This new season of the Chancebending podcast is going so well!
Chancebending has taken off. We’ve done record numbers the last two weeks. And it’s been interesting— I wanted to walk you through some of the challenges everybody goes through when getting a podcast off the ground, and of course give you a few tips in case the podcast bug bites you too.
1) Do this for you
I think first and foremost, there was the initial challenge of re-setting expectations with our audience. I’ve talked quite a bit about this lately. It’s tough! Some of your most loyal fans won’t like your new format. Some of my favorite people like Joe in Ohio keep asking for the old format back.
And what we’ve tried to do is give everybody some of what they want, but also keep making this first and foremost what I want to do– in the end that’s what is probably most important. And in the long run, it’s whats best for everybody. That’s #1. Keep doing this for you. If you don’t, you will simply break down down the road.
#2 Don’t freak out when it’s not perfect. It will get a little better each day.
Guess what, its HARD to get 3 and 4 person podcasts to sound good. There are lots of wires and mics and equipment that go into all of this and it’s not quite as easy as it sounds. When you start bringing guests on your podcast, they all don’t have the same level of microphone skills. Some are used to mics, and some are not. So there are lots of audio levels to edit and get everything together.
I’ve also turned into one of those lunatic AV equipment maniacs I used to shake my head at in bewilderment. I now lust after mixer boards and cameras and fake wood panels and wires, and it doesn’t even make sense. Watch out for Amazon.
3) Guests (Ask one more why)
One of the big changes I’ve had to make is getting used to having guests on most of the time now. It’s an awesome challenge. I love having people on the podcast to bounce ideas with for you. I love doing these solo pods and it feels like my special hangout time with you guys. But I do think the best podcasts are the ones with the guests. Especially in the next bunch of months– we have some seriously big guests lined up for you.
But I have needed to learn how to quickly manage a conversation on-air, and balance between the needs of the guest and the needs of the audience. It’s tricky. It’s difficult to learn how to naturally move the conversation without interrupting thought– and also how to keep things moving along. I also want to make sure I get my thoughts out. So its a giant balancing act.
What I’ve quickly learned is asking one extra question often leads to much better results. Like the other day we had former NFL player Chris Hetherington on the air. I asked Chris to tell us about his story about going from Yale to the NFL. Halfway through he mentions at Yale they moved him to Quarterback. I quickly said, why did they do that?, and got an incredible, deeper answer that was really solid content.
Just by asking one extra WHY? you get much better results. Thats tip #3. Ask one more why.
Hopefully you like hearing about some of the process. Def let me know if you want more or less of this stuff.
-Ben
