Sheila Scarborough on Drag Racing, the Navy, Social Media and Tourism

February 28, 2010 By

Conversation with Sheila Scarborough, co-Founder of Tourism Currents

My guest on my Des Walsh & Friends show on BlogTalkRadio a couple of weeks ago, Sheila Scarborough counts among her many achievements the establishment last year of Tourism Currents.

Sheila Scarborough: Kerry Howell Photography

Tourism Currents is a membership site which provides a range of information and education, with a focus on social media, for people involved in destination marketing.

Sheila’s co-founder of Tourism Currents is Becky McCray, my good friend from Oklahoma, who was the first guest on my show.

In our wide-ranging conversation, Sheila shared fascinating experiences and insights, including:

  • Her 23 year career in the US Navy, on board various ships, and in far flung places such as Japan and the Netherlands
  • Why she likes the decisiveness of drag racing
  • Her decision, on leaving the Navy, to combine her love of writing and love of travel – and do that as a business
  • Starting blogging in 2006 with the BootsnAll Family Travel Guide blog
  • Great examples of how people with responsibility for attracting people to unique local destinations can tap into people’s desire for unique experiences
  • Her vision for Tourism Currents

I recommend this podcast especially for anyone with an interest in tourism and ways of attracting people to local destinations.

[If the player above does not appear, use this link to hear the recording.]

Filed Under: Podcasting, Social Media Tagged With: ,

Quick Survey on Ideal Duration for Podcast

February 27, 2010 By

Invitation to help with podcast planning

BlogTalkRadioLogoAs I outlined in a post earlier today on my Thinking Home Business site, I’ve put together a short survey (see below) to elicit some views and advice on what would be the best time duration for my podcast show on BlogTalkRadio, Des Walsh & Friends.

I chose thirty minutes as providing scope for a good discussion but being more likely to be listened to than a longer session.

But I notice others, people of seriously good accomplishment, have hour-long episodes.

Hence the survey. It’s really short, with only a few questions and a box for any comments.

No laptops or iPads as prizes, but I will report back here on the results. And I’ll be truly grateful.

Click here to take survey

Filed Under: Podcasting Tagged With: ,

Launching New Talk Show on BlogTalkRadio

October 29, 2009 By

“Des Walsh & Friends” show to launch on BlogTalkRadio

I’ve been thinking for a while now about having another go at starting my own show on BlogTalkRadio and when I checked my account there yesterday I was a bit startled to realize that the last effort was a couple of years ago.

In the meantime I have endeavoured with my China-based colleague, Lonnie Hodge, to put out a regular show about China, China Conversations, but our efforts on that particular platform, while successful to a degree, were thwarted technically: much as we loved the basic BlogTalkRadio setup and the terrific support from the BlogTalkRadio people, we were too often in a situation where we could not deliver the episode of the day satisfactorily.

But I know that the system can work perfectly well from here in Australia, so there is no obstacle to my getting back to having my own show. Short story, I’m launching, or re-launching, my own show.

The question then was, what would be the focus of the show?

Social media? From a quick search it was evident that there was no shortage of shows about social media on BTR.

And frankly I did not want to restrict the range of topics to social media, much as I love the topic.

So what sort of a show would it be? After some cogitation and mind-mapping, I realised that what I really wanted to do was to chat with friends and colleagues, from the social media field certainly, but also more widely – business, government, the arts, literature, politics.

That felt good.

And thus was born the Des Walsh & Friends show, as a weekly show, a mixture of chat and interviews on a range of topics with a range of friends.

The show launches just under 9 hours from now, November 29, 1 pm US Pacific time, 4 pm US Eastern, and 6 am November 30 Queensland time in Australia. I don’t mind the early start as it’s unlikely the leaf blowers will have been fired up at that hour.

This is how I’ve described the show:

Des Walsh & Friends is a chat + interview show with an eclectic mix of Des’s friends, from social media, business, government, the arts and other fields of interest and endeavour.

I’m starting the show on the basis of having 30 minute episodes and will see how that goes.

My guests on the first episode will be San Francisco based Carlos Hernandez,  a great enthusiast for social media in business, and his business partner, Megan A. Bourne. Carlos and Megan participated in recent days in the Twitter-focused 140 Characters Conference , in Los Angeles, and I’m keen to hear how all that went. I’m hoping also to get some sharing from Carlos of his experience of BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago.

This has all been put in motion pretty quickly, so I’m not expecting a huge audience, but the show will be recorded for the benefit of anyone who wants to download it and listen at their leisure. If you’re around, do drop in.

Filed Under: Podcasting, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Talking Boomers and Social Media

April 10, 2009 By

Had a great conversation today on Toby Bloomberg’s BlogTalkRadio Diva Marketing Talks program, about Boomers and Social Media.

Toby’s program notes summarize who was there and what we were on about:

Think that social media is all about Mils, Gen X or Gen Y? Think again. The Boomer Generation may be late to this party but will the sheer numbers of the demographic influence SM?  Des Walsh – Des Walsh dot Com, Barbara Rozgonyi – Wired PR Works and Carlos Hernandez – iRM Consulting, join Toby to talk about will the Woodstock generation be as open to naked conversations as they were to dancing in the rain sans clothes?

In the course of the conversation we shared that the four of us are submitting a proposal for us to present a panel discussion on the topic at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas in October.

We have every intention of making it an unforgettable session!

We are already collecting statistics and we think we have enough material already to provide content for three or more panel sessions, so we will be doing some condensing. But we are keen to collect some real life stories to help paint the picture of Boomers and Social Media 2009.

You can listen at BlogTalkRadio or here to the recording of the broadcast, or download to listen on your player at your convenience.

Feedback and questions welcome.

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, Social networking Tagged With: , , , , , ,

BlogWorld & New Media Expo Inviting Speakers

February 18, 2009 By

For anyone interested in being a speaker at BlogWorld & New Media Expo 09, mid-October in Las Vegas, Jim Turner’s session on BlogTalkRadio this coming Friday Feb 20th, US time, is a must.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo '09 logo I acknowledge that when it comes to speaking at BlogWorld & New Media Expo, I’m biased. Being able to participate as a panelist in both ’07 and ’08 was a great experience: if nothing else it helped me focus my thinking about blogging and social media.

I would encourage anyone who feels they have something to share, within the very broad scope of the program, to tune in to the show on Friday and get the good oil from my friend Jim Turner.

Jim says:

We will be discussing our call for speakers and the application process, the different speaking tracks and opportunities and what it is like to be a speaker at Blog World and New Media Expo in Las Vegas. We will talk about all thing speakers and perhaps have a few announcements.

This is exciting and I am already working with some colleagues to put together a submission for a panel session, so I am certainly going to be listening in to pick up the information and clues Jim will be providing.

If you want to know who and what was on the schedule last year, or – if you were there – refresh your mind on the subject, on the BlogWorld & New Media Expo site you can still see the details of the 2008 conference program, with speakers and topics. Bios of speakers are there also, in alphabetical order – generally I “love” an A-Z list, being a W and at the tail end, but there is a little “slide” bar on the side which you can use to scan quickly through the list. You could even start with Y (there were no Zs last year) and work up!

The show on Friday Feb 20th is at Noon PST, 3 pm Eastern. For me it will be 6 am on Saturday, but well worth getting up early to participate. If you can’t tune in live, no worries, you can listen to the recorded version. But live is better, especially as Jim Turner is a very participation-encouraging host and provides a number you can use to phone in.

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