Thinking About a More Personal Style of Podcasting
May 27th, 2008 | Posted in Podcasts 8 Comments »
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I listened to a couple of podcasts back to back tonight that, taken alone, might not have had as strong an impact on me as they did together. The first was Mark in Canada’s “Musings of a Tech Writer — Episode 21,” in which he lists the top 10 most annoying things podcasters do. Then I listened to Scott Nesbitt’s interview of Theresa Mulvihill Talbot about XML. Both are excellent podcasts, but I realized that I’m more drawn by the personal podcast, even if it’s not as informative.
This caused me to seriously reflect because almost all of my podcasts are interview-driven podcasts. I pick someone knowledgeable about a suject I’m interested in, think of a handful of questions, and then call them up and interview them.
This approach works fairly well to generate content easily and quickly, without requiring much preparation on my part. However, it’s not as powerful as the personal podcast, nor even as engaging as the cohost podcast. Given my affinity for personal essays, I want to move in the direction of the personal podcast as well, only I think I’ll either try to read my essays in a non-reading voice, or use them as an outline, or something, I’m not sure — I want to bring my audio endeavors more back to my own writing.
Mark’s number 2 thing that drives him crazy about podcasts is as follows:
Podcasters who take their show and themselves very seriously.
This is another point that made me stop and think. People have been telling me I take things too seriously all my life. In fact, on the very first date with my wife, nearly 10 years ago, she said something similar, like, “Tom, do you really take things so seriously?” At the time, we were English majors reading and talking about people like Whitman and Chaucer, and it was easy to talk about the books we were reading as if they were the sine qua non of a well-lived life.
At least my career in technical writing has taught me to lighten up a bit, since a technical manual isn’t nearly as important as Leaves of Grass.
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Tags: chaucer, mark gates, personal podcast, Podcasting, Scott Nesbitt, whitman
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Tom,
I think there’s a place for both types of podcasts. Your interview podcasts are better alternatives to listening to the audio of conference presentations or watching the slides on slideshare, because the podcasts provide more of a complete picture.
A good essay podcast is probably a rare and courageous thing: It has a point worth arguing about, presented in an engaging manner. It could allow for more personal, reflective topics.
From my personal experience with public speaking and presenting, I would always recommend using an outline, not a script – if you can get the nerve up at all. Outlines take less time to prepare, tempt you less to polish them and make for more lively speaking. You’ll still find out what doesn’t work while recording and can backtrack…
“… a technical manual isn’t nearly as important as Leaves of Grass.”
Amen to that (security-related manual contents to protect life and limb notwithstanding…).
Tom,
I have to agree with Kai. You definitely need to mix things up a bit. Interviews are good (and yours are, trust me). Getting a little more personal and opinionated is good. But too much of one can be a bit too much.
Your recent block of interviews is understandable — you were at a conference, got a number of people on MP3, and needed to post them in a timely manner. Nothing wrong with that; you didn’t wait several months like a couple of podcasters we know …
The only way you can find out if the more personal episodes work is to try a few. It’s difficult doing that solo. Aaron and I can get away with it (most of the time) because we can play off one another. No reason not to give it a shot, though.
Scott
I really enjoy your podcast, but I agree that it might be even better if you were to personalize it more. But even if you were to keep it exactly the same, I would still look forward to every episode. I generally listen to it on the way to work, and it helps me transition from “sleepy commuter” to “idea-filled tech writer, ready to conquer the documentation challenges of the day” … kind of like what happens to Clark Kent in the phone booth, only different.
I loved that last line of your post! So true!
Ninas last blog post..My Garden, and Some Before & After Pics
Kai, Scott, and Nina,
Thanks for your feedback on this post. I appreciate your guiding me when I look out onto a new landscape and think about moving in that direction.
Keeping a good mix of podcasts is definitely the right thing to do. I’m an experimenter and I like to try different things, so look forward to some variety in the upcoming weeks.
Next week I’ll be heading to the STC Summit and I’m wondering what approach I should take for interviewing. I don’t like to repeat the same approach again and again. It gets boring for me.
If you have any innovative ideas for new approaches for STC Summit podcasts, let me know. Thanks again for your feedback. And Nina, I just have to say that I was pleased to hear that you listen to my podcasts while driving to work. So many people tell me they listen to podcasts while at their computer, and I can never quite understand how they manage that, unless they’re frequently engaged in endless formatting activities.
I used to listen to podcasts while I drove to work, but now I take the train and work on my laptop. So now I listen to podcasts while shooting three-pointers at the gym. Works well in both cases.
Tom,
What are the problems that you see with your approach? If you want to discuss this in some detail, email me or if you see me on Skype give me a call. You can use me as an impartial sounding board.
Scott
My friends will find out about this amazing article! Thanks!
I like your podcast just as they are. However trying to make it more personal could only make it better. I think no matter what way you go with your podcast it will be great. Keep up the good work!
I don’t normally comment on blogs but your post was a real help. Thank you for a great topic, I will be sure to bookmark your site and check it out again. Cheers, Amy xXx.