Roy,

I'm not sure how much more honest I can be. Naturally, I am running my company and trying to build something here. At the moment, this is still a labour of love (an expensive one I might add).

Anyone and everyone knows pretty much as much about it as I do. I wrote a much longer response to these questions about 20 days ago. You can read that here:

http://socialtwister....

If you've got more questions, I am always willing to answer them.

On a side note, there is no free beer. I did not ever mention free beer ;) That's how rumors get started. If there is at some point free beer, then it means I was successful in getting someone to sponsor the event (be it the bar, beer distributor, or the brewer).

To date, we've gotten free drinks in a number of places simply because we're bringing the venue business. I've not gained any financial gain from it.

Lastly, here are the topics I was considering for tonight, you all can decide how nefarious it is:

* RealID: Really Good or Really Bad?
* How To Lie With Statistics: Everybody's Doing It
* Losing Our Attention: Living In A Continously Connected World

Of course, those are suggestions. Some people like them, some hate them. When they hate them, we either make up new ones or order another round until something comes to us.

Hopefully this has answered some more of the concerns. If not, let me know.

Best,
Greg

Greg, one question. On each Beercast we participate in, can we say who we are and give out URLs for our podcasts / blogs / whatever?

Frank,

You definitely can. I don't edit the shows. I will try to wrap up a topic if people start to wander, otherwise it's your game to play.

Greg

I'm gonna give it a shot... hope to see some of you there later on this eve!

I have a question Greg,
I wonder if companies would be interested in the opinions of people whose judgements were clouded by alcohol. Have you checked that out yet?
Just a thought about your business concept.

Roy

Roy,

A good question indeed. Fortunately, my business does not revolve around the alcohol but the conversation. Beercasting was just my first prototype and testing platform.

As you've noted, people will be drinking. If you listen to the shows, you'll see that usually, people aren't all that drunk (talking gets in the way, haha). What I have found, though, is that people are honest, sometimes brutally, when their inhibitions are let go.

Any "research" we did would be directional, and nothing more. We're not doing focus groups here, we're having conversation. As I've noted a few times, we're not sure that we will pursue the market research angle if there's too much ickiness from one or both sides. Of course, we're not relying on that model either and instead focusing our immediate attentions on sponsorships, advertising, and professional services.

Glad you're thinking about the model though, it's useful to discuss it and test what we've been doing on the analysis side.

Hope to see some of you out tonight!

Best regards,
Greg

For the record, I have to say that the Beercasting event was really fun, and Greg's a good guy. I think it happens every Tuesday at the same place, and I plan on going back with friends on future occasions. It's an interesting way to introduce people to the concept of podcasting if they know nothing about it... show up at a bar and shoot the sh*t with microphones present... go to a URL a few days later and listen to the results.

I brought some of my co-workers, including my boss the CTO, and his boss, the CEO of our tiny little startup. They're oldschool radio people working on a new venture, and it was quite lively the discussion that happened when they were in the same room with Roy and Frank, myself and my co-programmer Vineet, and Greg and his peeps. I couldn't get a word in edgewise, but it was something special to watch ;-)

Unfortunately, we didn't turn on the mics until most people left, and it was just Greg, Frank and myself on the recording with a brief appearance by our bartender. We talked for about a half hour about mostly techie related things, like social marketing, Adam Curry, statistics, and Certs. I had about four beers before the mic ever went on, so I didn't really keep pace with the pros I was sitting with ;-)

-steve warren
http://www.interactiv...

It's been a year-and-a-half since we recorded that Beercast. It has remained unreleased until today!

http://www.theovernig...

I saw Greg at the Podcast Expo (2006) and he said I may as well release the audio of this ancient Beercast.

Enjoy!