I’m a Coach!

Had a blast hosting two “coaching” session for Patreon about how to podcast. I hope they were informative for folks attending too. Patreon gave me this nice little badge to display as well. 

Tom at LA Podfest Sunday Spetember 25

lapodfest-logo-2001This coming weekend Sept. 23-25 is the Los Angeles Podcast Festival, AKA LA Podfest.

For the second year they have been kind enough to ask me along to moderate a panel. Content Evolution: The changing content of podcasts will feature Dave Anthony (The Dollop), Gus Sorola (Rooster Teeth) and Shawn Marek (Sideshow Network). 4 PM Sunday in a ROOM called Santa Monica not in the city.

The LA Podfest is in the Beverly Sofitel 8555 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

See you there?

Headed to SXSWi in Austin

Hey folks I’ll be in town for a couple days during the SXSW Interactive festival.

I’ll be doing one panel and of course heading to the <> Night Attack party. Here’s the details

PANEL
Friday March 11 3:45 PM (CST) (UPDATE Time delayed to 3:45!)
Hilton Austin Downtown Salon F
Podcasts Grown Up: Community and Monetization
with: Jamie Tardy, Eventual Millionaire, Kerri Hoffman PRX, hosted by Ryan Williams, Influencer Economy.

PARTY
Saturday March 12, 2-5PM (CST)
<> Live Night Attack w/ Possum Posse
The Brew Exhcange
706 W. 6th Street
Austin, TX

Tom at DragonCon in Atlanta 9/3-9/7

ecwinHey folks, I’m excited to be heading back to DragonCon in Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. This year there will be live Daily Tech News Show, Sword and Laser, FSL Tonight, and I’ll be jumping in on Justin and Ashley’s podcast wedding and Night Attack as well as a few other panels!

If you’re going to be at DragonCon I hope you can swing by at least one of the events and say hello! Here’s the schedule.

FRIDAY September 4
Fictional Writing & Skepticism 01:00 pm Location: 204-207 – Hilton
Description: A few top authors—who are also skeptics—discuss what effect their personal skepticism has on their writings.

Daily Tech News Show—Live! 04:00 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton
Description: Live DTNS with Tom Merritt, Veronica Belmont, Justin Robert Young and Jonathan Strickland. Illustrations by Len Peralta.

FSL Tonight Live! 07:00 pm
Location: A601 – A602 – Marriott
Description: Get the coverage of the big finale between the Coruscant Senators and Skaro Exterminators right after the game. Find out the champion and what teams will be elevated into the league next season!

SATURDAY September 5
Navigating the Media/Online Frenzy 11:30 am
Location: Embassy D-F – Hyatt
Description: What else is out there besides Facebook? How to generate “buzz” about a book to promote sales.

Sword and Laser Podcast—Live! 02:30 pm
Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton
Description: Belmont & Merritt’s podcast on all things sci-fi and fantasy with author Cherie Priest.

Jurymore & Friends 04:00 pm
Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton
Description: Justin Robert Young & Ashley Paramore get married with super-special guests!

SUNDAY September 6
SkepTech 01:00 pm
Location: 204-207 – Hilton
Description: Skeptical thinking isn’t always about Bigfeet, ghosts, & tarot…Sometimes it can be in your tech, too!

2015 Parsec Awards 05:30 pm
Location: Regency V – Hyatt
Description: Tom and Veronica host the Parsec Awards for Sci-fi & Fantasy Original Content and Speculative Fiction.

Night Attack Live! 10:00 pm
Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton
Description: An irreverent fun-fest featuring unusual guests, bizarre games and more!

Come see Tom at DragonCon 2014!

Hey folks, if you’re in Atlanta or headed there for DragonCon at the end of the month there’ll be plenty of chances to say hi! I’ve got loads of panels and shows happening. Here’s the schedule.

——————-
Title: Podcasting Track Kick Off!
Description: Join some of your favorite podcasters as we take the temperature of the Podcasting world, and talk about some our best moments of the past year.
Time: Fri Aug. 29, 01:00 pm Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Jonathan Bradley Strickland)

——————-
Title: The Business of Podcasting
Description: Join veteran podcasters for a frank conversation on making money w/ podcasting.Covering topics: sponsorships, affiliates & respecting your audience.
Time: Fri Aug. 29, 02:30 pm Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Brobdingnagian Bards, Tom Merritt)

——————-
Title: FSL Tonight – LIVE
Description: The season finale of the premier fantasy sports league. Reports on fantasy & science fiction franchises.
Time: Fri Aug. 29, 05:30 pm Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
Moderator / MC for panel
(Tentative Panelists: Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young)

——————-
Title: Daily Tech News Show After Hours
Description: An irreverent fun-fest featuring unusual friends, bizarre games and more!
Time: Fri Aug. 29, 10:00 pm Location: Grand Ballroom West – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Tom Merritt)

——————-
Title: Kickstarting your Project
Description: What does it take to run a successful crowdsourced campaign? Podcasters discuss their experiences using crowdsourcing sites to fund their projects
Time: Sat Aug. 30, 11:30 am Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Veronica Belmont, Justin Robert Young, Tom Merritt)

——————-
Title: Sword and Laser – LIVE
Description: Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt bring their podcast about all things Sci-Fi and Fantasy back to Dragon*Con with a special guest.
Time: Sat Aug. 30, 02:30 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
Moderator / MC for panel
(Tentative Panelists: Veronica Belmont, Tom Merritt, Naomi Novik)

——————-
Title: 2014 Parsec Awards
Description: A Celebration of Speculative Fiction Podcasting. Awards are given in several categories ranging from content to audio quality.
Time: Sun Aug. 31, 05:30 pm Location: Regency V – Hyatt (Length: 2.5 Hours)
Moderator / MC for panel
(Tentative Panelists: Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Laura A. Burns)

——————-
Title: CordKillers – LIVE
Description: We are a show about not just cutting the cord but killing it with fire. Watch what you want, when you want, on any device you please
Time: Sun Aug. 31, 11:30 pm Location: A601 – A602 – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)

(Tentative Panelists: Brian Brushwood, Tom Merritt)

Diamonds are for Austin – Tom’s headed to SXSW

What Tom looked like when he lived in Austin in 1996Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in two years I will be coming back to the land of the bridge bats and the home of the Shiner Bock. Thanks to the siren song of Diamond Club TV I will be attending the Diamond Club shindig on Saturday. You must join me! And together we can rule Texas!

Shut up and give you details? Here goes!

Details
WHEN: Saturday March 8th 3-5 PM Central Time
WHERE: Handlebar.
WHAT: Brian Brushoowd, Justin Robert Young, Veronica Belmont, MAYBE Andrew Mayne, and myself hanging out chatting with chatters, and pretending to be the Rat Pick circa 1967.
MUSICAL GUESTS: The inimitable Tay Allen and Possum Posse.

What do I do?
SHOW UP.

See y’all there.

Dragon*Con Approacheth!

In just a month I’ll be winging my way to Atlanta once again for Dragon*Con! This year my schedule has been spread out lightly like butter across the four days. If you’re going to be at the Con, here’s where you can find me if you’d like to say hey.

Friday August 31

Panel: Tech News
Tom Merritt discusses what it takes to keep up with the ever-changing tech news industry, and how they keep the hit podcast, ‘Tech News Today’ running.
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

FSL Tonight LIVE!
Justin Robert Young and myself will bring you the post-game wrap-up from the FSL championship. Vulcan vs. Lannisport? Coruscant vs. Rivendell? Whatever it ends up being, we’ll be there, with special guests.
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: 204 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

Saturday September 1
Sword and Laser Podcast – LIVE
We’ll do a live version of our audio podcast with a special guest author and take your questions. So get to reading!
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

Parsec Awards
The Parsec Awards are the yearly awards for speculative fiction podcasts. I’ll be presenting, and Veronica Belmont will be hosting!
Time: Sun 04:30 pm Location: International North Room – Hyatt

Sunday September 2
Panel: Irrational and Mistaken
Brian Brushwood, myself and some other guests will discuss how public perceptions of science and scams and irrational and mistaken beliefs affect the ability to explain the world in news and entertainment.
Time: 5:30 PM 207 / 206 / 205 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

Monday September 3
Geek & Sundry Panel!
Meet some of the minds behind Geek & Sundry including The Guild and Sword & Laser!
Time: Mon 10:00 am Location: Grand Ballroom A-F – Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)

Come say hi at Comic-Con!

So I started planning to go to San Diego Comic-Con when TWiT decided not to cover it live. I thought, “Hey, I’ll just go and cover a few panels, walk the floor, have a good time. easy.” Then Geek and Sundry decided to add Sword and Laser to its lineup, which rocks, and I thought, well there’ll be some G&S stuff to do for sure, so that’s good. Then I decided to schedule a TWiT special on bandwidth caps, because that is an issue that need some explaining. And so why not schedule it during Comic-Con. Amiright?

So all of that is a long way of saying, I have a crazy schedule at Comic-Con this year, and here it is.

THURSDAY July 12 (all times Pacific)

10 AM – Tech News Today live from the San Francisco airport. Any tips on where to get good bandwidth? Turns out Virgin America doesn’t open their lounge until 12:30. /me shakes fist.
3 PM Sword and Laser meet and greet at Belo, 919 4th Avenue, San Diego.
9 PM Geek and Sundry Disco Dance Party, also at Belo. (more details on all Geek and Sundry events)

FRIDAY July 13 (all Times, spooooky , also, still Pacific)

9 AM Bandwidth caps special with Dane Jasper (Sonic.net), Benoit Felten (Analyst), Reid Fishler (HE backbone provider), Chris Mitchell (Muninetworks.org) – Skyping from San Diego, live on TWiT.
10 AM – Tech News Today – Me live from San Diego in my hotel room, other hosts in Petaluma.
1 PM Sword and Laser Q&A at the YouTube stage. 325 7th Avenue, San Diego. Come ask us things!
2 PM Beer. Anywhere.

So if you’re going to be in San Diego fro Comic-Con, come on out and say hi!!

I’m speaking at BayCon 2012

BayCon, the San Francisco Bay Area science fiction and fantasy convention is happening Friday, May 25 to Monday, May 28 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara.

My Sword and Laser co-host Veronica Belmont is speaking on practically every panel!! I think she’s only outdone by star convention guest Brandon Sanderson.

Of course Veronica got me to head down there too and we’re doing a Sword and Laser panel!! So come on Bay Area SFF fans, head down to Santa Clara.

The Sword and Laser panel is Saturday from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM in Central. I assume “Central” is the name of a ballroom. But it *might* be Central Command or something which would rock.

Hope to see you there!