Inner Workings of PPT Podcasts

Written by: Nessa

Hundreds of PPTers eagerly wait by their speakers for the next Podcast to arrive. The Podcasters’ personalities shine throughout each episode, lightheartedly poking fun at the other Podcasters, who are always more then happy to put their quips in. There is a almost perfect balance between joking around (brown squirrel anyone?) and serious issues (do our Neopet clicks make money for scientology?)

I recently had a talk with Caesara, who agreed to peek into the responsibilities and issues of podcasting, and later PMed Yukio to fill in some holes. =)

Caesara

Yukio

N: Whose idea was it to begin with?

Y: Mine. At least, I think so... unless I totally ripped off the idea from another member and claimed it as my own lol.

N: How are the topics decided?

C: SL decides that; you'd have to ask him.

Y: We have our own private board where we take on board which topics are most relevant for the upcoming podcast. Usually I'll suggest around 4 core topics, and the members can suggest new ones they'd like to see.

N: Do you try to get a theme going on each session?

Y: Yep. The discussion centers around the four core topics, however we seem to be able to bring in other topics as well. What is most challenging is getting a mix of hosts together with personalities that provide enough contrast to be interesting.

N: How do you decide who gets airtime?

C: It's mostly based upon who is available at the time. After that, it's usually whoever posts first--hey, wait, chocolate! We also accept bribes :)

N: How long does it usually take to get a decent show together?

C: The recording or organization?

N: Both.

C: Recordings last roughly an hour; though the first one we did was two. Organization can take anywhere from two weeks to a few days; that usually depends on if we can all manage to be online at the same time.

N: I bet that's a amazing feat, everyone online at once.

C: Especially if we have Europeans on board.. XP

N: What do you do specifically to organize a session?

Y: To organize, Caesara usally checks to see who is available. Then we set a time that is convenient for most of us and on the day, we all turn up. Sometimes, one of us may sleep in, so we always have contingency plans such as a backup host.

C: Figure out who can do it, organize times, and wait.

N: What's your favorite part of hosting?

C: The hosting? :P It's a lot of fun just talking with everyone; whether we have topics or not. SL tends to cut some or a lot of this out, but we usually have ten minute periods that are so off track and random and often don't make sense.

N: Is that on the blooper track? I haven't listened to it yet.

C: A lot of it is, yeah. :D

N: What's your favorite part of your responsibilities to Podcast?

Y: I like cutting out the bloopers and playing with them to make the hosts sound like babies hahahaha... I am evil.

C: The actual 'casting..

N: What's the worst part about putting a session together?

C: Organizing it. It takes a lot of time, and more than once we've had to cancel and reschedule because someone forgot, or just a conflict.

Y: Co-ordinating, it's not really that bad. Kinda fun lol.

N: Is there anything you've learned from the entire podcasting experience?

Y: How to practice my radio voice to make it sound better to listen to. I'm still working on it waaaay.... but hearing your own recorded voice is an eye-opener.

C: Yes. Don't count on two alarm clocks to wake SL up.

N: Haha, heavy sleeper?

C: Apparently. He had to wake up early--only by an hour or so if I remember correctly--and he came on two hours later, apologizing because he had ignored both alarm clocks.

Y: YES. I have three alarm clocks in my room, each set 5 minutes apart and located on the other side of the room to ensure I wake up... however I usually just wake up, walk to the other side of the room, turn them off, go back to my bed and fall alseep again... x 3.

N: What's one thing you hope that the podcast accomplishes or evolves toward?

C: Well, it'd be awesome if the podcast got to be a more regular thing, instead of the sporadic event it currently is. We already seem to have groupies, so I guess I can't wish for that, eh? :P

Y: We're aiming for regular shows, then we'll look to building the show up to a good audience base. Then maybe an online TV show.

N: Ok, last question (unless I think of more XP): If you could have any one person in the entire world, living or dead, to guest on the show, who would it be?

Y: Jesus Christ.

C: Hmmmm. Jim.

N: Any reason?

C: It would be hilarious, for one, becuase he'd probably evade all of my nonsense questions and (virtually) hide behind SL the entire time. On a more serious note, though, he'd be a great contribution to the show. And I'd love to hear his accent. (I'm obsessed with accents.)

N: Thanks for answering my questions =)

C: 'course.

Thanks for reading everyone, I hope this enlightens you about the workings of podcasting, until next time. -Nessa