[On March 26th 2011, I spoke at PodCamp Nashville 2011 about my transformation from a Blogger to a Podcaster and the launch of The Agile Hotspot podcasts. The following is the transcript of my talk at the event. Event photos and more conversation about can be found on facebook.]

Intro

My name is Raj Menon. Today is the day I launch my first Podcast. During this session I would like to share my experiences with you, experiences that transformed me from a blogger to a Podcaster.

my journey

I was born in India in a state called Kerala. When I was a few years old my dad's job took us to the middle east where I did most of my schooling. I returned to India in 1993 and got my Engineering degree in computer science. After college, I moved to Blore and worked as a Software Developer. In 2002, my job took me back to the middle east to Doha, Qatar as a Project Lead. Today, I am Program Manager for an IT firm in based in Nashville.

It's been a amazing journey, one in which I've had the incredible opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life, learn from cultural diversity, professional diversity and geographical diversity.

blogging

To share my experiences, I wanted a medium to reach out to a lot of people but more than that I wanted a way to reflect back on my thoughts, and to learn from them. So I created 13apples.com, a Leadership blog focused on my experiences.

Quick show of hands: how many of you blog?

I have been actively blogging since 2007 and I believe that it requires a lot of focused effort. Not only do we have to spend a lot of time to get the content ready, we need to promote it. You've to tweet, post it on facebook and publish on linked in, as well as finding time to comment on fellow blog sites so as to drive traffic back to your own, it can be a time consuming and frustrating affair. So you might wonder why is it worth all that effort? It is worth the effort because good blog posts can lead to great conversations.

But what if you dont have to put all that effort to get to the conversations. What if you go straight into the conversations?

And that's where podcasting comes in.

So for those of you who are bloggers, I think Podcasting is the logical next step. And those of you who are not, Podcasting is a great first step to reap the same benefits but maybe with a lot less effort.

podcasting

What is a podcast?

The online definition: 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.

My definition: its nothing but an mp3 or wav file of pre-recorded conversations that is made available on a website to stream, download or subscribe to.

My podcasting plans started with such a connection that I established on Twitter. I met Dominique sometime early 2010. From tweets to emails to Skype we developed the idea of starting a podcast. You may ask, what makes our story unique. It's this: Dominique is German national who lives in India, while I am an Indian residing in USA. We live in different timezones and we podcast over Skype. And... we have never met in person.

In spite of the seeming hurdles we still made it work. And... for the rest of this presentation, I would like to walk you through what went into the making of our podcast.

Once we had decided to podcast, there are some more important decisions to make.

1. Decide on a Theme

Pick a theme that is of interest to you. Choose something that you can can easily have a conversation with. It can be about technology, social media, graphic design, blogging, your travel experiences... anything you are comfortable talking about.

Dominque and I chose to talk about "Agile Software Development and Working with Distributed Teams" in our podcasts. We call it "The Agile Hotspot".

Quick show of hands: How many know or have heard about Agile Software Development?

2. Decide on a Broadcasting Plan

This is an important step for a successful podcasting future. 3 key points to consider:

a. Schedule: How often do you want to podcast? Will it be weekly or monthly?

Be Consistent! Any podcaster will tell you that successful podcasts are those that are also available on time for listeners. This is key in building a trusted listener base. It is also important to communicate the podcast schedule to your listeners.

b. Episode Line-Up: What are the topics you want to talk about? Which topic will you talk about first? Will you have guests on the show?

Very early on, before you record your first episode, brainstorm and jot down a list of topics that you would like to talk about in future episodes. Make sure that these topics tie into your original theme. Then prioritize them. This is your Episode Line-up and each topic is an episode. While you will have the flexibility to re-prioiritize them, make sure you are sure about the 1st two episodes. I will tell you why when I talk about the content structure.

c. Episode Guides: What are the key talking points for a topic? Who will talk first? How will you know when to talk?

An episode guide is the meat of your matter. It gives each host and the guest the talking points to stay on track with the conversation. It will have indications of who will talk when as well as the hand-offs. Before you start recording, take the time to detail it out and also to have a few sessions to review and revise the content. Plan to have an episode guide for every episode.

3. Decide on the Content Structure

Another key decision to make is the Content Structure. Every podcast out there has its own structure and style. When you build you Episode guide, it is important to create it in a structure that can be easy to read (for you while podcasting) and easy to follow (for your listeners).

The Agile Hotspot is structured into Segments & Transitions. There is an Opening Segment, 4 or 5 Content Segments and a Closing Segment. Transition connects each segment with logical questions or as a summary to a segment.

The Opening Segment consists of the intro music and a welcome message. Here is a sample of how it sounds: [play mp3 file] Get creative here. Tap into the music lover in you and have fun. Get someone else to record the intro. I know a Podcaster friend who has each episode intro recorded by a different voice. It brings variety to your podcasts. Brings an element of surprise.

The Content Segments go into each Episode guide and consists of your key talking points and transitions. We have divided our segments into conversational segments and independent segments, the former is where both of us have key talking points while the latter can be recorded separately.

The Tools

Now that the key decisions are made, lets talk about the tools that are needed to make podcasts. I have divided the tools into the following sets:

1. Tools to Talk

How will you talk? Face to Face? On the phone? Online?

- Skype

- Professional podcasting microphones. $100 for the Blue Yeti USB condenser microphone.

2. Tools to Share

How will you share files with your podcasting partners and guests?

- Dropbox is a great tool and its FREE. How will you share your final podcasts with your listeners?

- Amazon S3, Libsyn.com ($5 per month)

- Web hosting (ex: GoDaddy)

3. Tools to Record

How will you record your conversations?

- Skype Call Recorder ($20)

4. Tools to Mix How will your produce your podcasts?

- Garageband (FREE)

- Audacity (FREE)

5. Tools to Broadcast

How will people find your podcasts? How will you build you listener base?

- Wordpress, Twitter, Facebook, MailChimp, iTunes

Note: Podcasting Etiquette

1. Remove distractions

2. Make sure your room is a noise-free zone.

3. Don't move around in your chair and stop fidgeting.

4. Speak slowly, helps remove the filler words.

5. While talking through your segments, leave logical pauses to leave for questions and comments.

6. You never get it right the first time.

Closure

Podcasting is a great way to share ideas and thoughts real time. If you get really get good at it, it can open up some revenue opportunities too. But above all, it is a lot of fun and it is very easy to get started.

Our podcast is called The Agile Hotspot. This is just my first podcast. As I continue to learn more about it, I would love to hear from you about your ideas or questions you have.

Reach out to me on 13apples.com or via Twitter @_13apples_

Thank you for being awesome listeners.

Questions?