BeerCasting.com: The Best Conversations Come In a Mug
I recently attended the Podcasting session at BloggerCon III and was amazed at how much inertia there seemed to be behind the Podcasting craze. At first, I was quite skeptical about podcasting, likening it to being forced to listen to a phone conversation while being muted, but over the last few days it’s truly come to grow on me.
As my interest peaked, I started to wonder what I could do to contribute to the movement and how I could squeeze my voice into the mix. My initial thoughts were to simply do an audio version of SocialTwister.com. I was originally planning to enlist a buddy of mine, whom I often talk about various issues relating to the site.
Then it hit me. I thought more about the way I came to form many opinions and it involved discussion with my friends. I had previously joked about recording our conversations and now it seemed quite reasonable to try it.
Beercasting was born. The premise is simple: Put a bunch of people together, add some spirits, and conversation flows in every which direction (some great, others bizarre). In short, the best conversations form in the froth of a frosty mug. I’ve outlined some of the notes for how to do one here below.
BeerCasting Guidelines
- Topics automatically rotate when a new beer (wine, drink, etc.) is ordered
- Anyone can speak at any time, the loudest one wins
- Anything goes, there's no filtering.
BeerCasting Recommendations
- Determine your topics ahead of time as a rough guide for things to hit when you are at a lull.
- Try to record your BeerCast on a Sunday through Wednesday - the other nights tend to get more crowded bars and lots of background noise.
- Try to keep the group size down to 4-5 maximum people - it's hard to discern too many voices without really good equipment
- Designate one person to guide the discussion.
- Don't stare at the mic - be natural or it won't work