Talk It Up!

Spiffing up Skype interviews

I'll admit that I've got a bit lazy with my interview audio quality, focusing more on content than on fixing all those little audio glitches that happen during an interview. However, I learned at least three things I didn't know that I suspect will greatly improve the audio quality of my interviews from this in-depth video on recording Skype calls by Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani. Even if the bulk of the content is too technical for you, you should listen to the first five minutes to hear the difference in audio quality between a microphoned Skype caller and a telephone callee.

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I learned far more than I thought I would, and hey, I even skipped the part about reconfiguring my firewall. I highly recommend this if you want to improve the quality of your Skype interview recordings!

Heidi's Five Golden Rules of Podcasting

It's been a while since I've done an overview podcasting class; everything has been more in-depth lately. So I'm excited to be teaching a new class at the local adult education center. It's a fantastic podcasting boot camp idea; we're starting from "what is a podcast?" and ending with recording a 10-minute podcast in the class!

And in the process, I've been finding it difficult to summarize the myriad tips and tricks I've learned over the years (mostly by doing things wrong and/or the hard way a few times before figuring out the best or easy way). Perhaps it was sheer exhaustion or just the fervent desire that no student of mine was going to podfade or have a crappy podcast, goshdarnit!

So a quick summary of my five top Golden Rules of podcasting. And by "Golden Rule" I mean a really good premise to live by, BTW.

1. Have something to say. If you can't shut up about something, that would be the thing you should podcast about. If your friends are sick of hearing about it, that is the thing you should podcast about. If you already belong to several forums, mailing lists and professional or social groups discussing it, that is the thing you should podcast about. Do it for love, not for money.
2. Don't "fill time." Your podcast is as long as you decide it should be, but your subscribers will let you know if it's too long, rambling or boring--by unsubscribing. If your podcast is usually 20 minutes but you only have seven minutes of material this week, do a fabulous seven-minute podcast. Don't put it off for another week, and don't "come up" with filler content. It will sound like filler content, and our time is too valuable to listen to filler.
3. Speak in a real human voice. For more on finding your voice, see my earlier post on a good process to follow. But a lot of beginning podcasters think they need to sound like Wolfman Jack. They try to lower and slow their voices, and they sound ridiculous and fake. Podcasting is a social medium; just talk to us like you talk to your friends. Be real, be enthusiastic, be sarcastic, be annoyed, be honest. We'll like you for who you are. If we don't, you probably didn't want us to listen to you, anyway.
4. Audio is as audio does. That is, your audio only needs to be good enough for your podcast to be basically  listenable. You can upgrade your $100 rig to a $1,000 rig, but do you really need to? Unless you just want to play with new toys from Guitar Center, you probably don't have to. If your listeners complain about audio quality, you might want to look into a better mic or figure out how to do some basic noise reduction. Otherwise, let your content speak for you.
5. Make it social. This is probably the concept that is hardest to get across in a Podcasting 101 seminar in which we're also going through all the technical aspects of creating a podcast. My big fear is that folks will walk away with the knowledge of how to create a podcast but not of how to expand and become part of a larger community, which in my mind is the whole point of becoming a podcaster. So start by listening to other podcasts in your field. Go listen to podcasts not in your field. Call in to the comment lines of your favorite podcasts. Respond on the podcast blogs or forums. Try out the plethora of social networking sites and tools available--Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Jaiku--and invite your listeners to participate there as well. Get into it and get social.

Those are my five golden rules--what are yours? If you could only give five bits of advice to a novice podcaster, what would they be?

Photos from New Media Expo 2007

I didn't go too camera-crazy this year (more conversation-crazy), but a few choice photos from the New Media Expo and all the cool folx who chatted and drank with me:

Flickr New Media Expo 2007 batch

Even though I arrived at the LibSyn/Wizzard Media party just in time to meet C.C. Chapman saying, "It's already busted," I had a great time!

More notes from New Media Expo 2007

A few notes, jotted at the Phoenix airport, which BTW has free wi fi:

Got to see a brief glimpse of the elusive Holtz in his natural habitat--running from a book-signing to an international flight.

One of the benefits of the expo--tons of free iPod-oriented schwag for podcasting geeks. The show floor was actually one of the most beneficial aspects of the expo, surprisingly, simply because the coolest folks tended to gather there. If there was anyone I had been hoping to meet, I would simply walk around the exhibit floor, and somehow, magically, I'd run into the very person I'd wanted to meet!

Veteran Podcasters Talk Podcasting at NME

Tip of the day from the Veteran Podcasters panel: "Never put the word daily or weekly in your podcast title."

Michael Dean, Matt Selznick, Steve Eley and Evo Terra are all talking podcasting. Other notes:

• There is a difference between podfading and opting not to continue your show or just taking a few months off because your content isn't that great. Seriously, if your content isn't that great, do your audience a favor and fade.
• Don't podcast if you enjoy sleep.
• Sound like you're having fun, and your audience will have fun.
• Do audio you can be proud of, whether it's a $20 setup or a $4,000 setup.
• A great recorder for under $200: the Zoom H2. (Sadly, the iRiver iFP is no longer in production)
• Be a part of the world at large, not just the podcasting community. Get out of the studio and into your community, whatever your topic might be.

Less good advice:

• "Server space is cheaper than a therapist." Please make sure your content is beneficial to your audience, not just to you.
• The words "synergy" and "takeaway." And "monetize" and "friendshipize." Silly boyz!

Notes from New Media Expo 2007

Ah, I'm in podcaster's heaven! I'm surrounded by communicators even geekier than I am. I've met Grammar Girl, ninjas, Buffy fans, burlesque dancers, husbands, Mac geeks and more. I even ran across the elusive Shel Holtz for a second and a half in the hall.

My own presentation on interviews went incredibly well. Thanks to Steve Eley of Escape Pod for playing my surprise mystery interview guest (even to me--I had NO IDEA who he would choose to make the subject of the seminar's impromptu interview!) and to Graydancer for helping him with his disguise and timing. That bit worked beautifully, even though I'm an idiot and didn't recognize the Invisible Man right away. Thank goodness I believe that the audience should participate and interact during a session--I let them take over and propose impromptu questions for our surprise guest, and they came up with some rip-roarin' good ones!

Thanks to everyone who showed up, and thanks to everyone who participated by interviewing our surprise guest and by asking questions after the talk. I learned as much from you as you did from me, I'm pretty darn sure.

And yes, I already have an idea about what I want to speak on next year. It will involve the words "monetization" and "who cares?" :-)

Interview techniques discussion

Do you have interview secrets? Flubs? Stuff you really want to know as a podcaster or businessperson about how to get the most out of an interview guest? Worst and Best interview stories?

As I gather info and bullet points (cringe!) for the Killer Interviews that ROCK talk for PME, please answer questions and participate in the discussion to form the session at the PME forum for Interviews that ROCK! You do have to register (for free) to participate in the discussion, but please do let me know what you'd like to hear most in the session. I've got a question posted already!

What can a podcast do for you?

Boy, am I glad that I didn't overschedule today as I normally do!

The past few weeks have been packed with client calls and emails, wrestling with the email program that I hate, downed wireless, preps for cons, client shoots, contracts flying about and podcaster's guilt. The hours seem to fly by, and a great deal of time seems to be spent trying to get things to work the way they were supposed to when I bought them. (Hey, not every product can be Apple and work right out of the box!)

I was delighted when Don Svehla of Exhibit City News gave me a call--he's in town for a few days, and he had a lunch slot free. We went to Klas, charming Czech haunt on the southwest side of Chicago, which was a fair explosion of gingerbread cut-outs, Czech crystal and even a hand of Al Capone's playing cards on display! If you're craving a wurst or some boiled meat, this is the place to come!

We had spoken nearly a year ago about an ECN podcast, and I'd even spoken to some colleagues about the best way to go about providing something listenable for clients, but we didn't quite have a good grip on it at the time.

Now, we do. Don had a great idea, and it's divinely simple and easy to implement immediately. I'm thrilled to be a part of it, and I'm already itching to get started. And I think this goes to show something--sometimes it's best not to embrace new technology the second you hear about it. Sometimes it takes a few months (or a year) to really figure out how the new technology will best serve your clients and your existing marketing. What we came up with last year was a great seed of an idea, but now, the implementation is clear and the benefit to customers is immediately obvious.

I hear Shel Holtz's "it depends" resonating in my ears--do you? Again, I never recommend flatly that all my clients podcast right away. But I do recommend that they begin to consider what they might be able to do with a podcast that they can't do with their existing marketing tools. If a magazine is already reaching its target market, what can a podcast add? (That is a great question to ask, BTW). If you already have a mailing list, what can a podcast add? (Another good one.) That is, what can a podcast do for your clients that they're not already getting from you?

The Princess Wears Scrubs

This is the princess, stylin' in some custom scrubs, courtesy of Mike McMahon of Medline, Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter listener and online entrepreneur. Snazzy, huh? Can't say too much about his new online venture, but I'm happy to model for the freebies! Hmm... maybe I should change the name to "Podcasting Nurse"? :-)

And just because this reminds me, remember that the date of Creating Passionate Communities with Blogs and Podcasts has been changed to Saturday, June 2nd! I'd love to see you there (but no, I won't be wearing the scrubs. Maybe the tiara!) Register soon, and remember to use code "Shameless" for a discount!

Free voiceovers!

Know how I always talk about giving to the community first before you start promoting yourself?

This is a guy who gets it. VoiceDaddy.com, from Leo Ashcraft (creator of RadioDaddy.com), is a site where podcasters and other businesses can post requests for voiceover production, and voice talent volunteer their time and talent to fill them.

What are the benefits? For voiceover talent, a honing of skills, a chance to add to the professional resume and a way to give to the community. For podcasters, free, professional voiceovers and a chance to work with and recommend great talent.

There are a lot of us willing to give some of our precious spare time to those starting out--this is a great way to do it!

Social Media 101 Handouts

From today's Social Media 101 seminar at the University of Chicago:

Social Media Seminar, Chicago: handouts, link love and general social media goodness

Comments or feedback? Add your thoughts in the comments below!

How to Listen to a Podcast

This article is the first in an ambitious series of how-to's on podcasting. Reasons? Well, first, since I'm giving more and more seminars on various aspects of podcasting lately, writing things out in bullet points (oh, how I love the bullet points!) helps to organize my thoughts and makes the presentations much easier to customize and piece together. So the brain dump aspect is purely selfish.

But I've also run into a lot of my clients, former clients and friends lately who "know I do that podcasting thing" but ruefully admit that they "haven't figured out how to listen yet." And as I eagerly start babbling about podcatchers and iTunes, I see their eyes glaze over as they start to make a shopping list in their heads. Butter, milk, oh and don't forget we're out of coffee.

"It's really easy," I enthusiastically insist, "... so much more accessible than it used to be, when you had to purchase a podcatching program that only geeks knew about."

Cotton balls, fruit, crackers and toothpaste.

"And you don't need an iPod to listen, even!"

Cat food, kitty litter, those small packets of oatmeal, brown sugar flavor like I like...

Yeah. And if podcasting remains out of reach for some folks, I'm OK with that. But I think everyone should have the option of trying on a few podcasts and seeing if they educate, inform, entertain or otherwise improve their lives.

So here is Heidi's Ultra-Easy, Bullet-Pointed, Even-My-Mother-Can-Do-It guide to listening to podcasts. (Your comments and feedback are appreciated):

1. Go to the iTunes download page. Click the button that says Download iTunes 7.1.1--Free. Info: ITunes is a popular podcatcher or aggregator, which is a program that automatically loads and stores new episodes of all the podcasts you choose to subscribe to.

2. Open iTunes. In the left-hand sidebar, click on "Podcasts" with the purple logo.

3. At the bottom right, click Podcast Directory.

4. Now comes the fun part! What are you interested in? You can browse by categories or check out the most popular podcasts. If you are looking for podcasts on a specific topic, try typing a term (such as "pet food," "yoga" or "Firefly") into the search box in the top right-hand corner.

5. Once you find a podcast that sounds interesting, click Subscribe. The latest episode will be downloaded for you, and iTunes will automatically load any new episodes as they come out.

6. Click back on Podcasts with the purple logo in the left side bar, and you'll see your new subscriptions!
Now, to listen directly from your computer, just click the episode and the Play button at the top left. Voila!

OK, that's the easy-beasiest way. A few other options:

Want to burn to CD-ROM and listen to your podcasts on any CD player?

• In iTunes, click on File and then New Playlist.
• Drag and drop each podcast episode you'd like onto the Playlist, which will appear in the left sidebar.

• When you've dropped all the episodes you'd like to hear (remember that an average CD will hold about 74 minutes of talk or music), click on the playlist. You should see all the podcast episodes you dropped into the playlist.

• Insert a recordable CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive.
• Select File and then Burn Playlist to Disc. Once you get the message that the disc is burned, you'll be able to play the CD in most CD players.

Want to listen to your podcasts on an iPod?

• Open iTunes.
• Connect your iPod or mp3 player to your computer using the cable provided.
• Under iTunes then Preferences, choose:

1. how often you'd like your podcasts updated (every hour, day, week or by hand)
2. what you want to do when new episodes are availabe (download all or just the latest one)
3. how many back episodes to keep on your iPod (last three, last 10, all unplayed, etc.)

 

• Under the Podcast tab, you can also customize how many episodes of podcasts are loaded to your iPod

• Your iPod will update automatically according to your preferences!

 

Want to subscribe to a podcast that isn't available through iTunes?

1. From the podcast website, locate the feed URL (it should look something like http://heidimiller.libsyn.com/rss or http://feeds.feedburner.com/agreatpodcast)
2. Open iTunes. Under Advanced, click Subscribe to Podcast. Paste the feed URL there and click OK.

If you have feedback on how to make these more for-your-mom clear or a suggestion for the next podcast how-to, please comment below and join in the conversation.  Your feedback is most welcome!

Creating Passionate Communities with Blogs and Podcasts, May 12, Wheaton, IL

Podcast Poll

Wow; crazy. Kevin Behringer just dropped me a note about this podcast poll for the Most Valuable Podcasts. All I can say is that Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter is in good company!

If you're curious, take the poll here!

Interviews and anecdotes

Garr Reynolds, in his masterful Presentation Zen blog, wrote a brilliant and just-what-was-on-my-mind-right now post on interviewing and capturing stories and anecdotes via a YouTube interview with Ira Glass. His take on storytelling:

"The Power of the anecdote is so great...No matter how boring the material is, if it is in story form...there is suspense in it, it feels like something's going to happen. The reason why is because literally it's a sequence of events...you can feel through its form [that it's] inherently like being on a train that has a destination...and that you're going to find something..."

                                              — Ira Glass

Unsurprisingly brilliant, coming from Ira, of course, with a nod to Garr for providing that particular excerpt in his own post.

So as I watched this video of Ira explaining the points of why anecdotes are so engaging and so very human, I  began to wonder how the interviewer could work to bring those out. As an interviewer, Ira seems to have a magical gift for inciting interesting anecdotes. For the rest of us, how would we accomplish that? How do we move from fact-finding questions to a situation in which the interviewee is comfortable enough to actually tell us a story?

Trained interviewees, of course, will have their best point-illustrating anecdotes in their back pockets and will whip them out whether you ask an appropriate question or not. But often we podcasters are interviewing brilliant, insightful people who don't happen to be media-trained. The benefit is that their voices are still real and human, and they don't speak in sound bites. The downside is that they might not have their point-illustrating anecdotes ready to go.

So how do we, as podcasters, draw those out? How do you set up an environment ripe for anecdotes?

Creating Passionate Communities with Blogs and Podcasts, May 12, Wheaton, IL

Interview Techniques at Podcast Expo

OK, I could SWEAR I did a post about my interview techniques seminar being accepted to Podcast Expo. I specifically remember doing the links and typing in the trackbacks. It was a great post, with info on what I did and didn't want the seminar to be and asking for community involvement in its creation. It was an unparalleled masterpiece of a blog posting.

But since it has evaporated, you're stuck with this one. :-p

If you attended the interview techniques seminar at PME last year, you were probably disappointed. While the presenter had interviewed thousands of famous stars, she had little useful advice for podcasters who had no journalism background, no paid staff, and from whom Jennifer Aniston would never return a phone call. I very nearly walked out of the talk when one attendee asked her how to deal with the issue of spacing out during an interview (since we tend to work around day jobs and interview early in the morning or late in the evening, when we're tired and unfocused), and her response was "hire another A(ssistant) P(roducer)."

Um, yeah. I'll get right on that.

Now, I have not interviewed thousands of people. I stutter and lose focus. I have asked boring questions and interesting questions that flopped. I've lost my train of thought. I've laughed at inappropriate times. I have misunderstood what a guest was saying. And I'm quite sure that Jennifer Aniston would not return my phone calls. In fact, I'm in no way qualified to give a seminar on interview techniques except to say how not to do an interview.

What I do know is that some podcasters have very different interview styles--and we can learn from them all. Shel Holtz comes from a PR background, and that man can keep an interview going and sound like he's talking to an old friend. Anna Farmery asks planned, pointed questions and stays on task. Heather Gorridge laughs and jokes her way along with her guests as if you were in her living room. Marc and Fausto have no fear of interrupting their guests, as long as it's for something funny.

What about you? If you podcast, how do you approach the interview with your guests? Do you plan out questions, send him/her the list and stick to it? Do you pause so you can edit your questions in later? Do you just ask one question and go with the flow? What do you do when you have a "brain fart" and can't think of what to ask next? Do you add your own experiences and make it more like a conversation, or do you try to keep the interview 90% guest, 10% you?

And also, any funny stories? I wanna hear the stories!