Creating an EA podcast is something I’ve been interested in for a while now too! I’m a big fan of long-form interview podcasts, like 80,000 Hours’ and the The Tim Ferriss Show. I like the idea of Everyday EA. I think though that Everyday EA should target interviewing people who are in the most engaged 1-10% of the EA community first though. There’s a lot of accomplished and inspiring people within EA who haven’t been in an 80K podcast or given an EAG talk yet, but can share a lot of great insights. I can suggest certain people.
I’d be interested to attend this, and I’d also be interested to help you develop the strategy for this podcast. I’m quite busy with work and other projects, but I’d like to see if it’s valuable for me to help.
Also, a key consideration here is audio quality. Given that most of the world is in lockdown, and because EAs are geographically spread out, I assume you’ll be conducting most of the interviews virtually. But a lot of EAs might not have access to a good microphone. And even if they did, you may have to ask them to record their audio on their end, and send it over to you after. (Anyone with experience recording virtual podcasts though could correct me on this!)
80K and other podcasts do some virtual interviews, and most of these have poorer audio quality than in-person ones. I and others would be less likely to listen to a podcast episode with poor audio quality.
Anyway, maybe you could make sure to interview EAs with access to a good microphone first, just to keep the quality high for the first few episodes. I actually have a podcast microphone, and I’d be willing to be an interviewee. Let me know any thoughts you have on this here or privately!
I agree with the paragraph about interviewing the most engaged people.
Thanks for your offer of help. If the response from the unconference is positive, I will be in touch with you to see if there is a way that you can contribute.
I agree with audio quality being a priority, especially with a remote interviewee. If the response from the unconference is positive, I was thinking of applying for funding for good quality hardware and software from e.g. the EA meta fund. As well as interviewing people who already have a good quality microphone, another option which I have hear other podcasters have success with, is to send a microphone to the interviewee by post and have them send it back (or to the next interviewee) after the interview.
I think you can get a good podcast microphone for ~$100. This is the microphone I have which was recommended by Tim Ferriss and others: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJOZS4 I haven’t tested it yet for a full podcast episode, but I think it’s pretty decent audio quality.
You can also just use Garageband as free software to start if you have a Mac. Tim Ferriss recommends using Auphonic to clean up the audio, but it doesn’t cost much either. I don’t think you’ll need to apply for the Meta fund for this, given that these costs are quite cheap, and they’re unlikely to give a grant that small.
Creating an EA podcast is something I’ve been interested in for a while now too! I’m a big fan of long-form interview podcasts, like 80,000 Hours’ and the The Tim Ferriss Show. I like the idea of Everyday EA. I think though that Everyday EA should target interviewing people who are in the most engaged 1-10% of the EA community first though. There’s a lot of accomplished and inspiring people within EA who haven’t been in an 80K podcast or given an EAG talk yet, but can share a lot of great insights. I can suggest certain people.
I’d be interested to attend this, and I’d also be interested to help you develop the strategy for this podcast. I’m quite busy with work and other projects, but I’d like to see if it’s valuable for me to help.
Also, a key consideration here is audio quality. Given that most of the world is in lockdown, and because EAs are geographically spread out, I assume you’ll be conducting most of the interviews virtually. But a lot of EAs might not have access to a good microphone. And even if they did, you may have to ask them to record their audio on their end, and send it over to you after. (Anyone with experience recording virtual podcasts though could correct me on this!)
80K and other podcasts do some virtual interviews, and most of these have poorer audio quality than in-person ones. I and others would be less likely to listen to a podcast episode with poor audio quality.
Anyway, maybe you could make sure to interview EAs with access to a good microphone first, just to keep the quality high for the first few episodes. I actually have a podcast microphone, and I’d be willing to be an interviewee. Let me know any thoughts you have on this here or privately!
Strongly agree on the importance of audio quality. Cool idea!
I agree with the paragraph about interviewing the most engaged people.
Thanks for your offer of help. If the response from the unconference is positive, I will be in touch with you to see if there is a way that you can contribute.
I agree with audio quality being a priority, especially with a remote interviewee. If the response from the unconference is positive, I was thinking of applying for funding for good quality hardware and software from e.g. the EA meta fund. As well as interviewing people who already have a good quality microphone, another option which I have hear other podcasters have success with, is to send a microphone to the interviewee by post and have them send it back (or to the next interviewee) after the interview.
I think you can get a good podcast microphone for ~$100. This is the microphone I have which was recommended by Tim Ferriss and others: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJOZS4 I haven’t tested it yet for a full podcast episode, but I think it’s pretty decent audio quality.
You can also just use Garageband as free software to start if you have a Mac. Tim Ferriss recommends using Auphonic to clean up the audio, but it doesn’t cost much either. I don’t think you’ll need to apply for the Meta fund for this, given that these costs are quite cheap, and they’re unlikely to give a grant that small.