Making a Podcast Series
Are you interested in learning more about the process of producing a podcast at the University?
Dr Edward Hill and Dr Sam Ball developed and produced a podcast about projects associated with Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL), called Health Data Decoded. You can read more about their experience in this blog post, and below you can find a guide to their process.
Making a Podcast Series
As with any engagement activity, the Health Data Decoded podcast happens thanks to the contributions of many people. Without them, the podcast would not be possible!
We list below six steps we go through when making each episode, followed by our reflections on lessons learned and associated advice that may be helpful for others.
Step one: Choose episode theme and sourcing potential guests
We initially discuss the topic areas we would like to cover in upcoming episodes. We then need to identify relevant projects and colleagues across CHIL projects. We are assisted by Emma Lo (Program Manager in CHIL) throughout this process.
Step two: Episode scheduling
For scheduling purposes, we usually attempt to record a ‘block’ of multiple episodes in one recording session (typically two or three episodes).
Two items of co-ordination here are:
- Sending out invitations to colleagues to be a guest on an episode of the podcast.
- Determine availability of the Broadcast Room on the Lower Ground floor 1 – 7 Abercromby Square (where we record the podcast episodes).
[NB: Special thanks to Michael Bayliss (Senior School IT & AV Technician within the School of Histories, Languages and Culture), the operator of the Broadcast Room who helps us immensely with production of the podcast episodes!]
From the accepted guest invitations, we make a schedule for the recording session that we provide to Michael and the episode guests.
Step three: Episode preparation
To help frame the discussion, a couple of weeks ahead of the episode recording we provide the guests sketch questions to help frame the discussion.
We provide an example of the types of questions asked in an episode below:
Q1: Your role is [ROLE NAME]. What is a [ROLE NAME]?
Q2: Can you tell us the story of how you became involved with CHIL and CHIL projects?
Q3: What are the types of tasks you conduct day-to-day?
Q4: What other tasks do you perform as part of your role? (e.g. Presenting at events, public engagement/media activities, teaching/workshops)
Q5: Is there a skillset that you have developed that, perhaps, you originally had not envisaged needing?
Q6: To those interested in working in healthcare, data and policy, what would be one thing you would like those listeners to take away?
We also gather a short bio description and photo from each guest. These can be used to support promotional material once the episode is released (see step five).
We send a final status check-in message to the guest two to three days ahead of the recording day. Within this message we include a reminder of the time we would like them to arrive for their episode recording and venue location information.
Step four: Episode recording, editing and approval
On the day of episode recording, we meet with the episode guest (or guests) and Michael in the Broadcast Room. The venue is set up for both audio and video recording with multiple people. The recording for each episode usually takes up to 30 minutes.
Michael then performs audio and video heroics to edit each episode. The edited episodes are usually 10 to 20 minutes long. The initial episode edit is shared with the episode guest(s). Further edits can then be made as requested. Once approved, the episode can be scheduled for release.
Step five: Episode release and promotion
Episodes are released onto Health Data Decoded channels on Spotify and YouTube.
Each episode has a description that gives a short bio on the guest and the projects they are associated with that are discussed in the episode. Post-release, we are assisted by colleagues in CHIL who help promote the podcast on social media, in the CHIL newsletter and to CHIL project mailing lists.
Step six: Feedback
In addition to comments given by the audience on episodes on Spotify and YouTube, another way of providing feedback to us on Health Data Decoded is by a short, four question feedback form. We include a link to the feedback form in the episode descriptions.
The four questions in the feedback form are the following:
Q1: How do you rate 'Health Data Decoded' in these categories? (from 1 to 5)
- Overall
- Usefulness
- Enjoyment
- Episode length
- Guest variety
Q2: Please rate whether you would recommend 'Health Data Decoded' to a friend? (0 stars - "Definitely not", 5 stars - "For sure!")
Q3: What would you like us to talk about in future episodes? (Free-text box)
Q4: Is there any other feedback you would like to give about 'Health Data Decoded'? If yes, please do so here. (Free-text box)
Lessons learned & advice for others
- Invite more guests than you will need for the next episode recording block. Response to initial invitations can be variable. We usually sending a follow-up message after a few days if there is no initial response. In invitations to guests, we also ask that if unable to participate themselves, if they could recommend a colleague within the project team who may be interested who we could contact instead. That helps give us a list of alternative contacts to approach.
- Life happens and there are unforeseen events that mean sometimes guests must postpone an episode recording at short notice. We mitigate against this by planning to record episodes in ‘blocks’. Therefore, if we plan to record multiple episodes on the same day, if there were to be a postponement of one episode then there is still at least one episode that will be recorded (also meaning we avoid fully wasting the booking of the Broadcast Room and Michael having blocked out time to assist us).
- Having a regular release schedule for episodes we have found to be helpful. Equally, it is important that the frequency of episodes releases does not overburden those involved in the episode production. For Health Data Decoded, we have found releasing one episode a month to be sustainable.
- Different guests will prefer different styles of recordings; some would like to have a script they can refer to, and others will prefer a more conversational style of discussion. We have found that allowing the guests to do whatever they feel comfortable with is a better way to get good conversations!
- We also send guests a rough list of questions before the session, as a guide of what to expect from us on the day. We are not here to grill our guests and trip them up, so if they are sticking to a script, we like to give them the space to say what they want – but if they are happy with going off the beaten track, we will let them drive the conversation if they want!
Read more about the creators and their experience making Health Data Decoded here.
