‘This Is A Journey Into Sound’

Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, huh? Well, maybe this old canine’s proven that wrong. Proven it to himself, if nothing else…

What am I rabbiting on about? As a freelance tech journo and proudly-self-declared ‘hack,’ I’ve stuck very close to words in my career. In fact, I’ve boasted about being a bit neurotypical about my fixation with words on screen… about how focused I can be on working with that element of story-telling and creating B2B journalism or client content.

That’s sometimes cost me. I’ve been involved in important magazine re-designs and found myself struggling to input anything really that useful. I absolutely appreciate design, and indeed, I’m a comic book geek and movie fan, but something kind of eludes me when it comes to what font the strap should be, and if that red over there really makes this puce down here ‘pop’ (etc).

Well, imagine my surprise to have been able to get a whole new digital-only offering over the finish line for one of my clients: a YouTube extension of its conference and the editorial content I produce to help that mission along. That’s Matt over at www.thinkdigitalpartners.com (I help tend this side of it, the Editorial), who green-lit us moving our conversations onto another part of the Web with our new interview stream, here. (To follow TDP, connect with it on Twitter at @Thinkdigicon).

I’m very excited about the YouTube thing, though I have to say it’s been a bit of a steep learning curve getting my head around Zoom, virtual meeting rooms, remembering to record the calls, etc. But video is great, as is sound – another whole new dimension I’m getting into! That’s in the shape of the content creation I’m doing to support a great Workplace Learning/Chief Learning Officer-directed podcast, Learning Is The New Working.

Now with its own dedicated website, where all the now 30-plus episodes of all six (!) seasons are described and collected, LITNW gives me a chance to work with one of my oldest chums, Chris Pirie, who has gone from being the tall kid at the Essex Uni Student Union Bar to being quite the global figure in Workplace Learning (and well done to him and all his hard work getting there, too!). I really enjoy this work, as it gives me a chance to explore with Chris and his guests a fascinating borderland where social and tech issues can’t help but interface; and I particularly value the work he’s doing now on mounting multiple CV-19-related discussions, too.

Video and audio are very exciting new fields for B2B content. Well, maybe not so new now. But they are to me – and I can’t wait to do more.