Behind the Banter: 04 — The second periscope disaster
It takes a lot of work to get a podcast to feel right. In many ways a podcast has to technically be good. The audio can’t be garbage, it needs to be edited well, the equipment has to be setup correctly and it must be distributed in a way that people can listen. Every week, I realize that it takes more than just a microphone.
As the technical parts start to become easier, I hope we can really start to understand and create a vision for what these should be like. This week’s episode was another learning experience.
What went wrong
The first eight minutes of this episode are a disaster. The chat in Periscope was locked, we had a looser than usual topic for discussion and we didn’t have a good system in place for keeping track of questions. As a result, we have decided to completely change how we record introductions and start our episodes. Hitting the record button and having a group of four people on live microphones is just too much pressure. The first 10–20 minutes of talk are always awkward.
We have also decided to wait a bit longer until we broadcast live episodes over Periscope again. Everyone is hopeful that we can figure out a method for audience interaction, but I don’t think our pacing and focus is strong enough yet to facilitate that.
What went right
Even yesterday, Jim suggested that throwing this episode out was still an option. After a quick discussion, we decided that there is still content worth hearing in this episode.
What really saved this episode were the two great questions asked over Periscope. The first “How do we maintain quality?” was from Phil Coffman and the second “How do remove yourself from a design while still being proud of your work?” was from Rigel St. Pierre. Both were catalysts to some great discussion. Thanks to their participation, it makes the whole episode worthwhile.
On themes
It’s interesting that some themes are naturally starting to develop without much of a plan for these episodes. Having the advantage of knowing what’s coming up in future episodes, I think we are going to have to take note of these themes. It would be good to discuss and dissect them a little more. Maybe they would make great topics for a future live episode?
Stay tuned
Tomorrow we will be releasing a second episode this week (Thursday, April 21st). The normal release schedule will still be once a week on Wednesdays. But, it’s a great topic and we’re excited to share.
Please send feedback, questions, comments or suggestions on twitter, or via email at podcast@rallyinteractive.com
