The answer to the question is, of course, ‘with research’. If you have no experience of this kind of project, the starting point for that research is listening – soaking up as much of other people’s content as you can get your ears on! Dr Stephen Covey says that out of reading, writing, speaking and listening, listening is the activity we spend the highest percentage of our time doing (or at least attempting to do) but the lowest percentage of our time learning. I’d go along with that – although I have to say, in my professional experience, the average person’s listening skills are better than they think. I’m consistently surprised by clients who swear they’re ‘no good at listening’, then proceed to spot a flawed piece of audio on first hearing. They can’t always tell me straight off what’s wrong with it – but they know it isn’t right; it isn’t ‘comfortable’ to listen to.

I set you a challenge in the programme – to turn away from the tv for a few minutes, just listen, and see what you pick up on. I try this with all my training clients –with some really interesting results. If you give it a go, do let me know what happens.

The July show is the first I’ve recorded in USP’s new studios – which include some very swish television facilities. So I had to be a bit careful what I said about tv sound – although I still had to tell it like it is – traditionally, it’s been ‘the poor relation’, the assumption being that the viewer will be so preoccupied with the pictures, the sound really doesn’t matter. Even I assumed that was the case for a lot of people – until recently, when I was talking to someone who makes videos for business and he commented that the standard of the audio behind the pictures could make or break the whole presentation.

For this month’s competition, I’m asking you to identify what’s wrong with a sound clip. Obviously, you need to listen to be able to have a crack at it.

The winner of the June competition was Tim Carter of Attwaters Solicitors in Harlow, Essex. He was the only person correctly to identify that Ivan Newman was reciting ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll. The stakes have gone up this month – not only do you get an hour of me for free, you also get an hour with Ivan. Between us, we can help you improve your customer service – and sound professional when you shout about it!

Talking of the relationship between sound and pictures (as I was just now), next week, I’ll tell you a bit about the first ‘Get PodSavvy’ feature to go visual.

At the end of my last post about June’s ‘Get PodSavvy’, I promised to give you some background to the interview with Ivan Newman of Living Inside The Brand. Ivan starts his series of the same name, on customer service, in this month’s show (which we’re currently putting together) and his segment is one of three from the programme which will be made available as an ‘enhanced podcast’ – audio illustrated with images.

We’d only met a couple of times when he approached me with the idea for the feature. The meeting that followed turned into a mad creative brain-storming session – around pictures, rather than sound. As a guide dog owner with shadow vision, I don’t often get the chance to let my very visual imagination off the leash – but Ivan let me do just that.

By the time we parted company, we had a whole set of images (which I won’t describe here, because you may well see some of them over the next few months) and a rough outline of six programmes setting out the core principles of excellent customer service.

As we worked up those rough ideas into a detailed plan, I realised very quickly that as far as Ivan is concerned, it’s definitely a case of ‘Do as I do – not as I say!’ – even when he’s the customer!  He practices what he preaches all the way – especially when it comes to looking after the small details, laying the right foundations and keeping the lines of communication open. We’re both keen to make sure the final product is the best it can possibly be – which is why, even though he’s away in the alps at the moment being terribly athletic, the emails and calls are still flying backwards and forwards.

I’m really looking forward to seeing all our efforts come together when I’m back in the studio on Thursday afternoon.

I ran across him earlier this year, , completely by accident. I didn’t go looking for a co-presenter. I actually went looking for someone who could abridge books for recording. I put the word out in a number of places, including the 4Networking website – and within the day, I had a response – from David.

He said he thought it was something his wife might be interested in taking on and suggested we have a chat on the phone.
It took a few days to make that happen – but when it did, the conversation took off in all sorts of unexpected directions.

These days, Expedio’s clients know David as the man who shows them how to grow their business without taking on staff – by making technology work efficiently for them and making sure it gives them the right information to enable them to work efficiently; but there’s more to him than meets the eye – or should that be ‘the ear’?

I think it was when I explained how my life as a media junky led me into making audio that he confessed his ‘secret past’ – as a radio presenter. He hadn’t done anything in that line for about a decade, he admitted, but before that he’d spent years on hospital radio, community stations and later even satellite stations, alongside his day job.

From that point, there was no stopping us! Off we went into teenage listening habits, how radio has changed between then and now, studio experiences – etc etc.

We talked for well over an hour. I think we could have gone on if the batteries on both my phones hadn’t died!; and in that time, an idea started forming in my mind.

The next day, I emailed him with a suggestion: how would he like to dust off his headphones, get back behind the mic and present a feature as part of the new monthly podcast I was putting together? He jumped at the idea. In his response, he referred to us as ‘a pair of old anoraks’. How dare he?! As I said in my reply, ‘I’ll wear my anorak with pride – but less of the ‘old’!’.

I was planning a series within the show, on making compelling audio (which starts this month). That focuses on how sound works, how people listen and so, how to make something people will want to listen to. After that epic phone-call, though, I could see scope for a regular piece dealing with the role of IT in business communication. That wasn’t something I felt qualified to talk about in any depth, but David, with his combination of commercial, technical and radio experience, was the ideal candidate for the job. So the ‘Technically Speaking’ slot was born.

I thought it was important to introduce him in last month’s show, so we decided to do a phone interview. For the first attempt, I had to approximate studio conditions at home. The room I work in has very little in the way of soft furnishings to deaden the sound. So I set up the kit in the bedroom; but still, the acoustic wasn’t quite right.

I finished up throwing a freshly laundered mattress cover over me and the mic, which must have looked completely bizarre but worked a treat as sound-proofing. One of the joys of audio production is the ability to ‘improvise’! Unfortunately, the phone I’d connected into didn’t work so well and the result really wasn’t up to scratch. We ended up doing the interview on the phone from the studio, when I went into edit the programme. I might play you a clip of the original in a future episode, when I talk about the importance of sound quality.

Next week, I’ll tell you a bit about another series which begins in the next show – ‘Talking To Your Market – Living Inside The Brand’.

This is my chance to introduce a recent client and let you hear some snippets from their programme. This month, the feature is all about Essex-based Network Marketer, John Parker.

I’ve got to know John reasonably well over the last year or so, since we met on the 4Networking circuit. His background is interesting – born in Yorkshire, emigrated to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as a toddler, returning to the UK as a young man.

When his 30-year career in the City came to an end, he had to think again. Growing up in Southern Africa had made him resilient and self-sufficient, so he took a leap – into a second career, as part of the Forever Living Network – which meant a leap from the corporate world, into self-employment.

I interviewed him at his home – which is always fun! Phil, our producer in London, has described turning someone’s living-room into a studio as being ‘like building a fort when you’re a kid’ – and he’s not wrong! John’s room had a big advantage – lots of carpet, cushions and curtains to deaden the sound. Although he still had to close the window, remove the phone, stop the clock and switch off the fridge! We then set up the equipment, with the mic stands perched on a footstool – and went for it. John did the interview in one hit, which was great for me – it doesn’t always happen that way!

The finished product is an audio FAQ section for his website, covering everything from how he got into network marketing, through what stops other people considering it as an option, to what they can expect if they make contact with him. It even deals with the elephant in the room – the distinction between pyramid selling and what John does. I didn’t realise before, but there is a big difference. One of the great aspects of my job is that I so often learn something new from the people I interview.

You can listen to or download this episode of ‘Get PodSavvy’ from our site, where you can also listen to or download John’s interview in full. If you’d rather listen to each question and answer individually, you can do that via John’s website.

Next week, I’ll tell you the story behind our ‘Technically Speaking’ slot, with David Hardstaff – ‘from a couple of old anoraks, through a mattress cover – and beyond!’

This is an interview with coach and therapist, Pam Lawrence, about what she gets from listening to podcasts. She’s a fairly recent convert to the medium, who ran across her first pod almost by accident.

Over the last couple of years, Pam has developed a strong interest in something called ‘Emotional Freedom Technique’, or EFT. I wouldn’t presume to sum it up in a line or two here – I don’t know enough about it and wouldn’t do it justice. Suffice it to say that although it often meets with serious scepticism initially, it’s achieved significant results in the US, with Vietnam veterans, helping them to deal with the post-traumatic stress which plagued them when they returned from frontline service.
Pam started downloading audio when she was researching EFT – and now it’s part of her Continuous Professional Development – and her fitness regime!

Pam and I have known each other for about 5 years now, but I had no idea she was getting so much from listening until we had lunch a few months ago. Watching her talking animatedly about the experts she’d been listening to and the ideas they were giving her for her own business, I realised I just had to slot her into one of my shows! It isn’t covered in detail in the interview, but her listening is getting her thinking about completely new business opportunities. I can’t wait to see where she goes with it!

You can hear my conversation with Pam by visiting our website, logging in or registering for free, then dropping Get PodSavvy into the programme search. You can then either listen at your pc or download to a portable player.

Next week, I’ll tell you why ‘John Is Fresh From The Pod’.

I recently saw a very capable, confident man who, under normal circumstances, can happily chat away to complete strangers, look as though he was about to curl up in a cringeing ball when we threatened to play back the interview we’d just recorded with him.  He isn’t the exception that proves the rule – he is the rule!

I completely understand the feeling.  I avoided listening back to my earliest podcasts – so I was shocked not so long ago, when I ran across the very first and realised how unnatural it sounded! When I was told, several years ago (by a friend with years of broadcast experience) that I really had to listen back to a recording I’d made, I was horrified – I kept putting it off! When I eventually forced myself into it, it was very uncomfortable; but in time, I got used to it.  These days, it’s just part of my job.

Another part of that job is to help clients get over any fears they might have about speaking in front of people, recording and (often the most challenging) listening to the results.  Since watching that client go through the familiar reactions, I’ve been wondering: what is it that we’re actually afraid of in that situation?

The human voice conveys feeling better than anything else – which is why it’s such a powerful communication tool.  We pick up over five times more information from what someone says than what they write, because we can hear so much which is lost in the printed word – tone, inflexion, pace and so on.  All this speaks volumes about how they’re feeling.  Very experienced speakers, like politicians – and (dare I say it?) presenters – learn to convey the emotions they want the listener to pick up.  Unfortunately for those of us who talk for a living, plenty of people can also hear a fake a mile off.  So we have to believe what we’re saying – even if it means suspending disbelief.

To give you an example: I went into the studio one afternoon last year in turmoil because I was waiting for some personal news.  All I had to do was to record some fairly simple links, but when I wasn’t screwing them up – getting all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order – the tone was all wrong.  In the end, I had to push everything else aside and pretend all was fine.  At times like that, presentation is an acting job and, like an actor, you have to ‘believe in the role’ if you want to be convincing.

Less than ten years ago, I was terrified of speaking in public – let alone hearing the results!  For me before I overcame that fear, I suspect it was about revealing what I didn’t want to show – laying myself open.  I don’t suppose I’m alone there – so perhaps the fear of listening to ourselves has something to do with not wanting to hear what we’ve revealed?

I think it also has to do with the trouble so many of us have, looking at ourselves through someone else’s eyes – all too often, we’re our own toughest critics and all we see are the negatives.  We might not be mad keen on what we see in the mirror, but it tends to be a private discomfort.  When we look at a photo or video, we’re seeing what everyone else can see – albeit through thorn-covered specs!  It’s the same with the voice.

This isn’t something that automatically goes away because you turn pro.  Just watch the actors who sit steadily looking away from the screen in a tv interview while the audience watches a clip of their latest film; and I know of at least one highly experienced radio presenter who can’t stand listening to himself (I don’t know why because I think he’s fantastic – he obviously hears something I don’t).

The other side of the coin is that so many of us buttoned-up Brits are pre-programmed to self-deprecate – even when we secretly think we look or sound alright, we’re embarrassed to admit it – in case we’re seen to be ‘big-headed’!

I’m not suggesting you should learn to love the sound of your own voice – only make friends with it – which starts with learning to accept it, faults and all.  That isn’t to say you listen uncritically.  From my point of view, the easiest ways to help a client improve on their presentation technique is for them to spot where it needs improving.  It’s all about learning to be more objective and to give yourself constructive criticism, rather than being hypercritical.  I still don’t like my estuary vowels or the fact that, if I’m not careful, I tend to use ‘ok’ too much; but it’s ok – OOPS – see what I mean?! – provided I don’t lapse into broad ‘Essix-gewl’ and start ‘okaying’ in every sentence!

Seriously, for some people, learning to listen to themselves is just a matter of acquiring a new skill and practising it.  It can go deeper though.  The voice is so individual, so personal. It’s the product of our lives to date – where we’ve lived, where we’ve been educated, our families, friends etc.  So for some people, whether or not they can listen to themselves comes down to how comfortable they are with themselves.  If, deep down, you don’t really like who you are or where you come from, you’ll shy away from hearing the evidence, won’t you?

The power of speech, especially in business, is greatly underestimated.  As I’ve said before, 21st-century commerce is all about relationships and relationships in all their forms start with attraction.  One of the most effective and lasting ways of attracting people, in my experience, is by talking to them – engaging with them on a one-to-one basis, whether through conversation, live presentation or recording.  We wouldn’t send out a flyer, brochure or any other written communication without proof-reading – and yet so many people (I used to be one of them) deliver everything from elevator pitches to full-length presentations, even recordings, without ever having listened to themselves properly.  Becoming comfortable with hearing yourself opens up a whole new raft of possibilities – and I can tell you firsthand, it’s also very liberating!

What were you doing a year ago yesterday? Can you remember? I can – vividly. I was launching a company. I spent most of Monday 11th May ’09 getting ready for the launch party in the evening and stressing about whether all my colleagues would get to the venue on time – and even more about whether we would have enough guests.

I needn’t have worried. My team, who had all agreed to present with me and had each gone several extra miles to make that happen. Were all present and correct by 5.45 – by which time the Wine Tun, by St Paul’s cathedral, was filling up nicely.

For me, that was an incredible evening – the reward for so much hard work, by everyone concerned and the realisation of more than one personal dream. All too often we don’t enjoy our own parties – but I did that night! I even broke my own rule about never drinking before a presentation. I don’t think you can tell I’d been on the champagne, can you? The uniformed waiters, walking around with trays of food and drink, were so polite and attentive, it seemed rude to refuse – well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

As I wrote to one of my co-presenters last night, ‘12 months
on, the company isn’t where I thought it would be – but it’s somewhere a lot more
promising. Off to have a glass of wine to celebrate that fact!’

The coming year looks to be a busy one, for us as a company and for me personally, with the book coming out in the next few months (more of which later), our new ‘podzine’ beginning in June (more of that later too) and all those clients getting in the way of my writing blog posts – as well as some other new projects in the offing –Yes, ‘promising’ certainly describes our upcoming second year. If I weren’t drafting this before 7:00 AM, I’d drink to that …

 Extract from ‘On Sound Foundations’; Chapter 7: ‘Found In Translation’

 “11:30 Sunday morning seemed quite a civilised time to take off from Heathrow;  but by the time I fell into bed at the Key Bridge Mariott Hotel around 8pm local time (1am in the UK), it didn’t feel quite so civilised!

 “This was my first time in the States – my first time outside Europe.  So I was completely unprepared for the games jetlag can play, like waking you up at four o’clock in the morning full of energy, then making you feel completely exhausted five hours later – just as you’re about to start work!  I just about got the hang of the time difference by the end of the week.

 “Nor was I prepared for how foreign I felt.  Very welcome, but foreign.  So often I’d heard it said in England that we and the US are ‘divided by a common language’, but I thought it was just a cliché.  I assumed, as novice Brits often do before they first set foot on American soil, that after years of a TV diet including so many shows imported from the States, the one thing that wouldn’t be an issue was the language.

 “How wrong I was – especially in the hotel.  The staff were wonderful.  I couldn’t fault the service from everyone.  From the most junior porter up to the Manager, nothing was too much trouble.  That said, time and time again, I’d use a word which I didn’t even think about as being particularly English, get a blank stare in response – and have to think again.  The one that caught me out more often than any other was ‘lift’.  It took me almost the whole week to remember to ask for the ‘nearest elevator’.

 “Another reason to make that ‘Trading in the US’ podcast, I thought.”

 A couple of weeks ago, I had a long Skype chat with Colleen Jolly of The 24-hour Company, in Northern Virginia.  I was put in touch with Colleen by Mark Amtower – and I was put in touch with Mark by Ardell Fleeson, whom I met on that first trip in ’07.  I’ve made programmes with Mark and Ardell and hope to do the same with Colleen in the not too distant future.

 I think it’s safe to say that Colleen and I hit it off pretty much instantly.  Well, at least, she wants to come and watch me present at a 4Networking breakfast at the end of April.  No, she’s not coming over specially – she’ll be here working on the UK expansion of her company.  We both agreed, though, that there’s still a language barrier between here and the US.  We’ve each run into it – but we agree that finding a way through it is well worth the effort.

Last month, I said there was no substitute for the human voice.  Of course, there’s also no substitute for meeting face to face.  It isn’t a case of ‘either’ ‘or’.  Creating great opportunities is about developing great connections – and that’s all about utilising every kind of communication at our disposal.  That doesn’t have to mean flying halfway around the world (just as well at the moment!), but it does mean being open to ideas.

It was my first trip to the Business Café, at the Barn Brasserie in Great Tey – and it was well worth the early start.  They were a great audience, who responded brilliantly to the weird and wonderful props I chose to illustrate my talk about ‘Podcasting on a Shoestring’ – everything from a pair of baby shoes to a cushion.  No, don’t ask – well, you can – but I won’t tell you where they fit in.  I might get the chance to deliver the presentation for a group you’re involved in and if I gave the game away in advance, I’d spoil the surprise, wouldn’t I? 

Anyway, I just wanted to thank this morning’s group, especially Jill Crooks of Room 105, who has liaised with me over the last month or so and has just sent me a lovely email.  I’m really hoping to get back up to The Barn very soon, as an ordinary visitor – and if you’re in the area (even if you’re not) I recommend you give it a go.

She uses the acronym “REAL” to explain the four main attributes which she says turn a person into a “Real Thought Leader” – not just an expert in their field, but “the expert” in their field – the “go-to person”.

R – reach

E – engagement

A – authority and

L – longevity,

but if the neatness of that makes you think “Here comes another trite business book by an ‘expert’ in the blindingly obvious!”, think again.  It’s solid stuff – but not stolid.  Yes, there’s a lot of business common sense in there – but there’s also a lot of uncommon sense.

Mindy and I have met a few times on the networking circuit, but I didn’t realise how much common ground we have until I read the book.  She recommends getting “REAL” by writing a book, because that’s her specialism and there’s still no substitute for giving someone something tangible to remember you by.  I recommend getting “REAL” through podcasting, because that’s my specialism and there’s no substitute for the human voice.  Every aspect of that acronym applies to using sound as it does to print.  I’m not anti-print by any means, as you know – I’m about to go into it myself!  As an obsessive communicator, I’m not anti any medium.  A couple of weeks ago, when I was having a go at the BBC Strategy Review, I said I was a “multi-dimensional person” whose needs couldn’t all be met by one product.  All the different ways of touching people – personal meetings, phone, email, the printed word, audio, video, online interaction –have their respective strengths and weaknesses.  So they all have a place and work best when they work together – like people really.