I once had a job writing scripts for a daily 90-second radio show for Joe Gibbs, the nice-as-can-be, Hall of Fame coach of the Washington Redskins. He did not enjoy recording it and felt more comfortable reading from a script. I had gotten to know how he spoke so I could add in the "heys" and "for you fans" and more of his favorite sayings. But still I did cringe when my morning alarm would ring and I would hear him stiffly reading my lines.

What do people trust most these days? It's not government, media, for-profit organizations or even nonprofit organizations. It's online reviews. According to a study last year, a whopping 91% of people trust an online review, even if they don't know the person behind it.

Podcast numbers keep growing—about 35% of Americans ages 18-54 now listen in. "People are adding more podcasts to their media diet [each month]," said Edison Research in their April survey and subsequent webinar. And what's great about podcasts is that they don't have to be huge productions.   Witness CampWire, the podcast of the American Camp Association (ACA). It has aired 10 episodes so far, and the last one on staff training drew the biggest audience. Camp directors tune in, and it was May, so no surprise there.   Sam Hirt, communications data specialist at the ACA, launched the podcast and offered some tips in an article in Associations Now. We add some SIPA notes to it.   Know your audience and what they care about. "What do [listeners] want to hear about?" Hirt asked. "Can we talk for 40 minutes to an hour about it? And who is going to be the right voice for it?" Said Stephanie Williford, CEO, EB M ...

Answering a question posed recently on the SIPA Forum about video vs. podcasts, Stephanie Williford, CEO, EB Medicine, wrote, "We haven't done a formal test, but I think the old 'know your audience' adage applies well here. For ours (emergency physicians, who are notoriously ADHD), they can't stand to sit still and watch an educational video for more than a few minutes, but they love podcasts because they can listen and learn while doing something else too."