Episode 176 - International Podcast Day 2019

Welcome

00:00:21Melissa Erbacher: Happy International Podcast Day, everybody. It's a gorgeous, sunny day. I am sitting on the back deck enjoying the beautiful weather. The birds are chirping. There's a slight breeze rustling through the trees. You may hear the ambient noise of life on the Sunshine Coast. My name is Mel Erbacher and today is International Podcast Day. It's an international celebration of the power of podcasts. Is that even a thing? It is. Let me give you a little background. So if you head to the website internationalpodcastday.com, They've got a bit of a history about this wonderful event. And they say, and I'll give you a little bit of reading, there is National IPA Day, National Waffle Fries Day, National Pancake Day, and National Pretty Much Anything You Want Day. In the summer of 2013, Steve Lee heard a radio announcement for National Senior Citizens Day. Thinking that was pretty cool, it begged the question as to why there wasn't a day of celebration for podcasting. And that's when Steve said to himself, let's create a podcast day. So the adventure began and a collective team of podcasters put their heads together to establish means for podcasters and podcast listeners to raise awareness for this great entertainment and education medium. Just as podcasts and podcasting has evolved over the years, so has International Podcast Day. In 2014, National Podcast Day was celebrated with six hours of broadcasting. Now, that was in the US. After quickly realising the power of podcasts internationally, it was rebranded into International Podcast Day. Between 2015 and 2019, International Podcast Day broadcasted hundreds of hours around the globe, inviting podcasters and industry leaders from 55 different countries to share their podcast journeys, personal stories, and expertise. So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. So here at the parkrun adventurers, we are obviously big fans of the podcast medium. And judging by the fact that you're listening to this, we think you are too. So we're here to celebrate the power of podcasts. And to do that, we are bringing you episode 176 of the parkrun adventurers, an international podcast, a special episode. Yay! Special because it's an extra pod for the week. You're welcome.

Top Threes

00:02:56Melissa Erbacher: And special also because we are filling the pod with something we love a lot here, our top threes. But these aren't the regular top threes that we have asked people about over the years, okay?

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:03:07Melissa Erbacher: No. These are a random array of top three tips about parkrun as created by our Channel 5 News crew for you. And what qualifies this team of Incredibles to deliver such irregular intelligence? On what adventures and awesomeness do they base their arbitrary acumen? Well, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight just how experienced our Channel 5 News crew actually are. Between the eight members of the crew, they have thus far participated in a total of 1,580 parkruns in 13 countries including Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Italy and the USA. Collectively, they have also volunteered 540 times. I'm just going to give you all a moment to let that sink in. Fully sunk? Great. Okay. So, I'm sure you will agree these people are amazeballs and they have created some fun tips for you today. It's a shorter than usual episode. However, we hope you'll enjoy it for all its parkrun-related, if seemingly random, goodness. So without further ado, I give you the parkrun adventurers Channel 5 News Crew.

00:04:39Paul Kitching: G'day, parkrun adventurers. PK here, checking in not with a roving report, but with a few little tips to help celebrate International Podcast Day. How good is our boss, our numero uno, the one who is keeping the dream alive, the wondrous... main host, el Mel Erbacher. Not only does she manage to fit in one podcast a week with the help of us random roving reporters, but she's managed to get us all on board to do a bonus episode to celebrate International Podcast Day. And don't we just love it? So, as you may have heard, we're all gathered here today to sing hymns and praise the Lord. Oh, no, hang on. It's not that cult-like, really. No, no, we are here to help with some parkrun tips. Mine are the top three tips for being a first-timer at parkrun. Yep, the very first time. Now, I realise it's not going to therefore apply to perhaps 90% of our listeners, but hey, there may be people listening to this for the first time or have just heard about parkrun and never done it or have heard their friends talking about it and have been listening to this parkrun podcast for a while now and are thinking, well, maybe I should do that. Anyway, this is for you and also for anybody else wishing to maybe encourage others to join parkrun and come for the first time. Get them to have a listen to this. Yeah, maybe for the singing. Oh, sorry, gave away the ending. Anyway, send them this link maybe. Hopefully it will get them over the line. And you know what, if it encourages at least one person to go out and do parkrun, then job well done, I reckon. So, tip number one for your first time at parkrun. Don't be worried or scared and think you are going to be judged by anyone. Just get out there and do it. whether you're going to walk it or run it or jog it or take a dog. The hardest thing, as we know, with anything is just getting out there and just doing it. And that's certainly the case for parkrun. Once you've done your first parkrun, you'll be so relieved and realise just how easy it was. And remember, even though it's called parkrun, you don't have to run. You can walk it. Actually, that's a good thing for people to slip into conversations when talking to potential first timers at the pub, at the shops, at work. Geez, any opportunity if you're me. Actually, we had a new person start at work this week at Fuller where I work and I can't believe it took me a whole week to mention the P word, parkrun. I'm clearly slipping. Where was I? Ah, yes. Thinking you only have to run a parkrun may have been the one thing that stopped some people coming. One of my best mates actually had been listening to me yabber on about parkrun for so long. And then one night he was at our place on a Friday night, sitting out the back and having a few drinks, enjoying some tunes. And we're kicking on along nicely. And he's like, geez, PK, aren't you doing parkrun tomorrow, mate? You better take it easy. And I said, nah, nah, it's all right, Davo. I'll just be walking it. And he went, what? You can walk parkrun? And from that point on, he was hooked. He came the next day and we walked it, admittedly slowly. And cut to now, a couple of years later, he's pretty well now a parkrun addict. Way to go, Davo. so yeah just get out there don't be intimidated just know that you are going to be totally welcomed into the parkrun family it's wonderfully inclusive and we can't wait to have you as part of the family and then just watch pretty soon you too will be that person telling everyone else about parkrun and then you will be encouraging people to be first timers and you can tell them just how easy it really is just to start parkrun Tip number two for first-timers to parkrun, don't push yourself for the first time. Just take it easy. Even if you're running, even if you're walking, whatever you're doing, just take it easy because you don't want to burn out the first time or get injured if you think you can do it and may not be ready. Any of those couch to 5K programs are a great way to ease into it. You also want to look forward to the next time, so the second time you do it. And most importantly, if you take it easy the first time and then maybe push yourself a little bit more the next time, you'll get a PB, a personal best. It even says it in your email you get with the results. Congratulations on setting a personal best. It's a great feeling, as we all know. And of course, you get a PB the first time you do it anyway. So yep, and then maybe push yourself a little bit more the second time, you'll get another PB right now. So it's a very important third tip for first timers. As everyone who's been there, done their first parkrun knows, when you do parkrun for the first time, this is a little known fact actually, sometimes you don't find out until you're actually there, you actually have to get up the front during the welcome speech and sing a line from a song just by yourself. It's often great if there's a microphone there. Often it's good to pick a song that maybe features the word first to, you know, reference your first time. Look, I know this sounds weird, but please understand it's what we all had to do to, you know, at our first parkrun. Anyway, here's what I sang way back then.

00:09:55Lyndell Murray: The first cut is the deepest.

00:09:58[music]

00:09:58Paul Kitching: Baby, I know the first cut is the deepest. Yep, Rod Stewart would be proud. Another good one is the Roberta Flack classic. The first time I ever saw your face. Oh, mate, shut up. Okay, what about You're My First, You're My Last, You're My Everything by Barry White. You know, the classic. Totally sounded like Barry White, I know, okay look this is a complete lie I know what what are you talking about I'm not here to scare anyone off trying parkrun for the first time just thought I'd have a laugh uh please know you did not have to sing at the front although it hasn't stopped me before and uh sure whatever it takes if singing is your thing remember parkrun is totally inclusive and accepting but no that is not my third tip Okay, the real number three and the final tip for first timers. Here it is. Try not to make your first time an actual parkrun launch. So, you know, a new parkrun that is opening. Try and go to an existing one for your first time. It's fine to go to a parkrun launch, of course. Yeah, we don't, you know, say don't do that. Although it's not great when crazy numbers of people turn up at a parkrun launch. But if it's the first time you're doing parkrun, it's often good to go to one that has been on for, let's say, a few months. This way, the RD team have settled into how they run the event. They find out any issues. They're comfortable with how it's all running. And you'll always have lots of well-experienced people on hand to help you no matter when or where it's your first time. But even more so when it's not a launch. So that's it. Yeah, they're my three tips. PK now signing off from my top three tips for first-timers. Sorry, what was that? You wanted me to sing a song about tips or the word tip? Oh, okay. If you want me to sing along, all right, here we go. Right on the tip of my tongue. Baby, right on the tip of my tongue. On the tip of my, right on the tip of my tongue. Yeah.

00:10:08[music]

00:10:14[music]

00:11:52[music]

00:12:06Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, TOC reporting in for International Podcast Day and I've got my top three costume tips for events to run with. My first one is fluoro runs. Everyone's got a little bit of fluoro in the cupboard at home, makes a really nice easy run for people to get involved in and the colours for the photos are really spectacular. My second one is onesie run. Down south of Australia, where it gets fairly cold over winter, onesies are a really great theme to get out and run your parkrun in. Not so good for places like Darwin though, where we did a onesie run and it was very hot and very humid. Not so good. My third tip is tutus. Everybody loves a tutu, or if you don't, you should. Everyone out there should have a collection of different colours of tutus to fit into all themes. In Victoria, we've got a tutu crew that always wear purple for launches. Right, that's TOC out. Enjoy International Podcast Day.

00:13:08Melissa Ellis: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Melissa here, and I've got three tips for recording a roving report. Now my first tip is to remember that the audience, they can't see the parkrun that you may be at. So try to give information like a course description, what the parking is like, if there's any toilets, if the start line's easy to find, and if you need to, write the questions down as a prompt just in case you might be a little bit nervous. My second tip is when you're interviewing someone, ask questions about their parkrun story, how they found out about parkrun, if they've been to different parkruns, possibly what their best experiences have been or anything unusual that has happened to them at parkrun. And my final tip, put your interviewee at ease. Tell them that you're not a professional and if they make any mistakes, you can just edit it out. I hope you have the confidence to try a roving report and it certainly becomes easier the more you do. Happy International Podcast Day.

00:14:27Mark Scarborough: Hi parkrun adventurers, this is Mark with my top three tips for making sure you get the best parkrun photo. Firstly, look at the photographer. Secondly, give them a smile. Number three, give them a jump shot or a wave or something fun. Play up, enjoy it, have fun. Bonus tip, don't forget your barcode.

00:14:47David Moss: Hi, David with my three tips for touristing. First one of course is to take a look at the webpages. The parkrun Homepage for any particular site will have the start time and it's amazing how many people turn up late to parkruns and especially people in the northern hemisphere you may be used to at the 9 or 9 30 starts and Australia is more likely to be 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning, which could be a little bit embarrassing watching people heading off and the team packing up. So yeah, definitely check on that. The other one is the Facebook page, which is the one that is most often used to make sure the latest news go through. Always check it beforehand just to make sure the event hasn't been cancelled for that day or moved to somewhere else. Secondly, remember when you roll up to a parkrun, they'll all have maps on getting there. But the ones in the cities can be a bit more hard to find, especially if it's in a big park and you've got hundreds of people jogging around the place. Not everyone is there for parkrun. And the locals normally turn up quite late or closer to the start time. And the flags often don't go out until five or ten minutes before the start, which can make life a little bit entertaining. Not everyone is there to do parkrun. And a third one, I guess, is when you're there, talk to the locals. That's one of the best things about parkrun, the social side of it. If you can, join in for the coffee or the breakfast, whatever happens to be going on, and take a look around. The runs are usually in really nice areas, nice parks, which I'm glad to say I enjoy. Get out there and enjoy it. Normally you've travelled a fair way, make it worthwhile. But again, talking to the locals, it's one of the nicest things you can do. It's also nice if you're travelling to other cities or other countries, you're actually dealing with people who are not there on a commercial basis for you. They're there to have fun. Okay, that's about it.

00:16:47Grette Wilkinson: Hey parkrun adventurers, it's Greta here and I'm going to give you my top three for celebrating parkrun anniversaries. So number three is check the theme. Usually events will be having a theme. Sometimes events will be having a theme for their anniversary. So check their Facebook page. Often you can find out what the theme is. And events are really good at usually doing a theme that makes it easy to participate. So that could be a colour or a letter, and I've seen some really creative costumes that don't need to take a lot of effort and are a lot of fun so check the theme and join in and participate in the theme. Tip number two would be usually if you're going to an anniversary you're being a bit of a tourist and going away from your home event so I reckon it's a good idea to to get there early so check Google maps check how long it's going to take you to get there and plan to get there a bit early and Have a chat to the event team because usually they'll be really excited to be celebrating their anniversary and you can chat to them and have a good time. And if they're busy getting things ready, you can offer to help and maybe make new friends, which leads to number one tip for celebrating an anniversary. Set your goal to make new friends at an anniversary. And that could be by, if you're a visitor, see if you can find someone who... was at the very first event or maybe at the last anniversary and if you're a regular maybe you can find someone who's never been to your event before so first time at your event and make new friends so that's my top three for celebrating parkrun anniversaries

00:18:34Gary Murphy: Hello parkrun adventurers, it's Gary Murphy reporting in for the Channel 5 News Crew with a parkrun Top 3. We all know that there's so many things to choose from in parkrun that are just great and unbelievable and all in our Top 3 locations, the things that we love about parkrun. So I thought I'd try and think of something a little bit different and combine two of my loves which is parkrun and Aviation. And so for my number three, I'm going to go for East Richmond parkrun in Sydney, New South Wales. It runs right alongside the East Richmond RAAF base and the home of the transport arm of the RAAF fleet, the C-130 Hercules. From parkrun you can see the ramp where the C-130's park and the runway and if you're lucky enough to see a few aircraft land and take off there. And the parkrun actually runs through memorial gardens where there's parks dedicated to airmen and airwomen from previous campaigns and histories. There's even a playground with a C-130 replica. Not that I've played in the playground, maybe. And anyway, number two would have to be Kirra parkrun on the Gold Coast. That runs alongside a runway too. Now you can't see the runway, but if you look at a topographical map of parkrun, they run pretty much parallel with each other and during parkrun if you're lucky enough again you'll see a few commercial aviation Jetstar, Qantas maybe aircraft landing and um general aviation and the skydivers take off out of the Gold Coast there and land alongside the beach at Kirra so that's another one for my aviation themed parkrun and one that I haven't done but he's on the bucket list and um has to be because it's got airfield in the name of the parkrun is Henstridge Airfield parkrun in the UK um they run inside the airfield and apparently the uh the management at the airport are real um helpful to the team at Henstridge Airfield And I know recently that a couple of people, I'm not sure the exact story, but the first finishers or some people that did some milestones were afforded flights from the management at the airfield. I'm not exactly sure of the story, but that's pretty good to get some flights. And I know I've heard stories of people that have actually landed at the airport to do their parkrun, taking their private planes there. So that's my top three of parkrun. And no matter what your top three is, have a ripper parkrun day wherever you are. Blue skies. Happy parkrunning.

00:21:16Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell and I'm coming to you on International Podcast Day. How fantastic! I hope this is a great surprise for you all, having an extra podcast in your feed from the parkrun adventurers to celebrate this momentous occasion. It's fantastic! We're all excited and I hope you enjoy our top tips. I'm coming to you, as it turns out, from Kedron parkrun. Obviously it's not parkrun Day, it's International Podcast Day. But I decided to get out and about because that's how I usually do my roving reports for the podcast. So I'm walking along the Kedron parkrun course and having a lovely time. Now, let's get to it. Lyndell's top three tips. Now, my top three tips are for touristing. I know, what was I thinking in picking that topic? This podcast is full of people who are experts at touristing and adventuring. But anyway, I've committed to it, so here I am, I'm going to stick with it. Hear me out and let's see how we go. So, it's tempting to start with the tip of don't forget your barcode, hashtag DFYB. But forget that, that's not a tip, that's a given, that's a rule. As I said, you guys are all professionals, you know all that, so let's just move on from DFYB onto my first tip now. My first tip is logistics. If you're going to adventure to a different parkrun, it does pay usually to check out some of the logistics and figure out how you're gonna get there. How long is it gonna take? Are you driving? Are you away on holidays? Do you need to walk? How long is it gonna take you to get there? Is there any trick to access to the park? um this doesn't happen not a lot in my experience in Australia but recently when I was overseas the park was surrounded by private property and gates and fences so there was only specific access points into the park so checking out all those kinds of things so that you're not late the other tip in terms of logistics make sure you know what time the parkrun starts because it does differ and for those of you in southern states coming up to Queensland for example, we have a seven o'clock go time for parkrun and I know it's later in southern states and internationally it is too. The one I did recently in Europe, I had a nine o'clock start. Gee, I didn't know what to do with myself for two hours. I had a massive sleep in. It's fantastic. All right, so logistics. Be prepared. Pack your car. Get your map. Load your Google Maps. Make sure you leave enough time to get there in time for the briefing and the start. Okay, tip number two. Tie in a challenge or an unofficial club. There's plenty of them. And if there's none that take your liking, invent your own. Why not? We're up for it. But I guess this can, if you've got your eye on a challenge or a club, it can give you a bit of extra mojo. If you're, you know, for whatever reason, I don't know why this would happen, but if you've lost your passion for adventuring, having your eye on a club or a challenge can help you keep going. And look, the other thing is that you can experience parkruns that you would never have gone to just to get that letter or to go to that event number. And that's really fabulous. There's lots of places I would never have gone. but were fantastic in their own way so it does push you out of your regular routine it pushes you out of your comfort zone just by going somewhere that you wouldn't normally go when you're chasing a challenge tip number three be opportunistic now this goes not only for challenges but also just parkrun in general so If you regularly travel or if you're regularly in other places, always check, always check to see if there's a parkrun. I've done two international parkruns now just by checking whether there was one in the vicinity. Last time I went to the States, I wasn't gonna check because I know that parkrun isn't big in the US and there's hardly any of them around. I knew there wasn't one in Chicago, but I checked and there was one within an hour's drive. So of course, I dragged along my friends husband and kids and the dog and we all went to parkrun in the us and if I hadn't checked it wouldn't happen so always check be opportunistic um if you're planning a holiday again just look and see what opportunities there are you just never know and when it comes to challenges and clubs again just plan, look ahead and just be aware of some of the harder things to get for challenges so E's, there's not many of them. J's, there's not very many of them. Q's, there's not very many of them. So if you're going somewhere and there is an E or a J or a Q or even a H, there's not too many of those I don't think. Why not do it? Just do it. Even if you don't have dreams of being an alphabeteer yet, you might one day. And you'll regret that you did West Coast Park in Singapore instead of East Coast Park. So be opportunistic on that front as well. And I guess the final tip I have, I don't know how many tips I'm up to, but I really want to get this one in. I know it's completely opposite to the first tip about planning and being logistics and making sure that everything's all sorted out. My last tip is about being opportunistic on a week-to-week basis. So if it's Friday night, you don't have plans, you don't have a... Commitment to go to your local to volunteer or anything like that. Why not just take a punt just find somewhere Look up what your NENDY is and just go for it. What's you know, what's the big deal? What's the worst that can happen? I can't think of anything bad that happens by going to a parkrun you haven't been to before So just throw caution to the wind a little bit. It's Friday night. You've still got you know all morning to figure it out and So there you go. That's Lyndell's top tips for adventuring or touristing. And again, happy International Podcast Day from parkrun adventurers and the Channel 5 News crew.

Sign-off

00:27:56Melissa Erbacher: Thanks so much, guys. I had the funnest time listening to all of those. I think there was something in there for each and every parkrun adventurer listening on the other end. You know, PK had something for the newbies, which I loved because obviously he is well-versed in recruiting anyone and everyone to parkrun. And nice singing there too, PK. Glad to see that you're getting ready for our annual Christmas event. whatever's going to happen there. I'm not sure. We'll have to look out for that this Christmas. TOC, I hear you when you say all the colours of all the tutus. I have multiple tutus in the different colours. I stopped purchasing them after I bought a rainbow one, which seemed to sort of fit me, the extras that were out there, all the different colours. Then we have Mel with Roving Reports. So hopefully if anyone has been wondering what to do about submitting a roving report, that might just get you over the line and get you to send something in. If you've got something, please feel free to send it to parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Mark with some excellent, excellent tips on how to get a good photo. Dave, the first member of the crew to talk about adventuring and some important tips that catch people out from time to time. Greta with celebrating anniversaries. That's a great one, I think, especially for event teams to have a listen to, but also for people who might be rocking up. Gary with his aviation parkruns. Unfortunately, this means there's just more parkruns going on my list because I love the way your mind works, Gary. I'm keen to check those ones out myself. And Lyndell rounds out the crew with her extra tips on adventuring also. I think, Lyndell, you perhaps don't know how to count to three, but we'll take them anyway. Now, given it's International Podcast Day, I personally am going to be a little bit self-indulgent and I'm going to give you my three tips for creating a podcast. Based on my experience, I've been lucky enough to co-host this little pod for some 170 plus episodes. And it's parkrun related because the pod is. That's my tenuous link. So my story and I'm sticking to it. Okay, they're not huge. They won't take too long. So bear with me, guys. So my top three tips for creating a podcast are, number one, say yes if some crazy guy you barely know asks you to start a podcast. Just do it. Jump full body into the front cart of the sometimes seems like it's out of control roller coaster and enjoy the journey. Number two, Open your heart and your ears to receiving contributions from other creative and quirky people who share your passion for the topic. Okay, so the world is full of incredible people. And if you're lucky enough, you'll find a bunch who get you and will become part of your tribe. And finally, number three, have fun. If you don't love the topic you intend to podcast about to the point of being mildly, or some may say wildly, obsessed, if you don't find constant joy in the many experiences it provides you with, if you can't see the potential for adventure, if you don't laugh loud and often along the way, then maybe don't create a podcast. However, if you do love it, if you can see the joy and the adventure, and if you do laugh loud and a lot, then creating memories in this medium will be some of the funnest times you can have. We hope you enjoyed your extra dose of parkrun adventurers this week. I'm going to leave it there for now. Happy International Podcast Day, guys.