We’re so glad that you’re going to join us on the Carbon Based Business Units Podcast! We want the experience to be fun for you and valuable for our listeners so we’d like to share some important information with you to help you prepare.
What’s it all about?
Our podcast is geared toward small businesses and our topics are aimed at providing insights, ideas and helping people think about their business, marketing and indeed their lives in new ways. We talk to plumbers and contractors, accountants and attorneys, artists and writers, manufacturers and landscapers, designers and programmers, managers and salespeople… any small business looking to make money and balance that with a happy, healthy life.
We avoid “rules” and how-tos like “the best time to post on Twitter” or “how to create a Facebook ad”. We love experiential learning, personal stories, successes and even failures. Your opinion and expertise matters!
Prep Your Equipment
We’ve got you covered on the tech, but we do need a few small things from you.
Headphones: they help reduce echo and maintain sound quality. Studio-type headphones (the type that go over your ears) are best if you have them.
A headset with a microphone will also work.
Earbuds with a microphone should also work, but may depend on the brand and on your computer. Please check to be sure or have a backup plan!
A microphone: if you’ve got a standalone mic, great!
If not, you can use a headset with a mic attached, or the mic attached to your earbuds.
If you’re using a headset or earbuds and mic, check your computer settings to make sure it’s picking up sound from the right source. Sometimes you may think it is, but it turns out your onboard mic is actually picking up the sound, which may make for more background noise and echo.
You can also use your onboard mic but that tends to let in a lot of outside sound from the room.
Skype: we’ll need to call you via Skype so please connect with carollynnrivera as soon as you can.
Computer: reboot your computer before the recording session begins. Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised by how easy it is to drop a connection or hear lag. Start with a clean slate and try not to open any unnecessary programs.
Internet: check your connection! If you have the option for wired internet, use it. That will keep the connection more stable and make sure your voice comes through well. If you only have wifi, that’s ok, but do avoid public wifi. That means no recording from the road or coffee shops! And disable any video or other programs that could be using too much bandwidth.
Prep Your Audio
Audio quality is important to us and to our listeners so please take a moment right before we begin recording to do the following:
Find a quiet room where you won’t be disturbed. We know dogs and kids sometimes pop in and that’s ok, but do your best to find a quiet spot. Trust us, it’s good therapy.
Try finding a small room, even a closet will do! That way sounds (and your voice) won’t echo. A room with carpets, curtains or upholstery work better than an open space with hardwood floors.
Turn down extraneous noise sources like forced air heat, air conditioning, fans or anything else in the room that can cause background or white noise (as best as you can).
If you’re using an onboard mic, be extra doubly triply sure that you’re in a quiet place because it will pick up every cough and shuffle.
What To Expect When Recording With Us
We’ll call you at our scheduled recording time and spend five or ten minutes going through some audio and show prep. We’ll check your sound and help you get situated. If we notice anything that interferes with making you sound amazing, we’ll help troubleshoot.
We want to help promote you, your products, services and business or podcast so we’ll need a few things from you:
A high res photo. We’ll use your photo on our promotional graphics so send your favorite. You can email your photo to [email protected] or email a link where we can download it prior to the recording date.
Contact info. At the end of the episode we’ll ask you to tell our listeners how they can find you, so come prepared to give them whatever website links, social accounts or other info that you’d like to share.
What About The Topic?
We invited you on our show because we’ve already got things we want to talk to you about. We’ll let you know what those are prior to our session.
If you’ve got a topic burning in your mind that you want to address, let us know before the recording date and we’ll put it on the agenda.
Otherwise, the show is pretty freeform. We don’t make lists of questions or write scripts. Our goal is to have a conversation with you, to make it fun and to let it take whatever direction it takes. Tangents welcome!
What About Awkward Silences, Mistakes And “Ums”?
One word: editing.
As a recorded show we have the freedom to edit to our heart’s content. That means there’s no pressure to perform perfectly. If any of us gets stuck, loses a train of thought or has a change of heart about something we’ve said, we’ll take a deep breath, regroup and edit it out later.
We want you to sound great and to feel great about your experience.
When Will Your Recording Air?
Depending on what we have queued up, it may air in anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. We’ll give you an expected air date as soon as we’re done recording.