Week 3

UPDATE

It wasn't until after the last blog post when my partner and I realized just how much threshing through the fields we still needed to do before we could uncover the heart of our topic. We are still echoing the styles of  "Under the Influence" and "Lexicon Valley" however we have revised last week's ambition of discussing rhetoric and power to:

Assessing the power of positive language, mainly the word "YES" (This includes defining "positive language", "negative language") and understanding how individuals and corporations use positive language to influence their audiences.

We're much more confident and happy with this topic, and we're both really excited to share what we're learning!

WEEK 3

With only one short week before podcast pitches, my research, though slow and steady, is underway. I started with a basic Google search: "How to pitch a podcast"

1. CBC Radio Pitch- This was the first source on the page that I recognized. Because the CBC is well established and I've taken reliable information from their broadcasts before, I determined the site to be a trustworthy source and began gathering tips:

• Shoot for the moon (This may look like a very juvenile piece of advice, but it's something I often forget. When I'm stuck in a "follow the guidelines" frame of mind, my creativity often goes untapped; this will be the difference, I believe, between a mediocre podcast pitch and the kind of podcast pitch that I want to present.)
• Fall in love with your ideas, but don’t marry them just yet 

2. BBC Academy Production- (video/ transcript) Again, a familiar and reputable source. I had no hesitations about the BBC, and found these points on the transcript page:

• It's not a lecture: Have a conversation with the commissioners, you're not giving a lecture! Make them curious, make them laugh
  
• Research and plan: Know the audience, know the channel, know the network. Match the tone of your pitch to these 

3. AIR: Pitches that Work I was not familiar with the Association of Independents in Radio so I browsed their site and read through their About Us page to get a better idea about their team and their mission, and based on what I read, I decided they were reputable. From AIR, I learned: 

• Frame your pitch so there can be no doubt about the focus of your story
  
• [Good pitches are] focused, clear, straightforward and short. [Bad pitches are] vague, too obvious, unclear about what is new

Based on the advice I've gathered, I think my next steps are to organize my ideas about my podcast so that I can concisely present them in my pitch, write and practice a script, work with my partner and my peers to ensure clarity and appeal, and maintain confidence in the importance of my ideas, so that I do not undersell them.

This mound of work is shaping up nicely.