Update on the Podcasting Syndrome post, where the Podcast Institute’s Canadian research fellow, Dr. Papacosta, has confessed to a debilitating and as yet untreatable disease.

Filed under: Uncategorized
No Comments

A question from Christine points to a new phase for business communicators.

Christine asks how to start blogging.

A simple enough question, one would think; as Nike says, “just do it!”.

But it led me to consider the more fundamental issues behind a deservingly respectful response from me, rather than a churlish “go figure it out for yourself”.

Our role as communicators at the leading edge of this ‘brave new world’ has always been one of evangelism; that role continues and will continue for the foreseeable future (at least the next 18-24 months).

But now we also have to be educators as well as evangelists. Having convinced some to follow our footsteps, we have to teach them how to fish for themselves. This point was alluded to by Neville and Shel in a recent show of FIR.

So it is in this light that I reply to Christine’s question with some ideas and thoughts garnered from my own nine-month experience of the phenomenon of blogging, podcasting and rss (also a good rss resource as is this).

One.
As Donna Papacosta said in her first podcast, before doing anything in life you should consider what you are setting out to achieve. In other words, what is it that you want to communicate and why? Do you have a particular hobby that you are keen to share with others? Are you a practitioner in a particular field that wants to contribute to and develop further your understanding of your craft?

Two.
Lurk, or ‘loiter with intent’ as a police officer might say. Read others’ blogs and get a feel for how they put their blog together. Do they stick to the topic, or do they wander around? If it is a business-focused blog do they only talk about their particular field or do they include personal stuff as well? If so, how does that sit with you? Does it bother you or do you like to read the personal stuff to get a ‘feel’ for the person you are highly unlikely ever to meet face-to-face?

How do you find blogs to loiter around? Follow the links from blogs you already know about. Thus, from me you could follow my links off to people who’s blogs I adore such as Shel Holtz (a reflective, contemplative communicator), or Neville Hobson (bang, bang, bang, out with the posts, touching the very edge of the flame and often waaaay ahead of the rest of us), Allan Jenkins who knows a thing or ten about marcomms (marketing communications) and shares both his knowledge and my sense of humour (for which he is taking tablets) or Kathy Sierra (who shares with me a commitment to passion as the driving force of change and improvement).

There’s Seth Godin who is arguably the smartest thinker in marketing at the moment, and has been for quite a few years, and there’s Doug Johnson who has reignited in me a passion for the handwritten word.

There’s also Paul Graham who doesn’t post often but when he does it is always controversial, headshaking and mind-expanding. There’s Jack Vinson who is a guru of knowledge management, which blogs are a useful tool within. And there’s Nova Spivack’s off-the-wall look at the world which is equally mind-expanding and life-affirming.

These are just some of the writers/conversationalists that I eagerly await each day as I power up my feed aggregator. Look at their lists and you will find others, perhaps like Donna Papacosta or Heidi Miller or Amy Gahran with whom to connect.

Each of the writers/conversationalists mentioned above link to other conversationalists; follow the links and pretty soon you will have a hundred or more rss feeds in your aggregator and you will have to start painfully weeding them out, categorising them into groups that you ‘must’ read, ‘like to read’ and ‘will get around to reading when I get the time’.

Three.
Pick a platform on which to create your own blog. You could go for a paid hosted service such as typepad or if you have your own server set up your own blog service, using, for example, WordPress (like this blog) . Conduct a search in google for blogging software and you will know doubt find ‘plenty’ of material to consider.

Or you could consider a free service such as blogger or any of the other free blogging services (again, google for ‘free blogs’). My first Better Communication Results blog was on blogger and it was a fantastic way of getting my feet wet.

After a while the limitations of free services began to frustrate me so I moved to hosting my own blog (courtesy of the very kind Ben Hamilton and his company DynamicWebHosting) so I could take advantage of some of the more intricate parts of blogging, such as trackbacks. But such intricacies don’t need to bother you if you are just getting started - better to start and get going than to stress what platform you are going to blog on. You can always change it later on.

Four.
Contribute to the conversation. Go to these people’s blogs and, as you have done with me, add a comment.

It doesn’t matter whether what you say is earth-shatteringly profound or just agreeing with what someone said (or, indeed, disagreeing). Just remember the golden rules of online communication: don’t SHOUT AT PEOPLE (type in all caps); don’t swear at people; don’t call people names; don’t hide behind ‘anonymous’ - use your name and a link to your own blog.

You will notice that, by having links off to all of the wonderful writers above, I am contributing to the global conversation. I don’t have to comment individually on their blog, I can instead publish a post on my blog and link to theirs. Eventually, because we are nearly all of us egotists {smile} and search the main search engines — technorati, blogpulse, talkdigger and google amongst many — for links to us, these writers will find that you have talked about them and will quite possibly come and find you.

If they like what they see they may even link back to you in one of their posts.

Five.
Measure your conversational ability. This is not very hard to do at all. Wander over to Feedburner and set yourself up with an account. Use the feedburner feed you create (they walk you through the process) as your subscription link for your webfeed/rss feed and you will be able to track how many people subscribe to your blog. It’s free.

If you want to take it a little further, wander over to StatCounter and set up a free account with them. Make some simple decisions and copy the code into your template. That way you can see how many visit each day, and from where. The more you enter into the global conversation, the more people will come to converse with and learn from you.

Six.
Never stop learning. The universe of blogging, podcasting and rss is a rapidly-evolving one. New technologies and tools come by at the speed of light, so you need to stay connected. Sure, you can go on holiday, take a month off and pick up where you left off, but be aware that any longer break will mean a bit of extra homework to play ‘catch up’.

Seven.
Read this fantastic paper by Stephen Downes which says all I have just said but better. James Torio has written an outstanding paper for people who have a basic understanding of blogs, but hunger to know more. It’s called Blogs: A Global Conversation (pdf). In particular, Torio looks at how blogs have impacted business and communication. He includes some proprietary research as well. And Seth Godin, the man with no hair, has a fantastic ebook he’s (again) giving away free. Download it from here. And for the creative use of podcasts, might I suggest Kevin Dugan’s post.

Filed under: Uncategorized
14 Comments

News from over at the BBC shows quite clearly that the words we use DO have an effect on how we perceive our environment and experiences.

According to research by an Oxford University team, a label was enough to make research participants imagine a smell even when they were sniffing clean air.

Tim Jacob at Cardiff University’s smell research lab also says, “Perfume companies have surveyed potential customers on the smell of perfumes in different coloured and shaped bottles. And people think it is a different perfume just because it is in a different bottle even though it is the same smell.”

Definately worth considering what words you use to communicate your message!

Filed under: Uncategorized
1 Comment

This snappy headline over at podcasting news just cracked me up:

Oregon Scientific Delivers iPod Sound with Balls

Tell me you didn’t want to go and have a look!

Filed under: miscellaneous
No Comments

A fantastic post by Steve Gillmore on the disruptive power of RSS and the fear the blogosphere can engender in normally rational people. But equally importantly, it touches on a nerve I have about how RSS can change the way we communicate, share knowledge and grow our knowledge bases collectively. All at the same time distancing further the digital haves from the have-nots (the RSS-savvy versus the RSS-unsavvy).

In a lengthy article on the possible decline of the mainstream media (MSM), Gillmore gives this telling quote:

“…the deep subleties about media and technology mean a lot to me. RSS (just my opinion, but likely true) has unleashed forces that are rending media into new, ever more powerful, targeted, strategic, and disruptive packages that are rebuidling information transfer in profoundly powerful and personal ways.”

Gillmore touches on an important point that Elizabeth Albrycht (courtesy of Allan Jenkins) makes:

“Over the past few years, I have watched and participated in the changes confronting communications practitioners due to the Internet, the web, mobility etc. — all of the new networked communications tools. I think something more is going on here than just a bunch of new tools added to our professional communicator’s tool kits I believe a fundamental shift in the entire model of communications is now possible.”

And it’s true (or for me it is, anyway); RSS and the philosophy(ies) behind it undermine and challenge the existing structures not just for media empires, but for knowledge management.

How it shakes out is anyone’s guess, but since we are internet speed it will no doubt be an exhilarating ride.

Filed under: Uncategorized
No Comments

Courtesy of my friend Domenica, here’s a handy cheap petrol price finder for Australia.

It doesn’t work for every site (for example, there are two petrol stations in Stirling, near where I live, but neither show up in a search) but it’s definately worth a try.

Not sure where the figures come from, but give it a go…

Filed under: miscellaneous
No Comments

Edition 19 of Better Communication Results the podcast is now ready for your downloading delight.

In this edition I share with you three devices to help you communicate better.

Download the show directly right now, or else subscribe to my webfeed and have each and every sparkling edition delivered automatically to your podcatching software next time you go online. Confused? There’s more information right here.

Show notes

0:53: Thank you’ s and comments

2:20: Three devices to help you communicate better for better business results: signposts, transitional statements and summaries.

Comments/Notes/Links:
Shel Holtz, Derek Leverington, For Immediate Release, the Podcast Institute, Allan Jenkins, Donna Papacosta, Heidi Miller.

Referenced articles:
Nonverbal communication: 5 ways to structure a presentation for maximum effect; Nonverbal communication: structuring a presentation for the maximum effect

Filed under: Uncategorized
4 Comments

Due to popular demand and ever more research becoming available, there is both further evidence of mental health issues related to podcasting, as well as photos of the dusky handmaidens working at the Podcast Institute now available on the updated Postcasting Syndrome post

Filed under: Uncategorized
No Comments