275 My First Keynote Speech – My Address To The Catholic New Media Conference 2012

by Cliff Ravenscraft on September 6, 2012

Cliff Ravenscraft Over the past few months, I have been talking about the fact that I would be speaking at the Catholic New Media Conference in Arlington, Texas. I’m excited to share the audio recording of the talk that I gave in this episode of Podcast Answer Man.

This was the first time I’d ever given a Keynote Address that sets the tone for an entire conference. To make things just a little more interesting, this was a Catholic conference and I am not Catholic. While my talk is extremely faith based, I do believe that there is a great deal of value in the message of creating content around your greatest passions without ulterior motives or agendas.

While I was in Texas, I met up with many friends from the gspn.tv & Podcast Answer Man community who live in Texas. I had an amazing time and I made sure to capture some of the best moments with my new camera. You can see these photos on my Facebook account under the CNMC-2012 photo album that I created.

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14 comments

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akaTGIF

@Cliff Ravenscraft did you catch Leo Laporte mention Father Roderick live last week? either TWIG or TWIT.

akaTGIF

@Cliff Ravenscraft BRAVO, BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From the The Dark Days of December 2010 to Episode #505 PABL – Year of Providence Confirmed. Your showing great leadership and setting high standards in the world of new media. Man... I miss you and Father Roderick almost weekly podcast!

LaurenceJohnManton

1 Like

Hi Cliff,

Here in England, I listen to your podcasts while driving to work. They are great and very informative!

When I heard the intro to this podcast, I thought 'Wow! I wonder how many subscribers will unsubscribe?' I felt uneasy (not critical) about what was to come but, hey, it was a really interesting and challenging listen. I enjoyed it!

One day, I will get round to starting podcasting (a long term ambition of mine). In the meantime, I will devote my time to my two blogs - Creating Pictures in my Mind and The Graveyard Detective - not a plug because I am not trying to sell anything!

I listen to a lot of social media and marketing podcasts on my journeys and have unsubscribed from quite a few as I was not enjoying them. In my humble opinion - thirty years in Communications - your's is one of the best.

Thank you.

Best wishes

Laurie Manton

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@LaurenceJohnManton Wow! Thank you so much for this very encouraging feedback. Surprisingly, I didn't see any noticeable drop in my subscription numbers as a result of the intro tot he podcast.

I'm glad you stuck around for the content and found it to be worth your time.

I do hope that you'll eventually get those shows of yours launched!!!

I hope you have an amazing week! Sincerely, Cliff

catholicservant

1 Like

Hi Cliff

I was at #CNMC12 and your talk was a personal highlight.

Two (of the many) takeaways I got out of it were...

1. Content is King - But Quality is Queen (Amen! Having worked inside the Church for almost 10-years, this has been a sore spot for me. What did all the great Church beauty disappear with Mozart and Michelangelo?)

2. The need to be 'authentic' – which is related to – the message will not be received if they do not believe you like them.

Thanks for accepting Father Roderick's invitation and sharing your wisdom and experience. It was a blessing!

Craig

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@catholicservant Craig, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. I'm so thankful that you were there and that my message resonated with you. The two points that you highlighted are two principles that guide most of what I do online.

I wish you great success in all that you are called to do.

Greg Allen

1 Like

Cliff, Grats on doing your first Keynote address! I plan to be there someday. :-) Being agnostic I wasn't even going to listen to this episode but I did anyway just to see how relevant it would be to the "Podcast Answer Man" show. While it was somewhat relevant I do believe you would have been better served by redoing the presentation in a non-religious tone for this show and using the recorded keynote version for your other podcast. Isn't that why you have the other show, to target that specific audience? Personally I listen to this show for it's content (about podcasting) and other relevant technologies. Once it becomes religious in nature then your beliefs are crossing into the "pushing zone" and I know you pride yourself as not doing that. However, if someone wants to learn how to podcast and feels as though the information is being taught to them during Sunday school they may just tune out. The last couple have been rough for me but I am looking forward to this weeks episode.

Cheers,

Greg

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@Greg Allen I appreciate your feedback. When I created this show, I determined that this show would not simply be about teaching people how to podcast. Instead, I would include my journey through podcasting and the many things that it has helped me to achieve as I went along.

My goal, with all my shows, is to Entertain, Educate, Encourage, and Inspire.

I know there are many within the Podcast Answer Man audience that would prefer this show be strictly educational. However, that simply isn't where my heart is.

Episode 230 of this podcast was titled "Why I Do What I Do" and shared just how vital it is for me to include the Entertaining, Encouraging, and Inspirational side of my mission in each of my shows. That podcast episode can be found at http://podcastanswerman.com/why.

I did give a clear warning that this was an extremely faith laced talk and that I would actually mention Jesus within it. I did suggest that those who might have any aversion to such content would be just fine to shut down the episode and pick up the following week.

I did suggest that my talk would be beneficial to anyone those who are podcasting with ulterior motives for generating income from their podcasting efforts. You are correct, I could have retooled this message and chose to put this talk in my show at http://EncouragingOthersThroughChrist.com. However, I chose to include it here because a very large portion of the Podcast Answer Man audience knew that I had made a goal of becoming a KEYNOTE SPEAKER in 2012.

There are over 1,000 people who have been listening to this podcast since episode 001 and they have seen my podcasting efforts taking me on the wildest journey. That journey now includes my realizing my goal of being a Keynote Speaker without any formal public speaking training. Though I am planning to attend a Speaking Bootcamp later this year.

I included this talk because it who I am and I felt that it would "encourage" and "inspire" others to set big crazy dreams for themselves and then to pursue those dreams with all that is available to them.

Podcast Answer Man is just as much about that than answering any technical related questions regarding how to hook up equipment, set up rss feeds, etc.

I really am very sorry to hear that the last few episodes of the show have been rough for you.

At the same time, I learned, after producing more than 3,000 podcast episodes, that I have to remain true to myself, when it comes to creating the content that I create.

When I lose sight of what I am doing and I become too focused on "making money from my podcasting efforts" or "trying to please others" with the content that I produce, then I simply get burned out and get to the point where I simply want to throw in the towel and end the production of future episodes.

Greg Allen

1 Like

Hey Cliff... Yes I get your goal to entertain, educate, encourage and inspire as that is my goal as well. Everyone learns and is inspired differently and we need to take that into account when we present our information. Currently I am working toward my masters in wildlife biology with the intent of teaching higher education. This makes it much easier to remain neutral since I present scientific data. If I was to use this forum to push my political ideologies for example, then I would surely detract from the subject at hand and maybe even lose some credibility or alienate audience members all together. With that said I can understand not wanting to get burned out trying to please others. When I owned my own hobby store the initial inventory was a compilation of items I knew to be of high quality and ones that would make customers happy, or so I thought. The truth was people weren't necessarily interested in the higher quality kits (unfortunately) they wanted to have less expensive ready to run kits. Although it ate at me a bit having to make the compromise, I did. While I still carried the higher end models (staying true to myself) I brought in the other kits to satisfy a wider audience as it were. So you see, you can still stay true to yourself. You have multiple podcasts and are able to articulate yourself differently though each. So my belief that you sharing your belief my be detrimental here.

Numbers... Currently I am subscribed to probably 15 podcasts and listen to maybe 2 or 3 occasionally and only one regularly (yours). So subscription numbers may not necessarily be a valid account of listeners per say. Just trying to keep things in perspective.

Unfortunately many people today do not do work that are passionate about or even enjoy at all. (ie. your insurance job)vThey dread going to work and it shows in performance and effort. People just seem to generally lack enthusiasm for what they do. So know this, you are inspirational to me and many others for your sheer expression of passion for what do. It's encouraging to see people being excited about what they do and that excitement spreads to others. Knowing you make a difference in peoples lives and being able to share that with the audience is not only a great self motivator but also a motivator to others.

Cheers,

Greg

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@Greg Allen Thanks Greg. It's an honor to be the one show you listen to regularly. I hope to continue to create content that you will find enjoyable. I hope that this show continues to inspire others to consider pursuing work that they love. ;)

Christopher Battles

1 Like

Super job Sir.

It was nice hear this and made me think about how I go about doing different things and showing Christ through them. The jokes about you being a Christian at a Catholic conference were funny. Congratulations on meeting your goal of being a keynote speaker.

Thank you Cliff.

K, bye

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@Christopher Battles Thanks so much Christopher. Very glad you enjoyed the talk!

Chris_Pilon

1 Like

Cliff, I don't have a podcast but I still listen to the Podcast Answer Man show every week on Stitcher. I drive quite a bit for my job and yesterday was on the road for 10 total hours. Since I was caught up on the Podcast Answer Man, I decided to listen to some of your other podcasts and was blown away by Family From The Heart and Pursuing a Balanced Life. Anyway, I just wanted to share with you that I am at a point in my life where I am trying to make some serious changes. Losing weight, being a better husband and father, and starting a blog are just a few of the things I am doing to help with those changes. I just wanted to thank you, though, because just listening to you inspires me and I appreciate what you do. Thanks and I'll be listening.

In Christ,

Chris Pilon

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@Chris_Pilon Chris, I can't thank you enough for this feedback. Seriously... This helps me to always remember why I do everything that I do. I wish you great success in implementing those life changes!!!!

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