At the Neev Literature Festival 2023, I watched Menaka Raman conduct a session on character development, and I knew I wanted to invite her to my writing programme. She did a session for us today, and what an engaging session it was! Her lively teaching style made the workshop a treat.
This workshop was my twenty-sixth guest session, and my very first one on podcasting. Menaka took us through the basics—from what a podcast is to what equipment we need to record a podcast.
In some ways, a podcast is like Netflix for audio – it has episodes that are recorded and that you can listen to in your own time. That’s what makes it different from radio, which you have to catch only when it is broadcast!
Through a series of writing exercises, Menaka helped us experience firsthand the process of podcast creation. Asking the right questions, choosing a theme, taking our time editing—all of it is important.
Finally, Menaka reminded us that we don’t need any fancy equipment to create a podcast. Recording on a phone is easy enough, and to edit, we can use Spotify, Audacity, iMovie and Garage Band. Special effects add to the experience of podcasts, and BBC, for instance, has 33,000 sound effects that you can use for free.
It was a rewarding session, and as often happens, I think I learned as much as the children did!
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