Moving to Key West, swimming with sharks, Hemingway and wandering around an old cemetery searching for music and stories. Music Key West Time - Jesse Rice I'm From Key West - Mike Stack

Eric and I became friends 30 years ago when we both were fresh off the farm and blissfully ignorant freshmen in college.  It's a friendship that has endured and someone I treasure more than gold.  He's a writer.  He's a thinker.  He's a pastor.  He's my friend.  We talk about being awkward kids from small towns and finally coming into a community of people where we could be ourselves with all our baggage and finally pulling through tragedy as only friends can do.  It's a community I wish everyone has the chance to experience. Eric's Podcast Monday's Penny Music: In a Sweater Poorly Knit - MeWithoutYou  Dumpster Divers - The Psalters

dis·cern·ment /dəˈsərnmənt/   : the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure   I met Father Reginald Udouj a few years ago when I was hanging out at the Subiaco monastery searching for a quiet place and I really liked him.  So I caught back up with him to talk about the practice of discernment.  You see Father Reginald is also a Benedictine monk and I thought he might have some pretty good insights about what it's like to hold an idea in your head and knock it around for awhile.  He did not disappoint. And for good measure I also recorded the original story of when I met him called "A Space in Between" that I wrote for Arkansas Life a couple of years ago.  Settle in folks, this is a good one. Music:  Sofi - SomeGuyNamedRobb

A few years ago, I met Larry on my travels to the border and he showed me a deeper side to the immigration crisis and introduced me to people who never made the nightly news.  Recently, I traveled back down there and sat down with him to hear his thoughts on the border, immigration and the for-profit detention industry that only seems to make things worse. Music The Captain - Kasey Chambers Long Lost Brother - Over the Rhine

John Peter Zenger is one of the most important people you've probably never heard of.  Back in colonial America, the young German immigrant paved the way for freedom of speech and a free press in what would eventually become the United States of America. Music: Gasoline Lollipops - Freedom Don't Come Easy Over the Rhine - Changes Come

A few seconds into recording this podcast I received a text from a former student asking, "What advice would you give to 23 year old Reeder?" Probably this. Music: Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home in this World Anymore Gasoline Lollipops - Smoke and Steam

Can a social media company violate a person's freedom of speech?  I toss my two cents in. Music:  Fiddler's Green by Marley's Ghost               America by Neil Diamond

How do I know something is true?  That seems to be the question a lot of people ask these days.  So I decided to go back to a lecture that explores Plato's Allegory of the Cave and ask the question how do we know that a chair is a chair and not just a shadow on a wall. Music: Ringling Road by William Clark Green Throw it All Away by Toad the Wet Sprocket

Technically, the chapter is called "Executing Strategy" but I like my title better.  This week I talk about growing a garden, healthy soil, and go off on yet another tangent on why it matters to your social media campaigns.  There's good soil here.

Today's episode comes to you from the cockpit of the boat as we talk about the value of staying close to the tangible things in life when we're surrounded by so many things that are fake.  Then we dive into the weeds of the elements you need for an effective communication plan.

This week we talk about the passing of one of my mentors, Dr. Van Tyson and how change is unavoidable.  From there we move on to chapter 7 and how to build your digital ecosystem.

This week we break free from the ice and talk about the difference between being "underway" and "making way."  Plus we knock out chapters 5 & 6, a couple of short chapters on distribution.  Nothing too glamorous but it's knowledge that you need to know.

In this episode we talk about creativity, innovation, curiosity, fajitas, the purchase process and how marketers work to make sure their messages hit people right at the moment they need/want to hear them.

On this episode we talk about chapter 3 in Social Media and I lay down a foundation of what kind of information brands are looking for when they do marketing research, plus tools you can use in your own quest for information. Also, it was recorded on a boat and has sea shanties! So it can't be all that bad, right?

This week I spend some time talking about narrative, and asking the question what should be the new American story?  (Because the one we're currently trying to tell isn't working) Then I manage to get around to talking about how marketers identify and segment their audiences into smaller and smaller segments.  Finally, we end off with a little bit of hope.

It's inauguration day in the United States.  Today I reflect on the past few weeks, talk a little about how social media played a major part in what's going on in the world and get started with the first chapter of the mechanics behind social media.

We wrap up the lectures for the Intro to Multimedia class with a short discussion on Infographics and also I talk about why people running off to find places where everyone agrees with them is a terrible idea.

In the final installment for B&P we talk about what truth is and how to make a presentation where people will actually listen.

Dr. Thomas Vaughn is communication professor, colleague and friend.  He's spent a lot of time studying the world of cults and apocalyptic rhetoric.  When Tom isn't teaching, he's writing horror stories and has a new book coming out soon.  I decided to bring him onboard for this year's spooky Halloween episode where we talk about all of this, plus at the end I read one of his short stories, "Deleted Scenes."  It's not for the faint of heart so ye be warned.

Want to be better at getting others to buy into your ideas?  Want to have more insight into what makes some people more convincing than others?  Learn from the ancient Greeks: Logos, Pathos and Ethos.  The three building blocks of persuasion.  Or are they? Listen to find out.