Reports from the Asylum

The Podcast Asylum now has a Facebook Fan page, the better to assist suffering individuals in social network-land. Come join us and tell us what makes you craziest about podcasting.

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Tee Morris, creator of the Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy podcast (now on indefinite hiatus, but go listen if you do any kind of writing at all) and co-author of Podcasting for Dummies and Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies, has just lost his beloved wife Natalie. She was only 45. It was totally unexpected, and Tee is left with his young daughter, Sonic Boom, the chaos any sudden death brings, and unimaginable grief.

His fellow writer and podcaster Philippa Ballantine started a “Chip In” fund to help Tee through this difficult time. I’ve made a contribution and encourage you to do the same if you’ve ever listened to Tee, read his books, or followed him on Twitter.

Goddess be with you, Tee. And Natalie, whom I never met: Sit tibi levis terra.

If you have somehow escaped listening to For Immediate Release in its nearly five years of production, now is the time to make up for that lack. Shel and Neville are about to produce the 500^th episode of their stellar podcast about the intersection of business communications and technology.

If you have any interest at all in social media, PR, internal comms, and the impact of new technology on old technology (such as  newspapers), you need to listen to this show. And I’m not saying that just because I record contributions for it now and then.

Go on over to the FIR website, listen to an episode or two, and leave a comment on the blog or call the listener comment line. Congratulate them on producing 500 episodes, and tell them ‘Professor’ Goetsch sent you.

It’s been months since Michelle Rafter interviewed me for The Geek Weekly, so I had entirely forgotten about it by the time today’s article, ‘The Business Benefits to Podcasting,’ appeared.

It’s possible that the timing of this particular article has something to do with Leo Laporte’s speech at the Online News Association conference on October 2^nd. (You know, the one where he said podcasting is dead because it’s too hard for listeners—that’s known as ‘linkbaiting’—but simultaneously revealed that he grosses $1.5 million annual from his This Week in Tech podcast network.)

Funny, that sounds pretty healthy to me. Healthy enough, in fact, to provoke people into the very get-rich-quick delusions I warn people about in my interview with Michelle.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading for AdWeek’s Social Media Strategies conference in San Francisco—in my capacity as a member of the press, to report on the event for FIR.

I haven’t been able to get a straight answer yet about recording the actual presentations for other than personal purposes, but I am hoping to interview some of the presenters and put together a special interviews podcast for Shel and Neville.

One of the interesting things about this particular conference is that I haven’t heard of most of the speakers. I mean, heck, I tend to assume I hear about everything on FIR. I’m looking forward to hearing some new case studies.

So it’s time to charge all the AA batteries for the iriver and check the microphones and pack up the netbook. If you’re going, just look for the redhead in the white lab coat.

Sallie Goetsch explains how to respond to a LinkedIn invitation from someone you don’t know in a short interview with George Smyth for his One Minute How-To podcast.

The most diplomatic option (and the one ‘Professor’ Goetsch prefers) is to click ‘reply privately’ in order to give the person sending the invite a chance to remind you where you met, who you know in common, and why you should accept the invitation.

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twtpoll :: Would you be interested in attending a “For Immediate Release” conference w speakers @shel, @jangles, FIR correspondents & select listeners? (via @shel)

That’s right: Jeremiah Owyang got Shel & Neville started on the idea of a “For Immediate Release” conference in which ‘Professor’ Goetsch would be a participant. Where? I have no idea. When? Not a clue. What would I present about? Whatever FIR’s listeners wanted. I never miss an opportunity to get together with Shel, Neville, Dan, Eric, Lee, or fellow FIR listeners. And it would be great to meet Michael Netzley. Though it might be good if I finished reading (and reviewing) David Phillips’ book before then…

Actually, ‘Professor’ Goetsch became a member of the Blubrry podcast community in 2006, but the Reports from the Asylum podcast has only been there since March 31, 2008.

Because most of the Reports are included in another podcast (For Immediate Release is also part of the Blubrry community), this show is unlikely to participate in any of the advertising opportunities. (Besides, who could possibly do as good a job promoting GoToMeeting as Anna Farmery does?)

However, part of the agreement podcasters have with Blubrry is mentioning their affiliation, so we wanted to be sure to give them a plug here on the show blog, and will make a point of mentioning Blubrry in the presentations and other special editions of Reports from the Asylum which don’t appear in FIR.

Visit the Podcast Asylum on Blubrry.

On July 12th and 13th, ‘Professor’ Goetsch attended Fortune’s iMeme: the Thinkers of Tech conference on behalf of For Immediate Release. While the text is still gestating two weeks later, you can listen to the audio recording of Sallie’s interviews with:

Sam Whitmore, Sam Whitmore Media
Eva Chen, Trend Micro
Paul Plushckell, Spigit
Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone
Esther Dyson, EDventure, Release 0.9
David Kirkpatrick, Fortune

Conference videos are available here.

Instead of producing a report for the June 18^th edition of For Immediate Release, ‘Professors’ Goetsch and Hopkins co-hosted a special tribute episode with FIR correspondent Dan York.