WEBVTT 00:00:03.900 --> 00:00:08.520 Hello, Continuing Studies listeners, welcome to another episode, but 00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:10.560 this episode we're doing something a little bit different, aren't we? 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:10.830 Jen? 00:00:11.790 --> 00:00:12.300 Yes. 00:00:12.570 --> 00:00:15.480 I'm really excited about this episode because we have one of the 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:21.690 OGs of Continuing Studies podcast, our very first producer, also the 00:00:21.690 --> 00:00:25.590 Wizard of Higher Ed Pods Directory. 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:29.610 And just our friend Gregg. 00:00:29.610 --> 00:00:30.360 Hi Gregg. 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:31.900 Hi Jen. 00:00:31.930 --> 00:00:32.590 Hi Neil. 00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:33.940 And hello listener. 00:00:34.210 --> 00:00:34.370 Wow. 00:00:34.425 --> 00:00:35.980 Quite the, that's quite the welcome, Jen. 00:00:35.980 --> 00:00:36.550 I love that. 00:00:36.550 --> 00:00:38.170 I want you to give me a welcome now. 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.760 I'm excited to be me right now even, I'm so excited by that intro. 00:00:41.790 --> 00:00:41.860 Yeah. 00:00:41.860 --> 00:00:42.390 That's good. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:44.440 Let's not get 'em too excited here. 00:00:44.470 --> 00:00:47.920 So today we're just going to spend a couple minutes chatting and updating 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.770 everyone on Higher Ed PodCon. 00:00:51.430 --> 00:00:55.820 Which is the first inaugural one, which I'm excited about. 00:00:56.170 --> 00:01:01.050 And you two have been working tirelessly with a few other great guys. 00:01:01.410 --> 00:01:02.490 Elvin, Joe. 00:01:02.794 --> 00:01:04.015 And Dean. 00:01:04.955 --> 00:01:05.685 Yeah, we are. 00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:13.170 And we are at a place where we can start to talk about the agenda and 00:01:13.170 --> 00:01:14.789 some of the speakers as well too. 00:01:14.789 --> 00:01:17.670 So we thought we'd just sort of give everyone an update on that. 00:01:17.670 --> 00:01:20.550 And just to remind you, it's July 12th. 00:01:21.675 --> 00:01:22.905 In Chicago. 00:01:22.965 --> 00:01:26.415 It's a jam packed one day event. 00:01:26.445 --> 00:01:27.675 You're gonna get your money's worth. 00:01:28.815 --> 00:01:30.465 We've got a lot to cover off. 00:01:30.495 --> 00:01:33.705 Yeah, I mean, this is a particularly exciting thing and I think for the 00:01:33.705 --> 00:01:37.425 listeners of this show, it's been talked about so much about community 00:01:37.425 --> 00:01:39.675 within higher ed podcasters. 00:01:39.990 --> 00:01:43.890 And how oftentimes the guests will talk about how lonely an 00:01:43.890 --> 00:01:48.090 enterprise it is as a podcaster and particularly as a higher ed podcaster. 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:51.660 'Cause oftentimes people are so siloed in their work or they're doing it 00:01:51.660 --> 00:01:54.180 off the side of their desk or you know, all these sorts of scenarios. 00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:59.580 And this is a fantastic opportunity now for all these incredible people to come 00:01:59.580 --> 00:02:01.140 together and learn from one another. 00:02:01.710 --> 00:02:04.680 So yeah, we're gonna hang out people. 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:05.164 It's gonna be great. 00:02:05.805 --> 00:02:10.095 And the thing Neil and I also hear a lot is, Neil and I have been going to 00:02:10.095 --> 00:02:11.895 conferences for the last four years. 00:02:11.955 --> 00:02:12.885 That's how we met. 00:02:13.245 --> 00:02:19.845 And in one of the early ones that we were at, there were a few higher ed podcasters. 00:02:19.905 --> 00:02:24.645 And I remember Neil, you put together a little shindig where it was like 00:02:24.645 --> 00:02:28.455 we meet up at the one in Denver, a little meetup, and there was only 00:02:28.455 --> 00:02:32.205 a few of us, but that was their complaint, is that there's not enough 00:02:32.655 --> 00:02:34.905 podcast information on higher ed pods. 00:02:35.385 --> 00:02:36.945 So now we're doing it. 00:02:37.215 --> 00:02:37.755 We're doing it. 00:02:37.755 --> 00:02:39.375 So now we've got a website. 00:02:39.435 --> 00:02:42.615 Now there's a conference that's going on and a fantastic agenda. 00:02:42.615 --> 00:02:45.405 Neil, you sort of alluded to the agenda that's there. 00:02:45.405 --> 00:02:50.565 I mean, first up, Matt Abrahams is the keynote speaker, not just one of the 00:02:50.565 --> 00:02:54.200 great podcasts within higher education, but one of the top podcasts in the world. 00:02:54.705 --> 00:02:57.645 A huge listenership and a friend of us here on the show. 00:02:57.645 --> 00:03:02.025 So I'm really excited that Matt is gonna be there and is going to share with us. 00:03:02.325 --> 00:03:05.085 And then actually there's a whole bunch of previous guests 00:03:05.085 --> 00:03:07.095 on this show in the three tracks. 00:03:07.635 --> 00:03:09.915 Neil, how about you describe the three tracks? 00:03:10.695 --> 00:03:15.345 Yeah, so we've got three larger tracks and we're gonna run concurrent 00:03:15.495 --> 00:03:17.715 workshops, is what we're calling them. 00:03:17.715 --> 00:03:23.625 So the three tracks are, the first one is strategy, growth, and discovery. 00:03:23.625 --> 00:03:29.325 So really thinking about your podcast from a strategic perspective, 00:03:29.475 --> 00:03:35.085 tips and strategies to grow it and to get it discovered. 00:03:35.505 --> 00:03:39.015 One of the areas in there that we wanna dive into, and we've got a couple people 00:03:39.015 --> 00:03:43.665 coming to talk about, is how they've built networks at their universities. 00:03:43.665 --> 00:03:50.025 And I think that's a great way for individual podcasts to create discovery. 00:03:50.025 --> 00:03:52.995 Everyone joining together, we've interviewed a few people 00:03:52.995 --> 00:03:55.965 on Continuing Studies and we've talked about that network effect. 00:03:55.965 --> 00:03:57.765 So, that's one of the areas. 00:03:57.765 --> 00:04:01.665 The second one is about content and production. 00:04:01.665 --> 00:04:06.015 So in this one it's really just sort of getting into different content 00:04:06.045 --> 00:04:10.154 themes as well as there's a couple of folks coming in that can really talk to 00:04:10.484 --> 00:04:16.094 the production side of it and sort of getting into the tactics of production. 00:04:16.604 --> 00:04:21.284 And then the third area is what we're calling tech tools and analytics. 00:04:22.005 --> 00:04:24.854 The second one from a production perspective is really trying to 00:04:24.854 --> 00:04:29.804 focus in on the content and driving better and creating efficiency 00:04:29.804 --> 00:04:31.005 within your content production. 00:04:31.005 --> 00:04:33.945 This third one is just even further kind of getting into the 00:04:33.945 --> 00:04:37.755 weeds here on different tools and technologies you could use. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:42.210 But also Gregg and I are gonna do a session in this one about analytics 00:04:42.210 --> 00:04:45.910 and really everything but the download, like what are all the things that as 00:04:45.910 --> 00:04:50.340 a podcaster, as a higher ed podcaster, you can pay attention to beyond 00:04:50.340 --> 00:04:53.700 the downloads and looking at the different platforms and things that 00:04:53.700 --> 00:04:55.020 you can get out of those platforms. 00:04:55.844 --> 00:05:00.195 And this is what I really like about this particular conference because 00:05:00.614 --> 00:05:04.424 when I go to the other conferences, everyone talks about growth and they 00:05:04.424 --> 00:05:09.484 have a quote unquote growth track, but you actually don't learn about growth. 00:05:09.844 --> 00:05:13.515 And I love the fact that we're taking it back to the basics and 00:05:13.515 --> 00:05:16.934 actually like going to the things like what are your analytics? 00:05:17.355 --> 00:05:20.145 And I think that's what a lot of people wanna look at. 00:05:20.475 --> 00:05:25.185 Every time, like I remember the very first conference I met you, I went on the growth 00:05:25.185 --> 00:05:28.425 track and not throwing shade at this guy. 00:05:28.425 --> 00:05:31.805 Like obviously he's a speaker in in his own right. 00:05:31.978 --> 00:05:37.403 The growth tactics did not seem attainable to the average person. 00:05:37.463 --> 00:05:39.863 He was just one of the ones on the floor too talking. 00:05:39.863 --> 00:05:43.283 And I remember one of his growth tactics, and again, his audience 00:05:43.283 --> 00:05:45.053 is like beginner podcasters. 00:05:45.053 --> 00:05:49.673 He's in like the beginner podcaster track and he is like, write a book. 00:05:49.853 --> 00:05:53.663 A book is gonna bring attention to your podcast. 00:05:53.663 --> 00:05:56.663 And I was like, that is a lot of work to write a book. 00:05:56.783 --> 00:05:59.603 Not everybody is a writer, including myself. 00:05:59.633 --> 00:06:03.353 And just by writing a book does not guarantee that your brand 00:06:03.353 --> 00:06:04.703 new podcast is gonna grow. 00:06:04.763 --> 00:06:05.003 Yeah. 00:06:05.003 --> 00:06:08.933 I think the other really key part here is that these are all focused 00:06:08.933 --> 00:06:11.513 on higher education podcasts. 00:06:11.553 --> 00:06:15.773 So the growth, for example, this is not for monetized podcasts that are 00:06:15.773 --> 00:06:21.198 looking to grow their downloads so they can get more revenue coming in. 00:06:21.533 --> 00:06:25.493 And for some higher education podcasters, it's not growth for the sake of growth. 00:06:25.493 --> 00:06:29.768 It's like, for an alumni podcast for example, that's about like, how do you 00:06:29.768 --> 00:06:32.708 grow the engagement within your alumni? 00:06:32.708 --> 00:06:35.498 So yeah, I think that's the other part that's really key. 00:06:36.098 --> 00:06:37.628 Yeah, I would just expand on that. 00:06:37.658 --> 00:06:40.298 This is something that I'm really excited about for this conference. 00:06:40.298 --> 00:06:44.048 My favorite conferences I've been to are those where the person who's giving 00:06:44.048 --> 00:06:49.088 the presentation is basically just the one who's prepared the presentation, 00:06:49.088 --> 00:06:53.258 but everyone else there also has a great deal of expertise to share. 00:06:53.618 --> 00:06:56.918 And that's what I really look forward to with this Higher Ed PodCon is 00:06:56.918 --> 00:07:00.578 that, you know, these are people that are creating podcasts out there. 00:07:01.223 --> 00:07:05.033 You know, nobody's got it all figured out, but a lot of us have our corners 00:07:05.033 --> 00:07:08.783 of things figured out quite well, and we have so much to share with one another. 00:07:08.843 --> 00:07:11.813 And so, yeah, Neil and I we're gonna have a great presentation, which I 00:07:11.813 --> 00:07:13.193 feel really confident about right now. 00:07:13.193 --> 00:07:15.593 I'll be definitely nervous about 10 minutes before, but 00:07:15.923 --> 00:07:16.443 That's the way it is. 00:07:16.443 --> 00:07:17.873 But it's, yeah, that's how it goes. 00:07:17.963 --> 00:07:18.863 But that's gonna be great. 00:07:18.863 --> 00:07:21.893 And the thing that I know is that there'll be people in that audience that 00:07:21.893 --> 00:07:27.413 will have great insights to add and the particulars, like you say, Neil, for a 00:07:27.413 --> 00:07:33.443 higher education podcast, or this isn't an event for a marketing group in particular 00:07:33.443 --> 00:07:35.873 where you're trying to drive ad sales. 00:07:36.293 --> 00:07:39.533 Basically nobody at this conference is gonna be trying to drive ad sales, 00:07:39.983 --> 00:07:44.203 and that really changes the whole discussion of what a podcast is about. 00:07:44.683 --> 00:07:47.773 And yeah, this is, this is for you listener. 00:07:47.973 --> 00:07:51.203 But people should be thinking that way, regardless of if they're doing 00:07:51.203 --> 00:07:53.603 it higher ed or to create a podcast. 00:07:53.633 --> 00:07:56.003 Everyone thinks right away monetization. 00:07:56.378 --> 00:07:59.768 And there are ways to do it, of course, but I think what we're showing 00:07:59.768 --> 00:08:04.598 is valuable is like why people use podcasting as a tool for business. 00:08:04.598 --> 00:08:06.428 You use it for a tool for higher education. 00:08:06.458 --> 00:08:11.408 There is so much more to it and there's so much richness to it that you just have 00:08:11.408 --> 00:08:13.298 to figure out like is it for networking? 00:08:13.358 --> 00:08:14.558 Is it to get my message across? 00:08:14.558 --> 00:08:16.958 And I think this is what I like that we're bringing it back to 00:08:16.958 --> 00:08:19.688 that here in this conference. 00:08:20.798 --> 00:08:21.588 Yes, totally. 00:08:21.608 --> 00:08:25.808 So, there's essentially, there'll be four, so as we said, one day 00:08:25.898 --> 00:08:29.738 there's the keynote, and then we have four different workshop sessions. 00:08:30.488 --> 00:08:35.558 The nice thing is lunch, we're setting that aside for some networking 00:08:35.588 --> 00:08:41.848 and perhaps maybe a live recording surprise there from a podcast, 00:08:41.948 --> 00:08:44.048 like TBD, let's wait and find out. 00:08:44.588 --> 00:08:49.448 But we've also have, in the afternoon, in the middle of the two session slots. 00:08:49.958 --> 00:08:54.428 We've got a networking and so that isn't for everyone to go out and get 00:08:54.428 --> 00:08:59.408 on their phones, but we are actually going to do a networking exercise. 00:08:59.408 --> 00:09:02.768 And so the goal, as Gregg said off the top, this is about community. 00:09:03.008 --> 00:09:07.118 We want us to go away from this one day event and having met a whole bunch of 00:09:07.118 --> 00:09:10.133 other fellow higher education podcasters. 00:09:10.133 --> 00:09:14.333 So we are gonna do some networking exercises and I think it's gonna be fun. 00:09:14.333 --> 00:09:15.853 We've got some really fun ideas. 00:09:15.913 --> 00:09:19.548 And then we're gonna end the day with the reception, so more time for, 00:09:19.598 --> 00:09:19.948 Party! 00:09:20.303 --> 00:09:23.813 For networking, some drinks and some hors d'oeuvres at the end of the day. 00:09:23.813 --> 00:09:25.763 So lots on deck there. 00:09:25.823 --> 00:09:30.203 And it's a Saturday, so I'm sure a lot of us will be staying over the 00:09:30.203 --> 00:09:34.553 Saturday night and there's also a White Sox game on Sunday, so maybe, you 00:09:34.553 --> 00:09:35.873 know, we should, we could all go out. 00:09:35.873 --> 00:09:38.783 We do uh, like a continuing studies as a team building exercise. 00:09:39.713 --> 00:09:40.138 I think so. 00:09:41.813 --> 00:09:43.673 So yeah, we're pretty excited. 00:09:43.703 --> 00:09:49.623 Details, we'll be continuing to add at HigherEdPodCon.com. 00:09:50.003 --> 00:09:51.713 Put that link in the show notes. 00:09:52.073 --> 00:09:57.248 And we had over 32 submissions. 00:09:58.338 --> 00:10:04.328 for speakers which was incredible for the first time around for an event like that. 00:10:04.358 --> 00:10:09.038 And from a fantastic diversity of different sizes of universities, 00:10:09.038 --> 00:10:13.298 like really big institutions with huge budgets and endowments to 00:10:13.298 --> 00:10:16.958 small universities and colleges, you know, so the big range that way. 00:10:16.958 --> 00:10:20.438 And a range of different types of podcasts. 00:10:20.438 --> 00:10:25.268 You know, some STEM podcasts, alumni, podcasts, you know, like a full range. 00:10:25.698 --> 00:10:26.538 It's awesome. 00:10:26.568 --> 00:10:27.353 Student led podcasts. 00:10:27.373 --> 00:10:28.363 Student led. 00:10:28.363 --> 00:10:28.643 Yep. 00:10:29.093 --> 00:10:30.128 So we're gonna be covering, 00:10:30.128 --> 00:10:30.548 We got it all. 00:10:31.118 --> 00:10:31.718 That's great. 00:10:31.808 --> 00:10:36.128 And it's in the Chicago and it's really exciting city as well. 00:10:36.278 --> 00:10:39.858 So you can tour around the city and go to Higher Ed PodCon. 00:10:39.878 --> 00:10:40.868 It's a great city. 00:10:41.108 --> 00:10:43.478 Uh, big question for you guys, 'cause I've never done this. 00:10:43.898 --> 00:10:45.248 Last time I was there and I kind regret it. 00:10:45.248 --> 00:10:46.988 Have you ever had like deep dish? 00:10:47.948 --> 00:10:49.778 Oh, Chicago deep dish pizza. 00:10:50.348 --> 00:10:50.558 Yeah. 00:10:50.998 --> 00:10:53.378 Kat our producer is going no. 00:10:53.628 --> 00:10:55.988 Our producers in the background going, no, you don't want it. 00:10:55.988 --> 00:10:56.318 I don't know. 00:10:56.318 --> 00:10:57.913 I feel like this is something that we need to try. 00:10:57.913 --> 00:10:58.353 I'm gonna try it. 00:10:58.353 --> 00:11:01.268 I think Kat has an opinion on pizza that you'll have to come 00:11:01.268 --> 00:11:02.358 and find out about in Chicago. 00:11:02.468 --> 00:11:03.938 Yeah, that's another good point too. 00:11:03.938 --> 00:11:05.588 So who this is for? 00:11:05.918 --> 00:11:11.258 It's for the people, you know, like Neil and Jen, the people behind the microphone, 00:11:11.288 --> 00:11:16.028 but also the people like Kat and myself who are generally on the other side, 00:11:16.028 --> 00:11:20.028 like, you know, working the controls and you know, the marcom department. 00:11:20.028 --> 00:11:21.458 Dealing with us divas. 00:11:21.638 --> 00:11:21.818 Yeah. 00:11:22.628 --> 00:11:26.248 The divas and those who deal with them, we're all welcome together. 00:11:26.248 --> 00:11:28.943 We can separate into our groups. 00:11:29.663 --> 00:11:31.163 Well, let's leave it there. 00:11:31.193 --> 00:11:34.613 Another episode, different episode this time, more of an announcement, 00:11:34.613 --> 00:11:39.023 but we'd really love to see you there and to meet you in person 00:11:39.823 --> 00:11:41.963 at PodCon in July in Chicago. 00:11:42.533 --> 00:11:43.493 Looking forward to it. 00:11:43.493 --> 00:11:44.213 It's gonna be hot.