Podcast

Over the last 14 months or so, I have been engaged in recording monthly podcasts about political and philosophical issues. However, it was primarily in the months of mid 2019 that I was entirely engaged in producing podcast episodes and working collaboratively with other students.

DP-2 student Joseph regularly edited most audio podcasts and some video podcasts before their release. This allowed me to record more podcasts without worrying too much about the time it would take to edit them. DP-2 student Anushka was briefly involved in this project, working to design creatives and covers for clips that I could post on social media. In other words, she led promotion of the podcast. Vince is a student from California that was also involved in this project as he was a recurring guest on my podcast. Discussions with him were very insightful as I got to examine issues through different perspectives and was also able to articulate my thoughts better when I had someone to talk to. There have been several more guests over the course of the last year, but none of them have appeared on my podcast as frequently as Vince.

This experience allowed me to engage with issues of global significance, as I had to research these issues and think about them before recording a podcast. I also developed and honed my verbal communication and thinking skills through the process of articulating my thoughts through speech on a regular basis. I also had to show perseverance and commitment in releasing podcasts on a regular basis, even when I was not getting many listeners. Unfortunately, I was not able to release a podcast as often as I hoped, but I nevertheless continued to release podcasts throughout my DP years, albeit with progressively less frequency.

As an influencer, I had to consider the ethical implications of my actions as well. While the podcast is all about expressing my opinion, I needed to ensure that I wasn’t encouraging disrespectful behaviour towards people of opposing viewpoints. I would be compromising the purpose of my podcast if I didn’t express my opinion fully–but there are certainly ways to do this while remaining respectful, which is something I aimed to do.

Overall, I’ve gained insight about a number of issues through discussions on my podcast, and I have also been able to work on my communication skills to the point where I am confident in my ability to deliver a public speech.

IBDP 2 Student of Mahindra IS