Month: January 2014

I’ve been moving right along with my podcast this past month. My first episode was published on December 29, 2013 and as of today, January 29, 2014 I’ve published five episodes. The fifth one, which I just published is my very first episode with an interview.

If you’ve listened to my podcast intro, you know that talking to and about the people in our industry has been a goal right from the start. That being said, I wanted to see if I could make shows by myself at first to see if I was really going to do this thing. From now on, I plan to mix up the kinds of shows as I find the right topics or guests to suit one style or the other.

In Episode 5, I knew from the start that I wanted to have a guest. Like a lot of podcasters, I planned on using the guests in a very selfish way. Sure, I’d be making the podcasts for the listeners, but at the same time I wanted to pull double duty and learn about things that I’ve always been curious about.

As I thought about topics to discuss, the first one that jumped out at me was Aspect Oriented Programming. I kind of knew what it was about, but I really wanted to know and understand more. As soon as I finished recording Episode 4 of the podcast, I used my podcast endorphins to take a risk and send out an email to the guy who literally wrote the book on Aspect Oriented Programming.

Matt was gracious enough to give me some time and talk about the topic, some of the frameworks you’ll encounter, and his book. He even provided a promo code for my listeners, so I couldn’t have been happier with him as a guest. He made it very easy to talk about this topic and he really knows the landscape. Check out the episode and definitely use the promo code to buy the book if your interest is piqued by the discussion.

I also learned a few tips and tricks that I’ll have to put into play next time when recording and mixing two disparate tracks and I’m thankful for the opportunity to get to keep doing this, to keep learning and trying to get better, and to work in a community where people like Matt are who are so willing to come and make time for a lowly podcast with literally TENS of listeners per episode.

Great big thanks again to Matt and to all of you who listen to the show.

You can also subscribe to the podcast at any of these places:

Thanks to all the people who listen, and a special thanks to those who have rated me. I really appreciate it.

The episodes have been archived. Click Here to see the archive page.

The most difficult thing that I’ve found while doing my podcast is the whole “talking to no one” part. I already know that I talk very quickly, especially when I’m excited. I also now know from editing my podcasts that I tend to be sloppy in my pronunciation of a LOT of words. I’ve definitely been more focused on that.

What is getting me is being able to “fake” the vocal dynamics that happen as you are interacting with another human. Normally, you’d feed off their interactions and subtle non-verbal cues, but instead I feel like I’m an actor reciting an ad-hoc soliloquy and currently I’m just not that talented. I’m balancing that fine line between speaking at a good pace, speaking clearly and enunciating, and speaking with vocal dynamics that don’t sound fake and forced.

I’ve been trying to think of some good ways to “fake” this. One idea is maybe put a mirror in front of me and talk to the “other person” who is there. Another idea is to make my son or my wife sit there near by and I’ll talk to them. I do plan on having some interview subjects on soon, so those kinds of episodes won’t be an issue. I’m just more concerned and focused about my “verbal essay” (rant) style episodes.

Does anyone have any good practical tips that they’ve used when “performing for no one”?

My second podcast went out this weekend.

There is one section when I am talking about my own answer to “How do you stay current?” and I agonized back and forth a bit as to whether to leave it all in. The point was that I’m busy just like everyone else is busy, I still make time for everything that I do to stay current. I hope that it doesn’t come off as bragging or humble bragging or that I’m just a gigantic jerk. I wanted to really bring home the point that I go on to quote in the show that I once heard Leon Gersing make at the M3 conference that, “If you say you don’t have time for something, you don’t”.

I heard him say that at the lunchtime keynote and it really hit me about how much I had been slacking at that point. So, I cut out some useless TV and I was able to do everything else in my life and still spend several hours a week honing my craft.

As I said, I’m hoping that it comes off more as a way to shift priorities around to create a plan rather than “Hey, look at me, I’m perfect”.

That all being said, I’m off to CodeMash this week for my yearly dose of inspiration and to remind myself just how many smart people are out there and how much I don’t know!

You can also subscribe to the podcast at any of these places:

Thanks to all the people who listen, and a special thanks to those who have rated me. I really appreciate it.

The episodes have been archived. Click Here to see the archive page.