Mona Salisbury's Design Project: MEC in the MEC (Making Entrepreneurship Core in the Mason Enterprise Center)
Design Idea
I hope to create an educational podcast that educates entrepreneurs and small business owners in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William County about various hot topics in the industry. Additionally, this podcast will serve as a further medium to describe the service offering at Mason Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in addition to the application process for both clients and volunteers.
The goal is to create excitement around topics that are discussed frequently at Mason SBDC and in the community while educating local entrepreneurs on the topics. Additionally, this podcast serves as a great way to increase our marketing for services and reach a larger base of entrepreneurs by minimizing the number of cycles the Mason SBDC team spends explaining the service offering to potential clients in addition to assisting clients more efficiently apply for service.
As a result of a client listening to the podcast, they will learn the following:
- overview of a hot topic in entrepreneurship
- background facts on the topic at hand
- opinions on the topic of hand
- tips and tricks from fellow entrepreneurs as to how they have addressed the topic
- what volunteers at Mason SBDC bring to the table in terms of expertise
- what services Mason SBDC offers
- what Mason SBDC's goals are
- how Mason SBDC has helped entrepreneurs
- what types of clients are eligible
- how to apply to become a client
The audience should have the option to listen to this series via podcast so that they can save time and listen to the service offering and procedure during non-business hours when they might have some down time to focus on growing their business. Additionally, podcasts allow us to hit a new niche of customers who want to do business solely through the Internet.
Eventually, I want to create an educational series like Cornell has done with 10 Good Minutes at http://10goodminutes.com/. I plan to use audio only but will add other media forms to create an enhanced podcast if the topic and or discussion would benefit from it.
Audience
There are three main groups within our current base of stakeholders that this podcast will attract. Current and potential clients including entrepreneurs or small business owners in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Counties, current and potential volunteers including C-level executives in transition, Mason Alumni, and those with previous small business experience who want to give back to the community, and the Mason Enterprise Community including Fairfax Innovation Center incubation clients and other George Mason University faculty, alumni, and staff.
This podcast meets various needs of Mason SBDC and its audience as defined above--1) to help interested clients understand the Mason SBDC process and service offering 2) to create interest in clients who do now know about Mason SBDC 3) to unify the Mason Enterprise Center community through education 4) to encourage word of mouth recruitment for volunteer recruitment 5) to highlight volunteer experience and educate listeners on specific topics relating to entrepreneurship and small business development.
The podcasts can be listened to after an initial inquiry to the Mason SBDC team, when landing on our main webpage, when accessing our new internal social networking website called the Strategic Partner Portal, and eventually through I-Tunes U.
The various audience groups will subscribe if they are able to learn more about the Mason SBDC counseling process, learn about hot topics in entrepreneurship and small business development, and hear feedback from the wealth of knowledge in our volunteer network. This group will definitely benefit from the podcast medium because they will be able to listen in a variety of locations and at different times versus having to come into the Mason SBDC center to listen to a seminar or physically pick up information between normal work hours from Monday to Friday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. The ability to listen in the car on the way to work or at night are key to expanding the listening base as many entrepreneurs and volunteers are not able to fully commit to educational and or social exchange during normal business hours on weekdays on a consistent basis. The portability of the program on any of the tech devices that most of the people in our audience group has is a key facet to the success of this medium.
The various audience groups will not subscribe if they are no longer interested in our services, do not meet the prerequisities of our service offering, do not find the topics interesting or relavant to their specific business domain, prefer face-to-face interaction for educational delivery, or are not interested in connecting with the Mason SBDC community.
Content
The conent and resources that our audience requires is expert knowledge on hot topics in entrepreneurship and small business development. This content will be compiled from interviews with our highly educated volunteer base and or research on various topics from the SBA or other small business resources. The audience requires credible information from trusted sources and with our network and access to resources, we can produce these both.
Below is an out line of the content to be presented in episode 1, episode 2, and future podcasts.
Episode 1: help@sbdc.org
- Opening (MEC at the MEC overview, host introduction, who is on the show and from where)
- Segment 1: Rachael Adams from Mason SBDC
- Segment 2: Anita Pedersen from SCORE at Mason SBDC
- Closing (services at MEC, next show, signoff)
Episode 2: Counseling 101 (Counseling Methodologies and Networking in Small Businesses)
- Opening (MEC at the MEC overview, host introduction, who is on the show and from where)
- Segment 1: Susan Lee-Merrow Interview on Background in the Game Industry and Best Books for Marketing Efforts
- Segment 2: Steve Edelman Monologue on Counseling Methodologies used at SCORE at Mason SBDC
- Segment 3: Susan Lee-Merrow and Steve Edelman Interview on the Importance of Networking for a Small Business
Future Podcasts: Venture Capital Realities, Have you completed your SPOT lately?, Nonprofit Incorporation
We will need to include references for all of the data that we pull from other small business development providers. Additionally, we need to create release forms for our volunteers and other interviewees in order to be able to utilize their work on our show. Finally, we will incorporate music into our segments but we will either use music from Royalty Free Music or we will use options in the common license arena.
Besides content, an audio clip fro the opening and closing of the podcast needs to be created to serve as a consistent unique facet of the Mason SDBC podcast. There is no intention of using sound effects at this time other than a second clip for audio transitions between segments. However, if there are video clips and or slide show graphics that might be useful for each session, there might be an opportunity to include them in a vodcast form.
Format
The style and format of the podcasts will be interview style (with the host David McKenney) and special SME monologues from the Mason SBDC and SCORE at Mason SBDC team. The podcast will be fast-past and include a consistent introduction and closing with the same music used for the introduction, conclusion, and transitions. The reasoning for the interview/monologue mixed style is to encourage heightened credibility by using SMEs from various fields under the Mason SBDC umbrella. Additionally, it will allow clients to follow-up on episodes from their counselors in addition to getting a preview of the counselor's style before a follow-up session.
All of the podcasts will be done as MP3s until a need we move into longer segments where an enhanced podcast would be benneficial. The questions will be scripted for the first ten episode. For episodes that have more than two segments, there will always be a monologue from a SME. Each episode will be 5 minutes and be produced on a bi-monthly basis untill all volunteers have been interviewed (there are currently 13). Then the episodes will become 10 minutes and be produced on a monthly basis based on questions that come in via email.
Interviews will be recorded at MEC when volunteers are in the building for sessions. A new microphone will have to be purchased in order to make the audio capture enhanced and optimal.
Evaluate & Refine
After reviewing episode 1 of my podcast series, MEC in the MEC, I learned some interesting things about recording. Overall, I was happy with the sound quality of the recording. However, I learned that there are areas that I could improve for episode 2 and the other future episodes.
First, I need to keep the microphone on the person being interviewed at all times and not move it back and forth. It is easier to take the long recording and cut it down than to switch the microphone back and forth--potentially disrupting the quality of the recording.
Second, I have decided to ask all of the questions at once and clip them and edit them instead of pausing between each question. This way, the volume of the speaker, host, and/or guest is more consistent.
Finally, I learned that you need to test the recording multiple times with certain words that have the letters s and p. This will ensure that when a listener increases the sound on their device that they aren't blasted in the ear.
Regarding edits for the audio files, I basically used a lot of clipping of the files and merging of files together. I tried to remove fillers without making the podcast seem fake but I do hear two locations on episode 1 that I could improve upon. I also want to make sure to keep the same pace between the speakers.
For future recordings, I want to focus on sound quality and putting together a process to collect the interviewees' feedback consistently. This will make the capturing process more simple.
Design Document Guidelines
Mona Salisbury's Design Project: MEC in the MEC (Making Entrepreneurship Core in the Mason Enterprise Center)
Design Idea
I hope to create an educational podcast that educates entrepreneurs and small business owners in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William County about various hot topics in the industry. Additionally, this podcast will serve as a further medium to describe the service offering at Mason Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in addition to the application process for both clients and volunteers.The goal is to create excitement around topics that are discussed frequently at Mason SBDC and in the community while educating local entrepreneurs on the topics. Additionally, this podcast serves as a great way to increase our marketing for services and reach a larger base of entrepreneurs by minimizing the number of cycles the Mason SBDC team spends explaining the service offering to potential clients in addition to assisting clients more efficiently apply for service.
As a result of a client listening to the podcast, they will learn the following:
- overview of a hot topic in entrepreneurship
- background facts on the topic at hand
- opinions on the topic of hand
- tips and tricks from fellow entrepreneurs as to how they have addressed the topic
- what volunteers at Mason SBDC bring to the table in terms of expertise
- what services Mason SBDC offers
- what Mason SBDC's goals are
- how Mason SBDC has helped entrepreneurs
- what types of clients are eligible
- how to apply to become a client
The audience should have the option to listen to this series via podcast so that they can save time and listen to the service offering and procedure during non-business hours when they might have some down time to focus on growing their business. Additionally, podcasts allow us to hit a new niche of customers who want to do business solely through the Internet.
Eventually, I want to create an educational series like Cornell has done with 10 Good Minutes at http://10goodminutes.com/. I plan to use audio only but will add other media forms to create an enhanced podcast if the topic and or discussion would benefit from it.
Audience
There are three main groups within our current base of stakeholders that this podcast will attract. Current and potential clients including entrepreneurs or small business owners in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Counties, current and potential volunteers including C-level executives in transition, Mason Alumni, and those with previous small business experience who want to give back to the community, and the Mason Enterprise Community including Fairfax Innovation Center incubation clients and other George Mason University faculty, alumni, and staff.This podcast meets various needs of Mason SBDC and its audience as defined above--1) to help interested clients understand the Mason SBDC process and service offering 2) to create interest in clients who do now know about Mason SBDC 3) to unify the Mason Enterprise Center community through education 4) to encourage word of mouth recruitment for volunteer recruitment 5) to highlight volunteer experience and educate listeners on specific topics relating to entrepreneurship and small business development.
The podcasts can be listened to after an initial inquiry to the Mason SBDC team, when landing on our main webpage, when accessing our new internal social networking website called the Strategic Partner Portal, and eventually through I-Tunes U.
The various audience groups will subscribe if they are able to learn more about the Mason SBDC counseling process, learn about hot topics in entrepreneurship and small business development, and hear feedback from the wealth of knowledge in our volunteer network. This group will definitely benefit from the podcast medium because they will be able to listen in a variety of locations and at different times versus having to come into the Mason SBDC center to listen to a seminar or physically pick up information between normal work hours from Monday to Friday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. The ability to listen in the car on the way to work or at night are key to expanding the listening base as many entrepreneurs and volunteers are not able to fully commit to educational and or social exchange during normal business hours on weekdays on a consistent basis. The portability of the program on any of the tech devices that most of the people in our audience group has is a key facet to the success of this medium.
The various audience groups will not subscribe if they are no longer interested in our services, do not meet the prerequisities of our service offering, do not find the topics interesting or relavant to their specific business domain, prefer face-to-face interaction for educational delivery, or are not interested in connecting with the Mason SBDC community.
Content
The conent and resources that our audience requires is expert knowledge on hot topics in entrepreneurship and small business development. This content will be compiled from interviews with our highly educated volunteer base and or research on various topics from the SBA or other small business resources. The audience requires credible information from trusted sources and with our network and access to resources, we can produce these both.Below is an out line of the content to be presented in episode 1, episode 2, and future podcasts.
Episode 1: help@sbdc.org
- Opening (MEC at the MEC overview, host introduction, who is on the show and from where)
- Segment 1: Rachael Adams from Mason SBDC
- Segment 2: Anita Pedersen from SCORE at Mason SBDC
- Closing (services at MEC, next show, signoff)
Episode 2: Counseling 101 (Counseling Methodologies and Networking in Small Businesses)
- Opening (MEC at the MEC overview, host introduction, who is on the show and from where)
- Segment 1: Susan Lee-Merrow Interview on Background in the Game Industry and Best Books for Marketing Efforts
- Segment 2: Steve Edelman Monologue on Counseling Methodologies used at SCORE at Mason SBDC
- Segment 3: Susan Lee-Merrow and Steve Edelman Interview on the Importance of Networking for a Small Business
Future Podcasts: Venture Capital Realities, Have you completed your SPOT lately?, Nonprofit Incorporation
We will need to include references for all of the data that we pull from other small business development providers. Additionally, we need to create release forms for our volunteers and other interviewees in order to be able to utilize their work on our show. Finally, we will incorporate music into our segments but we will either use music from Royalty Free Music or we will use options in the common license arena.
Besides content, an audio clip fro the opening and closing of the podcast needs to be created to serve as a consistent unique facet of the Mason SDBC podcast. There is no intention of using sound effects at this time other than a second clip for audio transitions between segments. However, if there are video clips and or slide show graphics that might be useful for each session, there might be an opportunity to include them in a vodcast form.
Format
The style and format of the podcasts will be interview style (with the host David McKenney) and special SME monologues from the Mason SBDC and SCORE at Mason SBDC team. The podcast will be fast-past and include a consistent introduction and closing with the same music used for the introduction, conclusion, and transitions. The reasoning for the interview/monologue mixed style is to encourage heightened credibility by using SMEs from various fields under the Mason SBDC umbrella. Additionally, it will allow clients to follow-up on episodes from their counselors in addition to getting a preview of the counselor's style before a follow-up session.All of the podcasts will be done as MP3s until a need we move into longer segments where an enhanced podcast would be benneficial. The questions will be scripted for the first ten episode. For episodes that have more than two segments, there will always be a monologue from a SME. Each episode will be 5 minutes and be produced on a bi-monthly basis untill all volunteers have been interviewed (there are currently 13). Then the episodes will become 10 minutes and be produced on a monthly basis based on questions that come in via email.
Interviews will be recorded at MEC when volunteers are in the building for sessions. A new microphone will have to be purchased in order to make the audio capture enhanced and optimal.
Evaluate & Refine
After reviewing episode 1 of my podcast series, MEC in the MEC, I learned some interesting things about recording. Overall, I was happy with the sound quality of the recording. However, I learned that there are areas that I could improve for episode 2 and the other future episodes.First, I need to keep the microphone on the person being interviewed at all times and not move it back and forth. It is easier to take the long recording and cut it down than to switch the microphone back and forth--potentially disrupting the quality of the recording.
Second, I have decided to ask all of the questions at once and clip them and edit them instead of pausing between each question. This way, the volume of the speaker, host, and/or guest is more consistent.
Finally, I learned that you need to test the recording multiple times with certain words that have the letters s and p. This will ensure that when a listener increases the sound on their device that they aren't blasted in the ear.
Regarding edits for the audio files, I basically used a lot of clipping of the files and merging of files together. I tried to remove fillers without making the podcast seem fake but I do hear two locations on episode 1 that I could improve upon. I also want to make sure to keep the same pace between the speakers.
For future recordings, I want to focus on sound quality and putting together a process to collect the interviewees' feedback consistently. This will make the capturing process more simple.