A learning manager from Texas declared he faced an ethical dilemma with an interview for his learning podcast.
"Tell me more," I said. It turned out that he had interviewed a subject matter expert for a learning podcast he was producing.
The subject matter expert was a nice guy and made a few very interesting comments. But for most of the interview, he waffled on and on, constantly off topic.
"I don't want to offend him by not using the interview or cutting it down too much, " he told me.
"But I'm worried his comments are too long and too vague. They may turn the listener off."
Can I Chop the Interview?
My colleague had raised this as a matter of ethics. But I don't believe it is about ethics at all. It's about accountability to your topic and to your listener.
It's actually an issue that worries a lot of media novices. How much of the interview should they use? And will they offend their guest if they either don't use it at all or only use a tiny part?
If you're facing the same question, or think you might in the future of your podcasting experience, here are two questions that will guide you to an answer.
What's your topic?
First, what is your podcast about? Second, who is your podcast for? The first is the easiest question to deal with so let's touch on that first.
What is the topic of your learning podcast? If you've been careful and written down a learning objective, you should be really clear about this.
If any part of the interview does not relate to your learning objective, or doesn't fully support it, you should consider cutting it out. This is what media pros do - they are very focused and disciplined when it comes to including content in media programs.
My suggestion is to be ruthless about reviewing your podcast and make sure you cut out anything that is not relevant. The more ruthless you are in cutting out irrelevancies, the less ruthless your listener will be about turning you off or allowing their mind to wander onto other topics.
Who is your podcast for?
The second question is more complex. Who are you producing your podcast for? Generally, it will be one of three people. Is it for yourself, your guest or your listener? Often we kid ourselves into thinking it's for one person when we're really motivated to produce our podcasts for someone else.
For example, we may say we're producing the podcast for our listener when really we're just propping up our ego or having fun playing with technology. Or we may be trying to impress the person we interviewed. Be honest because it's not always easy to see past what are our own deeper motivations.
If you are producing the podcast for yourself, well who cares whether you include all the irrelevancies or not. If you're happy, well there's a pat on the back. If you're doing this for the guest, well by all means play every single part of the interview regardless of how relevant or interesting it is. (People being interviewed are rarely bored by themselves and can often listen to themselves for hours.)
But if you're doing it for your listener, because you promised your podcast was about a specific topic, you really have no choice but to cut out any part of the interview that was irrelevant.
Don't be self-indulgent
I can't be more honest with you when I say how annoyed I get hearing self-indulgent interviews. While people like me get annoyed, others simply tune out because they're boring.
So, what does my friend in Texas do? He told me the podcast was for sales people in his company. So it wasn't for him or the guest, but his listeners. He had no choice other than to cut out the parts of the interview that were irrelevant to the sales people and the topic.
Which leads us to another issue that media novices need to learn to deal with. What do we do with interviews that don't make the cut? And how do we manage our relationships with people who were interviewed?
If it's not relevant, chop it
The first thing is to toughen yourself up and get used to throwing irrelevancies on the cutting room floor.
Producers who make serious content for mainstream TV and radio programs routinely use only 5 to 10% of their interview. For major current affairs programs on television, they will use less than a minute for every 20 minutes of video they shoot.
That's because they don't just cut the irrelevancies, they hunt for the very best part of the interview to ensure it has impact.
Chopping interviews down, by the way, is actually very good for your guest. If you chop out their irrelevancies and ramblings, you'll make them sound more concise and polished. It will improve their image. You see, it's a win-win.
Manage your guest's expectations
Second, don't make promises you may not be able to keep. One of the first things I learned about interviewing people, when I started out in radio, was to never promise a guest that I would use their interview. Or even just a part of it. I was always told to tell them it may be used. And that we were talking to a number of experts. Never guarantee anything.
Manage your guests' expectations and it will be easier to leave parts of their interviews on the cutting room floor.
Remember, you're interviewing your guest because they bring something to the topic of your podcast. If he or she goes off topic, your listener will be distracted and bored. So don't be afraid to chop your interview right down and use only the parts that are really relevant.
Good luck.
Adding Great Audio to Your Website Is Your Church Social? Part 17 - Podcasts - What is a Podcast? Marketing With Podcasting 10 Ways a Podcast Can Build Your Business What is Podcasting For Business Marketing?
0 comments:
Post a Comment