If you have links on your podcast website to the now defunct Yahoo Podcast Directory then take 'em off your sites like yesterday. The directory has been taken down and your link now goes to a Yahoo Audio Search page.

‘Professor’ Sallie Goetsch (rhymes with ‘sketch’) noticed something about the 2007 Podcast and New Media Expo. According to The Podcast Professor, "...the Expo itself just didn't seem to have the same energy as last year."

I spoke to a number of people when I was there and those who had been to the Expo in prior years felt the same way. Many hardcore podcasters that I know who came in years 1 and 2 skipped this years event. And while there were lots of people who were new to podcasting the buzz just wasn't the same.

One of the reasons for the lighter turnout may have to do with economic issues related to coming out to the event. Airfare, plus hotel, rental car and per diem costs push it to about a $1000 budget for those of us coming from the East Coast. We're in a time when lots of people around the U.S. are dealing with mortgage and debt problems. So it makes a heckuva lot of sense to me that this could affect attendance.

There's no doubt that local meetups and PodCamp events are a more economical option for those looking to connect in the independent podcasting community.

You can hear the rest of Sallie's comments about her experience at the 2007 Podcast & New Media Expo on Episode #288 (around the 45:00 mark) of For Immediate Release. Sallie also made some salient points about the general obsession with advertising and revenue generation as opposed to user experience.

Frankly I was going to let my previous post be the final word on my major impressions of this year's Expo. But when I heard Sallie's points I thought it would be good for those who follow podcasting to know that there are others who had a different experience this year.

A little birdie also told me that certain people were none too pleased with my posting a blog that questioned the excellence of this year's event and the decision to drop the word 'podcast' from the name for 2008. Supposedly others were urged to take punitive action against me. Nice try.

I'm not employed as the P.R. person for podcasting and related events. Thus I'll tell people my opinions whenever I feel like it. End of story.

I was at the 2007 Podcast and New Media Expo two weeks ago and I was pretty shocked at how light the traffic was on the exhibition floor. I have been to the previous two expos and there was much more foot traffic on the floor at each of the first two events. I don't know what the attendance levels were at the individual learning sessions as I didn't attend any of those.

The gentlemen who organize the event, Tim and Emil Bourquin, are calling the 2007 expo a success for all on their latest Podcast Brothers episode. I can't say that I agree. If you paid for a booth on the exhibition floor in 2007 you didn't get very strong traffic.

Tim and Emil are making changes to the name and location of the Expo for 2008. In 2008 the gathering will simply be called the New Media Expo. The venue will also be changed to Las Vegas, NV from Ontario, California. I don't know that these changes will necessarily help attendance. More people will certainly be attracted to Vegas but once there they may find the many distractions more interesting.

It is very likely that traffic to the Expo from podcasters will be very light next year. First off, with the word podcast excised from the name I think that many podcasters are going to get the feeling that they're not as welcome. My perception as a longtime podcaster is that there is a distinct difference in the vibe of podcasters as opposed the many generic new media types out there. The shift in traffic will be better for the Expo but not necessarily good for the podcasting community.

I think you'll see more mainstream press, public relations and corporate marketing folks at the 2008 expo. These are the people that live at Las Vegas conferences. And with Vegas being more expensive than Ontario those types of people will be the ones who can actually afford the trip.

None of this news is bad for podcasting. I think that 2007 is the year when the community came together on their own terms. That's because PodCamp has come of age. What Chris Brogan and Christopher Penn started in 2006 has exploded.

I count sixteen completed PodCamp events worldwide in 2007. There are six more PodCamps planned this year including Perth, Australia and Cape Town, South Africa. The local nature of these events makes it eminently more convenient for people to go to a local event to get their podcast community fix rather than heading across the country or the world to go to a gathering.

You will ultimately make your own decisions about going to these types of events. For 2008 I think I'm turning over a new leaf and committing to going local on these events as much as I can.

Labels: conferences, new media expo, podcasting