Monday, June 23, 2008

JSIFS Road Trip 2008: Day Three (So, you want to PODCAST?)

Day Three: Atlanta Georgia to Lake Altoona, GA. All day. Thank God.
Miles Covered: About 5, mostly by stroller.
Weather Outside of Van: Sunny and air conditioned. Thank God.
Weather Inside of Van: Hot enough to fry an egg ... but since we were in the air conditioning, not a problem.

The actual Celebration was smaller than I thought it would be, but I came away with some useful tips that have really helped me to be thinking about doing a real, live podcast in terms that seem if not easy, at least doable. Father Roderick's seven points about how to podcast were particularly helpful:

* Pick your passion ("... where your treasure is, there will your heart be also") was summarized nicely by Mark Shea (whom I finally got to meet in person), who said: "When you're blogging, write about what you're interested in .. and nothing else."

* Find your followers (Mk 16:15). In other words, figure out your core audience, and tweak your message for that particular audience.

* Learn the language (Mk 4:11). He pointed out that Jesus spoke differently to his disciples than to the crowds, whom he addressed mostly in parables. Bloggers and podcasters also need to be able to speak the language, in terms of culture and commonalities, as their core audience.

* Take your tools (Exodus 4:17). With Moses it was a staff ... with us, it's the equipment we need to do the job. So now I'm praying for my guardian angel (or St. Nicholas, or my husband, I'm not picky) to arrange a drop: a ZOOM H2 Handy Recorder, Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones, Podcast Station software, and a subscription to Libsyn.com.

* Start to speak (Ex 4:12)

* Post your podcast (Luke 5:4)

* Create community (Acts 2:42). Within the podcasting community, voice feedback is to podcasting what comments are to blogging. And, as Sarah kindly pointed out to me, one of the most important things to do if you want to create a podcast is (duh, duh, DUH!) listen to good-quality podcasts. Here is a short list of Sarah's favorites (in no particular order).

Catholic Moments
The Classic Tales
Story Nory (for children)
Forgotten Classics
Daily Breakfast
Rosary Army
Catholic in a Small Town
Catholic Family Podcast
Pray as You Go
Daily Mass Readings
Cardinal Arinze (Disciples with Microphones)
Catholic Magazine.com

For more about the Road Trip, click here!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Heidi,
It was great to spend time with you on Saturday. Sorry I barely saw you on Sunday - the day seemed to just fly by! Hope your trip is safe and fun! Lisa

Ouiz said...

I was there, but I didn't get a chance to meet you... otherwise, I would have said thank you for writing BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER!

I hope your trip back was uneventful!

God bless!

Heidi Hess Saxton said...

Dear Ouiz ... I wish we'd run into each other, too. For as often as we scurried by with our children, we should probably have introduced ourselves! (I'll remember that next year...)

Glad you enjoyed "Behold Your Mother." Spread the word ... the Spanish edition comes out in a few weeks!