Boagworld Shares Advice on Podcasting

by Tom Johnson on Feb 16, 2007
categories: technical-writing

Boagworld shares some worthwhile advice on podcasting. If you skip ahead to minute 37, you'll get to the part about podcasting. Here's what Paul and Marcus said that I found interesting:

• Your listeners are listening to your podcast while doing something else, such as driving, exercising, or working. So you only have part of their attention. The implication is that your content has to be somewhat light, not requiring 100% attention to absorb.
• Although people may initially download your podcast to learn something, if you want them to listen to it week after week, you need to add entertainment appeal. Like the DJs on a radio station, the podcasters need to have character and be pleasing to listen to.
• Co-hosting the podcast makes it easier to sustain. If you go it alone for a long period of time, delivering the podcast can become arduous. The co-host gives you someone to bounce ideas off and keep things going.
• Your podcast needs to have a purpose. The purpose of the Boagworld podcast is to provide a marketing vehicle for Headscape, their web design company.
• Deliver the podcast on a regular schedule. If you set to deliver it weekly, do so, even if you don't feel up to it sometimes. If you can't deliver weekly, deliver every "fortnight" or every month.

I have been thinking about the purpose of the Tech Writer Voices podcast. It is not a marketing vehicle for the STC. I suppose it serves the same purpose as this blog: a tool for learning. We are also trying to deliver it on a weekly basis.