I’m right now in the middle of reading a book and it just occured to me how reading a book, hearing a special speaker at a meeting, listening to a podcast or attending a class will often help me do one thing but not the thing I expect. We often expect to go into a place of instruction or ispiration with hopes of getting a list or special formula for acheiving a special task however I have found that I am often fortune to get one good nugget of information I can take with me and use.

Our brains can only hold so much stuff. They say at one time we can only remember 7 things at a maxium. That is one reason telephone numbers are set up they way they are. Even better is a 3 or 4 step process. Even with taking good notes their is usually one thing we hear or see that inspire us to take further action.

What helps you get your focus?

Are you providing opportunities for customers or other people to focus or are you dumping too much information and confusing people?

Does your logo, web site, business card, photos, etc. help people remember that “one thing” or do they get overwhelmed with a long list of products and services?

My wife and I are members of a core group who wanted to establish an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in the Northern Greenville County area.

As you can imagine the normal cost of sound production in a church can quickly get expensive with microphones, amplifiers, mixers and recording media. I had approached the church leadership about buying this device I had heard about but they wanted to know if I had first hand experience with it and to tell the truth I didn’t but I had heard the results of another podcaster, Cliff Ravenscraft use it both in remote situations and as his recording device in studio.

About three weeks ago we decided to buy an Edirol R-09HR (A high end portable digital recorder) to use both for our own podcasts as well as recording the sermons and other speaking events for our church, Travelers ARP Church. Travelers ARP is a mission church which means we are a new, we don’t have our own building (but another church in the area is letting us use a small chapel on their campus) and of course because of the current small membership we don’t have the money available for a full scale sound system but even if we had the budget for a system at this time the fact we don’t have our own building is another factor to consider.

I invite you, especially if you are in a position where a professional sound studio or full system set up is not possible to listen to the sound quality of two recent sermons I recorded at our church using the Edirol.

Visit http://www.travelersarpchurch.org/category/podcast/ to play the samples by clicking on the gray play button. As you can tell pastors voice remains very level and we were able to cut out most of the background noise. The device was running of battery power and I was able to start the recording discretely from my seat in the congregation via a very small remote. The Edirol basically combines a portable mixer with basic functions, two onboard high gain microphones and storage in one device the same height and width as the iPhone and double the thickness. I described the Edirol to someone as a the audio version of a prosumer digital SLR Camera. You will find a lot of cheaper mp3 recorders which are fine for taking audio notes and interviews but if you need something that will produce files ready for mass distribution like podcasts, sermons, seminar speakers or even capturing ambient sounds for video projects.

I mentioned that I heard about this device from podcaster, Cliff Ravenscraft. I also bought the Edirol from Cliff as well. Cliff is a full-time podcaster and former pastor. Cliff personally tests all the equipment he sells and I highly recommend him for his service, support and recommendations. If you are with a church and especially with a new church without a full sound system I would urge you to contact Cliff Ravenscraft, The Podcast Answer Man for you sound recording needs. If you need a web site and online presence that will effectively promote your business, organization or church we would love to talk with you about the opportunities in new media and how they might help your business or organization grow.

It recently occurred to me that I am subscribed to too many blogs in my newsreader (Newsfire). I’ve started noticing that they are some feeds I though I should stay subscribed to but instead I never leave comments on them, much less read them. If I have left a comment on one of your blogs I can guarantee you are safe and I will continue reading and/or commenting. However I have noticed they are several categories of blog or information I receive via RSS they I quickly glance at but never read. If you blog fits under these categories be warned I may not be subscribed to your blog however I probably wasn’t paying much attention anyway and thus my requests won’t be hitting your server. Here is a list of blogs or other information feeds types I will probably be deleting from my RSS feed reader;

• Posts the are nothing but a compilation of links and where the title usually has a very un-compelling title like - “Links for 6-20-08″
• Feeds from sources that are nothing more than services that link to other blog and news sources
• Categories that don’t help or something you can just do a search on when you need it. For instance I have a “humor” category in my feed reader. I’m taking it out. When I need a laugh I think I can find something just as quick when I need it.
• feeds that basically repeat when is found in other sources you are also subscribed

Your time is valuable and it’s amazing how much information we can skim though in such a short period of time but when it get to the point the “skimming” becomes the talk and not the reading then you need to look at cutting back on some stuff. Last Saturday I got rid of a bunch of coffee mugs in my kitchen cabinet that were taking up space. This Sat. I am looking over my RSS feeds to determine how I can save time and focus more on quality reading in the future. This same idea can apply to browser bookmarks, e-mail newsletter subscriptions and in the print world, magazines. What sources of information do you think you should cut back on?

One of my biggest pet peeves in both new and old media is seeing the same thing or formula day after day. Soap Operas have often been a target of many a joke with people saying they could watch one episode a year and not really miss anything. Several radio talk show hosts are guilty of this as well. I’ve all but stopped listening to certain radio shows not because of their political or philosophical stance but rather I feel it’s a waste of time hearing the same thing over and over again. I’m probably going to get into deep water and offend some people by saying this but one radio show that is guilty of this is the Dave Ramsey Show. Before I say anything critical I love and deeply appreciate Dave’s stance and principle of being debt free. I also appreciate how is confronts callers who try to make excuses for their debt behavior however as a listen I have noticed the show does get into a formula of sorts and while kind of “cute and funny” in the beginning playing the “FREEDOM!!!” sound clip from the movie, Braveheart gets extremely old to the point I want to shout, “Enough Already! I get it!”

In the 90’s The Ken Hamblin show was on the local talk radio station in my city. Ken’s referred to himself as the “Black Avenger” and in my opinion he tried to bring home the point he was black (or African American if you prefer that term but he said “black) and conservative. I “got it” the first few times listening but hearing anything over and over and over again can be a big turn off. Maybe the mindset in radio is repetition because they are expecting turnover ever so often but in the past few years I have had the opportunity to listen to many more hosts and read writers either in the new media through blogs and podcasts or in the old media of print journalism or broadcast media and I have enjoyed and stayed a long time reader. listener or viewer as a result of the hosts or writers “keeping it fresh.” Here are some of the things I have noticed that have kept things fresh for content producers;

• A catch phrase at the beginning or end of the show is fine but don’t let such stuff “hog up” the whole presentation
• Respond and comment on current events - people are often in “shock” during times of change. Help them cope with your unique product or service
• Avoid stereotypes, cliches and out of style terms
• Dare to be eclectic - a local auto repair shop has a radio show hosted by the owner who also loves classical music which he uses for bumper music. Definitely not a stereotype and the unique mix doesn’t get old. BTW, The show is know as the Driving Line and is now available as a podcast. I highly recommend it.
• Be known for consistently surprising your audience in a good way.

How do you keep it fresh and what experiences have you had with encountering things that “got old” way too quick?

One of our core business slogan and commitments is, “Committed to creating, organizing and delivering compelling content.” However I’m learning more and more that a better strategy is to not say everything or as the poker players say, “Lay all your cards on the table.”

Sometimes the greatest impact in a piece of music is the rest right before the big notes. Anyone remember the time of silence right before the movie Star Wars started? Before you heard the loud majestic notes of the theme song as the title scrolled across the screen you were presented with a still frame with the words, “A Long Time Ago In a Galaxy Far, Far, Away…. ” and then Boom! To me that we an excellent transition from the “real world” and the fantasy world of Star Wars.

If you look at this web page you will see a significant amount of white space. Without it it would be hard to digest the words you are reading.

Think about photographs you view. What has greater impact? A scene where you see a lot of stuff or a focused subject and a blurred background?

In conversation with clients we may know a lot of technical facts but more often than not it’s best to keep our mouths shut and our ears open. What are some examples you have encounter in media and working with companies where receiving too much information was a problem? I’d love to hear your stories.