Barack Obama didn't get there first

I'd had enough of playing Robbie Williams and George Benson. The time for a change had come. I'd been thinking it long before Barack Obama said it out loud. Yes, there'd been some compensations in being a radio presenter; the interviews it had allowed me to do. Sir Ian McKellen, Sharleen Spiteri, The Beautiful South etc etc. I could go on. Some of them did. Along the way, I'd met my now business partner and erstwhile Australian, Colin McGinness. As someone steeped in broadcasting production ( and with a Sony under his belt ), Colin's creative muse is almost always on the go. After an arduous day of podcast and radio ad production, he spends many an evening hunched over his home studio, producing music and writing sketches for our "hobby" comedy podcast Waiting for Death.

I remember clearly the point at which Wonkana Productions went from being a smorgasbord of "what if's" to a living, breathing start up. Just over 18 months ago, we were viewing the BBCs use of podcasting with great intrigue. Then came the phenomenal success of The Guardian's Ricky Gervais podcast. Download statistics read like Australian telephone numbers. Surely it was possible to take this medium and fashion it into a new and powerful marketing tool for both external and internal communications in all kinds of business. We had no shortage of professional voice overs and presenters in our midst, we could write scripts and music and I had the interview skills to get the best from a company's CEO or newest recruit. Like an HGV driver using satnav, our first order took us in a completely unexpected direction., With a respected sports journalist acting as go between, Littlewoodspoker.com signed up for the first professionally produced poker podcast "The Pokercast". Now available on their website, itunes and other podcast directories, he says, deploying the obligatory plug. As we close out our first year, we've been working with a number of PR agencies to service their clients. One of them is the Bristol Enterprise Network, whose event Entrepreneur's Question Time has now drawn 35,000 downloads as an audio podcast. Greater awareness, more new business and more repeat business - that's what this medium can bring. We even make broadcast standard video.

Networking has of course been one of our priorities as a new business and whilst the BNIs, BRXs and every other acronym under the sun have their place, I can honestly say Enterprise Club is invaluable. Well run events and no costly membership make it a great way for business to spread its wings. I've now been able to put into practice some of the techniques and devices demonstrated at Enterprise Club seminars. It's surely no coincidence that we're just in the process of picking up a handful of new clients.
As many other businesses, Wonkana Productions laughs in the face of the credit crunch, thanks in part to the knowledgeable and supportive work of the University. And just in case you're wondering, it means "happy hunting ground" in Aboriginal. Wonkana, not the credit crunch.

Fold, Call or Raise

No, this isn't an Eastend stand off between Beppe and his long lost brother Peter di Sharkio, but a rare quiet moment during Saturday's proceedings for the pan European poker tournament held in London by littlewoodspoker.com . The actor turner poker player Michael Greco and ineffable sports writer/commentator Peter Sharkey are shown at the Wonkana Productions interview table. Hear the full results in next month's Pokercast. At the top right of the page, Peter is pictured with the eventual winner of the 3 and a half hour thriller and it was certainly Deutschland uber alles.

http://www.littlewoodspoker.com/poker-lounge/online-poker-podcast

Pardon my buzzphrase

Retention. It's the word du jour. Well Aussie Col used it. Twice. In my book, that brackets it as a "of the day" in French. Naturelement.
To what kind of retention do I refer? Website retention, my inquisitive friend.
Is it not your one of your key aims to encourage people to come back to your site?
And why has this blog suddenly developed Shakespearean overtones?
Nine changes of the wat'ry star hath been the Shepherd's note since we have left our throne without a burden.
At the risk of creating a superfluous strap line - Wonkana does retention.
The Bristol Enterprise Network, the Littlewoods Pokercast - all these high end, top drawer podcasts are the reason visitors to your website will come back to you. Have a peek at the people we're retaining for :

http://www.wonkanaproductions.com/community.php

It's always uplifting to hear a would be client sold on your product before you've even concluded your pitch and that's exactly what happened this morning. One sage individual who couldn't have been any more receptive told me " The podcast will keep people coming back to the site ".
It's like the words were plucked from my own mouth.