Quick pointer to an article that was released today in Newsday, one of the NYC daily papers. It seems like a month has passed already since we did the interview (I distinctly remember being here in California when I did the interview).

In any event, it hits Podcasting from a number of angles - including the Beercasting one. Here’s a quick quote from from article:

Already some are trying to make podcasting less solitary. On a recent Tuesday evening, 17 people huddled over microphones in a candlelit corner of One and One Bar in Lower Manhattan. The bar’s owner, Terry Dunne, was perplexed. “They started coming in on cold evenings this winter. They’d have a few drinks and then gather in the back there; I thought maybe they were plotting something,” he says.

In fact, the group was “beercasting,” one of podcasting’s latest incarnations. Groups get together over drinks and discuss everything from politics to sex, then broadcast their intimate confessions to the world. Founder Greg Narain, 26, of Rockland County, picks the discussion topics for this group and others he formed in cities across North America. Like a latter-day version of “Saturday Night Live’s” Linda Richman, Narain presides over such conversations as “High School: bullies and pimples, or football games and house parties? (Discuss.)”

Source: Newsday, “Easy listening via ‘podcasts”

Last week, we pre-launched the SparkCasting.com site to the general public. As a result of that launch, some dialog has started (mainly originating from Kris Krug serving as the mouthpiece for the Vancouver community). They have raised some issues and I’ll tell you frankly that it was certainly expected. But all things are not as they seem.

First some background. In November, I started doing Beercasting with some friends while back in New York. Since then, I’ve jumped in 100% and been moving forward building a community. To do this, I committed to traveling across the country and bringing the concept to as many people as I possibly could. It’s definitely been a success and I’ve managed to find a bunch of really great people that not only wanted to participate, but also to take the helm and run their own shows.

Fortunately, and perhaps unfortunately for some, I’m also a die hard entrepreneur and I am always looking for what opportunities might exist as well. After I embarked on this journey, I quickly realized that I loved doing what I was doing and would really like to find a way to make a living from what I was doing. For anyone that’s never been through this process, I’ll have to warn that it’s quite iterative. I’ll throw a thousand things across my business partner, participants, and other players to see exactly where the flow is. Adding to that, I’m also what I’ll call a “fast prototyper” so I spend loads of time doing and a lot less planning (at least in the beginning). Getting my hands dirty and getting neurons firing is the only way I really get things done.

So on to the dilemma. When we did the pre-launch, we put up a site that was mainly targeted at a specific audience we were planning to serve - the conference organizer. There’s a reason I didn’t make this transition for the general population - because the site wasn’t ready, nor the message.

SparkCasting will provide a bunch of services. One of them is a talk-show format that we are making use of inside of conferences to build a better memory for what happened and what was experienced. We recently completed our second one of these and there are 3 more in the pipe already. Are we violating the trust of the people attending? Certainly not, I hope. In fact, the response has been anything but that and people have actually learned from their participation.

Beercasting is another project within the SparkCasting Company. For anyone that’s not aware, it’s tremendously difficult to coordinate events in multiple cities. Getting people to organize and commit is harrowing and you’ve got to expect the worst but be prepared for the best. Beyond the effort, it costs money and time. In doing this show to date, I’ve (and even some of those helping me) endured the costs as best I can. That’s simply not sustainable. As of now, we’ve got 3 ideas on how to generate revenue to support these events.

First, there’s sponsorship. We’re helping to bring business to venues in lots of different cities. We’re seeking out companies that are willing to sponsor events. This may be the beer company that supplies us with drinks or the bar that cuts us drink specials and some food for the hungry.

Second, there’s the potential for advertising. Beercasting differs from many other podcasts because each podcast is about exactly one topic. If you compare that to Google AdWords, you can see that since things are pretty “narrow” in focus (at the podcast level), there’s an opportunity to possibly sell advertising around specific topics in the show. We’re working slowly but surely to find companies that might want to advertise in the topics we come up with.

Lastly, and this is really the furthest from reality at this point, is the possibility of doing a form of market research. Before anyone gets too bent out of shape, I’m going to make this VERY CLEAR - it always will be OPT-IN on all levels. We’re still working on the details so it’s hard for me to say more when we’re really not sure how it all will work, but we’ll update on that when it is clear. But consider how we think it would work. Right now, everyone that participates in a Beercast has to sign a release. Why? Because I don’t want to get sued later on when we post a Beercast and then someone claims I stole their identity. That’s a basic and necessary protection for myself. I will never force someone to sign it, but at the same time I won’t let them participate either. It’s NOT because I am selling that information in any way, shape or form. Naturally, I can’t control what someone does with what we put out if I don’t know about it, but we do our best to see what happens to the content we are helping you produce.

Assuming we were doing the market research thing, there would be several levels of awareness and opt-in before you ever participated in one. For starters, the organizer of the event is the first marshal. Every week, we’ll choose new topics that we are suggesting for discussion. Organizers will know, clearly, when a topic is being suggested for a client’s research. The organizer can choose to entirely skip these topics. As I said, the weekly topics are suggestions, not requirements. Assuming the organizer wants to suggest it to you, the participant, you have two options - participate or opt out. We’ll most likely have some process in place by which you are alerted that the topic is to be used for research purposes. As a result, even if the organizer wants to do it and you don’t, it just won’t happen. There’s no point if you don’t want to do it.

So you might be wondering why I would even consider doing this. There’s a number of reasons really. I’ve spent a lifetime talking to people and learning from all the things they have been through and how it can prevent me from repeating unnecessary mistakes. In today’s world, we’re seeing everyone and anyone come out of the woodwork and getting the opportunity to build their own soapbox and shout at the top of their lungs. In that vein, more and more companies are starting up with transparency built into their mission statement. I commend that type of behavior and think it’s the way it was always meant to be.

But why help “the man” do research? I’ve thought long and hard about that as well. I’ve operated a research company in the past and when I did, the goal was not to make the company more money but to make sure the voice of the customer was represented. I’m looking for ways to do that again. I’d like to work with companies that value your opinion, unfiltered and unedited, not for their ability to make money but for their ability to be the company you want them to be.

I’m going to build a company like that.

So that’s where we stand as of today. Nothing’s changed except my partners and I are trying to figure out how to sustain and grow what we started. Everyone’s been having a great time and we’ve got to figure out how to keep it alive. I’m always open to comments, criticisms and suggestions. Send them straight to me (greg AT sparkcasting DOT com), blog about them, talk about them.

In the end, if we don’t know, we can’t change.

Best regards,
Greg

Though it’s still a little early, I thought I would share with everyone the new basic version of the Sparkcasting.com site. The new design is just great (of course I am biased).

I’ll be coding against it over the next few weeks and getting this puppy online and interactive really soon.

Special thanks go out to David Bissett for his wonderful, professional help in making Photoshop into reality.

Yesterday was one of the most tiring days I’ve had in a long time. It all started at 1:30AM when I got home from the Costa Mesa Beercasting Squad. I had been staying in downtown LA the entire time here in Southern California. It’s my partner’s boyfriend’s place and I’m incredibly grateful.

In any event, there’s absolutely no parking available here. I thought New York was bad, but at least there’s a garage if you really need one. No such luck here. I ended up getting to bed at 2AM. Of course, I had to get up extra early for 2 reasons: 1) to beat getting towed at the meter I was parked on (7AM deadline) and 2) to beat the damned LA traffic.

I don’t know about you, but when I have to be up early I keep waking up to check what time it is. I’ve been doing this for more than a week now. On this occassion I started checking at 3:30 all the way up until 5:30AM when I just gave up, got up, showered and left. I was on the road by 6:15AM.

Fortunately, I missed most of the traffic and landed at the Starbucks near the airport where I figure I would do some work before heading off for my 11:35 flight. So I did my work and headed off to the airport, returned the car, and went to check in. Blasted computer won’t take my card so I head over to the counter to check in. Did I say 11:35 flight? Not the one to Oakland (my destination). 11:35 was indeed the time the flight LANDED! I was too tired to look carefully at 2AM and I just pissed away my flight 2 miles from the airport. Though I was annoyed, I was comforted that I made the mistake and that I had until 7PM to make it to the SF Podcasters Meetup so no sweat.

The kind folks at JetBlue re-booked me on the next flight - at 3:40PM. Of course, I just dropped my car off (the weekly rental that I had another day on). So I went into the Long Beach airport and waited. As life goes, as I am waiting there, I see a familiar face. Turns out one of my best friends from college that I fell out of touch with walks by like nobody’s business. I call him out and we get to spend and hour and a half catching up on things.

Great. That got me till 1PM. I then spent another 45 minutes waiting as the painfully slow Internet connection downloaded the 185 messages that had piled up since I check my mail 3 hours earlier. At about 2:30 or so, we’re rewarded with an announcement that the flight to Long Beach has been delayed until 5PM and won’t arrive until 6:20PM. Wonderful.

At this poinnt, I start to do some serious soul searching. My bags are checked and in that neverland we’re not welcome to see. I’m sitting there, waiting for a once-delayed plane wincing that it might get pushed back again. I’m busy weighing if I want to go now since I have to catch a 6:45AM flight BACK to Long Beach to squeeze in a day of work with my partner before I head home later tonight. I get one call from Pappoe. He says screw it and cancel. Save the credits and come back next month (as I need to). I call Zak by chance (he’s slowly worming his way back from San Diego to catch his 9PM flight home). Zak advises that today seems like a day I was destined to go. He noted that being able to meet with other podcasters and to get the SF node started is worth it. He made sense and I decided to go.

Flight leaves on time (the new time). I land at 6:30 and wait another 20 minutes to claim my bag. By the time I reach the rental car area, it’s already 7PM. Then comes the joy of renting from the cheapest rental car company you can find. I had to wait for ANOTHER shuttle from the rental car depot to their offsite location (that’s 2 shuttles). Finally the guy shows up and he’s kind enough to let me know Im buggared and it could take me an hour from Oakland to get into SF. Fun.

I arrive at the rental office and it’s totally ghetto. In fact, I had to wait for another 10 mniutes while the girl in the back deal with her personal calls - I’m on a clock dammit! Finally, another employee comes in from outside. She brings in 2 other sets of people (who were apparently there first). Long story short, it takes me until 7:46PM to get out of the rental office with my trusty Mercury Sable - yep, living in the lap of luxury.

By some divine miracle, I make it into SF in record time. Not a lick of traffic anywhere. By 8:15PM I am on S. Van Ness (going the wrong direction of course), but heck I am in San Francisco. I eventually turn around and correct my heading. I’m in SF Podcasting Land by 8:40PM.

By 9:15PM I have 2 kits setup and we’re getting people moving around. In total, there was 20 people at the event when I arrived. I managed to get about 14 people to participate (it will all get posted in a week or so). The main group left at 11PM or something, but I stayed back with Anthony and Rodrigo to do a couple more rounds. We stayed until past midnight. Another first, I actually dozed off during one of the Beercasts, haha. It wasn’t for long, but it was funny enough.

I was planning on staying on Anthony’s couch, but it was nearing 1AM and I had to be back in Oakland by 5AM. I made the decision that it would be easier and let me sleep longer if I went back to the rental car depot and just slept in the car. Finally, at 1:30AM (a full 24 hours later), I make it to the parking lot and try to sleep for the next few hours until the airport shuttle starts running again.

This time I made my flight on time. I’m here in the same Starbucks, waiting for traffic to die down so I can head up to Marina Del Rey to get some more work done. I’m tired as hell and I look like shit, but that’s life on the road.

So was it all worth it? Hell’s yeah. I met a bunch of the folks I read and hear. I met with people I had met previously but not seen for some time. I left behind one Beercasting Kit with Anthony - he’s going to lead the Beercasting efforts in San Francisco from now on. I’ve booked a tentative date with Rodrigo for the Miami Beercasting Squad (in about 3 weeks).

What else could I ask for in 24 hours?

Quick reminder that the San Diego Beercasting Squad will be meeting for the first time tonight, Monday March 21, at 7PM at the Karl Strauss Brew Company in downtown San Diego.

If you’re in the area, definitely stop by and have a beer and some banter.

Well it’s been more work than anyone will ever want to bother with (except the looney at the keyboard) but I’ve managed to UPS myself out to California in one place and arranged with the help of some wonderful folks or 4 different Beercasts in 4 different cities.

If you like to drink, talk or code I hope to see you out at one of these places! Here are the details:

• Long Beach, CA - Sunday, March 20 (4:00PM - 7:00PM)
  Iguana Kelleys, catering by ExtremePizza.com at the Pike
  RSVP NOW!

• San Diego, CA - Monday, March 21 (7:00PM - 10:00PM)
  Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Downtown San Diego
  RSVP NOW!

• Costa Mesa, CA - Tuesday, March 22 (7:00PM - 10:00PM)
  Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Costa Mesa
  RSVP NOW!

• San Francisco, CA - Wednesday, March 23 (7:00PM - 10:00PM)
  Tommy’s Joynt
  RSVP NOW!

When I first visited Vancouver, I was quite amazed with both the people and the location. Both really were hard to compare to many of the places I have been and seen.

One of the best things to come from that part of the tour was meeting some great new friends that were not only loyal to the Geek Gods but also partial to the fun and fancy of Beercasting. I wish I wasn’t so tired right now or I would list them all with links (hi Kris, Darren, John, and certainly Gill).

Which brings me to this post. I’m quite proud to alert you all of the first International Beercast that’s organized via the SparkCasting Company - the division of the SparkCard Company that deals with *casting related activities.

Thursday night, my ally on the West, Kris Krug will be organizing and hosting the second episode of the Vancouver Beercasting Squad.

Here’s the details:

Subeez Café
891 Homer Street
Vancouver,
Telephone: 604 687-6107

If you are local to the area, give it a try, you might like it ;)

I did a quick interview yesterday with the San Antonio Express about the Beercast^TM I did early in February. Here’s a quote from the article:

The real appeal of podcasting is that it lets people eavesdrop on conversations they normally wouldn’t hear, said Greg Narain, 30, founder of a podcast focused on beer and based in Newark, N.J.

A few weeks ago, Narain did a “beercast” from the Flying Saucer pub in San Antonio. Since January, he has visited 15 cities to conduct barroom conversations.

Narain, a software programmer, pays for the trips out of his own pocket and often sleeps on friends’ couches during his travels. But he expects to get sponsorships from brewers and others interested in creating a social network from beer talk.

Source: MySA.com, “Podcasts providing a new way to reach the masses”

Of course, there’s one small correction, for the record - Beercasting has nothing to do with talk about beer.

It’s been about 7 weeks on the road now bringing Beercasting^TM to the corners of the States (and now Canada). I thought I would write in with a quick report on how it’s been accepted.

In short, it’s been amazing. There’s many reasons, but I’ll focus on just a few of the amazing things I’ve experienced:

• People are looking for this type of activity - I’d have to say that more than 90% of the stops that I’ve made so far have been by invitation. That’s right, I have been invited out by someone local to the community and they’ve played an active role in building awareness and planning the event.
• People are excited and curious to participate - Oddly enough, the turnouts have been greater than I expected and the show is quite infectious when we arrive. Some people are standoffish when we’re getting started but quickly people are attracted to the crowd and the microphones disappear.
• People love to hear themselves - One of the things I realized early on with Beercasting^TM (something I’d like to say I designed into the process) is audience participation. Of course, in the case of Beercasting^TM, the audience is the show. This leads to a really interesting mix the in terms of where traffic comes from. Not surprisingly, RSS is not the only way to building an audience.
• People are anxious to do it on their own - The network is expanding in ways that I had not expected so fast. So far, I know there was an experimental Beercast^TM done in Montreal and one was to be recorded in Warsaw, Poland yesterday (expect the Warsaw Squad to launch soon). In addition, there are at least 5 additional cities that I’m in the process of getting rigged for permanent shows. Many more are in the works as well.
• People have faith in the business model - Probably the most interesting aspect of the nods I’ve gotten are from the business folks out there that immediately recognize the financial potential of the Beercasting^TM model. In general, most people have trouble seeing the model, but after a few minutes with me they’re wide-eyed that they missed it. Sorta of strange experience, but quite nice to see the lights go on.

There will be many new announcements in the coming weeks. Hope you’ll stay tuned in for the ride.

Just a quick reminder that tonight will be the second meeting of the Portland Beercasting Squad at the Goose Hollow In from 8:00PM onwards.

I’ll be getting into town a little early and will be setting up as soon as possible. We will be outside under the heated lamps.

CF Developers are definitely invited as there are some programming topics planned for tonight as well (a first for the Beercasting Tour). Come down to find out why.