Saturday, October 27, 2007

PodCamp Boston 2: Smart Plan, Sexy 'Cast with Andrea Mercado

She specializes in library technology planning. Podcasts sessions with authors, interviews, etc. Has a blog LibraryTechtonics

- what do people use to subscribe to podcasts?

iTunes, Miro (can be used for videos and podcasts)

- go and listen to as many podcasts; watch as many vidcasts in your area as you can as research to see what is already being done. Gives you a starting point for areas you might be more knowledgeable in, what length to run them for, learn from their successes

- what is a successful 'cast really varies for the area you are in

- is there something of interest to your planning process

- is your niche already full? In that case, offer to be guest host, help with the 'cast that already exists in your niche

Have there been any recent instant rockstars? Not really - easy for everyone to do it, so harder to stand out. 'Cast like RocketBook went instantly viral because it was new. Now it is about creating a niche for yourself.

Considerations: how much do you have to spend on budget, equipment, time?

At the beginning you may just record and put it out raw, but over time you will want to spend more time editing, making it more polished.

Whatever you are recording, it is to your benefit to be wearing headphones so you can hear what it sounds like-- you can adjust levels as you record. Will save yourself production time. Headsets with microphones don't cost that much. Recording software such as castblaster can cost like $50. Or Audacity is free - allows you to do downloading, editing, exporting into MP3 etc.

Can host onto your own site all in one place, or distribute to other sites;

Don't let your podcast be an "abandoned baby" on Talkshoe...

You don't need to have a five-year plan, but set yourself goals, motivations. Keep it simple in the beginning.

Ask others doing what you want to do--ask them questions about what they are doing.

What is your goal with your podcast?

You need to do some homework, do some up-front work which will likely make it more sustainable;

Plan for time to add liner notes, show notes - please put notes in for people, times when each speaker starts (for example).

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