Podcasting and Presenting Workshop series 2021: A journal of my experience

Posted on: 10 June 2021 in Enterprise

MSc Marketing student Andreea Benedic talks about her experience participating in the Podcasting and Presenting Workshop series 2021.

I love listening to a good podcast. It’s my favourite way to unwind after a long day, and I also get to learn a new thing or two. After listening to various shows, I wanted to produce one of my own – If so many people can do it, what makes me less capable of doing it too? The podcast market is not as saturated as people believe; there is always room for a new host, a new idea, a new episode. 

It’s mysterious how the universe works and gives you the right opportunity at the right time. One day I was scrolling on Linkedin, and I stumbled across a post about a Podcasting and Presenting programme at the University of Liverpool. I thought to myself – This is exactly the sign I needed to start a podcast! – and I applied right away.

The workshop: 

The Podcasting and Presenting Workshop series is a 5-week course created in partnership with Liverpool Live Radio, aiming to teach four groups of students the fundamental steps to develop their podcast ideas. The sessions covered market research, how to interview, recording techniques, networking and sales. What I appreciated the most about this course is that the sessions were delivered by radio professionals with decades of experience under their belt, namely Roy Basnett and his guests Pete Price, Phil Johnson, Jonathan Dean, and Amy Jackson.

The Podcasting and Presenting programme also had a competitive component. In the last session of the course, each team had to pitch their idea and impress the panel of judges. I’m not going to lie – the competition was high, all pitches were so professional, and I didn’t think we were going to win. But we did, and that was the most satisfying feeling I had after all the work our team has put into the podcast concept. Our idea was to create a podcast for students from a covid angle – a place for students to share their experiences during the pandemic and how this challenging time affected their mental health, studies or side hustles.

The prizes of this competition consisted of a podcasting kit for each member of the winning team and going live on Liverpool Live Radio with Roy Basnett. I’m so grateful for receiving a professional microphone, pop shield and headphones, and I am definitely going to put them to good use in my podcasting journey. I was also honoured to be interviewed by Roy on his morning show. It was one of the most exciting experiences I have had as a student.

Besides winning these prizes and learning industry insights, the programme allowed me to meet talented and hardworking people with similar goals as mine. I was lucky to have worked with Grace Carey, Emilia James and Ceri Jones on the same team. Networking is one of the most valuable things you can do as a student because you attract friendships and professional opportunities for the future. 

What I gained from my experience:

In terms of skills, I am now more confident in my public speaking ability. I also worked on other soft skills such as teamwork, organisation and decision making and gained a new hard skill through this experience - audio editing on the Audacity app. My overall employability is now enhanced because I have something unique to talk about in interview settings that will set me apart from other candidates.

These are just some of the benefits you gain when participating in enterprise activities at the University of Liverpool, organised by Careers and Employability. If you have a business idea and are unsure what to do next, search #livunicareers on LinkedIn, @livunicareers on twitter, check out the enterprise webpages, https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/careers/enterprise/ and find out about all opportunities and activites first in The Green Room – an online community of likeminded students - https://bit.ly/DYFGreenRoom 

In the meantime, please listen to our first episode of the Class of Covid Podcast on Youtube, featuring the famous TikToker Cai Sherlock: https://youtu.be/N-_mMBkVwcg and follow us on Instagram @classofcovidpodcast.

You can also add me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreeabenedic/