A leading authority on podcasting will be in town next week to meet with members of the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group 2.0 – and anyone else who wants to stop by to listen.

Rob Walch, the man behind the popular www.podcast411.com Web site for folks looking to learn how to conduct podcasts or make them better, is the scheduled speaker for the next meeting of the local Mac group, set for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the community room of Signs of Life Bookstore, 722 Mass.

Meeting organizers describe Walch as one of the five most influential people in podcasting, a form of posting audio commentary or other sounds on the Internet for downloading onto iPods and other handheld devices.

The presentation is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.laugks.org or e-mail Dave Greenbaum at dsg@mac.com.