Skeptical Inquiry – Paul's Tech Talk

Image by malczyk via Flickr

So you want to start your own podcast?

I’ve helped several different organizations set up there own podcast, so I thought we would go into detail about the process. I am going to lay it out to everyone who might be interested and discuss the finer points on how you’d start and what you will need. Although, this will not be a complete tutorial, I did figure we could at least talk you through it and help someone who might be wanting to start your own podcast.

Starting a podcast can be a challenge, but yet really fun. In the tutorial we will discuss aspects of:

What is podcasting?

Why Podcast?

How to Podcast?

Purpose of Podcasting?

Making money from Podcasting?

Examples of Podcasts?

Content Delivery, Free VS Paid!

As you can see there will be several different aspects that we will be delving into and even discussing them in length. I will say this will be one of those times I am going to learn with you on this because I will be researching this as I post it. So you can have all the information with you and learn something.

Podcasting 101

You’ve probably heard the term podcasts, or even have some podcast that you listen to already but if you don’t, I will explain it to those who might need to understand it.

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common vernacular due to the fame of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds.

Via Wikipedia

Anyone can podcast and you could be the next big podcast. It just depends on what your goal is and what your aiming for. I will say that podcasting seems to be more and more out there than it was 10 years ago.

Why Podcast?

This has been asked over and over through the years. It varies from person to person. I will give you the general answers because it will be hot topic to anyone.

Although some would say why not, here are in my mind the most common answers:

To Make even more Money

Connect to even more people around the world

easier than blogging

Your Personality

Like I said these are in my mind the most common reasons and are not all the possible answers that someone in the podcasting field might not have another reason. As you can see these are just generalized and should be used as reference and nothing more.

In the next part we will discuss the fundamentals of podcasting, what you will need and why you’ll need it. Hope you’ll stay tuned into this fun little subject!

Paul Sylvester

Podcasting (jhalcomb.wordpress.com)

Audio Podcast (masscommcapstone.wordpress.com)

FIR Interview: Lynette Young on BlogWorld’s Podcast Pavilion (holtz.com)

On The Page Podcast (thewritersroomottawa.wordpress.com)

The Podcast That Never Was – Content Is King (chimpwisdom.com)

Image via Wikipedia

I did love doing the Miketechshow Listener Round Table!

I kind of wish Mike would do more Listener Round tables. Talking about the tech of the day and having those how to podcasts are something that really excites me. I loved the discussions we had about our experiences and stuff. I loved the creativity of the podcasts, and I would love to restart those podcasts. I just have some problems with this.

First Problem: Extra Guests!

As you can see this would be the most crucial part of the whole problem. Having guests who would want to come on board on a usual period. I haven’t decided if i will do this but if i did, It would probably start off being a monthly podcast and then we’d go from there.

Second Problem: Intro Music and Album Art!

I have never been good with making intro music like Mike does on his podcast. If I did decide to do this then I’d want to have everything set before I do start having a podcast. I already have a good Podcasting headset which is the Plantronics .Audio 655 USB Multimedia Headset which is a very good headset to do a podcast with. I even did most of the podcasts with this head set. I absolutely love this little headset to use on any podcast. That at least is not a problem for me right now.

Third and Final Problem: Editing!

Although I can edit them using Audicity, I do not have a good understanding just yet and also where I would host the file for you to download. I can always host it on a free service but I think it is important for the listeners to be able to download them to listen. Although I have looked around, I have found some great free services but I would like to not do free because most of them require an audio advertisement that i get no money for. If I am going to do some kind of advertisement, then I would like to have the money to help support the blog or podcasting, so I can buy more stuff to make the podcast even better!

What do you think? Do you want to do a listener round table like we used to or not?? You answer will determine what I do next!