by Lee Gibbons, CEO

For the past two years, Podango has had a major (some say, “overwhelming”) presence at the New Media Expo (or at its equivalent under the titles of Podcasting and Portable Media Expo, and Podcasting and New Media Expo). We have received a boatload of emails, phone calls, and other electronic communications asking why we are not at the expo. The most common assumption/fear is that we are dead.

Quoting Monte Python and the Holy Grail, “I’m not dead YET…”

As a matter of fact we ARE at the show. You may see Podango people walking around in our white shirts with the logo on the chest. We just do not have “the unconference booth” as in prior years.

There are four good reasons for our choice not to have a booth:

1) Our needs have changed. We do not have a need to make a splash at NME for branding purposes. Especially, in that we are very likely to changing the name of the company within the next couple of months, and those branding dollars need to be spent to promote the new name/brand. (Got any great ideas for a new name, please email me at lee AT podango dot com.) I will post more about the impetus for the name change later… (And it doesn’t have anything to do with wanting to emphasize video. I am pretty determined not to have veo or vio in the name!)

2) We are finding some remarkable success with a subtle shift in our emphasis and placing greater energies into selling sponsorships to the channels and shows on the Podango network in a new, more lucrative way. I am looking forward to saying more about this in the future… Just know that the station or channel model that has been the core element of our value proposition is yielding some fruit that I believe significantly changes the monetization game for online show producers. This change in how we sell means our approach to recruiting shows for our network is more targeted and, therefore, requires less of a show presence.

3) Tim and Emile Bourquin, the organizers of the show, have decided to create a great educational theater on the show floor, so our style of community serving and good-will building booth was not needed. They are great community players and offered a great rate on a smaller booth, or even a booth wherein we could also do our “unconference,” like they did last year. But, we just don’t see it, and want to conserve cash this year.

4) Perhaps most compelling and important is that we are right in the heat of raising money for our next round of investment, and that effort is consuming our time, requiring us to be very fiscally conservative so as to show the very best possible earnings picture. With those constraints, spending money on this particular show at this particular time, especially considering the above reasons, is not prudent in our judgment.

So, there you have it. Choose your favorite answer above. Any two of them in combination would be reason enough for us not to have a major presence at New Media Expo.

Please, look for us around the show, and grab us if you would like to talk. We would love to sit down with you in person to discuss your show, answer questions, or just get caught up with what has happened in your world since the last Expo.

by Lee Gibbons, CEO

As mentioned in his “Sign off” episode of the Apple Phone Show (Episode 63), Scott Bourne has reached the decision to leave Podango Productions to fill a post as strategic advisor to Photrade. We love that Scott is following his passion and dedicating his energies to is deep love for photography.

The San Francisco based studio will remain open and be managed by Liana Lehua, who will take on the hosting duties for the Apple Phone Show and continue her terrific work on Girls Gone Geek, Moms Gone Geek, Unboxed Sessions, and other shows.

I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank Scott publicly for the mentoring, leadership, and expertise Scott brought to his role at Podango Productions. There are few people I have worked with that have the integrity and drive I witnessed in his daily workings.

So, from the entire team at Podango, and especially Doug and I, thank you, Scott, and good luck in your future efforts with Photrade! We look forward to our ongoing affiliation with you and your influence as a shareholder and mentor as we go forward.