Traveling Geeks

Silicon Valley Goes To Paris… Le Web ’09

I’m heading to Paris for the Le Web conference next week then spending the rest of December in London.

I’ll be attending Le Web as part of the “Traveling Geeks” [misspelling deliberate], organized by Renee Blodgett. Also on the trip: Eliane Fiolet, , Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, David Spark, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, and Phil Jeudy.

Le Web is Europe’s premiere conference and organized by Loic Le Meur, from Seesmic. (Continue reading this entry…)

I used to just be a geek, but now I’m a Traveling Geek

Just a short post to let you know that next week I’ll be reporting from LeWeb in Paris with the Traveling Geeks. This is a group formed by Renee Blodgett where more than a dozen tech bloggers attend tech functions and report on the event. Previous Traveling Geeks trips have gone to London, Israel, and South Africa.

For the end of ‘09, the Traveling Geeks’ Paris team includes Eliane Fiolet, Tom Foremski, Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Renee Blodgett, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, and Phil Jeudy. (Continue reading this entry…)

TechMama is Traveling – With None Other Then The “Traveling Geeks”

Million Mile Frequent Flyer Status is not all it is cracked up to be…

Before I joined Deloitte, I was an international computer auditor. This gave me the opportunity to travel to Mexico, Spain, Sweden, England, Puerto Rico, France and all over the United States. The business trips were back to back for weeks at a time and luckily they were all BK (before kids). I thoroughly enjoyed the travel but I had no – um – personal life.

Now I have the personal life, but fitting in travel is not easy…

With three amazing but extremely active boys, a wonderful husband (Neil Blecherman) and multiple blogs to manage – I try to limit my traveling to only key events. My involvement in social media has given me the opportunity to connect with an amazing network of bloggers from both BlogHer and the Silicon Valley Moms Group. My programming/systems project management background led me to also show my geeky side by connecting with technology and social media bloggers. I created a personal blog to discuss my perspective as a tech mom (TechMamas.com) and am starting a vlog called GadgetSpin with Eliane from Ubergizmo, TechieDiva, and Ponziarelli. But no matter how much I develop my online network, attending conferences/events to have old fashioned “live interaction” is still the best form of networking.

Bloggers gone traveling...

There are some amazing social media connectors and community builders and when they call about an event – I jump on board. They look for stories that need to be told or discussions that need to be sparked – then match bloggers to the stories to bring information online. One connecter is Guy Kawasaki who organized an amazing blogger embark on the USS Nimitz and introduced me to Alltop (now I have MyAlltop!). Robert and Maryam Scoble and Steve Brobeck organized a blogger bus to CES last year that gave me the opportunity to spend time with an engaging group of bloggers. One of the bloggers on board was Christine Lu. When she informed me about the ReThink Hawaii conference, I decided that was a great work-cation opportunity. I also view my partners at Gadgetspin as connectors. Eliane and her Ubergizmo team just recently organized Ubergizmo10 – well worth the drive to San Francisco. There are also multiple circles of moms who have used their community building, shopping and writing skills to form online networks.

I have been following Renee Blodgett for some time and enjoy her insights on social media. I also view Renee Blodgett as a social media connector and community builder. She is one of the co-founders of a group called Traveling Geeks . The Traveling Geeks website describes it best: “Traveling Geeks is a consortium of entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors, journalists, bloggers, technology innovators and influencers who travel to countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote new, innovative technologies. The initiative was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008.“

Traveling Geeks 2009 – Paris

When I was invited to join their Traveling Geeks/Paris trip, I knew that was one adventure not to miss (no matter how many mom-planning-loops I had to jump through). I can’t wait to see what is in store for the Traveling Geeks Trip to Paris, which includes attendance at LeWeb. I plan to be online sharing the trip with my readers as much as the international connections allow. The Twitter hashtags for the trip are #TG09, #travelingeeks. Their is also a Facebook fan page and a Twitter ID: @travelinggeeks.

Now back to my search for an unlocked GSM smartphone international data plan and international Broadband card!

Traveling Geeks Head to Paris

Le Travelling Geeks

Yes Le Web is coming up (and the full program has now been published so you can sort who you want to see and when the best time is to nip out for a decent sized-lunch), but I’ll be doing a little something in Paris beforehand. The Travelling Geeks.

Organised by Renee Blodgett for the two days before Le Web will see a number of us descending early on Paris to see some presentations form the latest European start-ups and what they are working on in a smaller, more intimate environment.

I’m looking forward to it, partly because it’s going to be a bit like Dragon’s Den but without the claws and viciousness; partly because it gives us time to question the companies on the product; and also because it’s a good chance to hook up again and do some work with people like VinVin and Robin Wauters.

With all the writers, reporters and companies in the room, I’m expecting a number of lively podcasts!

Europreneur Secrets- Favorite Web Aps from Ann Cotton, Camfed

Favorite Web Aps of European Entrepreneurs I met during the Traveling Geeks Trip.

This is seventh in a series where I take JD Lasica’s meme “Coolest Power Tools” on a “spin” to see not what our US geeks are using, but what our European Brethren find as their favorite aps. This has been a really popular series with my blog readers. It’s fun to learn about new aps and see that some of our favorites are highly used in the UK and now in Africa too.

Here is a list of “geek tools” from Ann Cotton, the amazing, beautiful, powerful woman who started and is executive director of Camfed. (Continue reading this entry…)

Cape Town: The Silicon Valley of Africa?

Silicon Cape is a new event in South Africa started by investors and entrepreneurs who have spent time in Silicon Valley.

More than an event, it’s a brand, an idea that everyone could ‘rally around’ in the Cape. My blogger pal Matthew Buckland, who has been asked to MC the kick-off event, writes about the launch on his blog.

The goal is to attract the best entrepreneurs, technical brains and foreign investment to South Africa. (Continue reading this entry…)

Alaska HDTV: Making Money from Podcasting

(This interview is part of David Spark’s (@dspark) series “Making Money from Podcasting” (read summary “9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting”) where he interviews podcasters who are actually generating revenue from their podcasts. There are many techniques, and here’s one person’s tale of how he’s making money from podcasting.)

Kevin Kastner, co-producer of Alaska HDTV

Get your own sponsors

Kevin Kastner is the co-producer of the video podcast, Alaska HDTV. He produces the show with Scott Sloan, the original founder of Alaska Podcast (the original name of Alaska HDTV). While in the Alaska Podcast incarnation, Sloan monetized the production through a relationship via the podcast network Mevio (previously known as PodShow and started by legendary MTV VJ Adam Curry – read/watch my interview with Adam Curry). At the time, he was making some ad deals with Mevio but he didn’t have much say and control about the deal. Sloan and Kastner really didn’t understand what the terms of the deals were. They simply received a check in the mail for a few hundred dollars. It wasn’t clear what arrangement Mevio had made with the advertiser and what their cut was, said Kastner.

Interview (Time: 17:13)

Download mp3

Mevio’s offers started getting weaker. Some deals required Kastner and Sloan to run advertisements for free with a referral code and if the advertiser closed a client, Kastner and Sloan would get paid out a referral fee. The relationship with Mevio was starting to sour. The poor offers, the lack of transparency in the deals, and the multi-year commitments caused the two of them to say themselves, we can do better on our own.

As Kastner and Sloan set out to get their own sponsors, they quickly determined that they wanted to go after the travel and transportation industry. They picked companies and went direct to the PR and marketing departments within those organizations. The first company they targeted was Alaska Airlines. Not only did they go after employees within the company, but they also went after their ad agencies. The idea was to corner them at all angles so there would be no way they could avoid being seen, said Kastner. While they didn’t get Alaska Airlines, they did get a partner of Alaska Airlines, Bank of America, issuers of Alaska Airlines’ credit cards. Bank of America had a budget and some money to spend before the end of the quarter. It was really good timing for Alaska HDTV.

In the early days of managing their own ads, like with Bank of America, Kastner and Sloan baked advertisements into Alaska HDTV with a product placement and a pre-roll. Kastner said he avoided the CPM equation at all costs. He uses a flat rate sponsorships, traditionally three months. It’s not hard to calculate Alaska HDTV’s CPMs (between $30-$50) as Kastner gives sponsors full stat reports on viewership. While he was so eager and creative about advertising from the onset, the market has devolved, said Kastner. What they initially thought was advanced programming to entice advertisers (e.g. baking pre-rolls into shows, in-show product placements) turned out to be too confusing. Advertisers just want inserted pre-rolls where they completely control the creative. So for now, because that’s what advertisers want, that’s what Alaska HDTV sells.

Kastner says now that he’s made the full time switch to getting their own sponsors, they’ve increased revenue 200-300 percent. But that’s come at a real cost. It’s no longer a part time gig. Alaska HDTV is his sole source of revenue and the time he’s put into it has gone up more than ten-fold. They do seek other revenue opportunities through hired gun video production and speaking engagements.

Listen to the interview as Kastner tells the tale of his personal struggle seeking sponsors and offers some great experiential advice to others looking to head down the same path as him.

More episodes of “Making Money from Podcasting”

• Never Not Funny (Technique: “Partial show for free – full show paid”)
• Personal Life Media (Technique: “Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
• Pregtastic (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
• Elsie’s Yoga Class (Technique: “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
• Mac OS Ken (Technique: “Give away five shows for free, make them pay for the sixth”)
• Duct Tape Marketing (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
• ScreenCastsOnline (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
• Izzy Video (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
• Slate Gabfests (Technique: “Integrating sponsorship with the show’s editorial”)
• Wizzard Media (Technique: “Got audience? We’ll get you sponsors. Or, get sponsors on your own and we’ll insert the ads” PLUS “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
• Premiumcast.com (Technique: “Build an audience and sell premium podcasts”)
• Manager Tools (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
• ESPN (”Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
• Mevio (Technique: “Motivate your audience”)

Answers Corp. Moves to comScore Rank of #18

Answers Corporation’s (NASDAQ: ANSW) August numbers move to comScore Rank of #18; data follows implementation of hybrid easurement under comScore’s new media metrix 360.

This report reflects first-time measurement data following Answers’ implementation of comScore’s new measurement methodology, Media Metrix 360, also known as a “panel-centric hybrid” solution.

According to comScore, Answers’ U.S. unique visitors reached 45.1 million in August (rank #18). WikiAnswers had 36.2 million U.S. unique visitors and ReferenceAnswers had 16.5 million U.S. unique visitors in August. (Continue reading this entry…)