By Doug Smith – Podango President

Podango have been in Beta 1 release for one week now and we have made good progress. We are not without issues, but for our first beta we are very pleased. We have six stations opens for business and another 17 approved and building out their content. More requests to become station directors are coming in daily. We reject some and accept some. We are holding to a standard in order to establish a professional environment with great niche focused content. I continue to be amazed at the applications from all over the world about some very interest niches. I love the “long-tail” and I love talking to experts in niche markets. I love their passion and desire to share, listen and create online conversations.

In addition to our content and stations we also have make progress in other areas. Our transcriptions are starting to roll in and our traffic is picking up. We have a Google page rank of 6/10 after a week and our Alexa rating is improving each day.

Included in those six live stations are industry leaders in Paul Colligan (Internet Marketing), John Jantsch (Small Business Marketing), Roger Merrill (Leadership), a great world news station, old time music and an Italian station.  We love our station directors and know they are creating huge value for their audiences. Some argue that a station director model takes away from the democratic process of web-wide voting for favorites. Though that might be true to an extent, it is my experience that a few in the minority tend to strongly influence the ranking of content popularity in the fully open web and the station directors add some sanity to audience rankings and more importantly, they don’t stand on the sidelines and point fingers, they take responsibility to listen and produce great station content that will create loyalty in those they serve. It is really about the conversations and some of the best conversations are moderated by leaders in a field. They don’t know it all, but they know enough to find the answers people are looking for. We love our station directors. In the end, their success is our success.

And if you think this week was fun. Wait until next week at the Podcasting and Portable Media Expo where we are sponsoring the Podcasting Unconference 2006 in our booth. #301 come and visit. We will have 18 sessions/conversations moderated by podcasting industry leaders. Sound familiar.  So for us it is not just about giving “voice”, it is also about having “ears”. It is about the conversation.

by Doug Smith - Podango, President 

I had the privilege of attending and presenting at The Super Saturday Network Marketing Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this past Saturday. I am a foreigner to the Network Marketing industry but this was a fun and enlightening event.  The event was sponsored by The Network Marketing Magazine whose editor George Madiou asked Leroy Maughan and me to present podcasting and the Podango Station model to the conference. The reception of this new means of communicating to a diverse, geographically dispersed, yet networked group of people was very exciting. Leroy and George are jointly managing a Podango Station called the Network Marketing World where by using George’s contacts with the training arm of this industry will provide great content on both the market and the skills necessary to be successful in this home based business industry.

We presented with 6 highly popular and successful trainers and leaders of this industry. It was a pleasure to learn from them and feel their enthusiasm for their topics. These six include:

Kathy Robbins who has reached the top position with four network-marketing companies, helped in the expansion of four of those companies to Europe. She is known as one of the best trainers in the industry.  

Having been successful, both corporately and in the network-marketing arena, it seemed natural for Kathy to consult with network marketing companies in the areas of operations, sales and marketing and expansion.

Sandy Botkin who is a CPA, attorney and former trainer of IRS attorneys nationwide. Sandy’s book, Lower Your Taxes Big Time!, is the best-selling tax book at Amazon.com. He lectures all over the nation on tax planning for self-employed and corporate taxpayers… he’s been written up in Newsweek and many other magazines.He is also a syndicated writer and noted author of this famed tape series “Tax Strategies for Business Professionals” and “Tax and Financial Strategies for Residential Real Estate.”

 Doug Firebaugh, an Expert in M.L.M. and Network Marketing, is CEO of PassionFire International. He is a successful entrepreneur who has spent the last 25 years in the sales and Direct marketing field, and has been blessed to help multitudes of others break numerous records in performance by training people on how to “Maximize their Human Success Capital” that lies within them.
 

Dale Calvert who started his first business from his parents home at the age of 14. For the past 25 years he has been supporting entrepreneurs and marketing professionals with some of the most powerful training programs in the industry. A directory of Dale’s websites can be found at DaleCalvert.com. His new course will teach you 21 Ways to create leads in your local market.
 

Max Steingart, Money Magazine called him “The Matchmaker” in 1983. He was named “The Success Story of the Year” by INC Magazine five years later. AT&T called him a visionary of the computer industry. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush congratulated Max for his innovative efforts helping people meet the right people.

Since 1996, Max has devoted his time to researching, studying, understanding and teaching people the secrets of online relationship building through the use of Instant Messaging.
 

Paula Pritchard, As one of the most consistent top performers in network marketing, Paula has proven time and time again that her business building methods work. Her techniques for building large successful organizations have created many successful leaders in the industry and have been well documented in her book Owning Yourself and the CD audio training series “What You Need to Know to Build a Profitable Network Marketing Business.” Today Paula is known worldwide as one of the top network marketers, trainers and leadership developers.
 

These are great leaders and they have much to share. They are not tech geeks, but could quickly see the advantages of podcasting in reaching larger numbers of people. We will have a few of their presentations on the Network Marketing World station soon. We also have the reaction of the audience to the conference. It is an enjoyable audio segment. I encourage you to have a listen.

I continue to be amazed at how readily people are seeing the advantages of time-shifted content consumption. Thank you Tivo.  Stay tuned for a ton of great content for this market from Leroy, George and friends.

by Lee Gibbons, Podango CEO

Now that we have launched Podango Beta release, we are getting an impressive number of really great requests from people interested in becoming Station Directors for everything from pet care to culinary arts! A common question raised by these passionate and enthusiastic applicants is, “What do you look for in your selection of Station Directors?”

This is a great question, and I think it deserves a pretty straight-forward answer. So here goes!

The eight primary attributes (also know as “The 8 Podango P’s”) found among successful Podango Station Directors are:

1. Passion. Love for the key topics of discussion within the target community of influence (TCI).
2. Participation. An apparent history of “being there, being aware, and contributing” within the TCI.
3. Popularity. Audience for prior attempts to contribute and serve the TCI.
4. Pull. Evidence of influence and connectedness to key influencers within the TCI.
5. Promotion. Knowledge of who the key vendors, service providers, and institutions that comprise the value network currently serving the TCI.
6. Pluck/Perseverance. Evidence of the type of tenacity and will that should facilitate long-term, sustained service to the TCI.
7. Personality. An interpersonal style and persona conducive to working with others and rallying them to a cause such as the development of a successful Podango Station serving their TCI.
8. Propriety. We are working to create a very classy brand that will be attractive to leading sponsors, therefore we don’t allow any content that is sexually explicit, hateful, or demeaning.

If you feel you have all (or even some) of these attributes, apply for a Station! Our success depends entirely upon our ability to attract such people, and I can promise you that we will do all in our power to make you successful as owner and Station Director of your own Podango Station!

by Lee Gibbons, Podango CEO

Well, ready or not, here we come! After six months of hard work on the part of an amazing team we are live with Podango Beta Release 1!

Now begins the learning and the fun! Not that we haven’t been learning and having fun, but turning the model on and handing you the keys and letting you take Podango in whatever direction you want is what we have been living for and bulding toward.

Podango truly is a content delivery platform… the content is out there, just waiting to be delivered in this new, more consumable, more sponsorable, more profitable format. Now our Station Directors will come in and apply their passion, using Podango’s tools, and hopefully help their target community of interest communicate and interact better than ever before.

So, I guess my plea to you is that you give us feedback. We are very serious about getting bad news as early as possible. Please help us make Podango what it needs to be in order for you to love it!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Podango Brings The Podcasting Unconference 2006
to the Podcast and Portable Media Expo

Unconference delivers unkeynote with Robert Scoble and conversations with Mommycast, Paul Colligan, and others

Orem, Utah – August 30, 2006 – Podango, a Web 2.0 company that enables podcast stations that integrate the “live conversations” of blogging with audio conversations to create a more compelling and complete online and offline experience for podcast listeners, today announced it is bringing The Podcasting Unconference 2006 to the Podcast and Portable Media Expo being held September 29 – 30 at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California.

“We are excited to deliver a great podcasting unconference at the industry’s hottest podcasting conference,” said Lee Gibbons, CEO, Podango. “Not only is the podcasting market on fire, this is going to be a great show: the Podcast and Portable Media Expo has received Expo magazine’s Best New Show for 2006. Participants will not be disappointed.”

Podango, a Web 2.0 company that enables podcast stations that integrate the “live conversations” of blogging with audio conversations to create a more compelling and complete online and offline experience for podcast listeners, today announced it is bringing The Podcasting Unconference 2006 to the Podcast and Portable Media Expo being held September 29 – 30 at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California.“We are excited to deliver a great podcasting unconference at the industry’s hottest podcasting conference,” said Lee Gibbons, CEO, Podango. “Not only is the podcasting market on fire, this is going to be a great show: the Podcast and Portable Media Expo has received Expo magazine’s Best New Show for 2006. Participants will not be disappointed.”

Podango, a Web 2.0 company that enables podcast stations that integrate the “live conversations” of blogging with audio conversations to create a more compelling and complete online and offline experience for podcast listeners, today announced it is bringing The Podcasting Unconference 2006 to the Podcast and Portable Media Expo being held September 29 – 30 at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California.“We are excited to deliver a great podcasting unconference at the industry’s hottest podcasting conference,” said Lee Gibbons, CEO, Podango. “Not only is the podcasting market on fire, this is going to be a great show: the Podcast and Portable Media Expo has received Expo magazine’s Best New Show for 2006. Participants will not be disappointed.”

The unconference will feature guru-moderated discussions on specific topics at scheduled times throughout the Expo at Podango’s booth (#301). During sessions, participants will engage in conversations led by podcast luminaries such as Mommycast, David Lawrence, Evo Terra, John Furrier of podtech.net, expo organizer Tim Bourquin, and Paul Colligan. Sessions begin right after the Expo Keynote each day and will last about 30 minutes each, with short breaks in between. For more information about The Podcasting Unconference schedule, go to www.podango.com/unconference.

Commenting on Podango’s plan to bring an Unconference into his Podcast and Portable Media Expo, organizer Tim Bourquin said, “We’re thrilled Podango is doing something unique and unusual in their booth at the Expo. Attendees who visit booth 301 are in for a treat because they’ve done a great job of putting together a top-notch line-up of discussion leaders.”

Unconferences 101

An unconference is an event that leverages and communicates the sum of the expertise of the people in the audience rather than relying just on communicating the expertise of the people on stage. Unconferences do away with the typical moderator/panel/Q&A format. At an unconference, the audience members become the participants, assisted by thought leaders who function as the session moderator.

“People who participate in an unconference usually appreciate the differences in communication patterns between the unconference and that of traditional conferences. They are just more interactive,” commented Gibbons. “It is a remarkable experience, when properly organized; everyone comes away knowing the collective wisdom of the entire group. Everyone just participates and learns at a very high level. In a real sense, it is a great example of what Podango is trying to enable with its podcast station model: many contributors and a rich conversational model, rather than the usual unidirectional push of information.”

About the Expo

Winner of Expo magazine’s Best New Show for 2006, the 2nd Annual Podcast and Portable Media Expo is the only industry event that brings together influential podcasters, media, corporate executives, and device makers to cover the complete range of business, marketing, and legal issues for audio and video podcasts and portable media.The expo will explore how place and time-shifting technology is changing the business landscape of media. It will also look in-depth at the new trend of individuals participating as media companies and producing content at broadcast quality.

About Podango

Podango, a Web 2.0 company, enables rich community conversations by integrating the “live conversations” of blogging and community forums with the rich communication value of audio and video podcasts to create a complete online and offine experience. The company provides a complete platform that allows the creation of podcast stations, independently owned and run by Station Directors who act as guides, to bring together the best podcasts in their focused area of interest and interact and converse with their subscribers. Each station distributes multiple podcasts and includes community intereaction tools to enable an enhanced community conversation. In addition, the listener can tailor the information they subscribe to, via a custom RSS feed, to participate in the information most relevant to them. For more information, visit www.podango.com or email info@podango.com.

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Contact:
pr@podango.com