The 30th September is International Podcast Day, a day when podcasters around the world are celebrating their art and craft.  As such it seemed appropriate that this post should consider the role of podcasting in supporting communications in virtual teams.

In celebration of international podcast day, we are delighted to unveil our own podcast stream, “Virtual Team Dynamics – the Ulfire Podcast” is available on all of the usual sites.  Please do check it out via our subscribe to podcast page.  We will be releasing new podcasts with each future article on the website and are working to record episodes for many of the existing articles.

What Is A Podcast

Firstly, its worth defining what a podcast is, both broadly and in the context of this article.  At its simplest, a podcast is a web based stream of audio files to which a listener can subscribe, with the subscription ensuring that the listener is then served new files on their chosen device as and when they are released.  There are many thousands of podcasts publicly available covering virtually every aspect of life and individual interests.

In the business environment, some businesses use podcasts to engage with their client base, others use them internally, on a closed network, to engage with their workforce.  More broadly, many podcasts are produced by hobbyists to share their experience and views with a broad audience.  Some podcasts will have tens of thousands of subscribers, reaching to every corner of the earth, others will have small, specialist audiences in either a single profession or a town, sit or community.

A recent survey conducted by Edison Research found that in the USA people listen to an average of 4hrs of audio per day.  Consuming audio during their daily commute, at the gym and at their workplace.  Of this audience, a little under 2% are listening to podcasts as part of that mix.  This is a growing percentage as technology streamlines the delivery of audio to mobile devices.  Whatever their reach and content, podcasts and the concept of podcasting has a genuine role to play in the communications mix for virtual teams.

Podcasts In Virtual Teams

The first question then is, what do podcasts offer that more traditional, and more conventional forms of communication don’t?

Podcasts offer an organisation an opportunity to have direct, one to one discussions with their personnel. Listening to a podcast is a very personal experience, with the listener putting on a set or ear buds or headphones and listening directly to the voice or voices on the recording in a closed environment.  The use of recorded media such as podcasts is very different to the traditional town hall meeting format so long used in business.  In these town hall meetings, management representatives “broadcast” their message to a room full of employees, typically in a heavily scripted and stage managed event once a quarter or half year.

In contrast to the town hall type of address, a podcast or similar audio file can be produced quickly , circulated immediately and is consumable on a user by user basis, giving a less intrusive and more informal way for personnel to be kept up to date.  This personal contact between the listener and the speaker means the message can be more individually focussed one, constructed so that it speaks directly to each listener.

This is not to say that each listener should have their own podcast, rather that the tone of the podcast can be more personal, more conversational, than the more structured and stage managed format of a town hall event.  Also,