It’s been a while since I’ve published outtakes from an interview and with the tight format of my Electric Sky Portrait episodes (10 minutes each), there are plenty. Here are the contents of the virtual cutting room floor from this week’s interview with Stephen Gritt, Chief Conservator, Restoration and Conservation of the National Gallery of Canada.
When you think about it, storytelling is a constant in any form of media including audio and video. Even when the content is meant to educate or convey a procedure, there’s some method to the delivery that can be identified as storytelling. The fact is, information is easier to remember when the consumer can relate to the content and the use of stories is an amazing way to make that connection for your audience.
Your challenge this week is to think carefully about how you present your content and find ways to enhance your message through storytelling. Remember the best stories have a beginning, middle and an end — three acts if you like — and they don’t clutter the story with unnecessary details.
If you have any questions feel free to email me, markblevis@gmail.com. Your next challenge will be available next week at markblevis.com.
Though I don’t have the facts and figures in front of me, I’ve been told and have experienced for many years that the winter months are mentally and emotionally hard on a lot of people; the reduced hours of daylight, the long stretches between holiday weekends, the increased workload and the absence of neighbours (people you see regularly during the summer months).
Similarly, in social media, there’s frequently long periods of silence on blogs, podcast and social networking sites that can wear us down. Sometimes those silences can be understood. In most cases they happen for no apparent reason.
Your challenge for this week is to accept these periods of quiet as opportunities to take pressure off of yourself instead of stepping it up. And, knowing that those silences can be deafening, take a few minutes to comment on one blog you follow closely and another that you’ve just discovered. Make the comment strong and on topic to make the site’s creator feel that their content means something to you.
If you have any questions feel free to email me, markblevis@gmail.com. Your next challenge will be available next week at markblevis.com.
One thing many podcasters will tell you they like about their hobby is the opportunities is creates to connect with people. That could be the host of a podcast connecting with the listener, co-hosts that share a vibe, an impromptu discussion with someone on the street, or a planned interview with a friend or celebrity. Done well, you’ll invite your listener into The Zone – to borrow baseball parlance – and that’ll keep your audience coming back.
Your challenge this week is to incorporate a co-host or guest in your show and take advantage of the opportunity to connect with that person. You may not find The Zone in your first attempt. It can take some practice to find the right balance of speaking, modulating your voice, pacing your words, tapping into the energy of the moment and, most importantly… listening.
If you have any questions feel free to email me, markblevis@gmail.com. Your next challenge will be available next week at markblevis.com.
As new media producers, we tend to get excited about producing our podcasts. We run out and buy equipment and jump right in with recording our shows.
I don’t know many podcasters who’ve taken the time to experiment with their equipment and try it out in different settings.
Your challenge this week is to put your microphone and yourself through a series of tests. Try placing your microphone at different distances and angles from your mouth to see which placement creates the recording that gives your voice the sound you like the most. As you record, explain where the microphone is in relation to your mouth so that when you listen back you can identify the placement.
Of course, you don’t have to publish the results. Just take the time to learn how your microphone and your voice interact to give you the best sound.
If you have any questions feel free to email me, markblevis@gmail.com. Your next challenge will be available next week at markblevis.com.
I met Brian Conley in September at PodCamp Philly. It was one of those meetings and conversations that you always remember because the person is so passionate, so committed to making this world a better place. Brian is one of the forces behind Alive in Baghdad, a video podcast that’s helping to raise awareness of a situation that the world is being misled on and, in many cases, choosing to deny. Brian is also a force behind Alive in Mexico.
I spoke with Brian on the phone as part of my research for one of my Defining Moments columns in Podcast User Magazine. This edition of my Sound Connections podcast features most of that conversation.
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Photo: gpiper
As an interviewer, it’s always exciting when a guest delivers great answers and insight. As a producer, it makes the task of streamlining the interview to fit a specific format extremely difficult; even stressful.
Miles Copeland, former manager of The Police, was an amazing guest. I published our interview on the Electric Sky podcast site on August 20, 2006. This edition of my Sound Connections podcast features the outtakes.
I had the privilege of hanging out with Linda Mills, editor of Podcast User Magazine, during PodCamp Philly. Among other things — and perhaps this is obvious — we spoke about podcasting and the challenges that lie ahead for both the community and the technology. Then Linda convinced me to accost unsuspecting students of Drexel University to find out what they know about podcasts.
This episode of my Sound Connections podcast documents that experience and finishes with an animated announcement made over the public address system in the train station. All transportation announcements should be that fun.
Sound connections is a phrase full of meaning for the world of Web 2.0, social media and in-person networking. It speaks to me on my work as a new media consultant, podcast producer, community builder, pubic speaker and conference organizer — everything I do is about making meaningful (or sound) connections with ideas, creativity and people.
Like the work I do and the life I live, my micro manifesto is a work in progress and it guides me to the make sound connections.
As part of this journey, I’m rebranding my blog, markblevis.com, and its accompanying podcast, to echo “sound connections”.
New media consulting and audio productions for traditional and Internet-based distribution including narrative, interview, documentary, conference coverage and promotional programs. Our podcasting experts and new media specialists will help you take your brand and message to the world.
PAB2008, the third annual international podcasting extravaganza, took place in Kingston, Ontario (Canada) on June 20-22, 2008. Audio of the conference sessions is available at the Canadian Podcast Buffet.
I served as bass player for various, early, incarnations of the Robert Farrell Band, last performing with Robert in 1997. After a long hiaitus from music to focus on family and a career, I started working on my first CD, real, in 2004 — before I discovered Podcasting.
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