Maker Sessions
Dive into scores of talks, workshops, and audio manifestos offering wisdom on everything from production skills to journalistic ethics from the best audio producers and makers on the planet.
2007 Getting to Yes: Perfecting Your Pitch (Day 2)
In collaboration with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), this session addresses how to successfully pitch radio stories and series ideas to stations, networks, and other acquirers of independent work.
- 2007
- 01:27:30
Three Shows/Three Techniques
NPR reporter Alix Spiegel incites a riot among audio producers... in praise of stealing others' storytelling techniques and adapting them to create a style of one's very own.
- 2014
- 01:13:20
Own Your Thing (Part 2)
More than ever you can own your podcast - make it, distribute it, sell it. How is it done?
- 2014
- 01:19:49
Turning Investigative Reporting into Artful Radio
When done well, investigative radio stories have the power to change the world.
- 2014
- 01:26:30
Leave No Trace
There's a slip of paper hanging in Dave Isay's office at StoryCorps with a quote scrawled across it: "A good craftsman leaves no traces."
- 2014
- 01:20:10
2014 Getting to Yes: The Art of the Pitch (Day 1)
A bonafide Third Coast tradition! This session pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: pitching a story.
- 2014
- 01:13:32
Public-powered Journalism
Learn how sharing the mic and megaphone can expand your beat, your stories, and your craft.
- 2014
- 01:11:09
The Amazing Radio Vertikalisator
Inspired by a Lego time machine her son built, Iceland-based independent producer Rikke Houd created a tool to help producers take advantage of the vast space radio offers.
- 2014
- 01:10:25
2014 Getting to Yes: The Art of the Pitch (Day 2)
A bonafide Third Coast tradition! The second installment of this session once again pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: pitching a story.
- 2014
- 01:12:17
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Up With Bad
Founding producer of This American Life Nancy Updike on the inspiration she finds in the power of vice, foible and inappropriateness on radio, podcasts, TV and in books.
- 2014
- 01:08:29
Sound Design 101
Brendan Baker and Kaitlin Prest pull back the curtain on the alchemical process of combining stories and sound.
- 2014
- 01:18:04
Own Your Thing (Part 1)
More than ever you can own your podcast - make it, distribute it, sell it. How is it done?
- 2014
- 01:16:58
Late(ish) Night with Al Letson
Al Letson brings our first Conference day to a close with an audio night cap.
- 2014
- 47:29
Audio Code Switching: Tackling Race on the Radio
We need to talk about race - with humanity and humor.
- 2014
- 01:16:51
Finding Your Visual Voice
How do you take your storytelling instincts and translate them into the land of photography?
- 2014
- 01:31:43
Finding the People - and Sounds! - Behind the Numbers
Reveal producers Ike Sriskandarajah and Laura Starecheski will show you how they create gripping radio out of stacks of documents and endless columns of numbers.
- 2016
- 01:09:00
How to Make Your Listener Levitate & Other Magic Tricks
You don’t want your audience to listen half-heartedly – you want them to be so deeply engaged, they’re a little surprised when they bump down to earth at the end.
- 2016
- 01:07:54
The Only Ten Words that Matter
What separates a “good” program from a “great” program is often the clarity of its vision: what is the show and who is it trying to speak to?
- 2016
- 01:01:26
These are a few of Audie Cornish and Sean Cole's Favorite Things
Audie Cornish and Sean Cole came up in radio together — smoking on the front steps of WBUR in Boston, puzzling over stories. Now Audie is a co-host of NPR's All Things Considered and Sean is a producer at This American Life .
- 2016
- 01:25:55
Under the Skin: Making Audio Visceral
Can a documentary make you dance? Turn you on? Make you jump in fear? We get under the skin of documentary's visceral possibilities, exploring how we edit to impact the listener's body as much as their mind.
- 2016
- 56:21
Embrace the Chaos
The world of podcasting has become a crowded one. With a bevy of competing styles and purviews, having a unique voice is an increasingly valuable commodity... both artistically and financially.
- 2016
- 01:27:15
Blockbuster Sound
Danish-based producer Tim Hinman, of the podcast Third Ear, finds inspiration for his exquisite sound design at the movies, and in this session he shares how it’s done.
- 2016
- 01:20:32
2016 Bitchin' Pitchin': The Art of the Pitch (Day 1)
A bonafide Third Coast tradition, this session pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: how to pitch a story.
- 2016
- 01:15:20
Mudslide: The Election of 2016
With the ink on the ballots still wet, Third Coast dives into the past year of political reporting. How were journalists most - and least - successful covering the presidential election and its voters? And: where do we go from here?
- 2016
- 01:26:31
Compose yourself: a producer’s guide to working with musicians
It’s becoming more common for podcast producers to work with composers to create an original soundtrack. At this session, producer Michael May and composer/producer Nick DePrey share their techniques for bringing a piece to life with music and sound design.
- 2016
- 01:15:20