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English 317: Techncal Writing

Podcasting

• Why you are doing this• About podcasts• Creating your podcast

© 2015 Karen L. Thompson Department of English University of Idaho

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Why you are doing this:

• Podcasts are a 21st century workplace communication product.

• Knowing what they are, how to produce one, and what constitutes an effective podcast is a transferable skill.

• Podcasting is another communication skill set you can put into the tool kit you are building while in this course.

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About Podcasts• A podcast is a multimedia file distributed by

subscription over the Internet using syndication feeds and played back on a personal computer or mobile device.

• A podcast can be an audio or video file, but for this project, we’ll concentrate on developing your audio skills.

• Businesses and organizations increasingly use podcasts to communicate to both internal and external audiences.

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External Audiences

• Podcasts are an easy way to deliver content to a worldwide audience.

• Creates a personal connection by delivering information when audiences are looking for hands-free content.

• Businesses or organizations may create their own podcasts or outsource podcasting.

• External podcast content must provide information of value to consumers. So, the podcast should not be just a commercial for a product but offer to inform, educate, motivate, instruct (as in providing audio documentation) or entertain the audience.

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Internal Communication

• Podcasts are efficient way for employees, departments, and divisions to communicate. They can also significantly reduce costs.

– one company saved over $200,000 by replacing conference calls with podcasts.

• Podcasts are also useful to create a sense of community between employees who are not in the same location.

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Creating Your Podcast

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Audience and Purpose

• Your purpose is to create the podcast about research at the University of Idaho for an external audience of potential or current students and/or interested members of the public.

• The topic is your choice, but consider specific research that people or doing or a research program at UI.

• In bblearn, you will find a link to the Research and Development pages which is a good place to start.

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Technology You will Need• Microphone. Most computers have an integrated microphone

that works for this project, but if you need to purchase one, buy an inexpensive (less than $20) one. The syllabus has a link to some options. Also, if you are on campus, the Media Center will loan you a mic for free.

• Free cloud-computing podcast-creating tool.– You will find a list of these in bblearn.– You will need to create an account to use one of the tools.– Use the free version only. Keep in mind that you cannot submit

your audio file (MP3) to bblearn. It must be hosted either by the tool you use to create it or downloaded from the tool and uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo, or other site.

• Quiet place to use when creating the podcast.

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Writing the Podcast Script

• Podcasts (and all things casting) need to be thought through and carefully planned.

• The project handout contains a suggested outline to use to write the script.

• Basically, you want to keep the format to one or two sentences at a time with white space between each section of sentences, so you can easily refer to it.

• Think through what you want to say exactly and how you want to say it.

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Writing the Script continued

• Choose simple words and short sentences.

• Write for the ear. You want to sound conversational.

• Use active voice.

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Writing the Script continued

• Some people like to mark their script to help them remember where to pause or emphasize something.

• See the next slide for an example.

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Marking a Script

• Here’s an example from Trafcom -- a communication blog.

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Developing an Effective Audio Style

• Be yourself. Introverts typically speak more slowly while extraverts will be more dramatic in their speaking style.

• Don’t manufacture enthusiasm but care about what you are saying.

• Say your audio message as you would in real life.

• Allow for imperfections. Focus on speaking from the heart. It’s not about performing but being real.

• Listen to yourself. Play the podcast and listen to it. If you were the audience, would you be interested in listening?

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Vocal Tips continued

• Listen to your voice. Are you:– Speaking loudly enough? You don’t want to shout but be

certain you are sitting with good posture and not your head down, so your voice is loud enough.

– Speaking too fast? The ideal speaking rate should be between 120 to 160 words per minute, so check your speaking rate.

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Vocal Tips continued• Be certain to speak loudly enough and that your

microphone is close enough.

• Check your speaking rate. Ideally, it should be between 120 to 160 words per minute.

• Check your pitch. For the most part, audiences will view a high pitched voice with nervousness. Don’t try to be unnatural with pitch, but work on lowering it if you think it’s too high. The next slide explains how.

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Vocal Tips: Pitch

• Notice how you breathe. Are you breathing mostly from the chest and shallowly?

• Try breathing from your diaphragm by putting your hand on your abdomen and breathe. You should feel your stomach expand as you breathe.

• Try to breathe at the end of every sentence. You should have enough air to say the next sentence without having to take a breath.

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Choose a Podcasting Tool

• I like SoundCloud, but you will find other free choices in bblearn.

• Create a free account (you don’t need to pay for anything).

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Start Recording• set up your microphone

• follow the directions from the tool you have chosen for how to start recording.

• for example, here is the dashboard in SoundCloud. All you need to do is hit the rec button.

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Optional Additions

• The only requirement for this podcast is that you record your voice, but if you want to get fancy, try adding music to open and close your podcast.