Posts Tagged ‘podcast’

Ten Things I Learned from WordCamp Las Vegas 2010

Last Saturday, I attended WordCamp Las Vegas.  WordCamp is a conference that focuses on the popular blogging platform WordPress, which I used to create this blog.  Most of those who attended were full-time web designers and programmers.  I was probably most likely definitely the only accountant there.  I admit that some of the material presented in the conference was a little over my head, especially when they got into PHP code.  My PHP coding skills are a level or two above copy and paste. 
John Lynn speaking at WordCamp.

John Lynn speaking at WordCamp.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed WordCamp and learned tons of new things (well, ten things at least). 
  1. Passion and motivation are the keys to blogging, according to my friend and client John Lynn.  If anyone has that passion and motivation, it’s him, having written about 6,000 blog posts in the past 5 years.  This year, John quit his full-time job and earns enough advertising revenue from his blogs to support his family.  John’s most recent entrepreneurial project is a website to help raise money for sports teams and non-profit organizations.  You can see John’s PowerPoint presentation on his website to learn about how he became a full-time blogger.  Check out the plug he gave me on slide 8 (thanks, John).
  2. WordCamp brings in a tech-savvy crowd.  It seemed like everyone had a laptop, iPad and iPhone.  It was a good thing I bought a Droid X last month because it helped me to blend in a little bit.
  3. Creating a good podcast is a lot more difficult than having a microphone and recording an MP3 file.  Scott Whitney from Podworx gave an entertaining and enlightening presentation showing how they incorporate music and eliminate the uh’s and um’s when recording podcasts.
  4. The M&M peanut butter brownies at the Palace Station buffet were pretty tasty!
  5. I didn’t take any notes on paper.  I used Twitter to jot down great quotes and to have a record of stuff I want to look into later.  On top of that, I shared those tweets using the hashtag #wclv with the rest of the attendees, and one of them expressed her appreciation for it!
  6. Twitter provided me with opportunities to meet people in person that I had read tweets from during the conference (i.e. “hey, you’re @techguy”)!  Did I mention I need to change my cryptic Twitter name?  Nobody came to me and said, “hey @whe97007!”
  7. For security reasons, don’t use the default username “admin” to log into your WordPress admin page.  FYI hackers, my new username is “Dustin.”
  8. I need to try out WordPress’ photo editor instead of using Photoshop every time to touch up photos.  It can do more than I previously thought.
  9. WordPress is a very powerful blogging platform and the possibilities of what you can do with it are almost endless.  A couple of the conference sessions were mind-boggling.
  10. I’m planning to come back again next year.

Learning on the Go with Podcasts

Podcast or podcasting icon
Image via Wikipedia
Suppose you spend an hour commuting every day over 250 working days in a year.  If all you listen to in the car is music, what do you have to show for it after the year is over? One of my friends asked me that question many years ago when I was considering taking a job that would require a daily commute that was longer than I was used to.  I had always thought that a long commute was a bad thing because it wastes a lot of time and money spent on gas.  My friend had a different perspective.  He told me that he enjoyed every minute of his long commute because he listened to books on tape, mostly on self-improvement and religious topics. To make a long story short, I decided not to take that job but his advice had been firmly ingrained in my mind.  I began filling my MP3 player with whatever free podcasts I could find on the Internet and listened to them in the car. I regularly listen to the podcasts in the list below for the latest information relevant to my profession:
  1. CPA Technology Advisor Intersection Live Podcasts.  My favorite podcast series covers the intersection of technology and public accounting.
  2. CPA Spotlight by the Maryland Association of CPAs.
  3. Stratford University Tech Talk Radio. I discovered this in a Google search a couple of years ago and have been listening ever since for technology news and computer care tips.
  4. Feed the Pig Podcasts. In these podcasts, frequently asked questions about personal finance are answered by CPAs.
  5. Tax Policy Podcast by the Tax Foundation.  This podcast series discusses all types of taxes (including income, sales and property taxes) at the federal, state and local levels.
Twitter follower Chris Farmand suggested that I try out Google Listen, an Android app for streaming podcasts.  I installed it and found very few podcasts when I searched for CPA, accounting, QuickBooks and tax.  There may be opportunities for CPAs who are interested in becoming podcasters. Just to change things up once in a while, I also listen to podcasts about other topics such as health, history, politics and science.  I try to avoid the burnout of information overload, so I don’t always listen to podcasts.  Sometimes, after long days at work, music helps me wind down more than anything else. Listening to more podcasts and less music in my commute has been beneficial for me, so I highly recommend it (unless that podcast about Code Section 199 makes you a drowsy driver). I’m always looking for new podcasts, so if you have any to share with me, please leave a comment.
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