MWGblog

May 30th is the last chance for the Peerflix DVD drawing. It’s free - enter now!

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Ben Williams from CodedSignal.com just sent me the link to the video presentations he was asked to prepare for this year’s NAB. They include an interview I shot with Scott Sheppard about podcasting. You can see all the videos including interviews with James Cameron and Regis Philbin at NAB Interactive.

In working on the podcast for the Disneyland Resort I am often lucky enough to experience some “once in a lifetime” events. Today was one of those days. I had the good fortune to spend the afternoon with Richard Sherman. If you are a Disney fan you’ll instantly recognize the name. If not, let me fill you in. Richard and his brother Robert (known collectively as the Sherman Brothers) are responsible for the most performed and translated song on earth: It’s A Small World (After All). They are also responsible for other songs like The Tiki,Tiki,Tiki Room as well as soundtracks for films such as: Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, Charlottte’s Web and Winnie The Pooh just to name a few. (There are too many to name – it goes on and on.)

Today we did some interviews for the podcast and then all went out to a terrific dinner at Napa Rose. Richard and his wife Elizabeth are two of the nicest people you will ever meet; an absolutely charming couple. As a film geek, I am still buzzing from the fact that at dinner I sat next to an Oscar Award winner (for Mary Poppins).

The highlight of the day was riding the “It’s a Small World” attraction with Richard as they filmed us for a news release. Riding an attraction as iconic as that with the person responsible for the song that makes it all work and having him tell you what it was like to work personally with Walt Disney on the project is something I will always remember.

Why did I title this post supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Richard and his brother Robert invented the word.

What do you do when you get too many great emails? These are people who have taken the time to write but, to put it simply, I don’t have the time to respond individually. I know from personal experience that many just choose to not respond at all. I hate that. Instead, I have fashioned a response. My question, is this better than just not responding at all? Either way, I expect some grief.

Here is my current response:

Thank you for your email. I appreciate that you have taken the time to send your question, comment or feedback. As you might imagine, I receive a great deal of email and though I would like to answer each one individually that is simply not possible with my schedule. I know from personal experience that it is disappointing to send an email to someone who does not respond at all. Instead, I have fashioned this reply to let you know that I have personally read your email, but unfortunately, am not able to individually reply.

Thank you again for contacting me,

Michael W. Geoghegan
Willnick Productions, Inc.
Michael@willnick.com
V: 800.507.3651 ext. 707
F: 949.861.9025

I figure that with the phone number, if they are upset enough, they will call me personally.

Back in the early days of podcasting (February 2005), my podcasting pals, Dawn And Drew, came out to San Francisco to meet with Adam Curry and Ron Bloom regarding what was to become Podshow. As many of you know, I ended up passing on the offer, but while we were all in San Francisco discussing the future, my friends Dawn and Drew bestowed upon me a unique honor. Apparently, I have one of the first star patches ever produced. I spoke with Drew yesterday who told me that few of these were ever made and that mine was one of the of the only ones that was hand made by Dawn. Pretty cool if you ask me. The patch is now the symbol for the “Minion Army.”

As usual, Steve Garfield video podcaster extraordinaire is right. “Media” needs a gut check. Professional, as a designation, is not always a badge honor - sometimes, it is a beacon of servitude.

The session descriptions have been posted for the Podcast And Portable Media Expo. Lots of great sessions are planned. Here is mine.

Dan Klass has put together a great article for ID3 podcast Magazine entitled, “The First Freshman Class.” It is his overview of the start of podcasting and some of the people involved. As you know, I am a big fan of Dan’s writing (that’s why i asked him to be the co-author on the book we wrote). Dan has some nice things to say about myself and a number of my podcasting pals from the early days.

I just found this picture from the Instructor Reception the night before the Podcast Academy at Boston University. Clockwise from left - me, Tony Kahn, Paul Figgiani and Doug Kaye (Photo BU Photo Services)

I have just confirmed two more podcast related events. I will be speaking at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo on Friday September 29th at 10:30 AM in the Corporate Podcasting track. I am working on the presentation write-up and will post it shortly. If you haven’t signed up yet, this is a “not to be missed” event for podcasting.

I have also added Auction Napa Valley 2006. This is an exclusive event I am really looking forward to and will be attending with the Grape Radio crew June 1-4. In fact, some of my partners in Grape Radio were at Wine Spectator’s Grand Tour this past weekend and are off to Hospice Du Rhone next weekend. We have a lot of good things happening at Grape Radio; podcasting continues to offer exciting opportunities.

The Podcast Academy at Boston University was a great event. I spent a good deal of time sitting with longtime “Internet friends” C.C. Chapman and Steve Garfield. When it comes to blogging, I was in awe; those guys make Media (with a capital M). They were constantly posting pictures, videos and comments. I need to learn how to blog like that. They were an inspiration. I also had the opportunity to meet a ton of people - too many to name, but it is exciting to see that podcasting is really continuing its “hockey stick” like growth curve and attracting some exciting people who are getting involved in interesting ways.

As for the presentations, they were terrific. A lot of smart people were presenting. Best of all, BU did a great job of posting both audio and video of the presentations as well as interviews with the Instructors. Rather then forcing hundreds of MBs on you via RSS, I will link to the page where you can download the presentations individually. I did one each day; on Friday I covered “Making Money” and on Saturday I covered podcasting “Inside The Corporation”. Most readers here will probably be more interested in the first presentation, where we covered Reel Reviews, Grape Radio, French Maid TV, The Disneyland Podcast and Right Look Radio. Basically I highlighted a number of approaches to monetization. I also spent some time explaining and expanding on my earlier thoughts regarding podcast ad aggregations networks and CPM models. You can find the podcasts and videos here: Podcast Academy - Boston University.