guest how to


Here is some information for all you guests on the show, so that you don't jump into things blind. First and foremost listen to an episode or two of the show (if you have not already done so), so you can get an idea of the format for the show. We defiantly stray from the format at times but we try to stick to it as close as possible. Recommended things to do for prep: 1) Get the diigo tool bar for firefox and sign up for a diigo account. This is an extension for firefox that allows you to bookmark, highlight, add personal notes and more to the articles that you decide on going over. We use this to highlight the important parts of the article. It also has a feature to add a "sticky note" to any highlight so you can write down some extra thoughts about the article. 2) Review our website. Look at the posts under the heading "show notes" to get an idea of what type of articles that we bring up. 3) Join the forums. We use this to coordinate with the other hosts so we can organize times and sometimes discuss articles ahead of time to get an idea what people are going to talk about. What happens pre-show: 1) We make some coffee 2) We play some video games 3) We do a mic check. This is done to ensure optimal recording levels for your voice. When different people use different mics we need to do this to make sure you are not too quiet or too loud. We usually have you talk into the mic at "normal" talking levels to get a general idea of how loud you are going to be. 4) We go over just the titles of the articles that everyone has. This way you can get a real rough idea about what is going to be talked about. If your bringing articles: We read many different types of articles on the show ranging from science, politics and just plain old weird articles. Pretty much anything goes. If you pick a science article make sure you lightly understand the science behind it. If you bring up a political article, have an opinion on it. If you bring a funny article, make sure it'll get a few laughs. 1) Read over the article and highlight the important things. Try and make it brief but also informative (listen to a previous show and see how we do it). 2) Read the whole article. There are many times where other people on the show will ask you questions about the article and reading though it completely will help this. 3) Understand the article. This is kinda self explanatory. 4) Try and come up with some relevant questions to ask the other people to try and start meaningful conversation. Tips for talking on mic: 1) Make sure that you actually talk into the mic. Try to avoid talking into the side of the mic or moving your head around too much to ensure a constant recording level. 2) Make sure you talk at a constant distance from the mic. This will also help to keep your recording levels constant. 3) If you can't hear yourself in the headphones then you’re either a) not close enough to the mic or b) not facing the mic. 4) Do not trail off the volume of your sentence. This means that you need to make sure that the beginning of your sentence is just as loud as the end of your sentence. *Just to warn you I make a lot of hand signals during the show to indicate that you need to face the mic or talk louder. If I'm riding you about not doing something right, I'm not trying to be a dick I'm just trying to keep the audio quality consistent. Closing remarks:** Although this seems like a lot, it's not really. I'm trying to cover everything so that the show flows smoothly. Lastly.......RELAX!!! It's not a serious show, we joke around all the time and we are all really laid back. If you fuck something up too bad we can edit it out before we post the show.

Here is some information for all you guests on the show, so that you don't jump into things blind.

First and foremost listen to an episode or two of the show (if you have not already done so), so you can get an idea of the format for the show. We defiantly stray from the format at times but we try to stick to it as close as possible.

Recommended things to do for prep:

1) Get the diigo tool bar for firefox and sign up for a diigo account. This is an extension for firefox that allows you to bookmark, highlight, add personal notes and more to the articles that you decide on going over. We use this to highlight the important parts of the article. It also has a feature to add a "sticky note" to any highlight so you can write down some extra thoughts about the article.

2) Review our website. Look at the posts under the heading "show notes" to get an idea of what type of articles that we bring up.

3) Join the forums. We use this to coordinate with the other hosts so we can organize times and sometimes discuss articles ahead of time to get an idea what people are going to talk about.

What happens pre-show:

1) We make some coffee

2) We play some video games

3) We do a mic check. This is done to ensure optimal recording levels for your voice. When different people use different mics we need to do this to make sure you are not too quiet or too loud. We usually have you talk into the mic at "normal" talking levels to get a general idea of how loud you are going to be.

4) We go over just the titles of the articles that everyone has. This way you can get a real rough idea about what is going to be talked about.

If your bringing articles:

We read many different types of articles on the show ranging from science, politics and just plain old weird articles. Pretty much anything goes. If you pick a science article make sure you lightly understand the science behind it. If you bring up a political article, have an opinion on it. If you bring a funny article, make sure it'll get a few laughs.

1) Read over the article and highlight the important things. Try and make it brief but also informative (listen to a previous show and see how we do it).

2) Read the whole article. There are many times where other people on the show will ask you questions about the article and reading though it completely will help this.

3) Understand the article. This is kinda self explanatory.

4) Try and come up with some relevant questions to ask the other people to try and start meaningful conversation.

Tips for talking on mic:

1) Make sure that you actually talk into the mic. Try to avoid talking into the side of the mic or moving your head around too much to ensure a constant recording level.

2) Make sure you talk at a constant distance from the mic. This will also help to keep your recording levels constant.

3) If you can't hear yourself in the headphones then you’re either a) not close enough to the mic or b) not facing the mic.

4) Do not trail off the volume of your sentence. This means that you need to make sure that the beginning of your sentence is just as loud as the end of your sentence.

***Just to warn you I make a lot of hand signals during the show to indicate that you need to face the mic or talk louder. If I'm riding you about not doing something right, I'm not trying to be a dick I'm just trying to keep the audio quality consistent.

Closing remarks:

Although this seems like a lot, it's not really. I'm trying to cover everything so that the show flows smoothly.

Lastly.......RELAX!!! It's not a serious show, we joke around all the time and we are all really laid back. If you fuck something up too bad we can edit it out before we post the show.