How to Make a Podcast by Marieke Van Damme and Dan Yaeger

A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY #276

How to Make a Podcast By Marieke Van Damme and Dan Yaeger

odcasting is a

wonderful way NEMA Photos of engaging your audience, extending your mission, and Praising awareness of your institution. Current technology allows us to take advantage of what radio has done since its inception: share personal stories in an intimate way. Unlike radio broadcasting, though, podcasting is something everyone can do with minimal investment. But is it right for you? Sit back and listen in as the hosts of the Museum People podcast share their experience making Marieke Van Damme and Dan Yaeger, co-hosts of Museum a podcast from scratch. People, at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC

1 How to Make a Podcast

Museum People co-hosts Marieke Van Damme and Dan Yaeger in the “studio” at the Cambridge Historical Society

Welcome to the World of Podcasting of starting a podcast for NEMA. I thought this was a great idea because I love podcasts and I love museums. One thing led to another and here we are—one [THEME MUSIC UP] season of Museum People behind us and another one underway. Announcer: This is Museum People, a podcast that cel- DY: You make it sound so simple. We have put in a lot ebrates individuals connected with the museum field of work. by highlighting their work, passions, opinions, and personalities. In each episode, you’ll hear stories and MVD: It’s true. We had to think through the format, viewpoints from a variety of museum people, unsung develop our strategy, buy the equipment, plan out workers to executive directors, volunteers to trustees, episodes, do the taping and editing, learn how to pub- as they help change the world one visitor at a time. lish and market it … [VOICE TRAILS OFF] And now, the hosts of Museum People, Dan Yaeger and DY: But it also was simple too. Whenever you do Marieke Van Damme.” something you love, it really is simple, no matter Dan Yaeger: Marieke! AASLH has asked us to write how much work you put in, right? And I think that is a Technical Leaflet on how to do a podcast. What do maybe the first secret of podcasting: you have to find you think? something you love to talk about and be willing to share it with your audiences in the wider world. That Marieke Van Damme: Dan, I’m excited for two rea- makes it all worthwhile. sons. One, it’s an honor to be asked, and, two, because podcasts have such incredible potential for history MVD: Right. So let’s share some of what we’ve learned organizations. History is filled with untold stories, with our friends at AASLH, shall we? and podcasts are perfect vehicles for storytelling. DY: Let’s do it. DY: Should we start out with a little background on our own podcast, Museum People? Why Make a Podcast? MVD: Sure! Museum People was born at a ballgame, MVD: Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, an Atlanta Braves game to be exact, during the 2015 maybe we should make sure everyone knows what AAM conference. As we were sitting in the stands a podcast is. Technically, a podcast is a digital audio eating hotdogs, you mentioned you were thinking file that can be downloaded from a website to your 2 ing office hours. ing officehours. your organization ifyou’regoingtobedoing itdur DY: bandwidth todoitalongwith all yourday-to-daytasks. to behonestwithyourselfabout whetheryouhavethe releasing weekly, monthly, orwhatever. Soyouneed Your listenersshouldknowthat youwillbereliably and makesureyouareconsistentwithyourschedule. MVD: podcast todrift,itwon’t besuccessful. relentless inmaintainingthatfocus.Ifyouallowthe communicate, towhomyou’llcommunicateit,andbe so youneedtodefineyourstrengths,whatyou’ll of thepodcast.There’s lotsofcompetitionoutthere, DY: podcast, thenyou’vepassedthefirsthurdle. outcomes outweighthecostsandtimeofcreatinga to figureoutwhatoutcomestheyexpect.Ifthose MVD: excited tostartapodcast.Nowwhat? DY: my nameintheintro.[LAUGHTER] agreed tobeaco-host.You justwentaheadandput profession alittlemorejoyful.Also,Ineveractually People low workersacrosstheregion/country. Isee believe intheorganization’s abilitytohelpmyfel the successoffield.IalsocareaboutNEMAand people I’vemetalongtheway, andI’mcommittedto MVD: Those weremyreasons,Marieke.Whydidyoudoit? • • • • • • • People, beyond. Aswedevelopedthestrategyfor ence ofmuseumprofessionalsinNewEnglandand way ofdeepeningNEMA’s engagementwiththeaudi DY: cast? Oraseriesofpodcasts? MVD: right? series ofepisodes,usuallywithathemesomekind, DY: to contenthostedonline. cast” originatedwithApple’s iPodasawaytolisten smartphone orothermediaplayer. Theterm“pod Build awarenessofNEMAprogrammingandevents. we’re stillworkingon…). Attract potentialsponsorshiprevenue(something ing interestingmuseumpeople. Encourage interestinmuseumcareersbyhighlight Give NEMAaplatformforthoughtleadership. museum professionals. Serve NEMA’s missionofinspiringandconnecting Provide anadditionalchannelforNEMAbranding. Engage withmuseumprofessionals(asIsaid). Which means you have to have the blessing of Which meansyouhaveto theblessingof I agree.Thebiggestchallengeistofindthefocus [LAUGHTER] Alright,let’s saysomeoneis a I knowinmycasewasinterestedfinding But inabroadersense,podcastalsorefersto I’dsayit’s puttinginthetimeandbrainenergy as a way to share my love and maybe make the asawaytosharemyloveandmaybemakethe You alsohavetobecommittedthepodcast A fewreasons.First,Ilovemuseums,andthe Yes. Sowhywouldanyonewanttomakeapod we cameupwithsevenreasonstodoit: Museum Museum Museum Museum ------• • Museum People: gestions, buthere’s theequipmentweboughttostart “How todoapodcast,”you’llfindmanyhelpfulsug together afairlyhigh-qualitypodcast.IfyouGoogle DY: Museum People. MVD: Stuff You Need be supportive. it’s agoodideatokeepthemintheloopsotheycan say inthepodcastmightreflectonyouremployers,so side project,youstillhavetorecognizethatwhat cial museumprojectorapersonalsideproject.Ifit’s a boss, makesureyouspelloutwhetherthisisanoffi MVD: Annual Meeting Angelica ofNewYork Cityatthe2016AAM Dan Yaeger hearsfromMuseumHack’s Ethan online (Ibought two). Microphones: Sennheiser e835cardioidmike, $100 through them;apowercordis extra). sure youbuyatonofAAbatteries, becauseyou’llgo Digital recorder:ZoomH4N, $150online(make It’s prettyincrediblehowinexpensiveitistoput Dan, you did most of the grocery shopping for Dan,youdidmostofthegroceryshoppingfor Right. And as you’re pitching the idea to your Right. Andasyou’repitchingtheideatoyour Whatwasonyourlist? - -

3 technical leaflet #276 How to Make a Podcast

• Microphone cables: XLR connection, 15 feet long, plusses and minuses. It’s nice and quiet and filled with about $35 online (I bought two, obviously). nineteenth-century charm, so we’re pretty inspired • Microphone stands: QuikLok A-188 desktop stand there, but the big wooden conference tables tend to for studio recording, $15-$25 online (again, I obvi- create an echo that we notice on playback. So we got ously bought two). smart and started covering them with blankets to • Headphones: Plantronics .Audio 376 DSP headset, muffle the echo. It seems to work pretty well. $50 online (this has a USB connection so you can MVD: Radio people have told me that the ideal make- edit your podcast on your PC; they’re not the best shift studio when you’re on the road is in a closet or quality, but they work). under the covers. Lots of carpeting helps too. I spent about $500 all told for the hardware. Not a DY: Right. The idea is to find a space that’s private bad investment. and not filled with hard surfaces—or noisy HVAC MVD: Museum People is centered around interviews, so systems. You might not notice while you’re recording, most of our content is recorded in the field. But we but you’ll definitely notice when you put on head- still need a studio to record introductions and com- phones later. mentary that surround the interviews. First we tried your office at NEMA for this, but we noticed there Podcast Format was a weird hum in the background, which was prob- MVD: Let’s talk format for a minute, Dan. ably from the HVAC system. DY: Let’s! DY: Since then we’ve been using the conference room MVD: Choose your podcast format carefully, because at the Cambridge Historical Society, which has its you want to be consistent. History-oriented podcasts have several options: • It can be a gab fest with two or more hosts and/or Dan Yaeger speaking with Dan Danzig of visitors talking about issues and events. Pasadena, California, at the 2016 AAM • It can be interview-based, like ours is, with the host Annual Meeting or hosts providing commentary or reporting back in-between interviews. • Or it can be a more-produced piece focused on storytelling, maybe featuring oral histories or interviews with people connected with historic events. You can even have the host researching and telling interesting historical stories connected with your area or institution. When you think about format, also think about the length of each episode and try to keep that consistent too. Do some research on other types of history- related podcasts. Most podcasts seem to be between thirty minutes to an hour, but you definitely need to have some really interesting content to keep people listening for an hour. The first season ofMuseum People tended to be twenty-minute episodes, which people have told us is great for listening while doing dishes or driving home. Season Two episodes are a little longer so far. We’re watching our download numbers and what our listeners are saying in their feedback to us to see if we need to make adjustments. DY: What you said about content is so true. If you have great content and can keep people’s interest, the format and length fades in importance. Good content will also help listeners forgive your lack of technical polish, like those echoes and weird hums we had in some of our episodes. On a related note, I want to say that if you decide you need a partner for your podcast, choose wisely. MVD: I agree! [LAUGHTER] DY: My advice is to choose your podcast co-host like

4 analysis… analysis… stitch together theinterviewswithhighly-thoughtful energy of DY: starters. MVD: been. required. NowIrealizehowboring thatwouldhave their faceandpublishtherawinterview, noediting I alwaysdo,onlyfromnowonI’dpushamikein thought I’dgetawaywithchattingthemlike I visitedwithmuseumfolks,whichdoplenty. I bring therecordingequipmentwithmewhenever edit yourpodcast.Myoriginalplanwastosimply Museum People DY: Editing/Publishing back pocketifyouloseyourtrainofthought. research andalwayshaveaquestionortwoinyour staring atyoursubject.Prepbeforehandwithsome edit afterwardsisverycomforting,butdon’t getstuck tion thatinterviewingpeopleishard.Theabilityto them andthey’llhavefunaswell.I’dalsoliketomen your listenersknowyou’rehavingfuntalkingwith content isimportant.IsayenergyLet bring bigenergyonyourpodcastingdays.Dansays MVD: road trip.You’ll bespendingplentyoftimetogether. you wouldchooseacompanionforcoast-to-coast Annual Meeting Dan Yaeger catchesaninterviewwithChristineMillerBettsofAugusta,Georgiaatthe2016AAM You’re right.Thebanteradds muchtothe One ofthebiggestsurprisesI’vehadduringour You wouldn’t havehadmetobanter with,for Indeed. Which reminds me, make sure you Indeed. Whichremindsme,makesureyou Museum People, experience is how important it is to experience ishowimportantitto sowe’vebeen told. We - DY: MVD: hears itbutme.Ieditout. you clickyourtonguebefore you speak?Noone us allsoundgood.Marieke,do youknowhowoften One thingI’vegottentobepretty skillfulatismaking someday I’llgetaroundtolearning theotherhalf. features, butit’s enoughtogetthejobdone.Maybe to admitIdon’t knowhowtouseevenhalfofthe help aidsthatmademerelativelyadept.I’mthefirst user communityonlinethathastutorials,FAQs, and it alongsideamateurslikeme),butthere’s ahelpful It tooksometimefiguringitout(professionalsuse is Audacity, remarkablypowerfulsoftwarethat’s free. had togetaudioeditingsoftware.ThebestI’vefound DY: MVD: give attributioninyourweblistingforeachepisode. genre and mood. Downloads are free. You just have to I alwaysgotowww.ccmixter.org, whereIsearchby free musiconlinethat’s reallygoodforthemostpart. DY: stuff. MVD: NPR does. musical bridgesbetweeninterviewstoo,sortoflike context onourinterviewsubjects.We alsoaddlittle DY: MVD: Gone. Gone. It’s notashardIthoughtitwouldbe.First, Believe itornotthereisagreatdealofrights- And somehumor, inawaythatshedslightand And allofyour “ums”and“youknows”? How doyouedittheepisodes? Where doyougetthemusic?Ilikefunky And somehumor…

5 technical leaflet #276 How to Make a Podcast

MVD: How do you publish the episodes then? Like that you’ve used in the past. The best way to get new the grocery shopping, that’s your end of things. listeners is to have another podcast promote your DY: When you’re done editing, you create an MP3 podcast. (Imagine if Serial or This American Life were audio file and upload it to a podcast hosting service. to mention Museum People.) This may be hard to do at There are many services out there, but we use some- first, but keep it in mind for the future. thing called Podbean, which costs us $96 per year for DY: When we launched Museum People we employed unlimited podcasts. Once you upload it to Podbean, social media to send out teasers a few days before the they take care of distributing your podcast to places official launch, which seemed to work pretty well. We like iTunes, Google Play, and a zillion other sites also use email along with social media to announce where people can subscribe and get each episode the release of each episode. And as I said, we’ve automatically when we release it. We also upload each designed a Museum People page on our website where episode to our own website, www.nemanet.org, so people can browse episodes or binge listen, sort of the our NEMA audience can download it there as well. home base for the podcast. You could publish your podcast on your own website MVD: Can I talk a second about naming your podcast? without a hosting service, but in addition to distrib- DY: Of course. uting your episodes far and wide, the podcast host MVD: The name of your podcast is probably the most tracks how many people are actually listening, which important step in marketing it. My advice is to be is probably your most important measure of success. very literal and clear so people can make an easy deci- Marketing Your Podcast sion to listen. You don’t want to confuse people. DY: I recall your working title for our podcast was MVD: Once you publish your podcast, how do people Humans of Museums, inspired by the Humans of New find out about it, Dan? York photo blog, right? DY: Marketing? MVD: Right. I still like it, but I understand why I got MVD: Marketing. Podcasts and social media were outvoted. Museum People communicates our focus made for each other, so anticipate your social media very clearly. When you decide on a name, make sure campaign at the very beginning of your planning to Google it so you’re certain it isn’t already taken process. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are or comes close to impinging on some else’s brand. solid avenues for releasing news of your podcast If you’re in doubt about that, make sure your lawyer and expanding your audience through “likes” and gets to provide an opinion. You don’t want to change “retweets.” Podcasts are generally popular with the name (or even worse, be sued!) after you’ve younger audiences, so mirror successful marketing launched the podcast. efforts towards Gen X and Millennials with those

Dan Yaeger interviewing Paul Bowers of Melbourne, Australia, at the 2016 AAM Annual Meeting

6 create ahistory podcast.You first. with ourtopthree memorabletakeawaysfor howto Leaflet, soI’dlikeeachofus toleaveouraudience think we’vecoveredalotofground inthisTechnical Marieke, we’reheadingintothe homestretch.I tant metricforapodcast. nonprofit, Isupposeboardbuy-in isthemostimpor encouraging aboutmovingontoSeasonTwo. Fora pleased withtheresultsofSeasonOneandwasvery DY: didn’t makesponsorshipyourtopgoal. a buzzinyourcommunityaboutit.I’mgladyou tive, especiallywhenit’s newanddifferentthere’s theirs aretrulyintertwined,theymightfinditattrac Of course,ifasponsorbelievesyouraudienceand of downloadsperepisodebeforetheygiveyoumoney. standing isthatsponsorsoftenwanttoseethousands though 7,000listensisagreatnumber, myunder MVD: ting podcastsreleased. sors. Butthatwasbecausewedidn’t try. Too busyget DY: feedback. give listenersanopportunitytoprovideanonymous We shouldprobablydoasurveyafterSeasonTwo to MVD: what it’s liketohaveafanclub? we weredoingsomethingright.Isthis Facebook mentionswerealsosignsthat DY: interviews. ing encouragementandideasforfuture we hadanumberofpeoplecontribut an emaillinkontheNEMAwebsiteand encourage listenerstoprovideinputvia feedback wereceived.Ineachepisode MVD: twice, Ihope),itappearswemetourgoal. professional (mykidslistenedonceor sure thateveryonelisteningisamuseum fessionals. Andwhilewedon’t knowfor avenue ofengagementwithmuseumpro goal withthepodcastwastoprovidean DY: significant. wide audience.Thatseemedtobepretty more than7,000listensfromanation episodes, theendofSeasonOne,wehad in termsoflistenership,butaftereight think eitheroneofusknewwhattoexpect MVD: be aSeasonTwo of pretty muchdeterminedthattherewould DY: Evaluation Me too. In any event, the NEMA board was Me too.Inanyevent,theNEMAboardwas The onlygoalwedidn’t budgewasgettingspon And the“likes”and“retweets” I agree.Assaidearlier, ouroverall By theendofSeasonOne,wehad It might be too early for sponsorships. Even It mightbetooearlyforsponsorships.Even Don’t letitgotoyourhead,Dan. Another signofengagementisthe Right. Beforewelaunched,Idon’t Museum People. Museum People. - - - House forthe Marieke Van DammeonlocationattheMassachusettsState - - - - - Museum People in chargeofyour podcastbrand. great powercomes greatresponsibility. MVD: 4. 3. 2. 1. DY: 3. 2. do itrightfromthebeginning. there’s nohurrytojumponthetrend.Slowdownand change theworld.We aren’t inapodcastbubble,so ment thegreatworkyourmuseumisalreadydoingto 1. Doitfortherightreasons. MVD: audience throughapodcast. and passionatepeople,giving theirvoiceawider worth it. for meit’s acreativeoutlet,sotheovertimeiswell commitment, frominterviewingtoediting,but though you’reanamateur. can affordandseekprofessionalstandards,even the overallpodcastseries. straightforward. Have fun. Put inthetime. Don’t cutcorners. No wingingit. Give ittimetosucceed,andbekindyourselves. Have measurementsofsuccess All terrific.I’dhavetosaythesearemytopthree: Hey, yousaidthree,soI getonemore. My takeawaysare: It’s ablasttotalkwith somanyinteresting Have a plan, for each episode and for Have aplan,foreachepisodeand Museum People podcast. Invest in the best equipment you Invest inthebestequipmentyou Your podcastshouldaug so evaluation is fair and so evaluationisfairand is a fairly major time isafairlymajortime Put the right voice Put therightvoice With -

7 technical leaflet #276 How to Make a Podcast

DY: That does it for this issue of the AASLH Marieke Van Damme is Executive Director of Technical Leaflet. Thanks so much for being with us! the Cambridge Historical Society. She can be Go out and change the world, museum people! reached at [email protected]. MVD: We love you, museum people! Dan Yaeger is Executive Director of the New [THEME MUSIC UP] England Museum Association. He can be reached at [email protected]. Announcer: Museum People is a production of the New England Museum Association, which connects, Readers can access the Museum People podcast at inspires, and empowers cultural institutions to pro- www.nemanet.org/museumpeople. vide their communities with deep and authentic expe- riences. Have an idea or comment for Museum People? Acknowledgments Go to www.nemanet.org/museumpeople to provide The authors would like to thank the boards of their feedback, get information about episodes, and learn respective organizations for supporting them as they how to subscribe. Thanks for listening! produce Museum People. Also, a shout-out to folks past, present, and future who have shared their per- spectives in Museum People interviews. Finally, thank you to Emily Robertson for lending her considerable voiceover talent to the podcast.

Resources Jeff Large, “The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting: Preparation,” www.ostraining.com/blog/podcasting/ preparation. New England Association of Museums, Museum People, www.nemanet.org/museumpeople. Sounds Like and Earful, “Show, Don’t Tell (in Podcasting),” go.aaslh.org/PodcastShow. Heather Teysko, “The Little Podcast That Could: What I’ve Learned in Seven Years of Podcasting Renaissance English History,” go.aaslh.org/LittlePodcast. Adrian Try, “The Complete List of Audio Gear You’ll Need for Your Podcast,” go.aaslh.org/PodcastGear.

Marieke Van Damme and Dan Yaeger, co-hosts of Museum People, at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC

© 2016 by the American Association for State and Local History. Technical Leaflet #276, “How to Make a Podcast,” included inHistory News, volume 71, number 4, Autumn 2016. Technical Leaflets are issued by the American Association for State and Local History to provide the historical agency and museum field with detailed, up-to-date technical information. Technical Leaflets and Technical Reports are available through History News magazine to AASLH members or to any interested person. Membership information or additional Technical Leaflets may be acquired by contacting the American Association for State and Local History, 2021 21st Ave. S., Suite 320, Nashville, TN 37212, 615-320-3203; fax 615-327-9013; www.aaslh.org. 8