The Rest of Us in Tech
Podcast Interview Info Sheet
(Revised 06/20/2018)
Thank you for volunteering to be on the show! I just wanted to provide some advice and suggestions for how the recording process works before we start. And if you have any questions, please reach out: sarah@restofus.tech.
To pick a day, please go to https://calendly.com/restofusintech/podcast
Background of “The Rest of Us in Tech” and the Podcast
Statistics show that the tech industry is over 80% men, and usually they are white, straight, and any other fairly “normative” trait. But what about the rest of the people in tech? Why does it always feel as if no one knows they exist?
The idea for this show came from a few different experiences. First, I love having great conversations with other people in tech. Second, I love hearing about what projects, organizations, and events people are out doing. Finally, I love the idea of being able to share the work of “the rest of us” and increase visibility.
About the Interview
Note: This used to be a podcast with video and audio streams, but has been converted to an audio-only format now.
The interview will be a video interview over talky.io (with Hangouts as a backup) and with software to record audio (TBD). While the video and audio will be recorded, the audio will be the only part kept for the final version. (I’ve found people interact better when they can see each other and will sound more into the conversation.)
Feel free to dress casually if you like, though be aware there’s a small possibility I may want to use still pictures or small bits of video footage at a later date.
I will start with us chatting and doing some ice breaker material. It will help warm us both up, and hopefully have some fun before we start the actual podcast. It will also give me time to verify cameras and microphones are working for both of us.
After that, I’ll officially start the podcast with an intro to the show, an intro to you, and then dive into the questions.
Before the Interview
What I Need From You Pre-Interview
I’ll need only a few things from you pre-interview. I’ll try to gather some information ahead of time from Twitter, LinkedIn, your website, etc. However, anything you can provide will help out that much more.
Things I’ll need from you:
- A bio about yourself, like one you might read concerning a speaker at a conference, for instance.
- Projects, conferences, events, or other things you’re involved in that we can chat about. These do NOT have to be tech-related.
- Any additional sites you want me to look at ahead of time, especially if pertaining to the above.
- Anything you don’t want me to mention. We can avoid these.
- Prepare something silly. A joke, silly story, or something we can do (like pretend we’re on NPR, or dance a silly dance). It’ll help us warm up more easily, or perhaps be something fun to add to the podcast! (Or perhaps for outtake/blooper footage for the future.)
Feel free to fill out some of these on Calendly, or email them later at sarah@restofus.tech.
Day of the Interview
Setting Up your Interview Space
We will be recording video and audio, even though we’re publishing only audio. There are a few extra things to keep in mind:
- Try to make sure lighting is in front of you and not behind you. Light behind you casts shadows on the camera, making you more silhouette than person. (So, no windows behind you, or other room’s light, for instance.)
- Don’t have anything on camera you wouldn’t want the internet to see.
- Have some water or other drink handy. You might want it after talking for a bit. I know I do!
- If you can, wire your computer into your router. This will produce a more stable and faster signal for uploading video. (Hey, sometimes we have to geek it up a bit by running that 50ft ethernet cable across our living room!)
- Try to use the best microphone that you can. Built-in ones on your laptop often pick up sounds of typing or other noises near the computer, and wired earphones sometimes don’t have great sound quality. If you don’t have anything else, wired earphones with a microphone on it will work.
- Please do it in a fairly quiet room away from background noise or outside noise. I can eliminate some hums or small noises. I can’t get rid of the noise of kids throwing the ball against your house.
What to Expect at the Actual Interview
I want the “interview” to be as casual as possible. I want it to feel more like a chat between friends rather than anything formal with specific questions. If there’s any interview where you can truly be yourself, goof off, or geek out, it’s this one!
What I plan to cover:
- I will hit record as soon as we connect; however, I want the first 5-15 minutes to be casual chat and ice breakers. I’ll ask some serious questions (like making sure I pronounce your name correctly), and some silly ones (like what video game character do you wish you could be?)
- I’ll say when I officially want to start. I’ll read off the intro to the show, introduce you, and read your bio.
- I’ll ask about how you got into the tech world, where you work now, and a bit of what you do there.
- I’ll ask about some of the projects or jobs you’re working on. These do not have to be tech-related. (More questions will come based on how our conversation goes.)
- I’ll ask about what you’ve learned from the things you’ve worked on or been involved with.
- I’ll try to include some more personal interesting questions, like coolest movie you’ve seen recently, or what you think of some topic in tech right now. This is designed to be fun, so take this where you want to. We’ll run with how it goes.
- I’ll want to end with something you’d want to share with a large audience: Have advice for the rest of us in tech? Have some inspirational quote or idea? I like ending the show on a positive and encouraging note.
- I’ll wrap it up, wait a few seconds, and then we’ll officially be done.
- At that point, I’d love to get feedback on how you think it went, and get any constructive thought on how it worked. (Think a retrospective for this process.)
Links
The link to the video chat will be at talky.io/restofusintech. This has worked great for every guest but 1 so far. In case this fails, I’ll either try a different Talky link, or we can use Google Hangouts or Skype.
After the Interview
Post-Production
Post-production is where all the final things come together. This includes:
- Adding in the intro and outro music
- Cutting the parts like drinking water or coughs or your dog barking
- Removing any long pauses or noticeable “ums” or filler words
- Rearrange any out of order questions
- Correct any audio level adjustments
Thankfully, you don’t have to do much of anything! This takes many hours though, and may cover the course of several days. If you want to listen to the final product before it “airs,” I can let you check it out first.
Final Things
If we mentioned any websites, side projects, books, videos, or anything else, now is the time to also track those down. We can add them to the show notes and post links. I’d love to share what you’re working on! If there’s any pictures or anything going on, please email those to me. If they’re large, we can discuss setting up a Dropbox or something similar.
And SHARE! Let the world know you were on the show! You are always welcome to share the episodes, retweet our tweets, tweet your own tweets, share the web/iTunes/Google Play/etc. links however you want, and always to reference the show or myself too!
Questions?
I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have, or discuss more about how we want the show to go. I want the show to help make you and your work more visible, so I’d love to know how to do it best.
And thank you! 🙂
Sarah Withee
Email: sarah@restofus.tech
Twitter: @RestOfUsInTech , @geekygirlsarah