For English readers of this blog, you need to practice your Danish first. The podcast is made by a Dane in the USA in Danish about the Danish blogosphere. The Dane, Rasmus, wanted to interview someone from Webgrrls.dk, and because the board knew how much I loved to talk, they invited me to do the interview on behalf of our network.

The interview was fun, with our connection on Skype falling out about every 5 minutes. Rasmus was very cool and didn’t miss a beat. Despite the technical challenges, it really is impressive how we could sit on opposite sides of the globe and carry on a discussion. Amazing stuff, technology.

I learned how talking is so different from writing. Doh! you say? Well, once the words have left your mouth, you cannot rearrange phrases as easily as you do with a word-processing tool. And 15 minutes into the conversation, I had no clue as to what I said just a few minutes ago!

I did have a few keywords on a piece of paper in front of me, plus some data displayed on my computer screen. Several times, I had the feeling that I was chunking my thoughts like a good technical communicator. I was trying to present clear concepts and then introduce sub topics along the way. I felt like I had a little watchdog in my brain making sure I didn’t go too far off course. I wonder how other writers experience interviews, or generally, how other people go through the interview process. I did know that I should trust Rasmus. He was the interviewer. He had the questions. I figured that all I had to do was answer!

Thank you, Rasmus. I had lots of fun talking about networking, blogging, WordPress, Webgrrls, Heltinder, professionalism, and lots, lots more.

With a simple Q&A session, the problem is the speaker not repeating the question from the audience. Repeating the question is good practice anyway, as pointed out by Ken Molay in a recent webinar. For the questioner, it is proof that the speaker comprehended the question. For podcast listeners, the question gets heard!

Any dialog in the audience during the Q&A is often lost on the podcast listener. Here I can understand that it is difficult for the speaker to repeat all the ideas discussed between two or more people in the audience. If audience participation through dialog is a big part of the event being recorded, I think more microphones are called for.

In some ways, that might be why it is nice to leave any discussion to the end of the lecture. That way, the podcast listener can hear the bulk of the message and then skip the inaudible parts in one step.

I have a great example of the situation I am discussing – unfortunately. The Tech Writer Voices podcast with Susan Burton, executive director of STC, was something I looked forward to hearing, and I was quite excited when I saw there were 90 minutes to listen to. What Susan Burton said was very interesting, and it seemed as though the audience enjoyed the event, too. They had a lot of lively discussion, all of which was lost on me. There were huge gaps where I strained in vain to hear what was being said in the audience. I sat with my iPod, turning the volume up and down throughout the entire 90-minute recording, which was quite tedious.

It was also painful. I turned the volume to maximum to hear (often in vain) someone in the audience, but I had to be attentive to when to turn down the volume before Susan Burton began to speak again. Otherwise, my eardrum received a painful blast.

This was such a disappointment, and I feel it is something podcasters must consider when recording such events. Do not depend on the speaker to think about the listening experience. Not everyone has experience with these recordings yet. At least, not at the less expensive level where the only recording microphone is the one attached to the speaker or somewhat fixed to the table in front of the speaker. The podcaster could encourage people, if the surroundings allow it without too much difficulty, to come up to the microphone to talk. The speaker should be taught to repeat the gist of the question before answering. Hearing vague mumbling followed by a clear “Yes” and nothing else is quite a frustrating listening experience.

It was a huge effort to listen to this podcast, but I did it because I wanted to hear Susan Burton. I met her back in October 2006, just when she began her job with STC. I have a very good impression of Susan as not only a nice person, but also an extremely competent director, the kind that STC really needs. There is a lot of cleaning up and modernization to do in many areas of STC, but she has some great ideas and is very motivated for success. I have faith in her and her reach her goals. I also look forward to participating in the efforts needed to achieve those goals. Podcasts are one (excellent) way of getting the STC message out to all members of the organization. Thank you to the Suncoast chapter and Tom Johnson for making this possible. I do appreciate the effort. I hope that next time is less of a strain!

I contemplated starting my own list of Top 10 Lessons after reading this list. I thought that would be a nice touch to carry on the concept and have it spread to other technical communication sites. However, I am too influenced by Rahul’s ideas right now. I would need to mull over these ideas for a while before I dare set pen to paper, or rather, shoved a few electrons around on the screen. Besides, the intention of my site is to share lessons, big and small, on a fairly regular basis. Maybe I can do a year-end blog about the lessons I learned this year. The learning never stops, you know!

If you decide to write up your Top 10 Lessons Learned as a Technical Communicator, post the link here.

And keep an eye on Rahul. At only 20-something, he will go places! Thanks for sharing, Rahul.

I love the idea of listening to technical communication topics. I have piles of books and articles and magazines that cover many of of these topics. They can keep me busy for days and weeks and months. But the time! That’s where these podcasts prove their value to me. I can listen to them during my daily trip to and from work. From the time I go out my front door until I sit down at my desk at work, I can listen to about 25 minutes worth of podcast. If I used the same time period for reading, I could read about 4 minutes on the Metro and 8-10 minutes on the train. I have been known to read on the walk from the train to the office, but that is only possible with easy-to-handle books – and not on a rainy day! The podcasts are a relaxing way to spend my journey.

The podcasts are not a simple diversion. They are packed with nutritional value for your brain cells! Tom has selected good topics that I am interested in right now. There are also topics that have nothing to do with my daily work. I will listen to most of them anyway.

Why? Because I believe that is what a good technical communicator should do. Keeping up to date with new trends and technology is also common sense, even if from a distance. It keeps you prepared and ready for what your manager or customer might throw on your desk one day. It helps you to plan for the future, whether the future is just around the corner or several years away. In fact, you can hear more reasons from Emma Hamer in one of Tom’s podcasts: How to Increase Collaboration and Performance. I found this one so interesting that I listened to it twice!

For example, Emma Hamer proposes the radical idea of holding performance reviews many times during the year! The idea makes perfect sense as she explains it. I am going to suggest the idea at my workplace. She has several other great ideas, some may even be radical to your way of thinking. Your brain cells will definitely get some exercise.

Do stop by Tech Writer Voices and see what Tom has lined up for your listening and learning pleasure, including links to even more podcasts. Wikipedia can help you on your way if podcast is a new term for you.