Bryan Person's Blog

Long before I had ever heard of Chris Christensen, EVP of engineering and operations at LiveWorld, I ran into Chris Christensen the podcaster and new-media guy.

It was the summer of 2006, and I had happened upon Chris's Amateur Traveler podcast episode on Tanzania. Like Chris, I enjoy traveling. And like Chris, I had also been to Tanzania (OK, it was only at the border in my case, but I still count it!). And as a guy whose wife hails form neighboring Kenya, Chris's use of Swahili phrases and his exploration of the Masai culture in that show caught and held my attention. His podcast providing compelling and well-produced audio content while also giving me a real sense of traveling inside the country. There was no doubt this fellow podcast junkie was onto something.

Now, more than three years later, Chris has zoomed past 200 weekly episodes of Amateur Traveler (I've podfaded at least twice in the meantime), while also adding a weekly bible podcast and roundtable travel roundup program to his hosting and production repetoire. It's an ambitious and consuming undertaking that I know Chris is passionate about--and that he'd been squeezing in on nights and weekends. But in about a month, that will all change.

Tuesday afternoon, during a LiveWorld staff meeting, we learned that Chris plans to take his podcasting efforts to the next level. He'll be leaving his full-time LiveWorld position next month to concentrate almost exclusively on his podcasting and related travel projects. He'll be busy-- I just love this--expanding his "media empire."

So while losing Chris the co-worker won't be fun, chronicling his new journeys online certainly will be.

Congratulations, Chris!

I'm thrilled to have Waggener Edstrom social media strategist Tac Anderson kicking off our new LiveBar, Live! event series in New York City next week.

In his presentation, Tac will be tackling some critical issues and questions that marketers face heading into 2010:

1) As the era of the destination website dies off, how should brands rethink their social engagement strategy? 

2) How do brands effectively intereact with customers, prospects, and fans "no matter where they are" on the social web?

3) Why the hub-and-spoke approach (at LiveWorld, we call this social brand flow) to customer engagement may be the THE "new approach to marketing."

4) Why the traditional model of online content creation must change.

Event details: LiveBar, Live! at the Roger Smith Hotel

Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Time: 7:00-9:00pm

Location: Roger Smith Hotel, Starlight Loft; 501 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017 [Google Map]

Cost: LiveBarNYC is free to attend, with LiveWorld covering food and drinks for the first hour

Twitter hashtag: #LiveBarNYC

Audio preview: Talking with Tac