2,500+ attend California podcasting conference

PODCAST EXPO ORGANIZER PLANS 2.0

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Tim Bourquin's podcasting conference last
weekend was an unexpected hit. Sources reported his planning for the
Portable Media Expo & Podcasting Conference anticipated maybe 1,000
attendees. Instead, about 2,500 people from 20 countries and 55
exhibitors showed up in Ontario, Calif. to celebrate all things
podcasting.

Bourquin is now planning for next year's event which he says will be
bigger and better. He has reserved the entire Ontario, Calif.
Convention Center. "We were sold out this time, and lots of people
couldn't attend the sessions they wanted to," he said in an interview.

Bourquin is a convention planner by vocation and a podcaster by
avocation. He and his brother produce the Podcast Brothers, a program
targeted to businesses that want to do their own podcasts.


Click here for Podcast Brothers

"We had two groups of people attending," he said. The first was folks
who just want to do better podcasts and who wanted to meet other
podcasters. Then there were the corporate folks who work for companies
which want to get into podcasting and do it in a way that puts them in
a good light."

Bourquin said next year's show, scheduled for Sept. 29 and 30, will be
more structured. "We'll probably be creating 'tracks', maybe five or
six," with programming that caters to various interests, "One for
hobbyists, one for the business side of things. With more room, we'll
be able to break it down."

Recordings of the Expo's sessions will be available in a few weeks, for
a fee, Bourquin said. "We're collecting releases now from the
presenters," who included Weblogs Inc.'s Jason Calacanis, Leo Laporte,
and Make magazine's Phillip Torrone. Another source for recordings is
expected to be IT Conversations, he said. "They're planning on
releasing free versions at the rate of one a week, so if people are
willing to wait, they'll get them all eventually." Doug Kaye, the
executive producer of IT Conversations, estimated the first file could
be available Dec. 5.

Listen to our interview with Tim Bourquin at marketwatch.com/TVRadio.


Podcasters at the show showed lots of interest in making money with
their programs through advertising or charging subscription fees. The
producers of Mommycast, aimed at mothers, are taking one road. It is
produced by two Washington, D.C.-area suburban women. They announced a
sponsorship deal with Dixie, Georgia-Pacific Corp.'s (GP) brand of
disposable tableware. The 12-month agreement will begin next March.
Dixie product manager Erik Sjogren said, "Dixie is always looking for
creative ways to communicate with our key audiences."

Click here for Mommycast .

David Lawrence, an experienced radio broadcaster, is pursuing another
route to revenue. He does a 10-minute interview with real estate sales
people and turns it in to "a highly produced podcast that I host and
the real estate agent stars in." The podcast appears on both the
NewHomePopcast.com Web site and the agent's home page.