by Stephen Schleicher

So you think you want to do your own show?  Where do you begin?

The biggest piece of advice we can give you is have something to say, some unique offering to the listener, a perspective, or expertise. 

Once you have an idea, create a proposal for your show - even if it's just for your own use.  This is essential because the proposal can keep you on track and ensure your show never drifts from its intended purpose. 

In your proposal describe your show - tell me what it's about.   (purpose)
What topics will you cover?   (content)
How often will you produce the show?  (schedule)
Who is the listener?  (target audience)
Why do listener want to listen to you?  (needs)
Importantly why SHOULD they listen to you? (expertise)

Then do some research find out if there are other shows that cover the same material as you.  Charlie and I also cover the professional film and video industry, and we could have easily done our show on this topic. 

However, there are other podcasts that had been around much longer that were serving the audience just fine.  We discovered at the time there were not that many shows covering the broad range of topics that we do and many of them just regurgitated news and didn't bring any new perspective or answers to listeners.  This was our niche.

With a good solid direction for your show it's now time to figure out what type of podcast you want to create.  There different flavors of podcasts.

The first is the traditional audio podcast.  These audio only files are either MP3 or AIFF formats that can play on any portable MP3 player.  This flavor allows you reach the largest audience and the majority of all podcasts use this method. 

One of the disadvantages of an audio only podcasts is just that it’s audio only.  You need to make sure your message is clear in what you say in how you present it.  These are also the easiest to produce.

All you need is a computer, microphone, or standalone recorder, a connection to the Internet and something to say.

The second podcast flavor is the enhanced podcast.  Enhanced podcasts allow you to insert pictures, chapter markers, and links to web sites, which as the name implies enhances your message.

Images allow you to present information more clearly, show an example, or provide visual interest. 

Chapters allow the listener to quickly accessing a specific portion of your show skip ahead or repeat a valuable piece of information.  The ability to embed hyperlinks can bring value addedness to your show.  If you are creating a podcast about legislation you can put a link to the specific bill, statute, ruling, or judgment.  The listener simply clicks and the web page opens all while continuing  to listen to your show. 

Some of the software applications that allow you to create an enhanced podcast include podcast AV, podcast maker, and Apple's GarageBand. 

While you can play enhanced podcasts on a Mac or PC, unfortunately enhanced podcast can only be created on a Mac at this point in time.  Also, enhanced podcasts can only be played on iPods, iTunes, or through a QuickTime player.  The good news is iPods comprise nearly 85% of the portable MP3 market.

For three months we experimented with enhanced podcasts.  While we didn't lose any listeners, we did receive a great deal of feedback from people who could not play the shows on their iRiver, RIO, or other portable device.  The podcasts also took while to produce. 

Of course this was before GarageBand 3.0 came out with the ability to create enhanced podcast directly in the application. 

When determining if you need to create an enhanced podcast ask yourself if you have the time to spend creating the enhanced material and if there is value for the listener.

The final podcast flavor is the video podcast or vodcast.  The video podcasts are nothing more than small video programs delivered to your door.  It's just like watching television. 

There are some great video podcast there.  Tiki bar TV rocketboom and Mo Buzz TV are great examples of what can be in when you spend the time, effort, energy, and money, on the show. 

Unfortunately there is an even larger number of video podcasts that suck.  A webcam of yourself looking into the camera with no other information presented is boring.  And there are large number of shows that are just that. 

The video podcast is one of the most time-consuming shows to produce.  Instead of an audio recorder and microphone you now need a microphone, lights, camera, tripod, location, and much much more.  Also video podcasts result in much larger file sizes which means it is going to take your listener much longer to download.

How long does it take to produce one episode of the Coolness Roundup? 

Charlie and I spend roughly four or five hours each week researching the subject matter, finding new information, or updating our files of current information.

Even though the show runs roughly 1 hour we end up spending about two hours recording the show because we have to compare notes and communicate about other issued before the show and after on what went right what went wrong and what needs to be improved for the following week. 

It then takes approximately an hour to do any postproduction to our show and another 20 minutes or so to upload the content to our server and update our web site. 

Essentially a full day is used in the creation of the Coolness Roundup.  Keep this in mind when you're producing your show.  Podcasts are not a spur of the moment production if you want to them to be good.

So now that you know what your show is going to be about and what type of podcast you are going to create, let's talk about the actual recording of the podcast.

If you just doing the show by yourself with no other interaction - all you need to do is record your message and post. 

Next Week: Creating a Podcast, Part 2

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