Calendars, planners, and spreadsheets, oh my!

Or even a text file or a piece of paper

Planning

We at POD Access learned many things from ancestor Alice Wong. One was the beauty and joy of planning ahead. Alice planned her episodes and guest list a whole season at a time: topic, questions, guest list and contact info, recording dates, and publishing dates. How could we harness planning ahead for our own podcast? Below are a few ways some podcasters organize their prep.

• List out topics in advance
• Find and contact guests who can talk about your topics of interest well in advance in case something has to shift
• List potential collaborators and what they can partner with you on, like social media, graphics, music, editing, or anything else
• Map out a schedule for recording, editing, and publishing each episode
• Work backwards from the publishing date to help determine when you should complete editing, accessibility and any other production process

Why plan ahead?

Are you someone who forgets to plan everything first, like what graphic you’ll use for your episode or social media post until the last second? We at POD Access feel personally attacked by the question we just asked. Planning ahead helps!

• Lowers stress by not having too much heavy lifting or rushing at the end
• Helps you make more room if you need to reschedule or find a new guest
• Assists you to identify opportunities to improve your process, identify ways to use other resources, and create a budget

Planning ahead might feel like extra work at the start, but it alleviates the burden toward the end. Anyway, who doesn’t love a nice spreadsheet?

Let us know how you like to plan ahead, what you plan for, and what tools help you stay organized.