It seems it’s my time to go conference bananas this month.

On Saturday 18th I’m doing one of my trademark open space lite sessions at Podcastcon UK which is being held quite inappropriately, I’m sure you’ll agree in an old meat market (it’s actually really nice, I have had a look).

I had hoped to go to VLOG Europe in Milan just for Sunday, but poor planning and bad cashflow management put paid to that (luckily I have alternative activities lined up…)

Then Tuesday 21st I’m speaking at The Data Show at Earls Court on “Getting into the Heads of Customers – how to understand, engage and participate in the online environment… the sphere that belongs to the customer” – personally I find the image of getting into people’s heads somewhat distasteful, but I’ll try to avoid the more unpleasant double-entendres! It’s part of a bigger direct marketing show – here’s the programme, it doesn’t look like there’ll be anyone else talking about this stuff there.

The month closes with Online Information 2006 up at Olympia where I am:

• running a half-day open space on Monday 27th which I expect to be similar in tone to the one I did at the Blogs & Social Media Forum in May, only longer. If you think any of your clients or colleagues would benefit from talking freely and learning loads about Blogging and Social Media, get them to come along – the more the merrier!
• moderating a panel on the Wednesday on The Risk & Reward of Social Software.
• recording some of the sessions (audio, for release only to attendees I’m afraid)
• running around in between doing my usual Rich Records schtick

Yay!

tags: london & conferences & open space & podcastconuk & online information & the data show & rich records & podcasting & workshops & post geek

I was always told “You don’t go looking in ladies’ handbags, you never know what you might find” which seemed more of a temptation to me than a discouragement. And in that spirit, today I’m going to open up my one-man social media empire bag and let you know exactly what’s in it.

First an explanation for those who haven’t been following. I’ve been talking about having a one-man social media empire for some time now. I often stand up at events, lift up my green canvas bag and show off about how it contains a newspaper, radio station, tv station and film production company. I don’t understand why more people aren’t doing it – or maybe they are and I’m too busy bragging about my own stuff that I fail to notice everyone else smirking and tittering behind my back – it has been known. Anyway a large proportion of my time is now taken up creating what I call “Rich Records”

I’m tempted to make a video of me emptying the bag, but I’ve decided against it as it wouldn’t actually tell you a great deal more than the following, other than to give you a realistic view of what a ridiculous proportion of cable to kit there really is.

I have to admit that I’ve never been one for splashing out on kit. Ever since I started podcasting I’ve only used what came to hand, stuff that I’d already got – and while I’ve had to replace some items, I’m much more interested in what I can do with them, rather than how much they cost or how funky the spec-sheet is. But this might be useful to those sad souls out there who would like to emulate my empire. Calculating the cost of replicating the kit here is left as an exercise for the reader.

So then, the contents of my bag:

Laptop

OK, so you need something that can connect to the interwebnets, preferably wirelessly and with a battery that holds a charge for a long time. I had to get a cheap and heavier than I’d like Toshiba after my lovely (but stupidly uninsured) Acer Tablet got nicked. Obviously the lighter the better – needs a sizeable HDD to cope with the amount of video and audio that ends up getting stored and plenty of USB ports. I couldn’t find one at the time that fit my budget and came with a built-in firewire port (for transferring video), so I had to get one on a PCMCIA card – fiddly but workable. Some people will tell you that you really need a Mac in order to do podcasting and videoblogging well. In my experience they are the same people who will always tell you that you really need a Mac. I haven’t used a Mac in anger since 1996 so I don’t really know.

Audio recording

For podcasting and recording an audio track for the more formal (snicker) video stuff I do, I use a Sony Minidisc because that’s what I had lying around in 2004 when I met Adam Curry and saw the podcasting light shining from his podfatherly halo. I have improved on the original (which would only transfer audio to a PC in real time down an audio line) by splashing out on a Sony Hi-MD model MZ-NH700. The Hi-MD disks hold 1GB or “quite a long recording time” Note that they don’t talk to Macs at all.

I have no “cans”. I prefer to look stupid for only having little earbuds rather than looking stupid for looking like Phones out of Stingray.

I have two microphones, both cheap and from Maplin I think, but both do the job.

My stick mic is an SBC MD650 from Phillips – came with it’s own cable and I have a phono to mini-jack converter to plug it into the minidisc. I then have a stereo clip on mic for wandering around stuff. This is a Yoga (I consider myself more of an intermediate 😮 ) EM-8 which has far too much cable but does give a really cool stereo vibe, especially weird when listening to me walking in traffic.

Video recording

I have a JVC GR D200 which I picked up in Dixons a couple of years ago for domestic use. I chose it because it was cheap and it fits nicely in my hand and those are the technical criteria I would recommend :-). It records on MiniDV and transfers to PC via a Firewire cable. When I need to buy another one, I’d like quicker transfer to PC and an external mic input. I don’t have a functioning stills camera at the moment but will get a digital SLR when funds allow – I grab stills from video I’ve shot or use my cameraphone.

Tripods

I have two, one is a mini one that sits on a table top and has a mic clip too. I usually use this as a mic stand but have to be wary when interviewing thrusting corporate execs who like to punctuate their speech with thumps on the table. The other is a bit of a cheat as as it doesn’t actually fit into the bag. But especially when I’m doing one-man stuff, it’s good to be able to the put the camera down and walk into the shot or just hold it still for a while several feet above the ground. Not essential, but useful.

Software

Partly a function of the hardware I use but I stick with freebie stuff wherever possible.

I have to use SonicStage to transfer audio from the minidisc – it does however now automatically create .wav files for me so that’s a lot less of a hassle than it used to be. I use Audacity to then edit the audio and produce mp3’s.

For video I just use Windows Movie Maker – it’s fine, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles but they usually confuse me anyway and it does what I need it to do. If I need to convert to Quicktime I use the AVS video conversion suite which set me back something like 15 quid – a useful feature of this is that it will also strip a wav audio file from a video soundtrack for manipulation in Audacity.

Hosting

Obviously this doesn’t fit in my bag…. but it popped into my head that this might be useful information too. I put my videos on YouTube now – may switch if they start to get evil. I also have a couple of libsyn accounts which are useful because they have unlimited download bandwidth but they’re used primarily for podcasts and audio files. I blog here using MovableType but use wordpress.com for freebie blogs.

Cables

Don’t get me started. Separate power cables (with transformers) for each bit of hardware (laptop, minidisc, camera); mic cables; firewire cable from camera to laptop; USB cable from minidisc to laptop; stereo audio line for carrying an audio signal from minidisk to laptop when doing Skype recording (whole other post)

The bag itself came from a very excellent NMK event at the ICA last year – funkiest conference bag ever.

I’m at the Novotel in Hammersmith at the Unicom conference on Social Tools and their business applications. This morning we heard from Euan Semple, Lee Bryant and Sarah Prag from the BBC. Up now is Duncan Brown from Influencer 50 talking about the influence of blogs.

I’m on first thing tomorrow morning, talking about building an in-house social media empire.

Chris

Originally uploaded by matlock.

Just because I always do what I’m told here’s a picture of Matt Locke‘s brother Chris whom he teases by saying that he looks like either Ray Winstone or David Cameron depending on how much weight he’s carrying. Matt’s just encouraged us to link to the picture to push up his interestingness on flickr.

tags: content2.0 & london

Jamie Kantrowitz says Myspace page views haven’t dipped recently. This graph seems to say something different to me, but what do I know?

PS that graph is probably dynamically generated, so in a year’s time I may look even more of a dick… whichever way it goes.

tags: content2.0 & london

Oh we’re having such a jolly time at Content 2.0

Pics are coming through on flickr with the tag content20

tags: content2.0 & london

I’m at the RSA recording the sessions for NMK’s Content 2.0 conference.

Marc Canter‘s up first of all with another big energy performance. Not sure how much I’ll get to blog today, but Mike Butcher‘s also live-blogging on the conference site.

tags: content2.0 & london

I’m here at Blogs & Social Media in London today. Right now JP Rangaswami from DrKW is onstage engaging with the participants. In a minute we’ll have Ray Jordan from Johnson & Johnson and then after coffee I’ll be “running” an open space. It certainly feels to me a little more open than most blog conferences and a good mix of people with experience and those with none or very little.

tag: bsmf0506

Next Wednesday sees the Blogs & Social Media Forum, organised by VNU, at the London Hilton Metropole in Edgware Road. (eeek! scarily it’s the same date and location as this) I’ve been on the advisory panel for the forum and am running one of the sessions. I’m also really pleased that VNU have commissioned us to podcast the conference and to do some pre-conference interviews – more of this below….

While accepting that people come for clear information and practical examples of how this technology is actually working, we are also pushing the networking element of the day and trying to get away from the chalk and talk, death by powerpoint approach. The trouble is, that although many have tried, no-one seems to have found a format that works for everyone, so again, I don’t think we’ve cracked it yet, but we’re trying out some new ideas to see how they work. For example, in the middle of the day Johnnie Moore and I will be running an Open Space session to give people the chance to mix up and talk to the speakers on a more egalitarian level.

Naturally, there’s a conference blog and wiki. We’ve tried to soften up the format a little – so comfy armchairs for the panel, rather than a tressle table for them to hide behind, pictures and video from the day (and more informal stuff about speakers) projected in the breaks and hopefully some funky sounds – perhaps some podsafe music and other podcast samples. Participants will be sitting cafe-style but hopefully we’ll manage to make it a bit more Starbucks than Politburo Canteen (I suggested beanbags at the last on-site meeting we had, but I’m not sure whether that one will be taken up!).

The first pre-conference podcast is over on the conference blog. I went and had a chat with Lee Bryant of Headshift. What I love about their work is the way that they’re bringing the tools together in packages that make sense to users – which Lee touches on in our short conversation.

tags: bsmf06 & events & london & VNU & podcasts & rich records & social conferences

Today, I was walking through here and later, after a couple of phone calls went to have a look around Crocker’s Folly, a Grade II* listed building which is up for sale. It has a special place in my heart as it was one of the first places in London I performed after leaving drama school in 1984 (long story) and where I met my (future ex-)wife (even longer story).
Even that aside, it is a stunningly beautiful interior with enormous potential.

The folklore behind the building is that one Frank Crocker built the place in the late part of the 19th Century based on a mistaken belief that Marylebone station would be built nearby and that there would be a need for a large hotel and hostelry. The film Georgy Girl was shot in the surrounding area of Little Venice and I have a feeling the pub is featured in a scene.

It is a crying shame that it has stood empty and boarded up for the last three or four years. My vision would be to create an alternative music venue there: Victorian Music Hall, 1930s Variety, Burlesque, Cockney & Western, etc…

I would naturally love to blog about what goes on there once opened, but it would also make a really cool blog in the meantime talking about raising the money to buy it and the restoration and other work that needs to be done to make it habitable and sea-worthy.

I shot some footage in the most interesting bit, the pub downstairs, but there are three floors of residential opportunities above the pub as well which could provide some serious rental income if refurbished right.

The owner is asking for bids by this Friday (21st April 2006) in the region of £3million but even my untrained eye could see that one would need several hundred thousand more to restore it to a going concern. My reading between the estate agent’s lines was also that there was no big unavoidable rush, but that the deadline had been set to focus the minds of potential purchasers.

Sadly, this is too short a period for me to get a few million nicker all by myself, and anyway Debbie & I are going to Birmingham for the day. But it occurred to me that to two or three degrees of separation, I do know or am known by an awful lot of people around the world and I would really like to see how possible this is. So I throw it open to you inkernet webizens. How could we put a deal together quickly to secure this lovely space (subject naturally to acceptance of such a bid by the current owners) and make reasonable returns for investors if they want them – preferably somewhere manageable and suitably long-tail ranging from 1 investor who stumps up £3m+ and 3m investors who each stump up £1.

This does not form a prospectus or any such blah blah blah.

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS. NO, REALLY. TELL *ALL* YOUR FRIENDS

FAQ

You’re joking, right. This is one of Lloyd’s mad ideas Half right – it is one of my mad ideas, but I’m not joking. Can I put you down for say £1.50?

Are you drunk? No, nor am I on drugs. I may be otherwise mentally twisted, but not seriously so. Can I put you down for £100 then?

Don’t you realise what a stupid idea this is? No, so can I put you down for £1,000?

Do you know anything about what you’re doing… at all? No, but that’s never stopped me in the past. Can I put you down for £10,000?

Isn’t this illegal? I don’t know. I promise not to do anything illegal in the event that any of this comes off. I am not a lawyer and I don’t even play one on TV, but I’m not doing anything at the moment except talk about it. Of course one way you could contribute is if you happen to be a lawyer. So can I put you down for £100,000?

tags: crazy idea & london & NW8 & crockers & restoration & investment opportunity & blogging