reason for that. I do not need it. I took those off. I kept just the last year on my computer and put the other ones on the backup drives and burned a DVD so I would have archives of them too. Do not worry. I do not trust it to one drive; that is dangerous. Clean out. Uninstall programs you do not need. You know that software you thought, “Oh yeah. I’m gonna need that,” and you have not used it in a year, delete it. Just get it off your computer. You can always find it again. Seriously, do some spring cleaning on your computer. Your computer will love you for it. I am not going to get techie, but make sure your virus is up-to-date and your spyware prevention is up-to-date. All that stuff. Get all that stuff done.

Huge point: Get out. Get out! Get off the computer and socialize. Meet people. Meet them face to face, shake their hands, buy them a drink, and say, “How are you doing? I’m so and so. What’s up?” I cannot stress that enough. Listen, there are events going on all over the place. Upcoming.org lists a bunch, I like that one, Craigslist. There are all kinds of things. Find an event happening near you and if there is not an event, start one. Literally, just throw it on your blog and your podcast, anywhere you can, and go, “Hey, I’m gonna have a beer tonight at XYZ bar and anybody who wants to talk new media, come hang out.” Somebody may not come and you will be all alone, but then you can meet somebody else. Start something. There is nothing saying you cannot start something and there is stuff happening all over the place.

I watch PodCamps pop up everywhere. I am going to PodCamp Miami, which I think I have talked about here, podcruisemiami.com, in December. We are going on a cruise. It is very inexpensive, by the way, very if you are looking for a great weekend. The guys at Binary Star Music got a great deal. Check it out. It is going to be a lot of fun, a lot of new media folks are going to be down there in Hawaii in Sheraton just ripping it up in the Bahamas. I cannot wait. What I am getting at, there are events popping up everywhere. I see PodCamps happening everywhere. Start a PodCamp. I mean you could do it whatever it is, but the key is to meet people. There are events happening at your library and your college right now near you. Please go meet people.

Finally, try something new. Have fun. I mean I am starting to get back, to really, really, really get into video podcasting. If you are curious, it is oneguysthoughts.com. It will take you right to PodShow. It might be easier just to go to feeds.feedburner.com/oneguysthoughts. Some people find the PodShow interface a little confusing. Either one, there is both. I have started doing that and it is not focused on music, it is not focused on new media. It is just focused on me and whatever is on my mind. I am having a lot of fun with that. So, try something new. It could just be something as little as go listen to a new podcast. Just this morning, I discovered teenbizideas.org. What is the official name of the podcast? It is not that. It is TeenBiz: Small Business Ideas and Tips for Students, but it is at teenbizideas.org. It is a new podcast focused strictly on helping student entrepreneurs succeed in small business. I think that is a great thing so I just started listening to that this morning. They sent me an email saying, “Hey C.C. Will you give us a shout out for our podcast to play?” I was like, “Well, I got to go listen to it first.” I listened to it and it is a great idea. Try something new. It could just be listening to a podcast. It could be reading a new blog. It could be something totally non-new media-related, but the key is to get out there and try something new. Have fun with it. It is spring. We have all been bears hibernating for the winter. Let us get outside and be those frisky bears having fun. Maybe that connects with going out and socialize. I do not know.

Speaking of going out and socializing, I have got this great listener comment from a very, very good friend who was a chance meeting. Chance meeting. We met each other at Podcast Expo last year, which by the way is happening again later this year. I will be speaking at it, podcastexpo.com, in Ontario, California. It is going to be a very good time. I am looking forward to speaking there and I am looking forward to seeing my friend Jason there who last year all of a sudden we just met and we started talking. He knew who I was. He listens to the show. He said some of the kindest words I have ever heard in my life. He bought me tea and what is funny I had drunk tea once and I was with Amanda Monaco and her husband. He gave me his box of tea because I was from Boston and the card said do not throw it in the river. I still have the box because I drink it and I have since gotten to drinking tea, but Jason sent this very poignant comment. It is very long, but it is very from the heart. Jason does A Buddhist Podcast and he is so mellow and he has got a great, great story in here so I wanted to play this for you. Please give it up and listen to Jason.

Jason Jarrett: Hey, C.C. It is Jason Jarrett from England. I have been meaning to call in for some time, but things have been mad busy around here lately. I love the new social media. I love the connections we make and the crazy ass things that we can make happen like patching our friends into a recording session with Jimmy Golding using Skype or even the twitter.com/fishdog saga. I fell into this world quite by accident. I found out about podcasting through what I call that mystic click, when you are online and you are curious and you click to find out what that button does or where that link goes. I found myself listening to shows and getting pulled in. I would gather so much information without realizing that it happened. I became a local hub of information about social media, a whole new understanding of what was possible. It really reminded me of a feeling I had when I first heard [unintelligible] in 1994 and found myself looking at the Lycos search engine for the first time. So, when I had started podcasting, I was putting Buddha study lectures together. It would take a lot of effort to do. Now, I wondered how I could give the lectures so that more people could hear them. Every time I heard a podcast, I want it. It would be great if someone did one about Buddhism. Eventually, I realized that somebody was me. If not you then who and if not now then when.

So, I started. I bought some basic equipment. I figured out how to get sound out to one end into one ear then later into two ears. I put a site together to house it, all the time not thinking more than 20 or so people would ever listen. After two shows, I found out about Libsyn, thank goodness. Just in time before the numbers went crazy. When we went out to the PNME in Ontario last year, we did not know anyone. I had no idea of the great friends and connections that I would make and that I still have. While we were there, I flew out to Sacramento to visit some listeners who have become great friends, email, IM, Skype. It is all pretty incredible. Texting you when you came over to London to make sure that you were okay and hooking up at JazzFly with Karen and Laura and then nights later seeing you [unintelligible], Accident Hash, absolutely mad. Being able to read out poetry from the talented Matthew McMillan, fantastic children’s poetry. Playing new podsafe music from great artists who have earned the right to be heard like Geoff Smith, Matthew Ebel, Laura Clapp, Black Lab, Jimmy Golding, Kevin Reeves, the list is endless. Along the way, I learned a lot from other people too. I learned a lot from your show, Managing the Gray. I learned a lot from [unintelligible], from Podcast411, there is no end to the great material this leaves. You just got to find it and then feedback.

So, in today’s batch of emails, there was one that really lit up my morning and that was written from a remote location in Oregon from an elderly lady who is partially sighted and she receives the podcast on CD from friends. They record it and they take it out into the middle of nowhere where this place is and they give it to her. This lack of broadband access has not even stopped the penetration of new social media. Reading her email and being encouraged to continue was really moving. So, new social media. It is a privilege to be involved. Thank you to everyone I have encountered and everyone I will and thank you, C.C. You really are a breath of fresh air.

C.C. Chapman: They take the podcast on CD to her. I love that story and I love Jason. The thing is that soothing voice, I am telling you, abuddhistpodcast.com is that voice. If that does not put you in a Zen-like chill out mode, I do not know what will. That is what I am talking about. Jason talked about the mystic click, which I think — I did not catch that the first time I listened to that audio comment. It is a great philosophy. I know exactly what he is talking about, we have all done it, where you click on a link or you read something or you heard something and you went [gasp]. It is the first time I clicked into Second Life and Eric Rice whipped out a skateboard and jumped on it and skateboarded up the roof that I went, “Oh wow.” The first time you listened to a podcast, the first time you got an email, the first time you typed something in Google and the results came back, the mystic click. I like that Jason. Also, Jason [unintelligible] about the connections, the connections we make, the connections we keep, the fact that friendships, the fact that very powerful connections can be made through social media and are being made through social media. He is right. When I went over to London, he was worried sick about me and was emailing me to make sure I was there okay. His wife does an amazing podcast at joyrise.podshow.com. It is one song a day and there is usually some very insightful — whether it is poetry or quotes, just beautiful stuff. I interviewed her. She was just like, “You can’t interview me!” Yes, I can and it is great and I love — I have not met their family, I have not met their kids yet. I cannot wait. When I left England, Jason actually gave me a box of candy for Emily because he knew she liked candy. The little things and these are the type of powerful connections we are making through social media and everyone needs to keep it in mind. Anybody who questions it is missing the point and not on board and probably not listening to this podcast, so it is okay because this podcast is for those people who do get it or want to get it. More importantly, this podcast is for people who want to get it, who want to embrace it, who want to play on the new media playground and have a good time.

When I gave my speech at PodCamp New York, which I am still trying to get audio of to put up as a podcast, one of the things I talked about is the philosophy, the playground, is that remember when we were all kids and you could go in the sandbox and you could make friends with someone immediately and you were best of friends, you were on the swing for five minutes and you were instantly friends, that is what social media is like. Yeah, there were always bullies there, but you know what? The bullies connect and they go off on their thing and get bored. That is the key.

So, that is Managing the Gray for today. I thank you guys all for listening. One last thing before I go, I realized — yes, an open shill for a minute because I have not told the Managing the Gray listeners about it so I just want to put it in real fast, Crayon launched a campaign with Coca-Cola that you can go to virtualthirst.com and check out. What I am very excited about it is, is that it has everything and nothing to do with Second Life at the same time. What Coke is looking to do is they want you the consumer, you the user, you the drinker, you the person who thinks Coke is a new thing to use your imagination, forget physical boundaries, forget every rule you know. If a Coca-Cola “machine” could vend you something, what would it be and then that is going to be built into a reality in Second Life. I talked about Enviga pogo sticks or a Dasani water slide. You can now see them. I am not talking about machines. I am talking about an experience. It could be anything. We have prototypes in the world too if you want to see. We gave this assignment to four builders and they came back with totally different things. We have got a dance bottle. We have got an old vintage truck. We have got this Coke machine when you click on it, it builds a whole world around you.

That is the fun and I am hoping some Managing the Gray listeners would submit ideas. Literally, if this you went, “Oh, I got an idea!” You can just email it to entries@virtualthirst.com. You can create a video. You can create an audio comment. Do not send the audio comment to me. Sorry, do not do it because we are involved in the judging. I do not want to know who does what. It is all anonymous. Send them to Coke. Go to virtualthirst.com. You will have all the information. You can create a video. You can do all that stuff. Submit them in, get them in, and please take part. If you are in Second Life, if you are curious, go to virtualthirst.com, you can come in to the link. It is virtualthirst.com/launch. It will take you to the Pavilion where you can check out the prototypes, hang out, chat, have a good time. We are going to have lots of parties, some socialization, but it is not all about Second Life either. It is about having a good time and using your imagination. So, check that out. I had not talked about it here on Managing the Gray and I want to make sure my listeners new about it. There is a post on managingthegray.com about it if you want some more information, but I had to get that out there.

Again, the comment line is always open. It is a great phrase. 206-309-4729. You can email me at cc.chapman@gmail.com and as always, if you are around on Thursdays, Thursday morning if you got nothing to do and you want to come talk to me, Coffee with Crayon happens every Thursday morning in Crayonville Island. Just go to crayonvillesecondlife.com, it will pop you right there. Come on in. It is 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. That is 6:00 a.m. Second Life time. Just come on in, say hi. We usually have 30 to 35 people there just chatting about whatever topic of the day so if you got a question or you want to learn something, you are a student and you want to pick somebody’s brain, that is a great place. Heck, I am waiting for the person that will come up and say, “I’m looking for a job.” You would have a whole bunch of people there who might be interested in hiring you. You never know. I do not mean to turn it into a career fair, but that is using the space differently. Do not ever think inside the box. Use your own imagination and have a good time. I will be back really, really soon with another episode of Managing the Gray. Tell your friends. Get them to subscribe. Go to managingthegray.com. Really click-easy. Get it up there. Post reviews on iTunes. Do whatever it is you need to do to spread the word on Managing the Gray and I will love you for it forever. You guys take care. I will talk to you very, very soon.

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I never thought I’d push a video down the Managing the Gray feed, but when you watch you’ll understand. If you like the video I do them every couple of days and you can get them via the One Guy’s Thoughts feed.

Links mentioned in the video:

• Beach Walks Episode #427
• Chris Brogan
• Boundary Waters Trip

Posted in Video, Podcast | Comments(1)

C.C. Chapman: Welcome everybody. Back to Managing the Gray #31, and because I always seem to forget to give it out at the top of the show and everybody always asks, the call-in number is 206-309-4729. You can always just call in, say, “What’s up?” and managingthegray@gmail.com also works for audio comments, but the call-in number everybody says I bury so I am putting it up front for you so you cannot miss it. I will put it in the show notes. It will be on managingthegray.com. I will make it so impossible for you not to call in, that is the goal right?

So, I am fresh back from PodCamp NYC or PodCamp New York. PodCamp NYC is what is known by the cool kids, I do not know, listen. PodCamp was a lot of fun and I wanted to give some reactions to it because I had a really good time. The first ever PodCamp I have ever been to is PodCamp Boston, which was the first one, where it all kicked off. One of the things I loved about it was the community vibe of it and PodCamp New York lost a little bit of that because it was just — just the sheer volume of it, when 1300 people register for an event, the community is going to be a little bit tougher because it is going to be spread way out. I think, what I mean is, at PodCamp Boston there were four or five speeches going on at any given time and only for or five so you were seeing the same bunch of people over and over again. We kept coming back to the main room to see each other. Here in New York, there were 10 to 12 talks going on at any point so people were spread out all over the place. You did not see everybody all the time.

There was a lot of things like, “Oh, I didn’t know they were there,” or “I didn’t see them.” That just tells you that things were spread out, but it was a great event. The organizers did an amazing job. What was very cool about it was there were so many fresh faces. One of the things I loved about the unconference vibe is the fact that they are happening in locations all over the country and all over the world and that excites me because what is neat about it is the fact that local people who may not be able — the college students, that is the perfect example, someone could not afford to fly out across the country to another event — because it is free — can just stumble at an event, come down to an event, a PodCamp or another unconference type of vibe in their local market and I think that is very powerful. I saw a lot of college students there and a lot of people who were just kind of there figuring out what was going on. I asked lots of people, “What are you doing here?” “I don’t know. I’m just here to find out what’s going on.” Exactly. That is the vibe and I think it is very cool.

One of the neat things is I got to do a presentation, sort of brand new presentation of mine, called the New Media Playground. It is sort of like a working title for the book right now, but I have not been able to focus on the book because it is the thing that gets pushed to the backburner, but it was a fun presentation and people seem to really react. What was neat was I was in the big room and there were a lot of people in there and a lot of people I did not know which made me even more excited. I was really excited to see fresh faces. There is nothing better than being up and speaking and people nodding and agreeing, going “Yeah!” The video of it is up. I think there is going to be another video because I know there were at least two video cameras going. What I mean is this video camera, the one I have seen, is at an angle right in the other one’s video camera. It is up. I will link to it on the show notes.

I really felt good about the presentation. It was kind of laid back because of the way it was set up. I got down on the floor and just walked around with a microphone. It felt much more relaxed. If you went to PodCamp, I gave a homework assignment and listeners of Managing the Gray, see I almost did it, Managing the Gray can do this homework too. What I told everybody was I said, “Meet everybody you can, talk to strangers, just walk up to people and say, ‘Hey, I’m so and so, who are you?’” That is what is cool about it. I also said try something new, go out, try Second Life, try Twitter, try blogging or podcasting if you have not done that. My speech focused on all new media not just podcasting because I do not think — any one of these mediums is so niche.

I want people to play on all the toys. If you go into the playground and you only played on the Jungle Gym everyday and only the Jungle Gym and never anything else, that would be kind of boring. I want people to play with the other toys and so I told them to try something new and then I asked them to email me and tell me how they did. I am very much looking forward to — I have gotten one email so far that said, “Homework assignment.” It made me smile so big. I am very much looking forward to that. If you are subscribed to the Managing the Gray feed, you would have gotten my PowerPoint presentation yesterday as a PDF file. It came down the pipe so you can look at it. What is cool is all the people in the photos are people that listen to the show or know me or something because I put out a call on Twitter and the blogging and what-not saying, “Send me pictures of you playing on the playground,” and I put them in the presentation and added a really nice flavor mix to the presentation I thought. I was very excited. If you are in there, I am glad. Thank you very much for sending it in.

Oh, I keep talking about Twitter. If you have not used Twitter, twitter.com/cc_chapman is my Twitter. Feel free to follow me. That was something else I wanted to talk about really briefly was Twitter and the concept of social networks and where they are going. Some people treat them differently than others and what it boils down to is I had a moment this weekend at PodCamp New York where I walked out, I met new people, I saw someone talking to someone I knew so I walked up and said, “Hey, what’s going on?” and this woman says hi and then yells at me. She said, “C.C., I’ve been following you in Twitter but you don’t follow me.” I said, “Well, sorry, but I don’t know you.” It is interesting. Certain social networks I am on and I think you should be on more for the fact of just being there.

One of the things I always tell people is make it impossible for people not to find you. What I mean by that is it takes a whopping three to five minutes to set up any social network account. Take your pick, LinkedIn, MySpace. LinkedIn probably takes a little bit longer because you want to put in more professional information, but it only takes a little bit of time to set up an account and even if you never, ever, ever, ever log back into to that account, you want it so that if someone goes, “Hey, I wonder if they are on LinkedIn?” and they search for you that they find you and that there are links to where you do want, where you do maintain, to your website or your blog or your podcast. Send it with MySpace and Facebook and all these other things where you do not have to have an active case.

Someone the other day said, “C.C., you are on Facebook? Really?” I have had a Facebook account from since the days I worked at Babson. Of course, I have a Facebook account, but they just did an API that would suck in my contacts so I said, “Let me see who’s on Facebook,” and it sucked in my Gmail contacts and said, “Here’s the people on your list who are also on Facebook. Would you like to invite them to be your friend?” I said, “Sure.” It took me two seconds to click a button that said select all of these people on Facebook. Why would I not do that? So, now we have got connections going. Do I think Facebook is going to save my life? No, but it is another connection. Things like Facebook, I have let kind of just free form pretty much. Unless it is someone I really do not like, which I cannot think of anybody, I want to add them. LinkedIn, it has to be people I have met and interacted with. MySpace, I will link to anybody. I will take friend requests from anybody. I barely check unless it is blatant spam, but then there are things like Twitter where I am actually treating Twitter — same thing with Flicker. Those are two networks where I only follow the people I really, really, really want to follow because otherwise it is information overload. It is a tough call, but when someone adds me on Twitter, I go and look at them and I am like, “Do I know this person?” and I try to find — because Twitter allows you to link to a blog. I go out to the blog and if I do not know who they are I will not start following them, but I will pay attention. I will watch for them and if they come on my radar, I will ad them. I just wanted to stress to some people out there that social networks are used differently by different people and different social networks are used differently.

Same thing with Second Life, I have a ton of friends in Second Life and I will add you as a friend a lot quicker than I will on something like LinkedIn or Twitter. It is a decision for each person to make, but it is something you should think about and make a decision for your own because, yes, there is now a button that I could click one button and it would add everybody who is following me on Twitter to add it to me following them, but that would kind of make Twitter un-useful for me. Right now, I am following people that I definitely want to know updates from, whom I definitely got a connection with. Please do not take offense if I am not following you. It is nothing personal. I will keep an eye on you. Do not worry, I am always watching. It is a social network thing. I know I have gotten a pile of requests from Twitter since coming back from PodCamp New York and I have not approved or disapproved them yet because I have not had a chance to check you out, so give me a chance, all right?

Now we have got some call-ins, 206-309-4729, some very different topics. Which one do I want to do first? We will do this one first because it is a long-time listener.

Francis Wooby: Hi CC, this is Francis Wooby talking to you from inspirational [unintelligible] Nunavut up in Canada. This is my first comment to Managing the Gray, but I am a long-time lurker and like all of your listeners I really appreciate the fantastic work that you do for us. In your latest episode, you featured a great interview with Chris Penn, one of the drivers behind the recent Bum Rush the Charts campaign. It was a good discussion covering their successes, their lessons learned, and I really appreciated his candor about falling short of their number one position mark as well as his appreciation for the real impact that they had, nonetheless. Now, in a weird way, I am glad that Bum Rush the Charts did not reach its objective of conquering the number one position. I am speaking strictly as a layman here in respect to the music industry and I only have a limited knowledge of how things work there, but with that in mind, I cannot help but wonder if a complete victory for the campaign would have generated more suspicion of the charts and doubting their legitimacy than would have created a positive buzz for the band and social media in general. In other words, I guess I am just wondering if it could have wound up looking like iTunes was simply manipulated by a few techno savvy individuals, which would have reflected poorly on the band and on social media. Now, to my mind, the more moderate results that they did end up with are more plausible for the general public, yet still very impressive in what they imply about the potential power of social media. Anyway, that is just sort of half-thought, half-question. C.C., again, thanks for all the wonderful work that you do here on Managing the Gray and in all of the other reaches of social media that you energize. Take care and talk to you later.

C.C. Chapman: Thanks. He was talking about Bum Rush the Charts and it is funny because I do not know if I want to go back and look at Bum Rush the Charts too hard to be honest, but I think you are right. If it had hit number one all across the things, it probably would have been — there definitely would have been more attention. Would some of that been more negative attention? Of course, it would. Success always generates haters, I guess, would be the easiest simple way to put it. Personally, I think Bum Rush the Charts was most successful because of the fact that it broke so much new ground all over the place, different markets around the world; that excited me.

One thing that did not get as much fanfare, I do not think — I mean I should not say as much, but it seems like only certain people knew about it, but it was as successful was Scott Sigler’s “”Ancestor”" book thing where “Ancestor” Attacks Amazon, which was kind of the same thing, but attacking Amazon instead of iTunes. This was planned long in advance. Scott is an amazingly smart guy, scottsigler.net, if you are not familiar with him. What it is, is Amazon updates their book charts every hour and so he had everybody buy his book “Ancestor”. He does podcast novels. If you are not familiar who Scott Sigler is, he does podcast novels or podiobooks — take your pick of your term, I do not think one has been coined “the” term yet — and they are amazing. “Ancestor” was something — it probably was a year ago. It must have been at least a year ago that it was out as a podcast novel and every week he put out a new chapter and it came out in print on April 1st and he asked everybody, “Do not buy it until April 1st. Wait to buy it.” So, he had this rabid fan base. It is like the horse in the gate of the Kentucky Derby just waiting to pump out and then on April 1st at noon he opened the gate and said, “Everybody buy it,” and everybody went and bought it. What was a beautiful sight was seeing “Ancestor” and “EarthCore,” another book he wrote, being number one and two on the horror charts. It got as high as number seven on the overall Amazon charts. Now, that is pretty impressive because there were two Oprah Book Club choices in there above him and Harry Potter was above him, so take those three out. The “Ancestor” did amazing. I am very proud of Scott. Scott is a personal friend of mine so I am very excited about him.

Somebody asked me, “Will this work with any book?” Maybe, it depends. It cannot be a book that is already out there. I am firm believer in the fact that it cannot be and why? Because one of the things was this was a need. Nobody had this book in print yet. Thus, he already had a fan base waiting to buy it. He just said, “Wait and buy it on this specific day,” and that is why it worked. If he already had the book out there for six months and then he said, “Hey everybody, go buy another copy!” it would never have worked because his whole hardcore fan base that would be the tip of the spear to this attack would already have bought it and it would not have worked as well. There is a supply and demand, basic economics, and it worked out in this case. Is it going to work for other books? Of course, it will. If you already have a fan base and you have got a book and you want make a little ripple, go for it. Did that make a huge ripple? I do not know, but I know it helped Scott. I know it brought more attention to Scott and his writing, which I think is great. Mark my words, Scott Sigler, if he does not, some publishers are clueless, I really hope, I firmly can say Scott Sigler, if he was writing full time, would be right up there with the Koontzes and the Kings without a doubt. “Infection” was just an amazing — “EarthCore” is still my favorite, but “Infection” is a close second. His “Rookie” right now is doing as amazing. Let us play another audio comment.

Rich White: Hello C.C. This is Rich White with the Greenbush Education Service Center. We are an education service center in Kansas. We serve schools, teachers and students, our main customers. We are huge fans of Managing the Gray and frequent visitors of Crayonville in Second Life. A few comments and then a quick question. We have a core group of us about five or six on an organization of about 500 working on new media and encouraging the use of it in schools, web 2.0 in schools and such, but we have been conducting blog training to teachers over the past year. We have been at it for about a year and a half. We are getting ready to start a little mashup university type series of trainings for students that teach them how to use iMovie and things of that nature to generate media for Google and YouTube to tell stories about their experiences.

We have been really pushing the tech integration classroom both with formal trainings and with the Take Two podcast that we operate, which is taketwopodcast.us where we share our technology and new media type experiences, suggestions to the school community, teachers and administrators. We recently entered the world of Second Life actually. By listening to Managing the Gray, your experiences in Second Life really encouraged us to get in there. We bought some land. We have about 4000 square feet now and we are just about a week into that and so we are anxious to see what we can do there. In the way of kind of building relationships of like-minded educators, I would assume that those types of educators are in Second Life that we are trying to meet up and share ideas with. One of our big questions is basically to kind of get your thoughts and opinions, some suggestions regarding additional resources we could use to further push the ideas to the school sector. I know they lag a little bit behind the public sector. How do you deal with the generation differences or some of the things you would suggest, the 50-cent reactions to some of these things? We had recently suggested adding RSS feed to a master calendar of events of trainings that we are offering. We kind of looked at that like we had two heads sometimes with some of the stuff we suggest. How do we get past that in terms of the message? I am sure you see the older generation has real issues sometimes with embracing in the way of communication and idea sharing. How do we kind of encourage that and get them past maybe some of their fears about that?

C.C. Chapman: I do not think it is a generational thing. I do not. I think it is either get it or you do not. I know college kids who do not get it either that is why I say I do not think it is a generational thing. How do you sell new media? I think the root of your question is how do you get people jazzed about new media and all the things you can do? Real easy. Do not talk about the technology. You asked, “Can we add an RSS feed to the calendar?” Nine out of ten people are going to go, “Huh?” They are going to roll their eyes and be confused, “RS what?” Get the technology out of there. When you are trying to sell people on a new idea, new media, forget the technology. People do not care about that. The way to pitch a calendar is, “Hey, what if we made it so somebody could click once and every time we add something new to the calendar that fit what they wanted, they would automatically be notified or it would automatically be added to their calendar and they could decide whether or not they want to keep it or not?” That will get people excited. They will go, “Oh, yeah that’s cool.” Yeah, you and I know under the covers it is RSS and an iCal, but they do not need to know that. Same thing when you talk to a CEO or an executive, someone who controls the pocketbook, controls the checkbook, talk to them about — one of the biggest things I know when I was in college, you always wanted more people on your newsletter or to engage more, your open rate, and those types of things. Start saying, “Hey, what if I can get X number more people signed up or I could get more people engaging on this website?” What you were talking about really was using RSS feeds to get more people to view a page or something.

Again, avoid talking about the technology. Get into the technology later and get them to the right thing. Sell them on the benefits. Tell them what the benefits are of using whatever medium it is. This goes true for whether you are talking about a YouTube campaign, maybe — I almost said viral marketing, I hate that. Whether you are doing influence or outreach, whatever you are doing, tell them how it is going to help them. Put it in terms of things that they currently do. How is it going to save them time, money, how is it going to bring more people into the door, more eyeballs to them, put it that way and avoid the technology. I think that is the way to do it. It is the biggest way to do it. The minute you start talking about technology, you have already put a barrier up between you and them if they do not understand it and you are going to spend more time discussing the technology and what it means and how to do it rather than what you are really trying to get there, which is how it is going to help them. That is the important thing and that goes for no matter what you are doing. It really, really does. Talk to them on the level of them, not you, not the cool gadget, them. This is true even outside of new media. When you are talking to someone, never forget if you are trying to sell them on something, always focus in on them. The conversation is never about you, it is never about your company, it is never about your product, it is about them, how they are going to be helped by your solution whatever it is.

Congrats and welcome to Second Life, very cool, 4000 square. You have got a lot of land. Educational institutions, I cannot stress this enough. If you are going to be buying that much land, honestly think about buying an island. Here is the reason — and I am talking to educations and non-profits for a second — the cost of buying land is expensive, especially if you buy it on the open market in Second Life and 4000 square, you paid a pretty penny for that I am sure. What I am getting at is, Linden Lab gives discounts, severe discounts to educations and non-profits. I know this has changed a little bit because it was over a year ago and prices have gone up a little bit, but I know at Babson we bought an island, a full blown island, and paid for a year of maintenance up front and it was like just over $3000 for 12 months and that is not much. Think about that. If you are an education, you get really big discounts. When you go to the land store, it is kind of buried at the bottom of the page, but it is there.

Islands give you the ultimate level of control and even if you do not need that much space, if you are buying 4000 meters, that is going to add up rather quick and you do not have full control and you do not know who your neighbors are going to be. It is definitely something to consider. Take that to heart if you are an education or non-profit. Companies think about it, too. It is not as cheap, but that is the main argument I give people when they are debating. They are going to buy a huge plot. If you are just going to buy a little plot of land to play, that is fine, but if you are doing a serious investment and you are thinking long term, buying an island is the way to go most times, mainly for two reasons, you completely control it so you can do whatever you want to it and the biggest thing is you control your neighbors. You do not know what is going to pop up next. Those are the two biggest reasons when people ask, “Should I buy an island or should I buy a big chunk of land?” and cost sometimes plays in that.

Well, that is going to wrap up Managing the Gray today. I want to say hello to everybody that I met at PodCamp New York. If this is your first time listening to Managing the Gray, welcome. It is very cool to have you here. Managingthegray.com is where you can find out more. Very, very excited about everything going on in the world. It is just a good time. I met a lot of great people. I have not even done my own first rule of conferences is send an email to everyone you got a business card from. I have them right here, the promise. I refuse to do a massive BCC, that is why it takes me a little longer and my first priority was uploading all my photos. If you do not know, I am a photo junkie and now that I have a digital SLR, Canon Rebel XTi for those of you geeking out in the crowd. See, I try to avoid technology. I uploaded them all to Flickr and I had so much fun taking photos. I am still learning my camera so it was a lot of fun. I got to see a lot of new faces. Always remember, ask if you can take your photo. I had one person all weekend say no and that is cool, but I respect your decision.

So, you guys take care. Please call up the comment line anytime you want. The comment line is always open. It is 206-309-4729 and that sends an MP3 right to me. You might hear yourself on an upcoming episode of the show. When I get the audio from my presentation, I am going to push it down the feed to you guys so you can hear it. I have already been asked by several listeners. Yes, I will do that when I get the audio, all right? So, you guys take care. Keep embracing new media. Seriously, get out on the new media playground, play on the swings, the Jungle Gym, try that thing that scares you. I always hated that spider web thing you have to climb up, you get too high and it starts swinging, I always hated that thing. Try it. Have fun. Enjoy this time. It is a very exciting time out there. All this talk about Bubble 3.0, I just want to smack somebody. Just have fun. Figure out what works for you. Play with it, if it does not work, move on. Do not slam whatever it is. Just play with it. You do not like it? Try something else. There is room for everybody. There are enough toys to go around. I will talk to you next time. See you soon.

Posted in Transcript | Comments(1)

There is a Mac in my future. There I said it.

The fact that I can run both the Mac OS and Windows on it if I need it is what finally sold me on the idea. I grew up on Macs and loved them. The fact that most of the super heroes I play with are on Mac and I can’t play with the same toys they have is getting a little old.

My debate at the moment is which one to get. I would LOVE your advice on it.

What I’ll be doing on the computer

• Writing
• PhotoShop (photo post production and such)
• Basic audio and video editing (nothing hardcore as I hate doing that stuff)
• New Media magic (aka surfing, twittering, virtual worlds, etc)

That is really what it boils down to. I’ll also be traveling with it so size is not the most important thing, it is a factor.

I’m just thinking that I don’t need the MacBook Pro for what I’m doing. It seems little overkill, but at the same time I don’t think I’d outgrow it as fast. I’m not sure.

What do you think?

Posted in Questions | Comments(132)

Earlier today I posted how I was eager to see the comics from The Dip on the web. One in particular that I mentioned Seth Godin e-mailed me and Hugh MacLeod said I could post so here it is.

Please be sure to check out all of Hugh’s work at GapingVoid.com.

Posted in Rambles | Comments(1)

I’ve got to say up front that this is a dangerous book. A VERY dangerous book indeed. You have been warned. *grin*

I say it is dangerous because The Dip by Seth Godin is going to fill you with more questions then you have right now. You will be forced to stop and look at everything you are up to right now and decide if it is still worth doing. Thankfully it is is a short book (under 100 pages) because it is also one that as soon as you start reading you will not put it down until you are done.

The basic concept of “the dip” is that it is that moment in the middle of whatever you are doing where you have to work harder then ever to achieve any more success. We’ve all been in the dip and I would bet that everyone reading this is in one right now in their professional or personal lives in one form or another.

Where most would tell you to keep pushing forward no matter what and to never quit, Seth will tell you the exact opposite. He encourages quitting. He wants you to give up and move in a different direction if there is no chance that you are ever going to get out of the dip and onto greatness. He is not advocating quitting blindly, but rather strategically and honestly looking at where you are and where you want to be and make a decision to succeed or quit. That’s some powerful mojo when you stop and really marinate on what that means.

As an added bonus the very funny Hugh MacLeod illustrates the book. There is one that I want to frame and hang on my wall involving chess pieces, but it’s not online anywhere that I can find to do so. Hopefully sometime they will be.

Long time readers and listeners have heard me talk about the concept of a new media bookshelf. This is one of those books that if you are remotely interested in this space you have to buy and read right now. In the back of the book there is a page geared towards sharing the book with others and then getting it returned. I love the concept, but can’t part ways with this. It already has notes written in it and highlighter marks throughout as I’m going back through re-reading it again.

Posted in Books, New Media | Comments(3)

Last month I was asked to take part in the Blog Bash put on by Chitika and I had a blast doing it! Well they took the 30 posts and have created a free eBook that you can download. Some great writing in there so take advantage of it.

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Every year my good buddies over at the Boston Ad Club hold an online media auction. What’s cool about this is that everything is donated and you can score some pretty cool media buys for WAY under what they usually cost. All of the money goes to help fund the Ad Club and this is their big yearly fundraiser.

Because I like the team behind the organization and I love what they are trying to do by keeping the space educated on the changes in new media I’m HAPPY to pimp their stuff for them because it’s good for my readers and listeners.

The auction kicks off on May 17th at 9 am and if it’s like last year I’m sure new stuff will be added throughout the auction so it’s always good to stop back ever so often.

The site is at http://adclub.cmarket.com

It’s a win win as I see it. Media buyers and planners get access to some seriously discounted placements and a great organization gets money. Works for me!

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Today we have the audio from my presentation at PodCamp NYC called “The New Media Playground.” The slides from the presentation are also available.

Again, a HUGE thank you to Chris Cavallari for capturing and sharing this with me.

Really hoping to hear your feedback on this at 206-309-4729 or via e-mail.

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I’m not a huge audio head, but I do pay attention when new hand held portable equipment comes out since people are always asking me for recommendations. So yesterday when I first read on Engadget about the new Samson Zoom H2 I had to check it out.

What I like about this is that it’s much smaller then the Zoom H4 that lots of people have been raving about lately. I never liked the look and size of that one, but this one is pretty sweet.

I have an Edirol R-09 that I love the quality of, but it’s way to fragile and thus I’ve been thinking about getting something else. This looks a lot sturdier, but I’ll have to wait to actually check one out. Anyone from Samson reading who wants to send me one to play with and report back? I’m always open to trying out new gadgets as long as companies are ok with honest and open feedback on my blog and podcast.

If you have tried one of these out please let me know your thoughts because the specs are right. I haven’t found a price anywhere yet so who knows. Guess I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.

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I had lunch with Scott Monty today. He’s a long time listener of Managing the Gray and someone who is definitely going to make a diference in the new media space in the months to come. I became more and more sure of that as the conversation went on.

The title of this post came from a comment he made about my New Media Playground analogy.

He said something along the lines of how when you fall down or fail in doing something in new media it’s just like getting sand in your pants at the playground. Hopefully Scott will correct me on this because part of me feels like I’m butchering his awesome analogy.

But, it’s SO true! Remember that horrible feeling? We’ve all been there. It’s one of the few reasons the beach can suck. Nothing is fun about sand in your shorts. But, I also know that you can just brush them off and things get better. A new day. Another chance to try and move forward. I love that.

I also love the new podcast Scott is going to be launching. It falls completley outside of my interest zone because it’s uber-niche, but THAT is what I love about it. It’s going to have an instant built in audience because no one else is doing it and there is a community of people who will be interested already established. That is how you embrace new media.

And further proof that as much as I love all the ways we can connect at a distance there is nothing better then sitting down over some food, drink and conversation!

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Sorry, that I’ve been away for a bit dealing with a death in the family. It’s amazing how life can sucker punch you from time to time and just how long it can take you to get back on your feet.

Part of me getting back in the groove was to do some serious spring cleaning around the house and I realized that you need to do this in new media as well so I thought it would be a perfect episode topic for Managing the Gray #32. This picture shows the dumpster out side my house right now FULL of what we got rid of. Wanted to show I wasn’t just all talk. *grin*

Links that I mentioned in the show or that I think will be helpful include:

• Lifehacker
• 43 Folders
• Podcast Expo
• A Buddhist Podcast
• Joyrise Podcast
• Teen Biz Ideas
• Virtual Thirst

The comment line is always open at 206-309-4729 so please drop in a line.

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