Articles on Podcasting | Topics: podcasting, podcast
by Xavier Ochoa
So, you got a shiny new iPod for Christmas, and your previously held contempt for podcasts (who has the time?) has melted away and been replaced by complete and total love. You are actually quite amazed at how much you like them now, funny enough. Video podcasts, when done well, are probably your favorite, but audio ones are excellent, too and are the topic of this article. Someday you may venture into Podcast land. So, while your still a relative Podcast newbie and thinking about this, jot down some notes about what works. Feel free.
Podcasts should be short. Thirty minutes is actually too long. Unless it's just jam-packed with goodness, life is too short and it requires too much attention. Keep it short. Fifteen minutes is acceptable. You can fudge on that one, but honestly, unless you're interviewing Osama Bin Laden or Steve Jobs, keep it to 30 minutes, at best. Be whimsical. Maybe this is the same as mentioned before, but you might notice something about the best podcasts... they're having fun, and it shows.
Next, don't ramble and be organized. This should seem obvious, but some pod casters just flip on the mic and ramble for 45 minutes. Horror! If you are interviewing, prepare the questions ahead of time. Send them to your guest so they can be coherent. Don't stick to it slavishly, but let it keep you from ad-hoc preparation on your listener's time during the Podcast. If you aren't interviewing, take the time to prepare exactly what you'll be talking about. Write down an agenda with talking point notes. Move quickly and coherently through them. Cram, cram, crams as much good stuff as you can into the time. Minds move quicker than your mouth, so do you best to pack your Podcast full of goodness and move quickly.
| Quote of the Day |
For us necessity is not as of old an image without us, with whom we can do warfare; it is a magic web woven through and through us, like that magnetic system of which modern science speaks, penetrating us with a network subtler than our subtlest nerves, yet bearing in it the central forces of the world.
| —Walter Pater (1839–1894) |
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Be regular, but only if you've got quality. Most people would rather listen to an excellent quarterly Podcast, than a mediocre one every week. Again: this isn't so much the case with something like a blog post where you can skim and move on, but with a Podcast, you have the listener's trust and full attention, so use it wisely. Get decent audio! Seriously, the tin-can-and-string / Houston-to-Apollo-11 sound really kills things. A little effort and investment in a decent mic not only makes you sound better, but it's not as hard on the listener. When you listen very long to a poor audio quality Podcast, it gives the listener a headache, hurts his or her ears and wears them out. Make a pop screen. That helps too.
Next, have show notes on your blog. If you mention something, make a list of links to explore your topics in more depth. If you're doing interviews, don't be Charlie Rose. In other words, shut your stupid face and let your guest talk. That doesn't mean sit there and let them ramble. Provide regular engaging questions and keep things moving, but don't spend time trying to be smart yourself. Instead, be a master facilitator in helping your guest share great stuff. Don't interview the person everyone else is talking to. Come up with someone fresh to interview. You want to give your listeners an interesting show and one that is unique. Go with someone that no one has heard before. There are many topics, interview subjects and approaches that have been done to death. Now is your time to try something fresh. Try to be natural. This may be a recurring theme, but don't try too hard to be stodgy and official. Don't be lazy and inane, but don't be stuffy either. Don't be scared to throw a show away. It happens. You get a crappy guest; you do a crappy job, your audio blows, whatever. The pros advice is to use podcasts to put your best foot forward. Because podcasts demand so much attention, they really need to be high caliber. If you write a mediocre blog post, your readers can skim, skip and move on. With a Podcast, they trust you with very precious attention for that period of time. Treat it with the utmost respect. If in doubt, toss it.
Lastly, do some editing. Take a note from NPR or other audio documentary style programs. You don't necessarily need to give us every single utterance made during a period of time. Just like you might prune a copy from a rambling blog post to tighten it up, tighten up your Podcast. A little production work goes a long way toward making an excellent Podcast.
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