This workshop run by two ex-BBC journalists and experienced programme-makers will give you the skills to create effective and engaging podcasts about your research. Podcasts are the most accessible “windows” to view your university through, and yours need to reflect the quality of your institution.

What strikes us about university podcasts is that although the production quality is important, it is the communication skills of the podcaster, and his or her ability to tell a good story, that makes the podcasts effective and helps them stand out among fierce online competition.

Our course will enable you to get the best out of whatever technical expertise or resources you may have. We help you to pitch your podcast correctly to the target audience, to organise your thoughts and consider the best ways to present them. We will give you the skills to present the podcast in a talk format, and the interviewing skills to make an interview/conversation style podcast.

During our workshop you’ll have the opportunity to practise both formats, an audio talk and an on-camera interview. If the majority of participants are planning to create audio podcasts rather than vlogs, we will provide them with an opportunity to record both podcasts in the audio format.

This workshop DOES NOT cover purely technical skills in using recording and editing software, as technical capabilities differ from university to university and from person to person, but we will provide you with a list of useful links to ‘DIY’ podcasting. As experienced ‘radio hands’ we will also give you tips on how to make your audio podcasts sound professional.

It’s important for us to know your research topics before the workshop, so we ask you to fill in a provided short questionnaire and email it to the organisers or to us at mediapie@gmail.com a week before the course date.

We also ask you to draft a script for a 3-min straight talk practice podcast before the workshop on a topic of your choice.

The Objectives

The course enables participants

• to communicate effectively in their podcasts

• to pitch their podcasts correctly to the intended audience

• to choose the best format for their podcast

The Learning Outcomes

• Knowing how to tell a good story in a podcast

• Knowing how to plan and structure a podcast

• Knowing how to interview colleagues for a podcast

• Being able to record a podcast in both talk and interview formats

THE AGENDA

Day 1.

0915 Introductions. What makes an effective podcast. Communication: getting through versus giving out. Pitching correctly to the audience. Telling a good story in a podcast. Discussion of podcast examples (what works and what doesn’t)

1100 Coffee break

1115-1200 Podcast as a ‘conversation’ with the audience. Tips for interviewers in interview/conversation type podcasts . Getting a conversational tone in a talk format. The role of sound/video illustrations. Preparing and structuring a podcast

1200-1300 Preparation in pairs for recording an interview podcast

Day 2 (participants work in two separate Zoom meetings)

9.15 – 11.00 Recording and playback of a 4 min interview type video/audio podcast in pairs. Discussion and feedback.

11.00-11.15 Tea/coffee break

11.15- 13.00 Preparing, recording and playback of a 3 min talk podcast (video/audio). Discussion and feedback

Workshop Conveners: Tim Grout-Smith and Lily Poberezhska

https://mpinternational.org/

How to Prepare and Deliver Effective Podcasts