What I’ve learned from podcasting in five shows

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2021 was a great year for me as a podcaster. 

And this is what I mean by “great”: I’ve had a really good time, I’ve met some wonderful people, and I’ve experimented with format and content too. Ah, and I started two brand new shows.

Each of my shows is very different and they’ve taught me different things about podcasting. While I plan my next year of adventures in podcasting, I thought I’d share what I’m getting from each of the shows with you.

21st Century Work Life

In a few months, we’ll hit episode 300 with this show.

I started this podcast back in 2014, and I’ve changed a lot since then. 

The show has also changed a lot, although the one thing that remains constant is that we produce really long episodes. I’ve tried very hard this year, especially during the second half of the year, to create shorter shows, as these are indeed more popular with business audiences. I have produced some short episodes, but on the whole, the podcast is still aimed at those people who have about 45 minutes during which they need some accompaniment in the ears.

At the beginning of the year we were publishing weekly, but this proved to be unsustainable. I went onto a fortnightly schedule, and we’ve just about managed to be an episode ahead of ourselves. When I say “we”, I mean our team of four, as this show has turned into a whole production of its own.

As I write this I’m still thinking about whether to make a greater effort to create shorter episodes, which might allow me to go back to a weekly schedule. 

I still need to give this some thought. The 21st Century Work Life podcast is still the main form of marketing for my company Virtual not Distant, so it warrants the investment in time and cash.

Episode 300 seems a good point at which to make some artistic decisions, so watch this space or even better, sign up to my newsletter to stay updated on what I will be doing for the episode.

Facilitation Stories

This is another show that has a little team behind it. We take it in turns to host the episodes, and also to edit them and create the show notes. At those times when we’ve all had time to commit to it, (this is a volunteer show for a professional association which we love being a part of) and it’s been an absolute joy for me. During those times when everyone’s been busy and unable to find the time to give to the show, it’s been a bit of a slog. Unfortunately during December 2021 we had to skip an episode. This was in contrast to 2020, when all five of us behind the show got together to record a year end episode.

I really enjoy the fact that all the episodes are very different, some are a bit longer than others (guess who creates the longest ones!), and occasionally I felt like we needed a bonus episode and created an extra short piece to keep our community in the loop with what was going on in our Association (IAF England and Wales).

We have quite a few loyal listeners, and so far, it seems like the monthly schedule for these episodes is working well for listeners and ourselves.

(I also put together a panel discussion for one of the episodes, which gave me plenty of work to do. I share what I learned through the process in this blog post.)

My Pocket Psych

This is a joy to work on. 

It’s my first job as a professional co-host, which means I just turn up to the recording and support the main host, Dr. Richard MacKinnon, helping him to go a bit deeper into the topics when needed, and asking him clarification questions which might come up in the listener’s mind.

We recently hit episode 100, and this was truly a cause for celebration. This show started in 2017, and has also gained a loyal following, and over the years has featured high-quality guests.

I’m now learning a lot from host Richard, from how he plans the content, to how he creates episodes that he can use not just to show his expertise and promote his business, but also to support his current clients. At the end of 2021, he started to focus on creating episodes of under 30 minutes long, again because he was noticing that they were the ones that were gaining more traction. It’s actually become quite a fun challenge to try to get our conversation to end before we hit minute 29 our recording. 

Another wonderful outcome of this podcasting partnership has been the fact that we’ve now developed a workshop on loneliness in remote teams to put out into the world. We had our first pilot in December and even though that was the first time we worked together, it didn’t feel like it because we had been podcasting for so long.

Adventures in Podcasting

I’ve been wanting to start a show about podcasting for a couple of years, and even though I couldn’t fit it comfortably in my schedule, I made the leap to start it in 2021.

I had originally planned for this to be an interview show, with pieces that would also help me start to create content for a book, but I was worried that if I started bringing on guests, I would end up with a whole load of recorded interviews on my computer. So I started it as a solo show, with short news about podcasting, and some practical advice.

Slowly it’s turned into a bit of an audio diary, where I share my experiences over the last two weeks, reflect on them and share the learnings with the listeners. This is really working for me, because it means that the show is present all the time with me and I’m constantly making notes of things that come up. It keeps it current for me, because I’m talking about things that are happening now, but the lessons are evergreen, and can help future audiences.

Hopefully it won’t be too long before I am able to bring on guests.

Gastronostalgia

This has been the unexpected delight of the year.

In all honesty, I struggle to speak fluently in Spanish a lot of the time, so I wasn’t planning on starting another show in Spanish. What I had hoped for, was to eventually find a co-host, someone I really enjoyed talking to about a topic that had nothing to do with business or any of my professional lives.

This has been an absolute joy, although it has eaten up my Saturday afternoons. But hey, editing a fun conversation is a good enough activity for my leisure time.

I am very happy with the format we’ve come up with: a show about food, and about talking about food, which has four different types of episodes published every week: a starter, a main course, dessert and coffee. They are all different lengths, although to be honest they have very similar flavours.

At the end of the month we record an aperitif (which is sometimes longer than our main course), we bring in audience feedback, and we compile all four episodes into one big file.

I’m having a lot of fun with this, not just doing the conversations, which allow me to be completely myself and say anything that comes to mind, but also in the editing where, in a similar way to what I do for Adventures in Podcasting, I experiment with adding in special effects and music.

All in all, I can say I’m happy with where I am as a podcaster. I don’t have any burning desire to start another show (unless it’s in a co-host capacity or under a contract for someone else!) and I feel I have a nice mixture of business-led, community-led, and hobby-led shows to keep me experimenting and learning as I go along.

What about you: have you started any shows later? Have you got plans to kick off a new show soon? 

I can help you get a grasp of the episode and podcast production process, and define who you want to become as a host. Just get in touch and tell me your plans!

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