Many of today’s video producers got their start in public access television, whether they admit it or not. I was involved in access in the 1980s as a way to practice my craft on different subject matter than the corporate stuff I produced during the day. And it gave me a way to practice my professional mission: To help people leverage electronic media to achieve their goals.

I’ve just started to get re-interested in public access as an activist and free speech platform. There have been a lot of changes in 20 years. Recent state regulation (authored by the large telecoms) have lifted access requirements from city franchises by shifting authority over franchising to the state level. That has endangered public access as people have known (or scorned it).

This article, Public-Access TV Fights for Relevance in the YouTube Age, takes a high level look at public access today and how it fits, or doesn’t, with online user-generated content sites.

The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) is the primary organization advocating for Public Access. I just found a new one called the Public Access Awareness Association (PAAA).

The Internet is amazing in how it has democratized media internationally. But in the U.S. most people get their information from television (Pew Research). That puts public access at the forefront of media-tized free speech and makes it something worth defending.

Peachpit Press ( a personal fav) is offering a free webcast with Garr Reynolds, author of Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter). (Note to self – write presentation Zen blog post.)

If you create presentations, video, what have you for you, for you or your clients this is well worth watching. The book is great and I’m sure there will be some ideas here that will work for you. Here’s all the details

Garr Reynolds, author of  Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, will be featured in a free Webcast hosted by Safari Books Online on December 15, 2008 at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET. To sign up for the event, visit http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://safaribooksonline.com%2Fevents%2Fgarrreynolds.html.

The Presentation Zen Webcast participants will learn to:

• Challenge conventional wisdom and think differently about the preparation, design, and delivery of “slide presentations” in today’s world.
• Apply Zen simplicity to the fields of communication and business.
• Put together speaking points and represent them on slides in new and more powerful ways.
• Improve the way they give presentations, from conception to creation to delivery.

All attendees receive 45 days complimentary online access to Presentation Zen on Safari Books Online; the first ten registrants will also receive an autographed copy of Presentation Zen.

I just created a new page call Books We Like that lists, well, books we like.

The books are categorized by topic and, depending how observant you are, the topics are listed in order of the doing media process.

These are all on our shelf in the office. A few need updated copies. And I recommend all of them.

Take a peek and let me know what you think.

If you like what you see why not subscribe?

I’ve followed the association blogger space for awhile mostly because of my work with MCA-I. Maddie Grant is one of those bloggers. Besides her day job she has a side gig with Linda Dreyer called SocialFish.

Here’s a the main points from their most recent newsletter article titled Experiment with YouTube It’s easier (and cheaper) than you think.

• Keep it Short
• Keep it Simple
• Professional does not mean overproduced
• Give your viewers something to do
• Give it a good title

Couldn’t agree more.

(And yes, I am a “bullets do not get periods” proponent. Yeah, one of those people.)

As a small business I need every advantage to compete. So I work for simplicity and good cash flow. A number of online apps let me have both.

I recently gave this presentation at the MCA-I ProTrack 2008 Conference in Anaheim and then again last week to the First Friday Coworking event in San Antonio.

Who knew it would be so popular!