I am at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo 2006 in Ontario, California.  I’ve launched a new blog website at http://pme.podcheck.com that will contain the stories from the Expo.  Stop by to see the pictures, people, and news from the show!!

It’s a blast so far!

Scott here, sitting in Central Illinois Regional Airport -Bloomington, IL -waiting for my 6am flight to Ontario, California (via Atlanta, Georgia).

I’m eager to see all of my old podcasting buddies and meet some new ones.  Don from www.screencastsonline.com told me that he’s flying all the way from the UK!

I have a full conference schedule, having chosen all of my sessions for the two days.  There are five tracks at the conference:

Track 1: Podcasting 101 - A to Z for Beginners - Getting Up To Speed Fast
Track 2: Podcasting As A Business - Turning Content Into Profits
Track 3: Corporate Podcasting - Communications, PR and Marketing Best Practices
Track 4: Podcasting As A Hobby - For Those Who Create Purely for Enjoyment
Track 5: Podcasting for Specific Interests - Education, Music, etc.

I chose a mix of the different tracks (though NONE from the #5 Specific Interests track).  Some of the choices were very difficult, considering that some of my friends are leading many of the sessions.  In the end, I chose sessions that both interested me AND broaden my perception of the medium. 

Poker? I didn’t even go near her!

I full evening schedule, too.  I even bought a poker program for my laptop just so that I wouldn’t look like a complete idiot at the Rob Walsh /Podcast Pickle Poker Tournament.  $20 is my loss-limit, so it shouldn’t take long.  I’ll spend the rest of the evenings at the organized parties and chatting/schmoozing in the bars.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio High

As a member of the “podcasting press,” I’ve been preparing for this year’s Expo by reading the countless ‘press invitational’ e-mails from iProng, Click n’ Buy, Wizzard Software, Blip.TV (who?), Magnetictime, The Trypod Network, Podshow, Podcast Ready (the makers of myPodder), etc.  I must say that none of the press releases or invitations have been “hype-y,” but there have been so many product announcements surrounding the Expo that the trends are getting drowned out by the individual news items.  I’m eager to report on the trends and general vibe during/after the expo.

Oh, and check out this little bit about “the Podcast Expo Experience.”  VERY funny by anyone’s standards! http://www.digitalslobpod.com (look for the episode from 2006-09-25).  Unfortunately I can’t link directly to the mp3 file or WordPress will include it in my RSS feed as an attachement!)

On-Site Reporting - via Skype:

If you want an on-site report from the Expo, please contact me via Skype : username: caraworks.  I’ll have my laptop and headset with me most of the time at the Expo and at the hotel.   If you can’t seem to get me via Skype, call my cell phone (309) 453-3415 and we’ll set up a time to do an interview.

Talk to you soon!

I love “official” seals for fake organizations.  Here is a cool, simple, handy “Seal Generator” web site that you can use to generate your very own “seal.”  (Thanks to Mignon for posting this thread at the Podcast Pickle!)

David Lawrence caught me on a ‘bad night’ on Friday, and almost got me to say on national radio that I was quitting podcasting.  I’d better get a show out before the Expo, or I might become a member of the Podfader Club of 2006.

See you all next Thursday in Ontario, California.

..

Media mogul David Lawrence invited me to be on his show again tonight (September 15, 2006) for an hour tonight at 7pm Pacific time (10pm Eastern).  We’ll talk about podcasting stuff, like my thoughts (from my July 26th’s post about) the “People’s Choice Podcast Awards,” David’s one-on-one training sessions at the Podcast Expo (just two weeks away), and other entertaining blahbity-blah-blah.

I love doing his show.  David is a genuine host, and not just a blabber-mouth windbag talk show host that always needs to have the last word.  He’s one of the good guys.

My role as media observer colors my perspective and alters my entertainment experiences.  My insights are light-seconds ahead of their time, and I gladly relinquish some participation in order to step back and serve as the canary in the media mineshaft.

Sometimes, however, I allow myself to be immersed in the creative brilliance of daring new (or renewed) shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” “Dead Like Me,” and the cute and fuzzy brain candy that is “Eureka.”  I trust these shows to be true to themselves and to ignore convention.

Today was different.  While watching the September 5th, 2006 episode of Sci-Fi’s “Eureka” entitled “Right and Raynes” I noticed a couple of product placements.  While this practice is not new, they struck me in the face during this episode.

“The Power of the (TV) Network”

First was a rather blatant and jarring product placement for Cisco Systems.  At the end of an international teleconference in a top-top-secret government installation, the computer screen displayed an obviously-superimposed Cisco Systems logo.  The logo lingered three-quarters of a second longer than it should have, and I thought “Oh, there’s a blatant product placement.”

My mind registered the fact that TV productions require cash to keep the cameras rolling, and I was OK with it.  (Later in the show, I saw that they had also placed a Cisco sticker on the back of the display panel.)

Bad Apple

Then, in another scene in which the characters were discussing a computer virus that was plaguing the town, the main character said “Should have got a Mac.“  My suspension of disbelief was… suspended permanently.  Was that a paid endorsement, or just a writer that felt the need to prostheletize.  There I sat.  Me, a devout fan of a promising new television show, burning brain cycles wondering about the fidelity of a line in a script.

No longer immersed in the scene, I was now 50,000 feet above the show, looking down on the little TV show thinking about an irrelevant bit of misinformation.  “Was that a paid comment?  I know that Mac’s are not immune to viruses, and that there are not many Mac computers in countries that generate the majority of the viruses.”  Blah blah blah in my head.

Product placements have been around for a VERY long time, and I remember the first time I saw the AT&T logo on the bottom of a telephone handset while the actor spoke into it.  I remember the big hoopla over the appearance of Reese’s Pieces in the movie “E.T.”  — This is the first time I have ever suspected that a company might have paid for a verbal product endorsement embedded in a script. 

No Money Bag, No Foul?

Apple might not have paid them any money.  The “Mac” comment might have been a well-intentioned attempt to capture the zeitgeist.  I could contact the show’s producers and ask them, but that is beside the point.  I now realize first-hand what effect all product placements have had on my entertainment experience.

• I can no longer discern the entertainment from the advertising,
• The advertising can corrupt the content and message because I cannot determine the source or the motive of the message.

This is not about an evil advertising empire, or subversive practices - this is all about me.  Entertainment is always about me… the audience member.  Regardless of the motives of the producers and writers, Eureka has lost some magic for me today.

Still images from the “Eureka” television program are copyrighted by the SciFi Network and it’s parent company NBC-Universal.