Talking Portraits Show

So just in case you missed the notice. The Talking Portraits show is hosted at ITConversations.   They offer an RSS feed for you to subscribe to and you can find the show on the Gigavox iTunes feeds also.

I have added some of the shows you however they link directly back to ITConversations (also called Gigavox).

As always please let me know about your impressions of the interviews and what you learn. Tell me what you want next. Feedback is always welcome.  tom  (dot)  parish @ gmail.com
Tom

Who can better influence your markets and show your product's real value than an articulate satisfied customer? Elizabeth Ferranini, veteran PR consultant, brings a wealth of experience to this conversation about using both old and new media to enable your customers to do high-quality marketing for your company. She explains how to interview CEOs and CIOs, what marketing skills and investments start-up companies need, how to craft a case study that can jump-start your business, and how companies can effectively communicate with their custo

Please vote today at:

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/485

You will need to create an account to vote however it's quite.  Do leave a comment. Scroll down to see them all and add yours!

Must vote by September 17th 2007.

Do it now ...! I'm very excited about the opportunity to pull a panel together at SXSW but I need your vote to make certain it's accepted.

Description:

Why are CMO's afraid of social media and social networking? How can they leverage social media for marketing success? This panel will be a combination of forward vision and practical advice from vendors and enterprises that are successfully leveraging social media today for business results.

Thank you
Tom Parish Founder
Tom Parish Inc
Social Media Board Room Consultancy
Austin TX

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Hello, friends and listeners. I have good news! The Talking Portraits Show has officially moved to ITConverstations.

You'll need to go to www.ITConversations.com. Look on the left column of their site for the link to Talking Portraits. All new shows will be there. I have a new interview that you'll want to catch. It's a kind of case study with Lulu.com about their use of social media-based marketing strategies to grow their business. You'll want to catch this one.

I am very  grateful for the opportunity to have my show hosted to such a wide audience. It's a pleasure to be part of a larger community. 

Remember to expect the unexpected with regards to interviews, so stay tuned. 

There is a new RSS feed, so please visit the ITConversations site to get your regular dose of Talking Portraits shows into your computer or iPod or favorte MP3 player.

As always, send me your thoughts and comments [tom.parish AT gmail.com].  I want to know how you're doing and hear any feedback you have on your mind about the shows or any ideas for future shows.

Live life fully
Tom

Do not attempt to adjust your mp3 player. For the next 45 minutes the control of your mp3 player is in the creative hands of Matt Jones - electronic music artist whom I've come to know over the last couple of months. Music on this Podcast is from his album Sunset Birth and from his podcasts at www.bluestonejones.org.

Hi, this is Tom Parish in the Talking Portraits studio in Austin, Texas.   I'm going to spare you the long intro and just let you get into a bit of Matt's music before we roll into the interview. My idea is to have you learn about Matt the musician and get an inside look at how he creates electronic music.  eknow more about him as a person and his experiences in writing music during the birth of his first child, how that impacted his career, and his life as a creative young man in Montana.  So ... here we go.   Put your headphones on now ...

We're going to have a conversation with Matt Snodgrass, Dave Kawalec and Chris MacDonald about a new initiative called OpenMetrics.org. Matt and Dave are from Porter Novelli and host the "The Dave and Matt Show." Chris is from Libsyn and is the co-founder of the Association of Music Podcasters and the owner of Indiefeed Podcasts.

The domain name, openmetrics.org, says what it is: An organization whose purpose is to define standards in an open manner with collective input from numerous groups, mainly podcasters and advertisers.

Here's the deal - whether you're a podcaster, podcast distributor, advertiser, audience-identity advocast, or PR firm, etc., you have an interest in finding a consistent way to create metrics for this new media,  podcasting.  If we can solve this problem, there will be more trust and more opportunity for advertising dollars. I'm for that.

The problem is - everyone's metrics are different and, well, it's complicated.  Traditional web metrics are more about unique visitors or visits per day and, if you're lucky, some way of measuring downloads. Of course, the next problem is "What constitutes a download?" What about RSS feeds that are constantly hitting your website and skewing the numbers way up?  But that's just one issue. What about metrics of the kinds of people that listen to your show? What's the reach? What countries? How long do visitors really listen?

You get the idea. Even if you're new to podcasting or if you've been around a while, it's a vexing problem. This is a large set of unresolved issues that make it difficult for podcasters to present solid, consistent numbers, and difficult for advertisers to know how to trust the numbers for shows originated by different podcasters.

This has been an issue I've wrestled with for my own shows and my clients' shows, so during a conversation with Chris MacDonald of Libysn I found out about a small group of people interested in making this problem go away.  This group is growing quickly, and you can learn more about it at http://www.openmetrics.org. 

What is openmetrics.org, and how can we work together to solve these problems? Let's speak with these guys now - Matt, Dave and Chris.

Intro and Outro music is from Matt Jones's Sunset Birth album from
http://www.bluestonejones.org/

Recently an Internet security newsletter article caught my attention. It's by David Utter, who is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews. He listed the Top 10 security risks for 2007 that were published by the McAfee.com folks from their Avert Labs data.

I thought I'd ask Deb Radcliff to comment on this because she is an award-winning investigative writer and speaker on information security.  She's spent the last 13 years writing about what can go wrong with software and firmware applications. What is it with software and hardware manufacturers on security? Seems they have created a never-ending cycle here. Ever wonder why devices aren't more secure before they are shipped?

Deb recently joined forces with Mark Kadrich and Rodney Thayer to start a closed-loop security process testing company, the SecurityConsortium.net, in San Jose, Calif.  They will conduct stress tests on new applications and publish their findings.  Rodney heads up testing, where he'll put applications under real-world pressures and report how they act.

Rodney sat on many historic IETF standards working groups, including IPsec, PGP and x.509 digital certificates. He is a member of several security testing and research groups, including Network World's Test Alliance, and the Schmoo Group ( www.schmoo.com).

Deb invited Rodney to this podcast to chime in on how testing of new applications in real network conditions is critical to protecting enterprises proactively, as compared to today's typical reactive measures that rely on knowing or accurately predicting where the vulnerabilities are and what an attacker's going to do.

ok .. so let's get rolling on this list of the Top 10 security threats for 2007

Say the word technology, and most people think of gizmos and gadgets.  But there's another kind of technology - one that involves the inner workings of the heart and soul.  Warren Kahn has mastered both.  He's a musician with his own California studio full of machines capable of putting together best-selling recordings, and he's a Senior Trainer with the More To Life program, which uses trainings to bring people home to their hearts.  Warren and my wife, Sharon, also a Sr. Trainer, were good friends, and he composed an evoking song, Now She's Gone, upon her passing.  Soon Warren will release an album of the songs of his heart.  Let's listen as he talks about the technology of his studio and the technology of his passion for life.  We'll also listen to his new album, "To the Middle of What Matters."  The Label is Let's Planet Records.  Visit www.BeatingHeartsMusic.com

Up next, a conversation with Lynda Wienman - CEO of Lynda.com on Talking Portraits.

I had a conversation recently with a friend and mentor Larry Seyer about how to grow a business online in the area of online education.  It seemed to me there is huge opportunity globally for businesses that can provide useful education on current topics. Larry had just built www.learngigastudio.com which produces online lessons for GigaStudio in both text and video form. It's a great niche that he knows well, and it fullfills a need in a the electronic music area where samplers and synthesizers are getting more sophistacted to learn.

You're about to hear an interview with a woman who epitomizes the true Internet entrepreneurial spirit. Lynda Wienman - CEO of Lynda.com.  She has a solid core of truth about what's important in her life and how she wants to run her business. Authentic is the word that comes to mind - 100% real deal.  You'll hear that in her voice.

She's originally a teacher by training, and she brings that skill to her online business. She has learned by trial and error, and gives attention to the details and her presentation of herself and her services so her customers get exactly what they're seeking.  She really really really LISTENS to what her customers want, and finds ways to make that happen. She took a HUGE risk at putting her course material at $25 a month - wait until you hear what happened on that!

Think about your life. Aren't you constantly needing to learn new tools and new software? How do you keep your skills honed, competitive, and creative in today's service economy? You can buy expensive books, but hey, we all know how that really works: marginally at best.  We could go to classes, but that takes time and a lot of money.

Why not have a private video tutor right in your computer, teaching you exactly what you want to learn, chapter by chapter? That's what Lynda.com training is about.

--
Tom Parish - Host
tom.parish @ gmail.com

Why am I reposting again from my EnterpriseLeadership.org show? Because this is one fascinating group of people at 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.

How many times have you heard about a great idea for an invention or a business and said, Gee, I wish I'd thought of that? Well, prepare to add another to your list: 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. This brainchild of a high school grad who was more interested in starting a business than going to college was launched with $700, an old pickup truck, and a lot of nerve. Today, it boasts more than 260 franchise locations in 38 states, four Canadian provinces, and parts of Australia and the UK. Interested in finding out more? Listen in on this podcast interview with Cameron Herold, COO and (another) company wunderkind, as he talks about what makes 1-800-GOT-JUNK? so unique (besides the name), from its innovative Web-based JunkNet system to "huddle" meetings to rubber chickens hanging from the ceiling. This podcast is sure to add an interesting new flavor for the word entrepreneur.

Reposted with permission from BMC Software.

This Podcast is with Brian Magierski of Kalivo on new thoughts around customer engagement on the Internet for lead generation and brand development. Could this be Web 2.0 marketing? (Alright, I know this Web 2.0 thing is getting a little worn out, but bear with me here ...)

Have you ever wondered how to get your company's marketing and product management into the conversations going on OUTSIDE the company via blogs and forums throughout the Internet?

Do you find you are overly focused on drive-by traffic or hoping for click-throughs from search engines for capturing leads?

Maybe you are more comfortable with pouring millions into a 90- to 120-day traditional marketing campaign with a highly targeted focus, hoping to flood your specific demographic with enough media angles and different types of media that you burst into a person's attention.  It's expensive and wasteful and short-term - a point you worry about nowadays. It's hard to build a brand that way, much less an ecosphere of communities supporting your products and services, feeding you valuable, competitive information.

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately, and I recently connected with a company in Austin that is on to something.

Maybe you have one or more blogs at your site and you're seeing an increase in traffic, but here's the deal - you're still hoping for drive-by, incremental, 'like-minded' people to find your doorstep.  Sure, broadcasting email is some help, but given spam filters and the spam-sensitive readers ... you have your doubts.

Have you given some consideration to the fact that there are millions of blogs now?  Blogs are no longer new.  Blogs and forums are where users, consumers, prospects and experts interact with each other.  Ever notice how silent most companies are when things are written about their products and services, rarely offering any rebuttal?

What if you could find 'nests' of on-going conversations about your company and its products, and you could listen and engage in those conversations to learn, and, when appropriate, respond?

This, my friend, is one of the next steps on where all this blogging stuff is going - especially for companies looking to leverage the benefits of social media.  Getting out there on the edge of the internet and engaging in conversations to cultivate leads and suss out the ultimate set of features for new products driven from real feedback.  

This is the essence of this interview with Brian M. from Kalivo. Think of it as the new way of finding and engaging vocal prospects and customers and pulling them into YOUR ecosystem.   Let's speak now with Brian.

I'm here with Patricia Seybold to talk about her book, Outside Innovation. Patty wrote this book as a sort of call to arms for CEOs and CXOs about the next wave of innovation that's happening in the marketplace, an innovation that maybe happening with -- or without -- their input!

Let me give you a hint here: We're talking about innovations that can come directly from your consumers, your prosumers and dedicated supporters for your products and services.  Innovation that will give you a highly competitive edge, bringing you what she refers to as "organic growth."

Join the parade, folks, before it passes you by, and let Patricia Seybold lend her years of experience and knowledge to help you! Let's move now to our conversation with the author of Outside Innovation.

NOTE: This podcast is reused, with permission from BMC Software, from the www.EnterpriseLeadership.org show that I host each week.  As I mention in the podcast introduction, I'm going to be interviewing more people that have insightful contributions emerging from the application of social media-based systems, environments and ecosystems onto the more traditional business-oriented websites. 
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Now and again I get an opportunity to have a "birds of a feather" discussion with another podcaster. I'm speaking with Chris MacDonald today who has the following leading edge credits to his name:

 

 

 - EVP Business Development and Operations, Liberated Syndication (Libsyn)
- President, Loud Results, parent company of IndieFeed Networks
- Co-Founder and General Counsel, Association of Music Podcasting

This guy is a trailblazer - and I can identify with that ...
 
So why am I speaking with him?  Two reasons. The clients that I work with are seeing tremendous growth in their podcast shows, which is putting a strain on the current way the mp3 files are being served up to the Internet. There is no room to scale and NOW we're seeing acceleration in growth. This btw is also happening here at Talking Portraits.
 
Instead of buying more hardware and bandwidth I recently recommended a service I've used in the past called Libysn.  It's the ideal way for a podcaster to start and now there is a path to grow big, REALLY BIG.
 
I found out there is a LibsynPro version and that is exactly what I wanted because my client wants an enterprise solution.  The newly released LibsynPro service looked so promising I figured I would just get on the phone and learn more about it. The person I've been working with is Chris MacDonald and HE is a podcaster - big time. I like that - he's knows the business.
 
Chris MacDonald has been deep in podcasting since releasing IndieFeed Networks in September 2004.  A former rich media email and streaming media executive, toady Chris' IndieFeed project boasts the highest collective download rate for music podcasts, with 750,000 unique downloads per month, and consistent rankings on the iTunes top 100 list.
 
At Loud Results, Chris has advised corporate business executives, Washington-based politicians, and PR firms on effective ways to harness podcasting as a mix within communication initiatives. I don't get a chance to meet someone too often that does exactly what I do - so this was a real treat.
 
Chris recently joined the management team at Libsyn to help the premier podcast host and solutions provider become even more successful, with a focused emphasis toward new user services and enterprise solutions.  He helped launch and runs Libsyn Professional Services at www.libsynpro.com
 
Let's talk with Chris now!

Here's the backstory on how this interview came about. More than a year ago my identity was stolen. What a miserable process to go through, not to mention how helpless and vulnerable I felt when I realized what had happened. 

Ever since then I've jumped at opportunities to speak with people who know what's really going on in this area.  I recently interviewed Marcus Sachs, director of the Cyber R&D Lab for the Department of Homeland Security. You'll hear this interview on EnterpriseLeadership.org in a future show.

During that interview I learned that breaking into computers to steal the monetary value of what it holds is much more alluring than creating a virus to disable it. Think about it - what value is a computer that can no longer function? Identity theft is a worldwide problem, a significant and deliberate movement by an underworld of shadowy business arrangements. In fact, these groups have developed sophisticated ways to reward computer-savvy teenagers to be their "mules" to write and distribute code for nefarious purposes - in a way that keeps the organized crime groups anonymous.

That opportunity to interview Marcus came from a new-found contact and friend - Deb Radcliff - who has been in the business of writing about computer security since the early '90s.  I wanted to spend more time talking about these topics from a down-to-earth perspective. One that any person and any small business owner would understand.

Here's something I gleaned from Deb's bio:

    Having been a general assignments newspaper reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and other daily papers, Radcliff had no idea what she was getting into in 1994 when she agreed to do research on a best-selling book about Kevin Mitnick, an infamous hacker who was on the run from the FBI at that time. 

    "From Mitnick's friends, I learned that computers -- and people -- are easy to trick into giving up information that they shouldn't," she says. "As such, our identity information has become fair game to every thief and stalker who really wants it."

     Since then, she's written hundreds of articles that have appeared in business and consumer magazines, is working on a book, and teaches online safety education for dummies.

     Now, Radcliff says, computer crime has reached a critical turn that could cost businesses their online revenue channels.