Podcast Playlist (3) - The Gilmore Gang
I just finished listening to what may be the last Gilmore Gang. There won’t be another one again. At least, not until the next one comes out.
Many of the people I’ve tried to share the concept of podcasting with have responded with an underwhelmed, ‘sooooo it’s just a bunch of people talking? How much more boring can you get?‘. I can see those types rolling their eyes were I to try my introduction with an episode of the Gilmore Gang. There’s no snappy jingles. No musical selections or interludes. No major editing. You get the hurumphs, the ums, the static, the sounds of heavy breathing and of participants washing their dishes. It’s just a bunch of people on a conference call.
And it is exactly what is why I love podcasts.
The value of the Gilmore Gang isn’t in the surface qualities, nor entertainment value - though it can be quite entertaining at times. There’s interesting perspectives to current news and events in the tech sector, and who better to provide those perspectives than regular participants such as Dana Gardner, Dan Farber, Michael Arrington, Jason Calacanis, Hugh MacLeod or Doc Searls. But the value doesn’t come from the news and op ed either. With the Gilmore Gang, the value is the conversation.
Take a bunch of smart people with unique insight in their industry, throw them in a room together and then sit back and listen. What you’ll get is a distillation of the most relevant insights and a more clear view of the future than you could hope for otherwise. Other mediums can’t do this. Time constraints or the need to constantly interrupt for commercial breaks absolutely ruin the flow of the discussion and moderators all too often cut short discussions before they have a chance to bloom into something special.
Listening to the Gilmore Gang is very much like the better, headier, late night coffee shop talks I used to have within my own circle of friends. There isn’t an episode where I don’t come away with something to churn about in my head or that doesn’t give me a new understanding of how this networked, online world of ours is going to affect the way we communicate and do business. I’m just on the periphery of this industry. A communicator, storyteller and marketer who uses the web as a medium and a tool; but I know that what I’m learning from these conversations is going to put me leaps and bounds ahead of the game.
