Before an archer can win a competition, s/he needs to locate the target. On a shooting range, her target is the bulls-eye.

This is no different for communicators. Their target isn’t a bulls-eye but something like attitudinal change or new knowledge. Their tool isn’t a bow and arrow, but a carefully crafted message. But they’re shooting for a target.

If you want to create a terrific podcast, you need to have a target to shoot for and be clear about what you’re aiming for. What’s your bulls eye?

Some of the best media content is created by producers who explicitly know what they want their content to achieve. Their bulls-eye might not be a round target but a carefully defined editorial goal or purpose.

Each and every technique they use to communicate will have been chosen because they’ve carefully calculated how it will help them achieve their editorial purpose – or hit their target.

Such techniques include words, music and sound effects.

Create a learning outcome first

In the learning profession, our bulls-eye isn’t an "editorial purpose" but a learning outcome.

A good learning outcome follows a very specific grammar. It explicitly describes the task your learner will be able to perform at the end of her learning.

It describes the context in which that task will be performed. And the standard to which that task will be performed.

This is the first thing you need to do to create a phenomenal learning podcast.

What is it that your listener should be able to do when he or she finishes listening?

In what context will they perform this task? And to what standard will they be able to do it? Before you even start planning your podcast, you need to be really clear – actually very explicit – about what learning you are trying to achieve.

A question about your podcast

Once you’ve located your bulls eye - that is explicitly described the task you want your learner to perform - you need to ask a few key questions before starting production. 

The most important question is: is audio podcasting the most ideal learning method to achieve your learning outcome?

If you’re teaching someone to lay ceramic tile, audio is probably not the most effective method.  Consider video instead. But sharing a new sales technique might be.

I meet a lot of enthusiastic types who blindly believe that audio podcasts will save their world.  OK, perhaps that's an exaggeration. 

My point is a lot of people falsely believe that podcasting is suited to every learning situation.  It's not.  Audio is great for narrative.  But it's lousy for complex detail.

The key to successful podcasts is knowing when they're going to work for you and when they won't.  Professionalism is typified by the discipline not to use audio when it clearly will not help you.

Once you have determined that audio is the best method, you need to break your task down into easy to learn chunks of information.  We'll look at that in another posting.

Recap