A Game of Mad Libs
WHAT IT WAS LIKE BEING INTERVIEWED BY NPR FOR A SOUNDSCAPE
Written by - Erin McDermott
When I was approached to participate in an NPR Soundscape interview and represent Lyndon Group alongside Mari-Frances Bentvelzen, the Global Head of SMB at SAP Concur, I was nervous, excited, and most of all humbled at the opportunity. Out of all the consulting firms within SAP Concur’s Partner ecosystem, Lyndon Group was selected to participate and demonstrate how we can add value to SAP Concur customers – and with this opportunity being featured on NPR, it really knocked my socks off!
Since interviewing for a podcast is a unique experience and part of an increasing trend, I thought I would provide a quick glimpse into what the process was like and things that really surprised me along the way!
The official NPR recording mic and noise-canceling headphones
NPR sent Microphone
You record a lot of content for three min of finished product!
I understood going into the recording that the final product would only be 2-3 min in length, so you can only imagine my shock when I saw a 90 min recording appointment show up on my calendar! We did end up recording a full 90 minutes of content - talking about everything from our personal backgrounds to client stories, industry observations, and more – which was streamlined down and focused into 3 minutes of content!
To my delight, outtakes were ok – if you were mid-answer and did not like the approach you took, it was encouraged to stop, reset, and try your answer again. While the final version sounds like one continuous polished discussion, just know that a lot of editing went into the audio to make that happen.
NPR sent me special equipment for the recording
I felt very special when a package arrived at my doorstep with a very official-looking recording mic and noise-canceling headphones inside!
I was impressed by how far away you had to sit from your mic for the sound quality to be ideal. Whenever I had seen recordings of podcasts on TV or in videos online, it always looked like their lips were right up against the microphone, but when I went to record, I was instructed by the NPR producers to sit a good 2-3 feet back from the mic!
Mad Libs are alive and well!
Toward the end of the recording session, we played a modified version of Mad Libs where Mari-Frances and I took turns saying the beginnings of sentences and phrases so the producers could edit segments of content together. It was very entertaining to do three takes of yourself saying “Our goal is to…” with varying inflections and tones.
Overall, this was a unique opportunity and I enjoyed every minute of the process. I would love to hear your thoughts on the final NPR Soundscape interview, as well as what you thought about our "behind the scenes" experience. Head over to the Lyndon Group LinkedIn page to let us know your thoughts or reach out to us directly at info@lyndon-group.com.