Category Archives: Appearances

News about Maria’s public appearances and interviews.

MacVoices TV Interview about Making Movies Book

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Interview by Chuck Joiner now online.

Screen GrabI’m extremely pleased to announce that my interview with Chuck Joiner on Mac Voices TV went live today. I hope you’ll check out MacVoicesTV #1182: Maria Langer Helps You Make Movies.

This was the first time I’d appeared on MacVoices TV; usually, I’m on the audio-only version, MacVoices. In the background, you’ll see the covered up stored furniture of my new office in Phoenix. You’ll also get a chance to see my horrible haircut six full weeks after I was scalped. (Hint: There’s still not enough to do anything with it except spike it.)

Chuck is a great host who always asks good questions. As usual, it was a real pleasure to be on his show. I hope you’ll take the time to explore the other MacVoices episodes on Chuck’s site. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of interest there.

You can find a complete list of my recent interview appearances on my personal website.

On Becoming a “Power Blogger”

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I define a new [to me] phrase.

Last week, I was one of four guest panelists on the WordCast podcast. The topic was blog productivity — tips and tricks for blogging more efficiently — and a phrase I’d never heard before came up in the discussion: power blogger.

Let me take a few steps back before I move forward. Although I’ve written extensively about blogging from the blogger point of view and I’ve also co-authored and authored various WordPress training materials (books and videos), I’m not someone who keeps up-to-date with the world of blogging. I don’t know the buzzwords or phrases, I don’t follow the hot trends. I just obtain the tools, use them the way they work for me, and try to publish new blog posts regularly. Along the way, I provide a sprinkling of advice for bloggers in my own blog posts.

So the phrase power blogger was brand new to me.

And meaningless.

When the question, “What advice can you give to people who want to become power bloggers?” came up, I felt a tingling of stage fright. Surely I’d sound like an idiot if I admitted I had no idea what the phrase meant.

Fortunately, another panelist spoke up. I listened carefully to glean meaning from his response. And what I learned was that he — and the others — considered the quantity of blog posts a major component of power blogging. By their definition — at least one post a day — I was a power blogger!

I sure don’t feel like one.

When it was my turn to speak, I proposed my own definition of power blogger. I don’t remember the exact words, but it went something like this:

The number of blog posts a blogger publishes should have nothing to do with whether he’s a power blogger. Instead, it should be the influence the blogger has over his readership and beyond. What’s important is whether a blog post makes a difference in the reader’s life. Does it teach? Make the reader think? Influence his decisions? If a blogger can consistently do any of that, he’s a power blogger.

I recall comparing Twitter — which is, after all, “microblogging” — to blogging. Someone can tweet dozens of times a day, but if there isn’t any value in what he’s tweeting, what good is it? There are plenty of bloggers out there simply rehashing the same material, over and over, without adding anything new to the mix. They might post five or ten times a day. But if it isn’t worth reading, how can you consider them power bloggers?

And I guess that’s the advice I want to share in this post: If you’re serious about blogging, don’t go for quantity. Go for quality.

Make a difference with what you post.

MacVoices Interview Now Online

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Scott McNulty and I talk to Chuck Joiner about WordPress.

One of the things I like to do — but don’t get a chance to do very often these days — is talk to podcasters and other media people about the projects I’ve worked on.

MacVoices LogoEarlier this month, I got a chance to do just that with Chuck Joiner, the host of the MacVoices podcast. For the first time ever, Chuck did a double interview, killing two birds with one stone as he spoke to author Scott McNulty and I about WordPress. During the Interview, we talked about our separate WordPress-related projects and how they might be used together to help someone learn the ins and outs of using WordPress.

Here’s the blurb on the MacVoices Web site:

Thinking of starting a blog with WordPress? Maria Langer, the author of Self-Hosting a WordPress Site and WordPress.Com 2.7 Essential Training on Lynda.com and Scott McNulty, the author of Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read, share some tips from their respective projects to help you make the right choices. Maria and Scott talk about deciding on using WordPress.com or selecting your own host, one-click vs. user installs, why permalink structure is one of the first things you should think about, and finding and customizing a theme for your blog and more. Backup options, favorite plug-ins and why their video and book compliment each other are discussed.

If you’d like to hear the podcast, you can download it directly from its page on the MacVoices Web site.

MacVoices Interview about WordPress.com Video Training

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I’m interviewed!

MacVoices LogoWordPress.ccom DVDIn early August, I was interviewed by MacVoices producer Chuck Joiner about my new Lynda.com course covering WordPress.com, WordPress.com Essential Training. The interview went live today. You can read about the interview, access related links and listen to our conversation on the MacVoices Web site.

MacVoices, by the way, is available as a podcast. It’s a great way to get news about new Mac products delivered to iTunes and your iPod. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

MacJury

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A great new podcast.

MacJury LogoYesterday afternoon, I had the honor of being one of the “jurists” in the new MacJury podcast created and moderated by Chuck Joiner. Chuck’s responsible for a number of podcasts aimed at Mac users, including MacVoices and MacNotables.

From MacJury’s About page:

Designed to be entertaining, informative and thought-provoking, The MacJury will pass judgment on news, issues, products and more. Each show will feature a different panel of personalities from the Mac universe in a freewheeling discussion that will interest Mac users of all expertise and experience levels.

I was invited to be one of the jurists for the third podcast of the series. Chuck was joined by me, Nancy Gravley, Joe Kissell, and Don McAllister. Through the miracle of the Internet (specifically, Skype), the five of us, located in the U.S. and Europe, were joined together for a good discussion of the pros and cons of .Mac and the new Mac clones. You can download the 54-minute MP3 file containing our discussion from the MacJury #803 page.

Or, better yet, subscribe to the podcast. If you’re a Mac user interested in current topics that affect you and your Mac, I think you’ll get a lot out of it.

Apple Stores Here I Come

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My publisher arranges for appearances in Apple Stores.

Apple Computer, Inc. opened its first retail store a few years ago. It was a great success. Since then, it has opened over a hundred stores in the US, UK, and Japan.

Like Apple-designed products, Apple stores are sleek, bright, and attractive. They show off all currently available Apple products, including hardware and software, and there are plenty of hands-on opportunities for store visitors. The stores also show off products by third-party vendors that are “Made for Macintosh” or made to work with Mac OS X. That’s where I come in.

My Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Visual QuickStart Guide will be one of just two Mac OS X Tiger books available when Tiger is released this Friday. I worked my butt off (figuratively speaking, of course; there’s no losing fat on your butt when you’ve got it parked in a chair all day) to get this book done on time. And it’s paying off. The marketing folks at my publisher, Peachpit Press (an imprint of Pearson Education), tell me that Apple has designed a lucite stand to display Mac OS X Tiger when it is released. The stand will display my book, side by side, with Tiger retail boxes. How cool is that?

Apple has also promoted my book on its Apple eNews electronic newsletter and corresponding Web page. They even included an image of the book’s cover. My publisher has reportedly doubled the initial print run to handle large orders from Apple, Barnes and Noble, and CompUSA.

I told my publisher’s marketing folks that I was interested in doing Apple Store appearances and listed the stores in this area: Phoenix (Biltmore), Chandler, Tucson, and Las Vegas. (Okay, so Las Vegas isn’t exactly around the block, but it is nice to be able to go there for a legitimate business reason.) Kim, who is in charge of author appearances, sent out a few e-mails to Apple Stores. The response was impressive. All the stores wanted me. Tucson even offered an appearance on Friday evening, as part of the Tiger release festivities. (Unfortunately, personal obligations will prevent me from attending that day.) I chose among the offered dates and added them to my Calendar.

Then Apple invited me to another Vendor Fair, this one in Elk Grove, CA. (I attended one in Austin, TX last week.) I asked Peachpit to see if they could get me a gig in the Apple store in Sacramento (Arden Fair) the same day. A few e-mails and it was a done deal. Wow.

What do I do at these appearances? I normally do a presentation. This time, my presentation will concentrate on productivity features in Tiger, showing attendees how the new operating system can make them more productive. The presentation isn’t a slide show. (I don’t want to put anyone to sleep.) Instead, it’s a live demo. I plug my PowerBook into their projection system and go. It’s unscripted and mildly rehearsed. I usually work with a list of topics I want to cover and go from there. After about 45 minutes of that, we open the floor to questions. That can be fun, too.

What’s weird about all this is that I haven’t done any of this stuff in about three years. I got really burned out and didn’t want to do appearances anymore. I actually turned down a bunch of appearances and interview requests. I thought I’d be getting out of the business. But Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger has gotten me all fired up again. Apple is doing really well and it’s a pleasure to work with its new technology. So I’m excited and really looking forward to all of these events.

If you’re reading this on a Windows PC, you don’t know what you’re missing. Stop by an Apple Store in your area and see if the techs there can convince you to switch.