It’s easy to get caught up in the technology, and the technical aspects of production—certainly for me!—but even more important is what you do before you hit the “record” button!

The time you put in to planning and preparation has a huge impact on the quality of your show. Whether you’re a veteran, or you’re just getting started, it’s important think critically to help your podcast reach it’s full potential!

Planning Your Podcast

Don’t go in without a plan. Especially when you’re just getting started, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement, and during that honeymoon period, to go all-in. Alternately, you’ve decided that you want to do a podcast–now what?! Having a plan can be crucial for long-term success.

Topic

Not sure what your topic should be? Podcast your passion! Podcast what you know, what you would talk about anyway, what you love so much you can’t stop talking about it! When it becomes a grind, you need that passion to push through.

Don’t be tempted to fall in to the trap of covering a topic you’re not passionate about–if you don’t have the passion it will show through, and it won’t be fun for you to produce, or for people to listen to. You don’t have to be an expert, but you have to be passionate about your topic!

One of the strengths of podcasting and new media is is being able to focus on niche topics–but what do you do if your niche is already saturated? How do you put a unique spin on it? At the very least, your own personality, you’re own perspective, is unique!

Format

Format is the structure of your show, and lacking the rigid rules of traditional media, it can mean as much or as little as you want it too–you don’t have to break at specific times for commercials.

Many podcasts follow a standard structure of segmented content. For example, for Podcast Perspective, you have the identification–“You’re listening to Podcast Perspective Episode 7…” which is very useful to help people know what they’re listening to when flipping through their MP3 players–the standard introduction, then two to three in-depth segments about a specific topic. Alternately, you might have an introduction, top news stories, an interview, and then more in-depth news discussion.

Having a consistent format can be very advantageous. Even if your show is freeform, then the format is that there is no specific format!

Length

As podcasters, we’re not subject to the strict limitations of radio and television, but just because you can have your show be as long as you want doesn’t mean you should!

A good rule of thumb is to keep your show around or shorter than most people’s average commute time: 30-40 minutes.

If your show is longer, or an hour or more, unless it’s packed to the gills with can’t miss content–in which case you might want to consider breaking it up in to two more shorter episodes–it can become a chore to listen to. Having longer podcast isn’t inherently bad, but all too often it’s because the content has gone off the rails.

Try to keep it as short ascan be, so you’re not wasting people’s time, while still being natural and faithful to your vision!

Frequency

How often are you going to release new episodes:

• Every week? (Weekly)


• Every other week? (Bi-Weekly)


• Every month? (Monthly?)


• Ever weekday? (Daily?)

Give yourself enough time between episodes to avoid burnout, while being frequent enough to build a routine and build an audience–for example, every week.

Production

Don’t forget to factor in production time, usually two to four times more the running time of the finished episode. If you have a thirty minute show, expect to spend up to two hours or more between planning and preparation, recording, and editing and post-production–plan accordingly!

“Freshness”

Some content or topics are “evergreen”, and can remain relevant after time has passed, while others–such as news or current events–can be very time sensitive. Make sure that your content is still fresh by the time you release a new episode–people don’t want to hear weeks old news.

Show Preperation

How much preperation do you do, how detailed are your show notes? There are two common extremes:

Unprepared

Totally off the cuff, stream of consciousness, just throwing it out there with little to know preperation–why? Is it some objection to beingg “too polished”?

Very few people can talk intelligently on the fly. Most of the time when you hear people, especially on radio or television talk, they might sound like it’s just off the top of their head, but they do a lot of preperation and have a lot of practice. Without preperation, most people tend to ramble or rely on verbal crutches such as “um” and “err”–a little preperation never hurt anybody!

Scripted

Some might want to script out their show, to write it down every last word, leaving nothing to chance. Sometimes, especially for very short, compact shows, this is appropriate, but it’s very rare to be able to read from a script and not sound like you’re reading, and we usually don’t write the way we tend to speak–in starts and stops and incomplete sentences. Scripting can sound unnatural and removes energy and spontaneity? If you’re concerned about sounding intelligent and professional, remember that editing is your friend!

Happy Medium

Find that happy medium that gives you sufficient notes and preparation while still giving you room to breathe! A bulleted list or outline format might work best, to include all the points you want to cover, as detailed or general as you want it to be.

You might realize you barely need to reference these notes–the act of writing can help internalize information, and point out any flaws or gaps that you might want to add.

One exception to the “no scripting” rule is your intro and outro, for which it can be very advantageous to be consistent for every episode.

Find what works best for you!

Share Your Thoughts!

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Suggestions? I welcome your feedback! Send your written text or recorded audio to PodcastPerspective@Gmail.com or call 424-254-9763, or leave a comment below!

Podcast Consulting:

I am available for one on one podcast consulting, podcast evaluation, audio production, and voice over work. I’d love to work with you to make your podcasting dreams a reality. If you’re interested, please contact me!

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