Michele Ong, is the host of Steam Powered and she joins Pilar all the way from Australia.
Michele started podcasting because she wanted to get a better idea of what women were doing in the STEAM fields. She knew many women doing incredible things in their work and their lives, and wanted to share their stories with others.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics/ medicine, but Michele talks about STEAM, as it includes “art”, which is key when interacting with technology and engineering.
Michele has a background in computer science and she builds web applications for a living, but is also interested in other areas of science. She started the show in May 2020, although she’d been thinking about doing so for a year before that. It took her a bit of time to get going and she didn’t expect people to take time out of their schedule to talk to her on the show.
However, after a year, she had everything planned, including the editing workflow. She approached her first guest, a friend who works in biochemical science working on stem cell research. Michele was interested in talking to her because there is a lot of misconception around stem cell research. She continued inviting some of her friends and contacts to onto the show, and ask them to recommend future guests.
Michele asks people to guest on her show after reading their research or coming across the work. Sometimes the women don’t accept, but this doesn’t surprise her. What did surprise her were those people who replied saying they didn’t think they would make good guests because their work was boring. This kind of mindset was a surprise to Michele – and to Pilar as she heard Michele’s story.
With this example we can see the importance of podcasting in giving attention and reassurance to people who think their work is not interesting to anyone. Some people simply don’t want the attention and just want to get on with their work, but others underplay their contribution to the field. Sometimes we need someone else’s perspective to understand the impact and scale of our work.
Far from not having much to say about their work, these guests are more than happy to talk, and conversations go far beyond the 30 minutes that Michele thought would make up her episodes.
Apart from getting their ideas out there, there is a benefit to guests by simply creating the space for them to reflect on their work for about an hour, to talk without an agenda, with no KPIs in mind: they’re simply talking about what they love doing.
Michele researches her guests online: their online presence and their work, and asks them what they’d like to talk about. For some of the more technical topics, she needs a crash course in their topics, eg researching black holes when she interviewed an astrophysicist. (Pilar thinks this is very brave, because she’s been caught out on occasions not knowing enough about a topic and not being able to go deep into the conversation.)
Michele sometimes brings up her limited knowledge around the guests’s topic, so they can both work together to make the conversation work for the listener, (and Michele) e.g. by giving examples of how to apply the science to ordinary life.
When Michele is approached by third parties recommending their clients or bosses as guests, she tries to figure out what angle they might take with their subject matter, and whether they’ll be able to adapt to the feel and focus of the show. Sometimes it’s obvious that they’re not the right fit, but other times she starts a conversation to see what kind of things they might talk about – plus she’s really nosy, which is a great quality for a podcast host!
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Michele has a release form for her guests making the copyright clear, after hearing from other podcasters that they’d had problems with some guests. As Michele wants to be able at some point to repurpose her content, she thinks it’s better to be prepared. You can find the Guest Intake Form, with the Release copy at the end here.
Michele started the show as a video show, to increase the visibility of her guests, literally. But after releasing her first the episodes, some of the listeners mentioned that they would prefer to have an audio version.
Michele has found that some guests perform better on video. Some of the video episodes have larger audiences than some audio episodes, and the other way round.
The editing happens first on the video, and then Michele rips the audio off to turn it into the audio version – though she doesn’t edit much. When cleaning the audio, she edits out some silences, which feel more awkward in audio than video.
At the moment, Michele clips out little snippets for promos, but she would like to have topic-based edits, as they would have value for listeners. Turning the podcast into some kind of text-based content is another thing she’d like to explore, to make more of the information from the podcast accessible to people.
Michele is in charge of the whole production process from beginning to end, and it’s pretty much self-taught. She’s summarised everything she’s learned and shared it with the world in The Rail Yard section of her website. She has documented everything she’s learned along the way and shared her resources. Do check it out, as well as a space full of resources that might be useful, it’s a great example of how to showcase your podcast. www.micheleong.com/rail-yard/
Every conversation that Michele has provides her with a wealth of information – it’s like having a mentor through every conversation, as they talk about their lives and their careers. She’s learned the many commonalities we have, regardless of where we’re from or what we do. It’s a privilege to be able to speak to all these people.
On the one hand, as a woman in STEAM, you want to be visible and share your insights, but there is the a danger that if you get to vocal about what you do, it’s perceived negatively. Michele has started to think more about the way in which she communicates, it’s made her more aware of this.
Michele has been freelancing since 2008, working from home and working with others remotely (so look out for her conversation with Pilar on the 21st Century Work Life podcast later this year!). A lot of her work is carried out on her own, with little interaction with people in her field. Doing the podcast has made her reflect on connection and personal growth. Getting to the point of being brave enough to put her face and voice on the internet and talking to people was quite a step, which involved a lot of soul-searching.
She’s found the podcast to be a great networking activity – a much more pleasant experience than attending networking events, where you’re looking to make connections that will get you work in the future. But networking is about connecting with people, not about figuring out what use they can be to you. Through the show she’s found the real value of networking: it’s about the people, not about the function. And thinking about growing a network to enrich ourselves is more attractive than a transactional approach.
Michele looks for ways to cover the costs of the show by setting up affiliate links, for example, she’s also set up Patreon and Ko-fi, although she hasn’t been active about promoting these links. It’s a fine balance to try to figure out how to support the project without feeling like you’re constantly asking for money for it. (Pilar also forgets, so don’t forget that you can support this show if you sign up to Buzzsprout through this link.)
Michele has a studio set-up for recording. As she records the video, she has a ring light; she started off using a headset, but soon found out she needed a proper microphone. To treat the room, she has some books behind her, and carpet to dampen the sound.
Michele uses the Davinci Resolve to edit video, and she tried to fix the audio there too, but eventually she purchased Isotope RX. If you have a little bit of money, it’s worth investing in software that does exactly the thing you need to do, it will save you a lot of time. (Pilar uses Audacity and Auphonic.)
In the end, you need to understand the environment you’re working in and find something that works for you. It’s an iterative process.
To wrap up, Michele talks about how she opens and wraps ups her episodes. She asks her guests the same three questions, which open up the guest as a person for the listeners, and show their different layers and who they are, and where they come from.
Pilar asks Michele one of her own questions: “What childhood book holds the strongest memories?”
For Michele, she connected with Enid Blyton’s books (even though now they might be controversial), and later, the work of Tamora Pierce, featuring young heroines.
Michele has some advice for new podcasters: just do it. The barriers to entry are so low, you just need to give it a try.
And she shares three of her many favourite podcasts:
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
https://www.elizabethdayonline.co.uk/podcast
99% Invisible
https://99percentinvisible.org/
My Nuclear Life
https://mynuclearlife.com/
Get in touch if you would like some coaching and advice yourself or connect on Twitter @Inpodcasting
If you want to support this show and are looking for a media host: I recommend Buzzsprout.