David Strom and I got together at the recent New Communications Forum in Las Vegas to catch up on things. We’ve both been around the tech media business for a very long time, and while we’ve never worked for the same company at the same time, we’ve got plenty of mutual friends and experiences.
David came up with the idea of creating a podcast for the public relations community that would communicate what we’ve learned about the best and worst of PR. Both he and I have been on many panels in front of PR professionals, talking about how to work with the media. The appetite for this kind of information seems to be insatiable, and a podcast is a quick and easy way to capture some of our experiences.
So this week we recorded the first episode of Tech PR War Stories. Each week, we’ll get together and talk about some aspect of technology media, whether it’s news, tips, advice, rants or reminiscences.
We’re really going to try to update this one every week, which sounds like an impossible dream to me. However, David has been publishing his Web Informant newsletter every week for many years, so I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Please listen to the inaugural program (it’s only 14 minutes) and let me know what you think. If you have iTunes, you can find it here. This is a work in progress and we want to make sure the programs meet your needs. We’re pretty much open to anything!
Hi Guys,
Your first show was a great launch.
Welcome to the wonderful world of PR-related podcasting from your friends at PRobecast (brought to you by the fine folks at Topaz Partners).
Our recommendations (which you’ll want to ignore entirely):
1. Expand beyond tech PR – it gets a little dry talking about the monthly Edelman indescretion (fake blog experts) or the latest horror stories about an agency sending out spam pitches with 25 page attachments.
2. On a future show please have David clarify what he likes and dislikes about wikis – the audience at New Comm Forum was ready to pounce.
3. Get your podcast listed at PodcastReady.com directory – it’s the truly portable podcasting/content management software that frees you from Apple’s shackles (oh, and they happen to be a Topaz Partners client – disclosure freaks).
4. Get a tepid theme song – whoops, you’ve got that covered.
5. Drink beer – Thus, you can end your work week with a regular reason to start enjoying Friday night.
6. Get a female guest podcaster – sorry, but it just sounds better when the white men of PR (I’m one) take a break.
Seriously guys, have a blast and keep up your great work (on and off of your podcasts)!
We’ll be listening.
Think you need more informative file names. If I save this, I’d like a better name than something like “tm12.mp3.” Something along the lines of “tech PR podcast March 13 07” would be much more helpful in tracking.
Nice start. I’ve posted on it and am sharing it with all of the PR people I know.
Liked this inaugural podcast, and didn’t mind listening to 2 men. 🙂 I would like to speak for those of us in PR who aren’t afraid of losing control, as the podcast hinted — we’ve always known that PR was about starting conversations. What many of us fear is not the loss of control, but more the loss of quality — i.e. the content in some of the social media is pretty dismal at times. Some have said that the toothpaste is already out of the tube, but if we truly view our role as coach or mentor or conversation-started, it’s up to us to try to raise the integrity of the PR “spam” that a lot of people create on the webosphere. I don’t miss the old days when information was filtered and controlled, but I do miss the comparatively higher quality of content. Social media is terrific, don’t get me wrong. But anyone with access to a computer can be their own PR person these days, and that’s not always good. It’s like having anyone be the pilot of a plane — if they’re trained properly, the ride is a little less scary.
Thanks for all your great comments. David and I are committed to not letting this become “Two Old Guys Reminiscing”. We’re both fascinated and energized by social media, so we’ll spend a lot of time talking about that.
I definitely agree about the need for diversity. We’re already lining up guest speakers. Not sure about beer. We record on a Tuesday morning…