A few months ago, my friend and colleague Simon and I started a series of podcasts on Amazon Web Services.
Initially it was just an experiment, to see if people would like listening to it. After just a few weeks, though, it was clear that we were filling a need.
We can’t disclose numbers or stats, but suffice to say that the AWS Podcast has quickly become quite popular, I guess among AWS customers.
This is the short summary of the latest, Episode number 10:
“Simon & Simone are back again for this special episode where we will look at some of the key information resources available on the AWS website, on topics such as Architecture, Economics, and Security. Customers can take advantage of these resources when exploring the use of AWS in their business.”
You can download it, listen to it on the web, or subscribe to it and listen while you commute to work, etc.
I am first in line to say that this is not perfect, of course, for many reasons:
1) We’re not professional radio speakers (although I had some short experiences as a radio speaker in the past);
2) We don’t do it in the same room, but about 10,000 miles away (I’m in San Francisco, Simon is usually in Melbourne);
3) Smetimes we record it while traveling, so background noise, or connectivity, can be an issue.
4) We do it with very cheap equipment: a 100 US$ microphone, and our laptops.
However, despite all these limitations, we still see a significant traction, and we also receive nice comments about it.
It means, somehow, that people don’t care much about a super-polished, expensive-to-produce, Hollywood-quality podcast, but they instead just want the “beefy” part, the content, to listen to interesting stuff.
I believe that podcasts can be a very effective way to distribute content to your audience, as well as “connect” with them. I personally enjoy it a lot, and I also use it as an opportunity to learn a lot. The “black belt tip” session, envisioned by Simon, is a great example of this. Most of the time, when Simon is the one preparing the content for that session, I can’t wait to record the episode to learn more about it!
The one thing that, at least for now, I still miss a lot, is the ability to look at the other speaker in the face, and use that “sync” to time when we should talk, interrupt, or be quiet. Instead we cannot really do it while recording away from each other.
We plan to extend the podcasts to additional members of the AWS team.
Stay tuned for updates.
I want to leave you with a few good links to interesting resources for podcasts:
1) Five things I love about podcasting
2) One of my favorite podcasts, Mac power users (yes, I mostly use a Mac computer)