by Caroline Leach | Nov 25, 2016 | Corporate Communications, Learning, Social Media
Podcasts are a powerful way to share your story.
But what exactly is a podcast?
It’s “a digital audio or video file or recording, usually part of a themed series, that can be downloaded from a website to a media player or computer,” says Dictionary.com.
Podcasts are taking off. From 2015 to 2016, podcast listening was up by 23%, Jay Baer reported from Edison Research‘s work.
What’s driving the growth? People enjoy greater mobility with smartphones and tablets, Baer says, rather than being tethered to a laptop. Podcasts are easy to listen to on the go.
This is why podcasts have become part of my own personal learning plan and drive-time strategy. Although I’m lucky by Los Angeles traffic standards, I spend more than 60 minutes commuting each day.
That’s a perfect chunk of time for learning. And with lifelong learning being both a pleasure and an imperative, what better time to listen to a podcast?
Data analytics and social media are at the top of my learning agenda. I’ve been enjoying FiveThirtyEight, Freakonomics and Social Pros.
It’s easy to get started. Just search topics of interest on iTunes, download your favorites and start listening.
My work colleague Doug Magditch first got me thinking about podcasts. He invited me to be in his Life at AT&T series, one of his Corporate Communications initiatives.
(This is where I note that opinions expressed here are my own.)
Doug’s conversations with colleagues show how employees are delivering on the company’s mission to connect people with their world – everywhere they live, work and play.
With a degree in mass media, Doug began his career as a reporter and multimedia journalist. His creative skills as a storyteller, his editing skills weaving together a narrative and his on-air presence make Life at AT&T a hit.
He invited Eliska Paratore, Joan Marsh and me to share what it’s like to be a woman in a leadership role at the company. Timing it with election season, he framed it as hearing about leadership “from the veeps.”
This was my first experience with a podcast, and I learned a lot in the process. Here are 10 tips for a perfect podcast.
BEFORE
What’s the best way to prepare for a podcast? Become familiar with the format and give yourself plenty of interesting material to work. This helps with responding naturally and spontaneously during the recording session.
- Listen to previous podcasts in the series. Understand how the format works. Identify what worked well and what you’d like to emulate.
- Talk with others who’ve been featured. See what previous participants recommend for preparation. This is a step I wish I’d taken.
- Think about the subject and what you want to say about it. Brainstorm and jot down ideas. Then narrow the focus to 3 key messages.
- Gather ideas, anecdotes and data. Chose those that support your key messages. Look for ones that add interest and provide credibility.
DURING
Many of these tips came from listening to myself after the podcast came out and thinking about what I could do better next time.
- Relax and have fun. Conversations are fun and sharing expertise is fun. Recording a podcast should be the same.
- Stand up. The advice for standing up during a phone call to give your voice more energy translates well to a podcast recording. People sound more confident when they stand.
- Use short sentences. This will help your listeners get your key points, not to mention making the editing process much easier.
AFTER
- Promote your podcast. Tell your social communities about it and why they’d be interested in hearing it. In my case, that meant sharing the podcast in LinkedIn and Twitter, including retweeting Doug.
This was easy, thanks to our company’s Social Circle. It provides great content about our brand, ready for sharing by interested employees in their personal social networks.
Inside the company, employees commented on the podcast in an internal social space. When the podcast was released, I visited the page a few times a day to read comments, like and respond to some, and bring additional colleagues into the conversation.
If you’ve recorded a podcast, what worked for you? And what podcasts do you recommend?
by Caroline Leach | Oct 30, 2016 | Corporate Communications, Leadership
Start with your key sentence. Your point. Your theory. Your ask.
Whether it’s a talk, a text or an email, lead with what’s most important.
Three things got me thinking about this.
First, how do we grab people’s attention from the start? I heard two days of incredible talks at TEDWomen 2016 this month. The speakers did not start with, “Hi, I’m glad to be here and I’m excited about what I’m going to share with you and I’d like to thank a few people before I get started.”
No, they grabbed us with their opening words. With a bold statement or a question or a story. Here are examples from some of my favorite TED talks.
“So I want to start by offering you a free no-tech life hack, and all it requires of you is this: that you change your posture for two minutes.” So begins Amy Cuddy‘s talk, Your body language shapes who you are.
“What makes a great leader today?” There’s no mistaking what Roselinde Torres will address in her talk, What it takes to be a great leader.
“It’s the fifth time I stand on this shore, the Cuban shore, looking out at that distant horizon, believing, again, that I’m going to make it all the way across that vast, dangerous wilderness of an ocean.” Diana Nyad grabs the audience right at the beginning of her story in Never, ever give up.
Second, how do we help busy people easily respond us? Quite simply, by putting the key information in the opening words of our emails and texts.
Beyond putting your main message in the subject line, use your first 10 to 12 words to make your point.
Many people have email preview screens that show these words. Make the most of that space by getting to the point. Because your recipient may not read anything else.
Third, how do we spot the key idea in any interaction? When a meeting ends, can you summarize the most important point in a single sentence? What’s the headline? The tweet? The snap?
Take a few minutes at the end of a conversation or meeting to identify the one key takeaway. Share it with your colleagues.
Given the complexity of many projects and the extensive collaboration that’s required to meet goals, this helps others see the forest for the trees.
This keeps a team focused on what’s most important. It guides their actions. And it increases the likelihood of success.
How do you keep your lead front and center?
by Caroline Leach | Oct 22, 2016 | Corporate Communications, Work/Life
Stories bring people together in powerful ways.
I was reminded of this at a recent leadership offsite.
Following a day of focusing on the future and identifying imperatives for the coming year, we gathered around the dinner table.
The talk turned to people’s stories, their families and the paths to where they are today.
We heard about teachers, farmers and ranchers. We heard about people who were the first in their family to attend college. We heard about struggles and triumphs. We heard about hard work and dedication.
It was an inspiring slice of largely American history. One especially sage colleague remarked about how far each of our families had come in just a few generations.
It’s easy to lose sight of that in our fast-paced, always-on 21st-century world.
I wonder what life was like for my great-grandfather, Neils Peter Larsen. Born in Denmark in the late 1800s, he was the youngest of 9 children.
With little economic opportunity on the Danish isle of Laeso, he left his country as a young teen. As a cabin boy, he sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco.
Some years later, he became the captain of his own ship, the St. Katherine. My grandmother and sister share her name and adventurous spirit.
That’s the ship pictured above, temporarily stuck in the ice in the Bering Sea in the early 1900s. How cold must it have been that day? How likely was it the ship would break apart as the ice moved? How scary was it to walk across the waves?
Or maybe it was just business as usual in that line of work.
According to the San Francisco-based Pacific Telephone Magazine where my mom was featured as an employee in the 1960s, “Captain Larsen made history with voyages to Alaska during the Yukon gold rush and later with the Alaskan fisheries.”
I can only imagine what those experiences were like today, as I gaze at my family’s framed sea charts from California, Hawaii and Japan that line my walls.
It’s absolutely incredible to think how far sea navigation has come in little over 100 years – from large paper charts to electronic navigation systems. What amazing advancements will the next century hold?
My great-grandparents honeymooned by sailing around the coast of China. That chart hangs in my parents’ house in Connecticut, complete with pencil markings of an uncharted island my ancestors discovered on their journey.
These stories and the ones I heard from my colleagues remind me of the hard work and determination that are the hallmarks of our country.
They remind me that when things get tough, there’s always a way through – or around or over.
They remind me that the future is exciting and that we’re each creating it, one day at a time.
We have what it takes. We got this.
As I contemplate a visit to Denmark, I’m inspired by the serendipitous family reunion that the multi-talented photographer Denice Duff experienced on a magical trip to Italy.
While looking for her great-grandmother’s house in Sicily, she had the unexpected good fortune to meet family members she never knew she had.
This heartwarming story may be one of the reasons I recently picked up a book called The Storyteller’s Secret.
In this captivating read, Carmine Gallo says that, “since the next decade will see the most change our civilization has ever known, your story will radically transform your business, your life and the lives of those you touch.”
Why is this important? Because “ideas that catch on are wrapped in a story,” he says.
Stories connect us, inform us and inspire us.
That’s undoubtedly one of the reasons behind the golden age of television, with so many compelling shows. This is why it’s so exciting to work in an industry at the intersection of entertainment and technology.
This is where great stories are told that entertain us, help us make sense of the world and prompt us to think about our own stories and the difference we’re making.
(And this is where I remind readers that opinions are my own.)
Speaking of stories, I can’t wait to hear from the speakers at next week’s TEDWomen 2016 conference. Fittingly for me, it’s in San Francisco, close to where I was born and where my daughter is attending college.
What’s your story? How are you writing it every day?
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