Many of us may be listening to podcasts and many corporates may be using podcasts as an innovative medium to reach employees and other stakeholders. Perhaps, you have considered creating your own but are not quite sure how to get started. So, I thought it may be worth demystifying the basics and sharing some software you could use to create your own podcasts.
I recently attended a two-week podcasting course with Sonder Radio and learnt to create my very first podcast. So, I am sharing what I learnt with you here:
– Genre: A podcast can be of any genre (Interview, conversation, storytelling, theatrical, educational, monologue, conversational etc.) Choose what appeals to you and feel free to experiment till you find what your style is. I chose an interview-style podcast
– Concept: Next, brainstorm with a friend or on your own to narrow down the concept of your podcast. What would you like it to do? And who is your target audience? Once you have the podcast concept, you can start planning to create it.
– Guest(s): Depending on the concept of your podcast, you may or may not need to identify a guest. Schedule a preliminary informal chat with your guest if possible. Use this meeting to bounce off ideas and the questions you are planning to ask, check details of their story and finalise the final list of questions.
– Recording: Plan to meet in person or online to record the interview or conversation. You could use Zoom, your phone recorder or various apps based on what is your preference. I primarily used Zoom (https://zoom.us/) to record as I met my guest virtually. Podcasts can be of any duration but to make it easy to edit, try to keep your recording tight.
– Intro: An intro is a short introduction of your podcast concept and the specific episode, it is usually recorded in the podcaster’s voice.
– Outro: A short conclusion for your podcast – thanking your listeners, your guest, perhaps announcing your next episode. Again, this is usually recorded in the podcaster’s voice.
– Soundscapes: These are the background sounds that convey the mood and ambience of a podcast. You could choose forest or ocean sounds for a mindfulness podcast, or an office or pub sounds for one set in a city. Check out Epidemic Sounds (https://www.epidemicsound.com/) or BBC Sound Effects (https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/) to choose from a variety of sounds.
– Bedmusic: This is the background music on your podcast. It can be used as a signature music in your intro and outro or you may choose to use it right through. A good site to create original music from combining existing instrument sounds is Soundtrap. (https://www.soundtrap.com/)
– Editing: I learnt to edit my podcast and combine the different elements (Intro, Outro, Interview, Bedmusic and Soundscape) together on a software called Reaper https://www.reaper.fm/). You may edit the same podcast into a shorter version for promotion or to play it on radio.
– Publishing: There are many podcast hubs. Software like Anchor (https://anchor.fm/) allow you to easily host & distribute your podcast to Spotify, Apple, Google and other popular sites.
– Promoting: Promote your podcasts to friends and family, on your social media, on your website etc. If you have an opportunity, radio is a great medium to publicise your podcast and there are many community radio stations looking for interesting content. You can create a promotion image on Canva (https://www.canva.com/)
Hope you found these tips useful if you are starting to create your own podcasts. As for me, I am hoping to record my second episode soon. I was thrilled to have the 4-minute edit of my pilot podcast episode play on Sonder Radio last week and am working on a 20 minute edit currently.
Singing is great for keeping the brain stimulated, relieves stress, anxiety, reduces isolation and improves wellbeing leaving you feeling uplifted! Do you have a group you support who could benefit from connecting with likeminded people?
The BIG Sing SOUL wants everyone in the community to have a chance to sing together, from stay at home mums, those who are retired, vulnerable groups with learning needs or anyone who just cannot afford or get to an evening choir.
No audition-no charge-booking essential
Lots of singing-building friendships-cake-laughter!
Beckett Frith asks what happens when communications staff face a backlash because of what they share online – and what employers can do about it.
It was a Wednesday afternoon in June when Mind’s social media team tweeted a simple statement. “We’re loving that #TransMenAreMen is trending,” it read. “The fact some people disagree with this is a common reason trans men are more likely to experience mental health problems than the average. A reminder to accept that people know themselves better than you do, and to be kind, always.” They included a little blue heart at the end of their supportive message.
But instantly, the comments started pouring in. Many, of course, were grateful, thanking Mind for sharing a positive sentiment at a time when the LBGTQI+ community is under increasing attack. But some comments were less welcome.
“Someone’s getting fired tomorrow.”
“The social media team have screwed up here.”
“You’ve just lost a supporter.”
In total, the tweet received over 600 comments, a mix of supportive and critical – but far more engagement than Mind’s usual tweets receive.
This kind of comment can be really hard for them to read and respond to in a professional way.
“Even though I was confident we’d done the right thing in standing up for a marginalised group, reading messages like that was still hard,” says Samantha Hopps, Mind’s Digital Content Manager. And it’s not just trans issues that Mind staff have experienced backlash over – the charity is aiming to become an anti-racist organisation, and as a result rasicm is frequently a topic on their social media channels.
“People often disagree that racism exists, or say unhelpful things like ‘everyone has poor mental health, not just Black people’ when what we’re saying is that Black people are disproportionately affected by mental health problems, or are more likely to have force used against them in a mental health setting,” Samantha explains. “We have Black team members moderating our social channels, and this kind of comment can be really hard for them to read and respond to in a professional way – because obviously it’s personal.”
Mind’s social team already deals with difficult messages because of the nature of their social channels – people frequently reach out and mention their suicidal feelings or talk about their poor experiences of the mental health system. “Dealing with abusive messages on top of that can be really tough – especially if you’re having a bad day yourself,” says Samantha.
Good mental health and wellbeing of teachers is important for them as individuals, for the profession and for the students they teach. 1 It is therefore concerning when the United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive (2018),2 reported that teachers, compared with other professions, have some of the highest rates of work-related stress, depression and anxiety in Britain.3 Moreover, the impact of stress for teachers as individuals and for the profession more widely is less understood.
To better inform this understanding, Education Support, commissioned CooperGibson Research to explore the evidence base for the impact that stress, burnout, depression and anxiety has on the mental health and wellbeing of the teaching profession. The main aim of this review was to explore the evidence base on the impact of stress, depression and anxiety on the mental health and wellbeing of the teaching profession.
Specifically, it considered:
Stress and burnout4 : evidence of the impact for teachers’ mental health and wellbeing at the individual level (Research question 1)
Anxiety and/or depression: evidence of the impact for teachers’ mental health and wellbeing at the individual level (Research question 2)
Stress, burnout4, anxiety and/or depression: evidence of the impact for teachers’ ability to carry out their role at school (Research question 3)
Stress, burnout4, anxiety and/or depression: evidence of the impact for teachers’ experience of stress, anxiety and/or depression on learner outcomes (Research question 4).
It is recognised that anxiety and depression are diagnosable disorders, and it is also recognised that a relationship exists between stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. The review takes this into account, while presenting an overview of the different ways in which research studies have investigated the impact of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. The review also presents the implications of the findings for our understanding of the field and future research.
Over the past ten years the charity sector has moved towards digitalisation to better engage with and improve the experience of their key stakeholders, beneficiaries and donors with digital acceleration moving at rapid speed during the pandemic.
However, the industry still has a long way to go, and challenges such as tech skills gaps in the workforce, budgets and data security mean that the industry still has a lot to learn about maximising the digital experience.
Third Sector has partnered with Salesforce.org to bring you the, Embracing Digital First experiences in the Charity Sector breakfast briefing, taking place on 11 November 2021, online from 9:30am – 12:00pm.
Content creation is time-consuming. From initial idea creation to crafting the post and graphics, there’s a lot involved. Small comms teams and charities have the extra challenge of doing all this on a tiny budget with minimal resources.
Just Like Us’ independent research has found that LGBT+ young people are twice as likely as their non-LGBT+ peers to be bullied and to worry about their mental health on a daily basis. These findings have been the driving force behind our work in comms. Our comms team – myself (social media officer) and my manager, Amy (director of comms and media) – turns one later this year. Even now, with a two-person team dedicated to comms and media, working within a relatively small charity with a small budget has its limitations, especially when trying to create impactful content in an area with so much public attention.
The Violence and Vulnerability Unit (VVU) are delighted to announce that the new Violence & Vulnerability Community Safety (VVCS) Grant 2021-2023 is now open for applications.
As a partnership, the strategic goal of the V&V Partnership is to reduce serious violence, the harm it causes, and to safeguard those at risk (relating to county lines, gangs and knife crime). The partnership recognise that local organisations and groups are at the forefront of some amazing work that takes place to address these issues and the new grant wants to further support this work.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “The purpose of the Violence and Vulnerability Partnership is to reduce serious violence, the harm it causes and safeguard those at risk. In the heart of our Essex communities’, small groups and charities are working tirelessly to support young people to acquire life skills and the friendships needed to grow into happy, confident young people who reject negative influences. The Violence and Vulnerability Community Safety Grant wants to support this work and I’m delighted that we can commit to funding more of these local projects which help young people and their families. I’d encourage organisations to look at the grant programme and see if they are eligible to apply.”
The 2021-2023 VVCS grant round is for local *not for profit voluntary or community clubs or organisations based in (and therefore delivering in) Southend, Essex and Thurrock only. With the grant looking to fund projects that meet the stated aims and that can run during January 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Groups can apply for up to £20,000 to deliver support and interventions for children, young people, young adults and families (families must include children and young people, young person is defined as up to the age of 25) that have a positive impact on issues relating to crime and anti-social behaviour, violence and vulnerability. This may include early intervention work, gang & ‘county lines’, and child criminal exploitation projects.
The Partnership is particularly interested in projects that can evidence they are meeting needs as highlighted by young people and local residents in the ECVYS run Listening Project 2020-2021.
You can read the full report here Some examples of need highlighted in the report are:
Increased mental health support for young people at risk of serious violence
Indoor/ outdoor safe spaces with affordable & inclusive activities for young people to socialise
Opportunities for young people to learn life skills, participate in community based or volunteering projects and undertake work experience
Work with young people and their families to raise awareness of youth violence
Projects that promote greater communication and positive engagement between the police, youth groups and schools
Targeted youth work aimed at those young people most at risk of exploitation
Support for victims of youth violence
All applications must demonstrate how their project enables children & young people to:
Make positive choices that keep them safe
Raise self-esteem and confidence
Build resilience
Improve emotional and physical health and mental wellbeing
Due diligence checks and panel decisions will happen after the closing date.
Applicants made aware of grant decisions: End of November 2021
Funds to be with groups Start of January 2022
This fund has the potential for groups to make a real and positive difference in the lives of children & young people in Essex at risk of serious violence and the partnership is excited to be able to work with not for profit groups in local communities to see the positive impact that this will have on our young people.
*PLEASE NOTE THAT: Organisations MUST have a recognised constitution and be a- not for profit voluntary or community club or organisation, a registered Charity, A not for profit company or community interest company or other social enterprise. company limited by guarantee, charitable incorporated organisation or Registered society.
With Virgin Money Giving closing at the end of this month, many charities have been considering their options.
There are numerous fundraising platforms on offer, supporting everything from crowdfunding, to fundraising through online quizzes and mass participation events, so what makes a good choice? Essentially, Bradley French, Fundraising Innovation Manager at Donr says:
“A good fundraising platform should equip your charity with easy-to-use technology, which enables you to increase donations and improve supporter engagement.”
Requirements
Of course, there are a few other things to consider too – everything from cost, to how easy it is to switch over, and who owns the supporter data. Here’s a list of five.
Firstly, and quite simply, what are your requirements? Elliot Green, CMO at Wonderful says it sounds obvious but that it’s important to look inward and review your charity’s existing and planned fundraising activities to ensure there’s clarity on what’s needed.
“What does your fundraising activity look like and how will the platform support it? Do you need individual, team fundraising pages, official charity events, or event ticketing functionality? Today there are lots of platforms available and each has a slightly different focus. Start with your charity’s unique requirements and ask the platform how they can support your needs.”
And there are other perhaps obvious sounding but important questions to tick off surrounding requirements too. French adds:
“When considering a fundraising platform, you may wish to ask yourself some of these questions. Will this technology help us to fundraise? Is it easy to use for charities and supporters? Are there examples of other charities using it successfully?”
Cost
A major consideration of course will be cost – and fees, as well as how they’re presented, can vary. Some also ask donors if they would like to ‘tip’ the platform to cover costs. This is where research will help to ensure a platform is cost-effective to take on, says Neil Poynton, Head of Charities at CAF:
“Some platforms charge processing fees, some charge platform fees, while others charge a single combined fee. Different platform models will be cost effective for different charities.”
Alignment
Charities might also want to consider whether a platform is a good fit with their organisation.
Green says:
“As a charity, you’re all about giving back and making a positive difference, but does your fundraising platform exist for the same reasons? Who founded it and why? Charity trustees, fundraisers and donors can all have strong feelings about this and it’s important to consider.”
As well as aligning with your charity’s ethos and aims, this also means checking a platform is a strategic fit. Poynton adds:
“Is the platform geared towards particular causes or does it offer benefits that align with organisational goals? By choosing platforms strategically, charities can access benefits which suit them.”
Data ownership
Of course, with a fundraising platform, supporter data will go to that platform, rather than the charity directly, so looking at data ownership as well as data protection compliancy is also essential.
Chester Mojay-Sinclare, CEO & Founder at Enthuse, cautions:
“Charities should also be quizzing platform providers on who owns the data because these are relationships that charities need to be owning. Being able to communicate with supporters directly will help to develop long-term donor relationships. With that in mind, selecting a fundraising platform that ensures all data is accessible, fully transparent, and GDPR compliant is a must. Charities should also seek assurance that these vendors will not retarget donors with communications for other campaigns, bombarding people at a time when they may already be overwhelmed with requests to give.”
Easy switchover
And the last tip – if looking for a replacement for an existing platform whether it’s Virgin Money Giving or another one, being able to make an easy switch should also be a top consideration.
On this, Mojay-Sinclare adds:
“Given the unfortunate news of Virgin Money Giving’s imminent closure, ensuring the platform makes it easy for donors and fundraisers to switch should also be front of mind. The ability to move ongoing fundraisers over is crucial. Ideally the platform should be able to transfer the fundraiser’s existing fundraising target and progress so far onto their platform. Helping supporters to seamlessly set up new recurring donations is also key.”
Of course, there is much more to consider and questions to ask in the decision making process. Clarity on these five essential areas however will help to ensure a good start.
Allow people to contribute anonymously or in smaller groups.
Check if people can access the tools you’re using, explain how to use them and offer an alternative if necessary.
Use visible timers and allow thinking time.
Use captions and transcripts where possible.
Consider how people could contribute outside of the meeting, in their own time.
Set clear expectations, early
Send out an agenda in advance.
Clearly state the purpose of the meeting and the outcome you want to achieve.
Give a running order, include approximate times.
Give context: do not assume any prior knowledge
Reiterate any information that someone would need to know to be able to contribute.
Give regular recaps. Consider taking notes as you go so you can easily refer back.
Be mindful of late joiners and the context they might lack.
Use clear language
Do not use acronyms without explaining what they mean.
Use plain English.
Be mindful of people who are new to Co-op, or a team. If you use jargon, explain what you mean.
Respect people’s time
Book only the amount of time you need with people, and allow people to leave if they’ve contributed all they need to.
Plan your meeting to allow people breaks between meetings, for example 5 or 15 minutes past the hour.
If the meeting is long, schedule in regular breaks.
Value all contributions equally
Give everyone a chance to speak, do not allow one voice to dominate.
If you’re referencing what’s been inputted, reference contributions from a range of people.
Consider your audience. Be prepared to adapt your approach or process to encourage contribution from more people.
Encourage clarity, curiosity, and challenges
Explain how people can ask questions.
Encourage people to get clarity on things they do not understand.
Allow people to ask questions anonymously, for example by adding post-its to a collaboration board.
Why we created inclusive meeting guidelines
With a lot of collaboration now online, it can be harder for people to contribute effectively. This can mean some voices are not heard.
We want everyone to be able to contribute in a way they feel comfortable. This means being thoughtful about people who, for example:
have a disability or condition
are new to a team
cannot attend a meeting at a specific time
cannot access certain tools or systems
need thinking time
are introverted
are extroverted
We hope these guidelines will encourage more inclusive discussions and more perspectives to be heard.
As a result of more inclusive collaboration we believe Co-op will:
become aware of problems earlier
save money, as problems can be fixed earlier
create more inclusive products and services
open up our products and services to more people
How we created these guidelines
Our hypothesis is that remote working has made some of the ways we collaborate exclusive. We wanted to see if this was an issue for others and if so, how they’d overcome it.
Using a survey, we asked people:
what they believed could prevent people from engaging with and inputting into a meeting
for practical tools and techniques that can help people to engage and input in to a meeting
We gathered loads of valuable advice, ideas and knowledge from people in Co-op and from other organisations. After synthesising the responses, we ended up with broad themes that helped us form the guidelines.
Using what we’d learnt to structure the guidelines
From the analysis it was clear that people were time-poor and often meeting-fatigued. They wanted to get the most out of collaborative sessions as efficiently as possible.
So, we reflected this in our guidelines.
We focused on the actions – the tools, techniques and ideas – that could be immediately useful for facilitators and attendees at the start of a meeting.
The guidelines are not overly prescriptive, to allow them to be adapted for different contexts and scenarios. And we hope they’ll be shared in a whichever way works well for the facilitator – maybe added to the start of a Miro board, a Word document or a meeting invitation.
We’re looking forward to learning if and how they’re useful, and if they encourage more mindful and inclusive meetings.
What’s next
These inclusive meeting guidelines are a first draft. We will continue to:
get feedback and make them better
understand if and how they’re being used
understand if they’re helping us have better discussions
share updates and get involved in wider inclusion discussions
see how they can complement other work that’s happening in Co-op and beyond
Visit the Mind in West Essex website to download and complete the three-part application form at the bottom of this page and send it to [email protected] by the closing date of Tuesday 30th November 2021.