The event at Apple Store last Sunday was a success thanks to all the audience and to organizer Motty! Below is a summary of my talk with some useful links.

Characteristics of the podcast format

• A podcast is an RSS feed which includes links to audio or video files attached to every post.
• Unlike radio or TV, podcasts aren’t broadcast live.
• Once downloaded, a podcast episode can be watched as many times as wanted.
• Many audio podcasts take the radio format as a reference.
• Video podcasts are shorter because of more costly editing and watchers needing to concentrate in watching.
• If you subscribe using iTunes or other podcast-friendly software, new episodes will be automatically downloaded.

Making your podcast

• Escucha español is edited using iMovie.
• I recommend a short opening sequence, or people will get bored.
• Also try to cut boring or slow parts so you get a good tempo.
• Pay attention when using music and sound effects so you don’t have copyright problems.
• Use resources with permissive licenses such as Creative Commons.
• Compress the video. For Escucha español we use MPEG Streamclip.

Distributing your podcast

• Just by uploading the file to your server and linking it from your blog you would have a podcast.
• You can also use one of the services that will host your podcast. For Escucha español we use blip.tv
• YouTube doesn’t work for podcasts as it won’t allow people to download videos, but it’s still worth it to upload your episode and embed it in the podcast’s blog.

Promotion

• Treat well anyone spreading the word about your podcast on their blog, Twitter or Facebook.
• Join events, or organize one every now and then.

My favorite podcasts

• GFF Creators Blog: Interviews and speeches directly from Fukuoka’s biggest video game developers. Very recommended if you’re interested in this area!
• Kafelog: Three guys talking in Spanish about three sections: internet and phones, video games, and movies. Much fun and explicit language!