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Guidance for podcast guests

Objective


api connections is dedicated to exploring business and technical concepts, the latest trends in API development, and how digital innovations are transforming business.


Audience Profile


Our audience comprises business and technology executives, architects, programme/project leaders, product owners, technology team leaders, startup founders and investors, business analysts, software developers and engineers. Many have attended or presented at the apidays Singapore conference or Platform Engineers Singapore meetup, which I have been organising since 2019.


Our audience is keen to learn about how they can apply technology in their organisation, make or influence business/technology decisions, build their skills and progress their careers.


Guest Profile


Guests are typically business and technology leaders or specialists who have expertise or insights to share with our audience. Many have previously presented at the apidays Singapore conference.


Topics


Topics can be activities, concepts/frameworks or solutions/approaches to applying technology to business opportunities and challenges. A partial list include:

  • API-enabled business models
  • Partner ecosystems
  • Open Banking
  • Embedded Finance
  • Platform Engineering
  • AI & Data
  • Data Engineering
  • Application Architecture
  • API Design
  • API Lifecycle Management
  • Cybersecurity
  • API Security
  • Sustainable IT


Format


The podcast is published on both video and audio-only channels, so uses few (if any) visuals, slides or demos. Most episodes are an interview with one or more guests in a “talking head” format.


Recording a 20-30 minute podcast takes about an hour.


What is your Origin Story?


I like to ask guests how they got to where they are now. It helps to build your credibility, answering the question: “Why should we listen to you?”. It can also inspire audience members who want to progress in their own careers. Understanding how you prepared for your career, decisions you made along the way, and opportunities you took up, helps others figure out how to navigate their own journey.


  • How did your career path lead you to where you are now?
  • What prepared you for your current role and focus?
  • What were the steps that led you to decide you would focus on this topic?
  • Why do you feel so strongly about this topic?


Why is this topic important?


I am always seeking to understand the practical applications of technology. Key questions include:

  • Why is it valuable for people to know about this?
  • What is the problem, and why does this topic solve it?
  • Why now?
  • Has this just emerged, or has it always been an ongoing problem?
  • What has changed to make this more urgent?
  • Who are the beneficiaries/customers/sponsors/suppliers/gatekeepers/stakeholders?
  • What is the best way to answer the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) question to get them on board
  • Where does the topic fit in the overall business/technology landscape?
  • What are the components of the topic?
  • Where do they fit in the business ecosystem or system architecture?


What should people think, feel or do after reading/watching/listening?


I like to know and share how to apply the topic in their own work:

  • What are the steps?
  • What skills are needed
  • What resources (people, equipment, hardware, software) are needed
  • How to organise the resources (teams, process, communications)
  • What do we do Monday (what is the very next step)?


References


I like to share links to articles or presentations you have published, as well as the best way to contact you, so think about what you would like to leave the audience with.


Equipment


For the best audience experience, video and especially audio need to be of high quality. It's important to be in a quiet location that has good lighting, and preferably a high quality microphone. A decent camera would also be good, but audiences are typically less concerned about video quality than audio.


I use the Riverside service (https://riverside.fm/) to produce a high quality recording. We meet initially on Zoom, then I share a link to my studio on Riverside. When you join the Riverside studio, we run some quick checks to ensure the video and audio are working correctly before we start recording. There is a small client application for you to download, which records your video and audio locally, then uploads it to the Riverside server on completion. If your work computer restricts downloading applications like this, you may consider using a personal PC or Mac for the recording.


What happens afterwards


After recording, I take care of all the rest: I do some light editing to remove obvious errors, clean up the AI-generated show notes and transcript, publish to YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and then share with my email list. I also post a short clip from the recording on LinkedIn.