Saying Something, Versus Saying Something That Matters

One quality that quickly distinguishes professional education podcasters from amateurs is the ability to say something that really matters when it really matters. Those who know what’s under the hood of a good podcast know that this skill is largely connected to the intent of the podcast and the hosts.

There are myriad reasons why people, organizations, and companies start podcasts. Some do it to build their personal brand, some do it to have a platform to share their views, some do it to showcase their organization, and some do it to sell products and services. Whatever the individual reason for hosting a podcast, at the end of the day people will listen if the signal-to-noise ratio of the podcast is high. For those who are not audio geeks, this means there is more valuable content in the podcast than irrelevant content. More meaningful discussion than,  “So what, who cares” discussion. More riveting fresh ideas than trite platitudes, cliches, and thoughts that we’ve all read on number stickers.

Fact: We found that educators have three states, busy, too busy, and “ain’t nobody got time for that.” When you speak, make sure you’re saying something worth hearing.

When trying to drive this point home, I love to share the following hilarious video which would be even funnier if it were not so representative of what we often hear in podcasts today.  Tip of the day, if you’re podcast sounds like this, get help.

Podcasts saying literally nothing for 20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/nmfka1Gjsp

— Jonathan Ogden (@jogdenUK) January 5, 2021