Part of being an effective PR practitioner is rooted in having a deep understanding of communications\u2014after all, almost everything about PR\u2014building awareness, trust, influence, credibility, and relationships\u2014is about communicating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it\u2019s a hazard of working in any field that we can get too deep in the weeds of our industry, which can stifle creativity and limit our growth and potential. Sometimes, the best way to hit upon fresh, new ideas is to explore a topic outside of our daily grind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is particularly true for podcasts that might be outside of our direct area of expertise but still have an outsized impact on what we do. The following are three podcasts that highlight areas that heavily influence the work that PR people do: data, psychology, and copywriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Listening to these podcasts will take you just outside the world of PR, and may give you ideas on how to be a better communicator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ever wonder what the impact of binge-watching is on the way you think and feel? Did you ever wonder if individual data can truly be kept private, even when anonymized through good statistical design? How can researchers approach epidemiology in a manner that balances research fairness and integrity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Stats + Stories podcast digs deep into statistics\u2014how they are gathered, what they are used for, and how we can all be critical consumers of the data and statistics we are provided. This is a great podcast for developing your mental muscles and thinking about how to frame and present data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not sure where to start with all of the amazing content? I recommend listening to How People Interpret Charts<\/a> as a great jumping-off point. This episode looks at how the changing media landscape impacts how audiences consume data and statistics and has highlighted how people absorb quantitative information. A partnership between Knology<\/a> and PBS Newshour was formed to study \u201chow people consume news and numbers.\u201d Did you know that the colors used in a chart can impact how readers interpret the data? That\u2019s one surprising nugget of information from this show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another interesting point made in this episode of the podcast came from one of the journalists, who referenced an analysis that uncovered that the better a journalist understands the data and statistics they are using in a story, the harder they find it to explain it to readers. Essentially, it comes down to trying to explain a lot in very limited space, which leads to a tendency to avoid systematically unpacking the information, and instead glossing over or skipping that step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stats + Stories is a production of Miami University\u2019s Department of Statistics and The American Statistical Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hidden Brain is not so hidden\u2014in addition to being a podcast, you can hear episodes in the U.S. on National Public Radio (NPR) and the show is routinely in \u201ctop downloaded podcast\u201d lists. The host of the show, Shankar Vedantam, is a journalist, social science correspondent, and the 2010 author of The Hidden Brain: How our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save our Lives<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve ever hit on an idea or pitch that you thought would be a sure thing for a client, only to have it flop\u2014or, conversely if you\u2019ve ever pushed out something you thought would go nowhere and it went viral\u2014and wondered \u201cWait-why? What just happened?\u201d this is the podcast for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Episodes delve into the unexpected ways that human beings respond to all kinds of things, and look at what in our brains is directing that response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From attaining (and sustaining) success to surprising information about willpower, to learning about how we filter information, each episode explores how what goes on in our brain directly impacts what we understand about the world around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are wondering where to start, my recommendation is the Mind Reading 2.0 series, comprised of four episodes that each examine different aspects of \u201chow we understand\u2014or fail to understand\u2014the minds of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning how people process information differently<\/a>, how our own biases<\/a> can cause us to misunderstand the motivations of others, how people perceive us<\/a>, and why conversations go wrong<\/a>, may help you become a better communicator. Listening to this podcast is like being given a secret set of instructions on how people hear and understand things\u2014which is absolutely applicable to communications professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hidden Brain Media, an independent production company, states that it \u201caims to help curious people understand the world, and themselves.\u201d It\u2019s a fascinating exploration of what makes us tick, and I\u2019m a big fan of this show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the podcast that is probably most directly relevant to PR pros, but I still felt that a podcast about grammar is worth mentioning, because although writing is an integral part of what communicators do, sometimes the \u201cwhy\u201d of grammatical structure gets lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understanding grammatical details can make your communications work more accurate and more interesting, so just from that aspect the show is worth listening to. (Others appear to agree, as the show is a five-time winner of the Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, many of her topics are just fun\u2014I mean, who doesn\u2019t want to learn more about \u201cever\u201d words<\/a> (forever, whenever, etc.), and how to (or if you even should) pronounce written Latin words, such as et al<\/em>.? She also digs into the historical foundations of words, for example an episode<\/a> that explains how \u201cthank you\u201d today is different than it was hundreds of years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, for all of you Ted Lasso fans out there, remember the episode<\/a> where Ted says the word \u201cplan\u201d several times in quick succession and then says, \u201cuh-oh, the word\u2019s lost all its meaning\u201d? That\u2019s called semantic satiation, and Grammar Girl has an episode that delves into it<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listening to podcasts is an easy way to gain a greater understanding of topics that can help you to become an even better PR practitioner\u2014even if they aren\u2019t specifically about PR. The three podcasts mentioned here have all helped me to think a bit differently about framing data into stories, or about how to get better at messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s your favorite non-PR podcast? Does it help you to see the world in a way that makes being a PR pro a little bit easier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giving your mind time to rest and think about something other than PR and measurement might end up yielding more interesting and creative insights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Part of being an effective PR practitioner is rooted in having a deep understanding of communications\u2014after all, almost everything about PR\u2014building awareness, trust, influence, credibility, and relationships\u2014is about communicating. However, it\u2019s a hazard of working in any field that we can get too deep in the weeds of our industry, which can stifle creativity and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":14176,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[328],"the_measurement_standard":[343],"creator":[288],"class_list":["post-14173","tms","type-tms","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-pr-tips","the_measurement_standard-pr-tips","creator-jen-phillips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHidden Bra<\/a>in<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for <\/a>Better Writing<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n