I’ve posted the slides as well as an outline of my conference session at the New Media Expo, The Magic Triad: 3 Crucial Ingredients for Creating Compelling Content and a Loyal Audience. This was a “standing room only” session and the most attended of the conference. Grab the downloads here.

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Mobile post sent by jasonvo using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

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Mobile post sent by jasonvo using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

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Mobile post sent by jasonvo using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

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Mobile post sent by jasonvo using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

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Mobile post sent by jasonvo using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

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Charles shared a great tip with me today, so I thought I’d pass it on to you. It fixes the fact that your Pamela recordings have both people all mashed together on the same track, making it harder to edit and adjust volume.

Pamela allows you to separate each person on to separate tracks, one on the right and one on the left. That way you can import and edit them separately. This allows for easier volume adjustments and post-processing with effects.

Here’s what you need to do.

1. In Pamela, go to Tools > Options in the menus
   
2. Click on the Call Recording tab on the left
3. Click on Additional underneath that tab
4. Under Two-way call recording mode select Save sound in stereo mode

Keep in mind, this is really only ideal for a two-person conversation. If you have more than that, you’ll be on one track and everyone else will be on the other. If nothing else, you can throw a Pamela recording in The Levelator as a quick fix if you have multiple people in the audio all at different levels.

Give that tip a try and let me know how it works for you.

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It’s something that people talk about occasionally, often in a joking manner, usually with a bit of a negative connotation. As it turns out, it’s a very real obstacle for some people and that includes me.

I’m talking about perfectionism. I’ve been fighting with it all morning (and really most of my life) just trying to decide what to post about today. You see, I just realized it has been over a month since I last posted to my blog.

The immediate reaction was to think, “Bad Jason!” This was followed by the feeling that not only did I need to post something ASAP, it had to be completely amazing and perfect to make up for the hiatus. This leads to overwhelming pressure which is by no means conducive to creativity…and so a vicious cycle begins.

On the one hand, perfectionism can drive someone to be very productive and accomplish quite a bit. On the other hand, it can be paralyzing. Because online content creation is very public and the output lives on forever in binary stone, it seemingly raises the stakes and the pressure. You’re so intent on making things “just right” that you don’t ever get around to actually doing it or finishing it.

You spend more time on a blog post than is really needed. You get lost in the details. You tweak and tweak and tweak something to the point that the life is squeezed out of it. All of this is so you can feel like your blog post or podcast episode is beyond reproach and you can rest easy in the feeling that your ideas will have just the impact you hoped for.

Of course, when I say “you” maybe I’m just talking to myself. But I have a feeling I’m not the only one. And so, I’m wondering if you’ve dealt with this kind of thing. If so, how do you overcome perfectionistic pressure when creating your content?

Here are a few things that I’m trying to see how they help.

• Set a cooking timer to a predetermined amount. When it goes off, it’s done. Good enough is good enough.
• Realize that leaving something out of or even making a mistake in your content is conducive to conversation. It gives people a chance to chime in and share their point-of-view.
• Don’t be afraid to show your “human” side. People connect with that and in the end connecting with your audience is more important than impressing them.

Now, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share in the comments below.

NOTE: I spent 45 minutes writing this post. I’d say that’s not too bad. I thought it would be ironic to let the post on perfectionism take all morning to write.

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