The Corporate Podcasting Summit, being held March 19-20 in London, UK, kicked off today. We’re in London to cover the event and to participate in some of the sessions. (disclaimer: Podcasting News is a marketing partner for the Summit).

Show organizer Anita Yaa Ageyman has put together two very densely-packed days, with sessions ranging from corporate podcast case studies to panels addressing challenges facing podcasters in large organizations.

Highlights of today’s sessions included:

Edison Media Research‘s Vice President Tom Webster gave an update on their latest podcast research. According to Webster, awareness of podcasting is way up in the last year, jumping from 22% in 2006 to 37% in 2007. He also explored the demographics of podcast listeners, noting that they are above average in income and education. Podcast users are also very active consumers of media, spending more than average amounts of time on the Internet and being more likely to own HDTVs, DVRs and video game systems.

Jenny Southwell, Head of e-Marketing at UK bank first direct, discussed the bank’s use of podcasting. first direct gives their podcasts a very high profile, featuring them on their home page. first direct has been very happy with the response to their podcasts; Southwell noted that 90% of those that have listened to one of their podcasts would like to get more podcasts.

Kylie Johnson talked about her experiences with podcasting at CSIRO, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Johnson explained how she is using her background in journalism to help the organization turn the stories of its research into compelling Internet media. She discussed how a story about a CSIRO scientist that created an air-guitar t-shirt went viral on YouTube, creating an explosive surge of interest in their site and resulting in possible business deals for their technology. She attributes part of the success of their podcast to the fact that CSIRO draws upon experienced journalists that know a good story and are used to meeting dealines.

Caprica Interactive Marketing‘s Leesa Barnes discussed limited-edition podcasts – podcasts that have less than ten episodes. She discussed two limited-edition podcasts, Butterball’s Turkey Talk and Justice League Heroes, that were successful. Turkey Talk was a seasonal podcast that focused on the holiday season. Justice League Heroes was used to promote a video game release.

Barnes also looked at Starbucks’ Coffee Conversations, a podcast that only lasted three episodes. Listeners felt it was overly scripted and lacked spontaneity.

Pascal Roobrouck, Imagineer at Alcatel-Lucent, talked about producing an internal podcast on a budget. Pascal recommends that corporate podcasters:

• Create an “Episode 0” for their podcast that may never see the light of day. This lets you get the kinks worked out of your podcast before it goes live.
• Start with minimal equipment. Roobrouck uses a Samson CO1U mic, an inexpensive mic stand and his laptop to produce the podcast. For software, he uses Wavepad for recording, Adobe Audition for editing, iTunes for tagging and Analog for web analytics.
• Get organized. By using a standard format for his podcasts, he’s reduced his production time to 4.8 hours per 15 minute episode.

Dean Whitbread, Chairman of the UK Podcasters Association, gave an animated discussion about user-generated content. Whitbread argued that people are wary of the artifice of traditional media, and said that you should let user input refine and redefine your podcast.

There were many other interesting sessions, with a surprisingly high wheat to chaff ratio. Ageyman arranged for a great list of speakers, very focused on corporate podcasting. She’s also limited most of the sessions to 30 minutes, which has made them very focused.

All in all, the first day of the London Corporate Podcasting Summit was very informative and its brisk pace helped keep interest high throughout the day.