Trafcom News

How to find podcast topics

Part of the ongoing series of answers to questions from students at the University of Toronto.

Here’s a link to all the student Q&As, including those from 2010.

Question: How do you pick a topic that’s interesting and that others will find interesting too? I’m scared it’s all been done.

Answer: Trust me, it has not all been done. Think of what you’re passionate about, and what your friends and/or colleagues care about. What are these burning issues? This can be the subject of your podcast. We need to speak not only about topics that we know, but topics that we care about. It doesn’t matter if someone else is doing a similar podcast topic. You are you, and you can bring your own voice, your own point of view, and your own feelings to the topic. 

How many podcasts in a series?

Second in a series of answers to questions from students at the University of Toronto. Click here to see the first Q&A, which was on "coming up with podcast ideas."

Question: How many podcasts would you say someone should dedicate to the same topic, which they are thinking of talking about in sequence?

Answer: I think what you’re asking is how much time to devote to a topic in a series within a podcast. In other words, if you produce a podcast on a particular subject, say knitting, then you would do a series of episodes on yarns. (Confession: I know nothing at all about knitting, but I do know that several knitting podcasts exist!)

In my experience, it would be a good idea to jot down what you want to cover, and then decide how many podcasts you would need to do the topic justice. If your podcast is usually short, you’d have to create more episodes on yarn than you would for a one-hour podcast.

Then tell your listeners that you’re doing the series. If you’re sure you will need three or five or six episodes, then you can also let them know how many are in the series.

I hope this helps.           

Coming up with podcast ideas

Last week I again had the pleasure of speaking about podcasting with my friend Joan Vinall-Cox’s class at the University of Toronto. This year she’s teaching Documentary Scripting.

I shared my own experiences with podcasting since I began in 2005, discussed the role of podcasting in communications today, and answered the students’ questions. I loved their questions!

Since the class, a few of the students have submitted additional queries, which I’m going to answer in my blog. So here goes…

Question:  What should we do when we are stuck and are not able to think of a podcast topic? And how can we decide or know whether a topic will be interesting for an audience to listen to?

Answer: Writers, bloggers, speakers, podcasters and others face this challenge all the time. Sometimes when you’re stuck, the best thing to do is something else. Go for a walk, make a cup of tea, read some good writing, or listen to music that makes you feel good. Of course a deadline can offer more inspiration than anything else.

Many great ideas for podcast episodes come to me via friends on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, from the mainstream media (including the Globe and Mail, which arrives with a thump at my front door at 4:30 a.m.), and in the many blogs I read and podcasts I tune into.

If your podcast caters to a particular audience, you should have a good idea of what they want to hear about. Ask them! If you encourage listener comments and suggestions, you are likely to receive some. 

Ideally, your podcast should focus on a specific subject area. If you zero in on your area of expertise or interest, you might be able to come up with an editorial calendar, where you plan your podcast topics in a logical order. Sure, you could react sometimes to news or special discoveries, but for the most part you would stick to your plan. When I work with organizations on their podcasts, I suggest that they create an editorial calendar.

As for the second part of your question, about deciding whether a topic is interesting: Please do encourage feedback from listeners. And check your web statistics as well as the numbers of podcast downloads and subscribers. These stats will reveal a lot about the preferences of your audience.

Fellow podcasters, what would you add to my answer?

Targeting your podcasting work

No. 9 in series

For an explanation of this series, please read this.
To see all the posts in this series, click here.

Questions from Ashley Nguyen:

• How do you find topics for your podcasts?
• How did you decide what type of an audience you want to target?
• How do you cater your work to them?
• How do you decide on the people you want to interview?
• What is the process you go through to get the interview going?

Answers:
My topics usually grow out of my own interests and those of my listeners. Despite the name, Trafcom News is not a headline-driven podcast.  I describe the podcast as a show about communications tactics for people who care about communicating in print, in person and online. So I choose topics I care about, and topics I think my listeners will care about.

My target audience is my colleagues and my clients. I think of them as I prepare and produce each show. What do they find interesting? What are their hot topics? What kind of material would be helpful to them? What might spark a conversation? Ashley, I decided to target this group because it makes sense to me from a business perspective.

As for interview guests, I think I’ve answered this one previously. Some people approach me about being on Trafcom News. In most cases, I’m the one inviting them. Often I’ll meet interesting people at conferences or through organizations I belong to, like IABC.

To get the interview going, there’s a lot that happens before the podcast itself gets rolling. I’ll review the content with the guest beforehand, without telling them the exact questions I’m going to ask. And of course the interviews are edited, so you’re hearing the best of the content.

Can you get your podcast “right” in the first attempt?

No. 8 in a series
For an explanation of this series, please read this.
To see all the posts in this series, click here.

Question from Faiza Si:
I listened to the podcast, “Five ways to kill your podcast.” If you’re careful, can you perfect your podcast in the first attempt?

Answer:
Your question reminds me of the great pains I endured to produce my first few podcasts. Oh, how I cringed at every utterance of "UM." How I edited out every stumble and lip smack.

Soon I realized that I would never produce any episode of my podcast if I tried to be perfect. There is no such thing as perfect.

I think you need to be authentic in your podcast, but at the same time you have to respect your listeners. So please focus on offering great content, and do edit out the lip smacks, the outright errors, and the meanderings. But don’t try to be perfect, because this is a fool’s errand.

Questions about sounds

No. 7 in series

For an explanation of this series, please read this.

To see all the posts in this series, click here.

Questions from Robert Rutigliano

1.    How do you choose when to add sound effects and when not to?

2.    Some people’s voices are just not “attention grabbers.” If you have one of these voices, how do you spice up your podcast to keep your audience interested?

3.    How do you deal with effect vs. distraction? A fuzzy-sounding voice for example may give the listener the impression that the person is on the telephone. Although it may add to the feel and authenticity of the podcast, do you ever find that you have difficulty deciding what adds effect to your podcast and what is just plain distracting?

Answers:

Your questions are all around common themes: sound, audio quality and sound effects. To answer the first question, I add stingers and sound effects in between segments of my podcast. I have read that such change-ups can jog the listener into focusing more closely, and that’s a good thing. However, I am careful to not add too many effects, because it can be distracting.

Regarding your second question: If I am doing a phone interview, I usually state so right up front, so listeners know that the person is coming in via phone. If the audio quality is bad, however, I won’t publish the podcast. Instead, I’ll find another way to conduct the interview, perhaps via Skype.  I believe that there’s no excuse for lousy audio quality for an in-person interview.

Your last question, to me, is the most interesting. I love voices. In fact, I fell in love with my partner at first because of his beautiful voice. However, everyone is not blessed with a strong, vibrant voice. But everyone can learn. I suggest the book The Art of Voice Acting. Or look for a local voice coach. Just being aware of your vocal qualities is a start. Listen to this interview with top voice actor Joe Cipriano for pointers.

Most of all, you can practice, practice, practice. Learn to use your voice, learn to love your voice, and learn to make the most of it.
   

What separates a good podcast from an amazing one?

6th in a series

For an explanation of this series, please read this.
To see all the posts in this series, click here.




Question from Tamara Chandon:
Answer: That depends on the listener. The podcasts that I think are amazing might sound boring to my best friend. A podcast that someone else likes might seem frivolous to me. We all have different tastes in books, movies, food, clothes… and podcasts. But it’s still a good question, because I think there are certain hallmarks of excellent podcasts, in my humble opinion:

• Easy to find and subscribe to
• Content meaningful to the intended audience
• Little or no fluff or filler content
• A point of view
• A conversational tone (especially if more than one speaker)
• Good sound quality, including uniform levels
• Educational or entertaining or (preferably) both

Personally, I like to learn from podcasts, and I usually listen at the gym. So the content has to be relevant to me, and the sound quality has to be good because I refuse to crank up the volume too high.

I’ll flip it back to you. What makes for an amazing podcast?

Panic, gratitude and show notes: A day in the life of a podcaster

Fifth in a series

For an explanation of this series, please read this.
To see all the posts in this series, click here.

Questions from Reina Shishikura:

1. What was the most terrifying moment you have had in your career as a podcaster?
2. Personally, what have you gained from being a podcaster?
3. How long does it take to edit your podcasts and to create show notes?

Fortunately, there have been no terrifying moments. Mild panic, however, did set in a few times:

• When I foolishly did a software upgrade shortly before recording a Skype call, the software I’d been using for ages suddenly created an echo on the connection. In 20 minutes, I had to find, install and test new recording software. Lesson learned: ALWAYS test first, and NEVER do an upgrade right before recording a client’s interview.

• When my hard drive failed in the middle of a major podcasting project, I lost just one file. At that time, I was using CDs for many backups; unfortunately, the CD in question was defective. So, I had a fried hard drive and a CD that could be used only as a coaster. My normal routine today is to keep the original file on the flash memory card in the recorder, another copy on my Mac, a third copy on my Time Capsule and a fourth in the cloud (via my Mobile Me account). Paranoid? No, just cautious.

To answer your second question, I’ve found podcasting to be very satisfying personally and professionally. I love to learn, and there’s always something new to figure out, whether it’s the craft of audio, the shiny gadgets that constantly come on the market, or the new applications of social media to podcasting. Thanks to podcasting, I’ve met so many talented and generous people around the world; many have become good friends. I’m unbelievably grateful for these connections. On the practical side, offering podcasting services to my clients has helped them to communicate better with their audiences, while helping me to expand my business.

I'm a big fan of editing, but it is time-consuming. I’ve answered a similar question about podcast editing here. As for show notes… Ah, in some ways they’re the bane of my existence. Just when you think you’re finished with editing and publishing your podcast, it’s time to write the show notes. If you’re a podcaster like me, anyway. I’ve spoken before about the value of show notes for search engine optimization, for the listeners’ convenience, and for the sake of your interview guest. As Julien Smith says, “Google hates you” if you’re a podcaster who doesn’t do show notes. Read and listen here.

Answering questions about podcast editing

Fourth in a series
For an explanation of the series, please read this post.




Questions from Olivia D’Orazio: Do you edit your own podcasts? What software do you use? How long does it usually take?

The first question is easy to answer: I edit most of my own podcasts. When I’m very busy, or when I’m podcasting a conference – which might include dozens of podcasts a day – I rely on wonderful freelance audio editors. It would be impossible for me to conduct interviews on the conference floor all day, then edit all night. I like to eat and sleep too.

When I started podcasting, like many people, I used Audacity, which is a free program. It works pretty well. I found, however, that Amadeus Pro is much more stable on my Mac, and offers all the features I need. That being said, I usually do the final assembly of my files in Garage Band. And I use ID3 Editor to generate my ID3 tags. So the workflow looks something like this:

1. Edit the (uncompressed) WAV files in Amadeus Pro.
2. Use the Levelator if necessary to even out the volume.
3. Bring the files into Garage Band where I can add the intro and outro music, stingers, etc.
4. Save the file as an MP3 in Garage Band.

(If the sound file isn’t clean, I might also use Sound Soap, which can get rid of some of the background noise. I want to emphasize, however, that you’re much better off starting with a clean recording. Don’t rely on post-production to mask your mistakes.)

The last question is the hardest to answer. My general guideline is to allow one hour of editing for every 15 minutes of recording time. Sometimes when I’m doing my own Trafcom News Podcast, the editing goes pretty quickly. When I’m editing an interview with lots of gaps, ums and ahs, and so on, it takes longer. The most time-consuming edits involve content that must be re-ordered. Fortunately, Amadeus Pro allows you to drop markers, so you can “see” what you’re doing, not just hear it.

This editing time does not include the production of show notes. We’ll cover that in another Q&A.

Related post: The Podcasters’ Checklist

Related post: Why does my audio sound so bad?

The podcast voice

Third in a series
For an explanation of the series, read this post.

Questions from Claire Saunders

1. Is your podcast voice your “normal” speaking voice, or are you painfully aware of the sound of your own voice while you are recording?
2. Do you consciously “work” the whole time you are recording to animate your voice to sound as appealing as it does?
3. Have you ever taken voice lessons?

Answers

These are really smart questions, and not easy to answer. Why? Because a lot of what a podcaster does while recording is intuitive. I’m actually curious to hear what my fellow podcasters would say about this. Here are my answers:

• My podcast voice is my normal voice, only better. In other words, I am more conscious of my voice and diction when I’m podcasting, because I want people to listen and to feel the tone of the message I’m trying to convey.  (As I think about it, I realize that I make the same effort for an in-person presentation.) I believe that listeners appreciate a podcaster who doesn't slur words or rush as if the studio's on fire.

• If I have a cold, or if I’m tired, or if I’m at a conference and have already recorded 12 podcasts in a day, my voice will not be in top shape and I can hear the difference. Can listeners tell? I’m not sure. If the content is important, they won’t care too much about a scratchy throat.

• As for animation, yes, I am very conscious of being animated. Over the years I’ve developed a few tricks. First, stand up if you can while recording. This will impart more energy to your voice. And don’t be afraid to use hand gestures while you’re talking. Even though no one can see you, your gesticulations will convey life into your words. Try it.

• I have taken voiceover lessons, which were very helpful to build my confidence before I started podcasting. A good vocal coach can help you to identify the strengths and weaknesses in your vocal presentation. Over the years a few novice corporate podcasters have asked me to help them improve their delivery. Adding animation to their voices is usually task No. 1. I often suggest that they slow down too.

Related post: Voiceover tips from Joe Cipriano.