Podcasting Guide

What is your purpose? Who is your audience? Ask yourself:

• Who do you want to reach and what do they enjoy?
• What do you want people to learn from your podcast?
• What is your mission?

Do you need a script?

• Are you storytelling? Yes! (If you are improvising a story, have a main goal in mind to prevent rambling or getting too off topic.)
• Are you interviewing/discussing? Try an outline instead. (This will also help keep you and your interviewee on topic.)

"How Audio Stories Begin". (Alison Macadam, NPR, 26 July 2016) 

Don't Forget: Consider how long you want your episodes to be. Grab your listener's attention early!

Podcast structure allows your listeners to get into a "pattern" with you and to know what comes next. Many podcasts follow a structure similar to this one, but you can of course make up your own depending on your content.

Sample structure:

1. Teaser -- (e.g. "On this episode, we'll discuss...")
2. Intro -- This can be one single recording you use across all of your episodes.
3. Interview/Story -- Whatever the main content of your podcast is.
4. Transitions/Midroll -- If you have an episode longer than 20-ish minutes, consider breaking your content in half and adding a mid-roll, where you can tease the next episode, share a promotion/advertisement, or promote your social media or other ventures.
5. Interview/Story -- Continue step 3 (If you have a longer episode and add a mid-roll. If not, skip this section).
6. Outro -- Usually this wraps up your episode or is a song to signal the main content is done.
7. How to subscribe -- This is especially useful for new listeners, so they know where to find updates and other content you produce.