Podcasting for Rookies and Veterans

From podcast rookie to podcast veteran, attendees at this year’s Podcasting Summit at the NAB Show will find a program designed to teach basic concepts and procedures, as well as concepts designed to help podcast producers and managers make economic, operational and creative sense of the process.

The sessions begin on April 11 with three hour “boot camps” in which people new to audio and video podcasting can learn the basics of the process.

In the video boot camp, Richard Harrington of RHEDPixel in Alexandria, Va., will share his insights on video podcasting.

Harrington’s company has produced over 3,000 video podcasts. He says conferences like the Podcasting Summit present “an opportunity for attendees to learn the essentials and get their questions answered by experts.”

David Lawrence will be presenting the audio boot camp. Lawrence says that his audio presentation “is designed to get people from broadcast professional to podcast professional. I hope that in each session, [the attendees] come away with an ‘a-ha!’ moment; a gold nugget that changes the way they look at podcasting.”

On April 12 and 13 the summit splits into breakout sessions, which focus on the operational processes, the financial and marketing applications, the creative challenges, and lessons learned from those who are podcasting today.

Harrington says the summit strikes a “balance between technical skills and business sense. The conference really focuses on giving an organization what it needs to launch, maintain and grow a podcast. We’ve gathered the best names in the business and they offer a wealth of professional expertise.”

Those interested in making the technical side of podcasting easier can attend sessions on advanced audio and video podcast encoding; outfitting a podcasting studio; and deconstructing RSS feeds. Marketers and managers will benefit from sessions on measuring return on a podcasting investment; selling podcasting to advertising clients; how to leverage partnerships to build audience; and understanding podcasting metrics.

The summit will have sessions on how a blog can support a podcast; how to direct a video podcast; and how to fine tune audio for the audience’s ears.

Lawrence said the processing of audio is very important for a pleasing podcast. “In [over-the-air] radio, producers use audio elements, which can sound very dramatic in a car. In a podcast, those elements can sound too harsh, because listeners on iPods (for example) literally have the podcast ‘in their ears.’ We want to be gentle on the listener’s ears.”

Harrington says “there is a wealth of things to learn at the NAB Show. An organization just needs to pick what matches them best. For example, the New Media conference falls immediately after the podcasting conference. We did that so content creators could attend both, and truly grasp the evolving market place. At the NAB Show, it’s about getting what you need, staying ahead of the curve, and networking. I think the Podcasting Summit and New Media conferences will offer this.”