Streamlining the podcasting process

Streamlining the podcasting process

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http://TrinityDigitalMedia.com/thfc On today’s Tech Help for Churches, Streamlining the podcasting process

Do you have enough time to get better at podcasting? Why not start by getting the process right so that you have more time to create better content and work on your delivery?

[tweet “Start getting better at podcasting by streamlining the podcasting process with these tips:”]

Start with planning:
Plan content. Don’t just turn on the microphone and start talking. Have a plan.

Make notes. Make sure you write down. Unless you have a photographic memory, this will help. You can also use this step to organize the content and reuse your notes later in the process.

Give yourself the grace of live. Don’t start and restart just because you make a minor mistake. Think of this as a live recording. You wouldn’t restart if you mispronounced a word or misstated something. Don’t do it in your recording.

Edit with templates. Either reuse previous projects or make a template, so you just plug in the new content. You’ll have the open, transitions, etc. if you do this. Having a template turns editing into something that’s really very simple and easy to do.

Use a checklist to make sure you do everything the same. I’m really guilty of not doing this. There are several steps that I do every week for each show and I depend on my memory. This is a bad habit. The reason is that you could get distracted in the middle or somehow forget something and just miss an important step. Additionally, you don’t have something to pass off to others when you don’t have a check list. Take a little time to invest in creating a checklist so that you get the advantages down the road.

Upload as few times as possible, while maintaining quality. How many formats does your show get consumed in? How many times do you upload to do get that? Instead of uploading a new version for each format, see if there are any tools you can use to combine steps. Does you live streaming host also save to mp3? Can you use an API to take one version of the show and share it across multiple places?

Don’t compromise quality. If it starts as a 1080p video, but gets downsampled to 360p because you didn’t upload separately, that might not be a good compromise, but if your audience can’t tell the difference and it saves you time, why not do it?

Have a post template. If you write show notes for each episode, only write the new stuff. Have a template that includes contact information, etc., so that you only need to add the show notes themselves.

Use your notes as show notes. Remember those notes you wrote earlier? Why not copy them and paste them into your website, cleaning them up and adding what you need, instead of starting from scratch?

Use graphics templates. Don’t reinvent the wheel every week. Keep the look similar, but tweak things to include the title, if you want. If you have Photoshop, use photoshop actions to automate the process and have a plan for getting any new images you need.

Did I miss any? Leave your ideas below, so we can talk about them.

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