Austin's podcast

Dear Austin Podcasters,
Thanks to those who did attend the meetup on Thursday evening, 13 March 2008 at the Opal Divine's Marina Restaurant in North Austin.
We had a several interesting discussions and sharing of ideas during the meetup:

(1) We had a display of various pieces of hardware -- including portable podcast recorders, mixers, microphones, etc. -- along with some images, slides and photos of other products that were discussed for the interested or beginning-level podcaster.
As a matter of fact, the audio mp3 file for this episode recorded the dialog with one of the members and his perspectives about the display -- namely John Mayo, who is the podcaster for http://www.comicbookpage.com. Click on the icon or link near the title of this episode to listen to the 8-minute summary.

NOTE: The audio recording of the discussion with John Mayo and Fred Castaneda was captured by the Zoom H2 Portable Recorder from Samson using the table-top mount--John was using the front speakers and Fred the rear speakers. The audio was saved as a wav file and then brought in to Audacity to edit out the beginning and end audio tests. Then the file was exported to mp3 format using Audacity. THIS AUDIO WAS NOT LEVELATED and no EQ or other treatment was done on this file--so that you can get an idea of the native audio recording quality of the Zoom H2 Portable Recorder. Fred then used the "handle" accessory (called the "fudgesicle stick" in order to demonstrate the modification of the H2 from a desktop unit to a portable hand-held and battery-operated unit (to be used by a podcaster in a "roving-reporter" interview situation--by the way, I did use it this way during the Podcast and New Media Expo in September of 2007, when I interviewed Rob Walch of podcast411.com while he was speaking to people at the Wizzard Media booth right in the middle of the show floor in the exhibit hall, so that you can get an idea of the ambient noise with the Zoom H2).

(2) Possibility of meetups on a Saturday?
The suggestion came up that perhaps the membership would be able to participate more easily if we had the meetups at a convenient time in a more centrally located venue on a Saturday. The reason was given that this is the way that the San Antonio Podcasters Group follows for its meetup, and they seem to get a 35- to -50 per cent attendance rate for every meeting.
The suggestions were noted, and this was tabled for further discussion as an agenda item for the April 17th meeting.

(3) Guest speaker: Doug Welch from http://www.welchwrite.com.
As you can see from the image displayed, Doug is the creator, editor, talent and producer/publisher for five of his six podcasts:
- Career Opportunities (I strongly suggest that you subscribe to this);
- Careers in Podcasting and New Media;
- Technology IQ
- Gardener's Notebook
- My Word

and he also produces one for hire, which is
- Mortgages made simple.

In the next episode, we will have some excerpts from the conversation we had with Doug Welch as part of our meetup. In this same episode, we will also deliver the details of the discussion during the meetup about the Austin Podcasters Group -- what direction the members feel we should go, what upcoming events are scheduled, and what other venues should we have so that the membership can attend and participate.

Reminder: the next meetup for the Group will be on Thursday evening, 17 April 2008, at Opal Divine's Marina Restaurant in North Austin at 7:00 pm. We have scheduled this location for the initial 3 meetings; as we discuss the location of the future meetups in the next 2 meetings, we can then confirm when and where future meetings will be held and then publish that for the rest of the membership.

See you at the next meeting on 17 April 2008 at 7pm. You will be getting the meetup notices via your email.