Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a small talk given by the very talented and successful podcaster, Andy Bowers. The Yale Daily News wrote about the event:

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/10/30/andy-bowers-86-talks-podcasts/

The biggest takeaway was that being sincere and genuine comes from letting go of mental barriers. For example, when I am editing my podcast episodes after their interviews, I find myself recording a single line dozens of times. Usually, the deleted takes consist of abrupt pauses or inarticulate words, and in those moments, I feel as if my brain capacity peaked and started lagging like a computer would.

What I learned from Mr. Bowers:

Distract your mind…do things that keep your mind occupied, so you don’t hit those mental barriers.

The first thing he mentioned was to stand up while recording and pretend like I was talking to someone in front of me. This would allow me to speak conversationally, rather than tediously searching for specific words. He also advised that I use bullet points: the perfect marriage between script and improvisation. It gives you direction and clarity, while allowing you to naturally fill in gaps, just as if you were in any other day-to-day situation.

These things will take me a lot of practice, but I would argue that being genuine with an audience is the most important quality, regardless of medium.

So, here’s to being genuine…