Testing Community Podcasting At It's Finest!

"You get to a certain age, and you are forbidden access. You're not going to get the kind of coverage that you would like in music magazines; you're not going to get played on radio, and you're not going to get played on television. 

I have to survive on word of mouth." - David Bowie



I can't say enough about the experiences I've had with Mark Tomlinson, Gem Hill, and Neil Studd. All these podcasts are serving the community of testers exceptionally well. I've been privileged to be on them and for the most part I've not put my foot in my mouth too much.

Testers' Island Discs 

I think the one exception to that, or three rather, was a couple of date flubs I made on Neil's Island Tester's podcast, and I reversed words at one point stating one thing and describing another. It's out there for folks to listen too. The mistake is glaring to me when I hear it and someone who appreciated my input reached out and asked me if I meant what I said or if I goofed. I goofed. I'm not going to directly point it out (though I did in a tweet a while back) but I was having fun, and Neil was up late to record so we made it work. Neil even went back and edited things at the last minute that we both found (mostly around dates - I can't be trusted to remember the right date anymore). I'm grateful for being on the "island" and getting to do a unique podcast concept with Neil.

One of the other reasons I picked duets is that I love music way, way too much and I wanted more than five songs. I wanted music that would inspire and trigger other songs in my head. More artists, more music to think about!

If you ever want to be on a podcast, I would completely recommend signing up for this one! Neil is absolutely organized and is very professional. I have no idea how he does all the podcasts he does and still manages to work a full week! It's impressive and I'm in awe of it.

You can find all the great Testers' Island Discs podcasts here!


TestBash Brighton Podcasts

The first podcast I did was for TestBash Brighton with Mark. It was a lovely conversation and I enjoyed chatting with Mark about the talk that I was going to give. I found out later there was a bit of a technical snafu with Mark's mic, and he had to re-record all of his bits because his original recording made him sound like Micky Mouse (his words, I swear!). I don't even notice it. He is such an expert that it blended in without to do about it.

Mark's dedication to the Ministry of Testing community is without a doubt, above and beyond. He's hosted, invited people to his house for cookouts, and makes sure every speaker is comfortable and has everything they need to have a good speaking experience. He's not only worked TestBash New York and Philly, but also hosted Brighton, and probably others. Along with his hosting duties he's recorded speaker podcasts for Brighton and Philly, giving folks a sneak peek of what they are going to hear at conferences. Mark handed off his hosting duties last year and is taking a much needed break. I hope he continues with his own podcast and I look forward to seeing him at future events. If you see him, say hi, and thank him for all the hard work.

Here are a bunch of great podcasts from Ministry of Testing 2017!


Let's Talk About Tests, Baby!

Finally, Gem's podcast, "Let's Talk About Test, Baby" is such a great, intelligent bit of show that if you aren't listening to it, you might be missing out on some pretty cool things from cool people all over the community. We had a general discussion about a blog post I had written about trying to be more concise and learning how to get to the point quicker with less preamble or explaining the whole story. I've gotten better since I've written that blog post and recorded the podcast. If you are a patron of Gem's podcast on Patreon, you'll know that not only was the pod cast an hour long, but there were two additional 30 minute segments she edited and released to subscribers. She's had so many great guests on her show, and she's reached 100 podcasts! I don't know very many podcasters that can say that. It's an amazing milestone for an amazing show.

Check out the Lets Talk About Tests, Baby podcasts here!

I know the huge amount of work it takes to do these podcasts. I was on a four person podcast for a long time. It's over 10 years old and is still hanging out on iTunes. If you are looking for someone to talk a lot, make up some interesting words, and sometimes be funny and/or serious, and bring in a female's perspective, contact me!


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