I typically don’t speak in absolutes and I don’t often use the word never.

However…

I will NEVER fail to check my audio setup prior to a podcast ever again.  NEVER!

This past Wednesday, I was lucky enough to steal some time with Scott Stratten (@unmarketing on Twitter).  It was the first time we’d ever actually spoken outside of Twitter.  We’ve been loosely connected on Twitter since sometime in 2008/2009.

After 45 minutes of fascinating conversation with Scott, we wrapped up the episode, said our goodbyes, and I immediately went to edit the episode and schedule it for publishing.

An Ironic Fail

At the beginning of the episode, Scott had joked about a time when he’d recorded an entire episode of his podcast but realized after the fact that the sound was off.  Oh, how we laughed…I’m no longer laughing.

As it turns out, my sound was off as I had my settings on “internal microphone” while my “external microphone” was plugged in.  The podcast is just silence followed by Scott talking (which is interesting in its own right).

I have loved all of my podcast guests for different reasons.  Some of the guests are people I’ve known for years, others I just met.  This was the first time I’d ever spoken with Scott and the conversation with him had a natural flow to it and it felt like we’d been friends for years.

  • Did we solve all of the world’s problems?  Probably not.
  • Did we cover entirely new ground in the world of social media and business?  Probably not.
  • Was it an interesting conversation that would’ve held your attention from start to finish?  I have no doubt in my mind.

Save your work, check your equipment

I’ve lost blog posts before.  I’ve forgotten to save my work and lost everything.  This one hurts as much as any of those, and in some cases more, because it wasted another person’s time in addition to my own.  It was great to speak with Scott and I’m happy that we got the chance to connect, but the physical output is lost forever.

I will NEVER let this happen again.  There will be a process moving forward and I will be rigid about it.

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