At the end of 2019, we felt it was time to step into the podcast domain. Because of our growing network of practitioners, we had a good problem: our practitioners had too many stories for us to tell. We needed a better channel to celebrate how they were using ICI (Inter-Cultural Intelligence) around the world. These are stories that inspire people by presenting the experience of inter-cultural facilitators and challenging people to think about culture in new ways.
We had remarkable stories, but we also needed to record and broadcast them professionally. The simple solution was to rent a studio, but the cost and logistics of that were impractical. So, we asked, “What would it take to build our own studio?” It just so happens that Matthew Blankenburgh, the son of our International Director, is very technically inclined, and so we turned the research and design over to him as a homeschool project. Thanks to Matthew’s excellent work, we were able to plan out the building of a mini recording studio that would seat up to 4 people.
1. Ara (our Learning Architect), Marco (our International Director), and Landon (our US Development Partner) building the Podcastle
The work began in January 2020. We bought our raw materials and then the whole KnowledgeWorkx team got to work on this building project that brought us all together. By March of 2020, we had finished building the studio and were ready to launch the podcast, but then Covid hit and changed everything. The whole company had to pivot, and the podcast launch was postponed.
2. Landon and Ara testing the spaciousness of the Podcastle.
Suddenly, we realized that our work to create this studio could not have come at a better time. Just like everyone else, we had to transition from delivering programs face-to-face to doing it virtually. We thought we were building a studio purely for podcasting, but throughout the year we used it to broadcast professionally recorded, interactive webinars and coaching sessions. It was amazing to have a high-quality mini studio in our own office.
3. Shelley (Director of KnowledgeWorkx Education) using the Podcastle in the middle of COVID
By October of last year, we were able to plan out the launch of our podcast. We will be doing 1 podcast per month with a practitioner that is doing amazing work in the world. We are looking forward to all the incredible stories that will be told in that room as a result of our team pulling together through Covid to create the Podcastle.
4. Matthew Blankenburgh (Designer of the Podcastle) testing out the Podcastle's acoustics
Fun fact: We called it the Podcastle because the soundproofed door was so thick and heavy that it could not be swung open safely, so instead we came up with a design based on the idea of a drawbridge.
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