Several years ago I took notes while attend a wonderful sf/f symposium called Life The Universe and Everything. This panel was very educational. Hope you enjoy the notes. The panelists are: Howard Taylor, Dan Wells, Robinson Wells.

Now until a few years ago, I didn’t know what podcasting was so here is a short explanation. It is where a person or several persons will audio and/or video record themselves discussing a topic. In put the video/audio up on the internet, web site or podcast sites. One good example is “writing excuses” where the people on this panel discuss writing and use their humor, their fun personalities and professional experiences to make their discussions a fun. Fans can listen to past podcasts, each of which touch upon various topics.

-The point of a podcast is to have a specific radio show that can touch upon multiple subtopics under that main subject such as writing such examples as http://www.writingexcuses.com/ and http://www.appendixpodcast.com/2011/01/season-1-episode-1-writing-and-stuff/
-Pod casting lets you promote yourself and your work. + Pod cast is one more way to connect with your audience / fans. + Podcasts permit you to discuss subjects that you know or interest you.
-How do you get people to listen to you:
1. Announce your podcast at symposiums and conferences that cover the topic that you podcast about.
2. Then you need to motivate them to come back.
3. You need credentials that will show value in your knowledge and motivate listeners to seek out your opinion.
4. The Podcast needs to be on a subject you feel qualified to discuss.
5. It’s fun to share what you know with others.
6. You need to differentiate your podcast from the others that might touch upon the same subject. You might do this by concentrating upon a certain category of an overall topic such as the business end of writing or the banter between radio hosts might keep people interested. Listen on ITunes to see what others are doing and what their specialty is and make yours different with its own twist that will lure people to yours over others.
-Sit together during the taping of a podcast so you can play off each other’s energy. You can also give hand signals to others if once member is starting to ramble so you can pick up the pacing.
-Don’t ramble about what ever topic interests you at the moment have each program be created with a purpose and theme.
-The most important equipment is a high quality mike system for podcasts. Involve someone who has the necessary knowledge to make a successful and quality podcast. Surround yourself with people who have the knowledge you need.
-You may podcast with people who contribute to a well rounded program or have different expertise.
-Odyssey software lets you edit pod casts. Bad editing can interrupt the energy of a podcast.
-Create some extra episodes to put in the buffer to be featured incase life gets in the way for you to create new content in a timely manor.
-To be successful you need to be entertaining. You need to fulfilled a need. The length of the program will determine who or when someone will listen. If its 15 min. than someone may listen during their work break. If it’s a half hour they might listen during lunch. If the program is over an hour then a different time will need to be chosen to listen
-Existing and recommended Podcasts: Escape Pod, Podio books, castle pod. Hard core history by Dan Carlon. He discusses how history handled different topics.

Personal note, I have the goal to put a little more skin in the game when it comes to my personal blogs, which means that I want to try to personalize my blog by observations or a personal antidotes that helps apply specific subject matter to my own life. So the following is some brainstorming:

-Possible Pod cast: Plot Doctors or object lessons for teaching
-Podcast: using humor to teach lessons.
-These could be 5 min pod casts posted up at my web site.
-Search ITunes for podcasts to a. see what’s out there and b. to see how they do it.
-Have a Book of lists pod cast, where I share a checklist of what to look for when shopping for something. This would come from the data I collect from my web searches.

If you have done a pod cast or plan to do one, what ideas do you have? Do you plan to do it solo or with someone? Please share your observations in the comments section of the blog. Thanks