50th Episode Celebration and Reflections

In this episode, I look back at some of my favorite BLOC podcast moments, messages, and guests to celebrate the release of the 50th episode.

In celebration of the 50th Episode, I've created a document with all of the resources recommended by my guests over the last 50 episodes. You can find it here. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rCrOvsFGlwUaLRmn9l9r8KWqYa62GQk8ig7shFcLZgA/edit?usp=sharing)

Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiekirby/ or on my website: www.heidikirby.com

To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

Transcript

Unknown: 0:06

Welcome to the blog building learning and organizational culture podcast. I'm your host, Heidi Kirby. And on today's episode, we're celebrating an amazing milestone. The block podcast is releasing its 50th episode today. I'm so excited to share a little bit about the journey so far how the podcast came to be. And just other thoughts. So let's get started. I remember like it was yesterday, when I recorded the first three episodes of the block, I think it was like, I think it was the Monday after Fourth of July or something like that were all three of my guests had the day off, and had time to record. And so I recorded the first three episodes. In a single day. I think there were obviously some kind of breaks in between. But I talked to Luke, Amon, and Latoya, all in the same day, I'll never forget where I was, we were in our old house that we lived in before we moved to our current house. And I was in the basement, because that was the only place where people weren't walking by constantly causing my dogs to bark. We lived on a relatively busy street, especially when the weather was nice. People were walking, riding bikes, whatever. And every time someone passed, my dogs had to make it known that they saw them. So the only place I could guarantee silence was in the basement, and it was kind of echoey. But you know, you've worked with what you have when you're podcasting, right. And I was sitting at, like, I had sprawled out my setup, at this bar, my husband and my brother in law, and my dad built. And, you know, I just sat there, I recorded all three episodes. And I remember walking up the stairs and being like, that was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had. The It was exhilarating. It really was like it was a rush. You're, you're nervous, because this is the first time you're creating content in this way. And you're interacting with people that you know, but, you know, Luke Hobson, and I only talked a few times, so we weren't super close friends or anything like that. So you're a little bit nervous that, you know, it'll come across natural and that the conversation will be good. And but just like back in my drama days, my theater days and Middle School in high school, it's like, as soon as you hit record, that all that nervous, anxious energy just turns into performance and creation and art. And it's a really awesome way to kind of find that, that rush again in adulthood without being in my community theater. And so, you know, thinking back to the very beginning, it's been almost almost two years now. And I learned so much about podcasting. I learned so much about podcasting that I'm now teaching other people about podcasting for the University of Florida. I'm teaching a graduate course for the College of Communications and Journalism called The Art of podcasting, and teaching people how to create their own podcasts. And one of my students has now Matt Gilhooly, has created a podcast from my class called The Life shift podcast. And it's probably going to be more popular than the block just because it's a much broader audience. And well, not just because it's because he's super insanely talented too. But it's already reach a wider audience, I should say, then the blog because it's about you know, pivotal moments in people's lives, and telling your life story. And I'm eventually going to be a guest on it. But you know, it's just really cool to not only have the podcast and have the history and have the guests and meet the people that I've met because of the blog, but it's also really cool to see how me learning and then teaching podcasting is helping other people to create their art as well. And so it's so exciting. It's such a great, great thing to be a part of, and in a great course to teach even more And I'm now starting to do more of teaching other people how to podcast for l&d. And, you know, just really making it something that everybody can do. And it's true. Everybody can create a podcast, you can create a podcast, if you're listening to this right now. And you're thinking, wow, I've always wanted to create a podcast, just do it, just figure out the logistics, but you can do it. So affordably. And, you know, I saw this thing from a Podcast Producer once that said, it's not as easy as hitting record and talking to people. You know, that's, that's not all a podcast is. And I was like, well, that's kind of what I did. I learned a few logistics. But by and large, it was, Hey, friends, come talk to me about what we both love. And I think that is something that I've learned through teaching podcasting, that really attracts people to your content is when they feel that you're genuine about it, and they feel your passion behind it. And so I hope that part of the draw of the block is that I am super passionate about learning and about learning culture, and learning and development, instructional design, organizational development, and I hope that that comes through with the people that I talk to, and, and the situations that we talk about. And I just think of, you know, some of the really great conversations that I've had over the past couple years, you know, I had Sarah konista, the overnight trainer, host of the overnight trainer, podcast, and brilliant, amazing career coach on my podcast, I was on her podcast, we've, you know, we've grown our friendship. And one of the things she said was that, in one of the ways she made me kind of reframe my podcast was that it really is professional development, right. And that the time I spend talking to experts in the field is time that I'm learning trends and issues and keeping up with the research and learning new best practices that I didn't know before. And not only do I get to have that amazing experience of professional development, but then it gets to turn around and share it with the world. And so it's such a great, medium and such a great opportunity to just talk to people who love instructional design and learning and development and, and share. And how can I forget that sharing includes, you know, Kate util Lova, from seven taps. The blog podcast was the first place ever, where the first seven tabs contest was announced. And since then, just watching how successful cases and seven tabs and whole team at seven tabs have been in creating software for micro learning and really creating a tool that spins up micro learning quickly and is competitive in the market and just watching her understanding of features and functionality that people want and swag and contests and how she engages with the lnd community has just been so amazing and so wonderful. And I'm so lucky that I was one of the first podcast she was on as a founder. And you know, it's it's things like that, that make it so amazing. From that to you know, my most recent guest will from edge of flow Academy, where again, they're doing amazing things in the lnd community by creating this phenomenal learning management system that's easy to use, and has a good front end and a good back end. And you know that they've given me the privilege to create cohort courses for the edgy flow Academy and to meet people from all over the world including well, and isn't technology so amazing, and that I can record a podcast episode with will who's over 8000 miles away. And that l&d has allowed us to create this community that is global. And so you know, through things like LinkedIn and podcasts And, you know, just social media and learning and development communities that are out there. Right? There's the Training Learning and Development Community T LDC. There's the Global Learning and Development Community G LDC. There's the Association for Talent Development. ATD. There's the learning guild. There's training industry. There's Tim sleds, elearning designers community, and there's just so many different opportunities to network with other amazing l&d professionals from all over the world. And I've been so lucky that I've been able to meet and talk to so many different different kinds of people and talented people, right. A lot of my guests have their own thing, their own side hustle, their own consulting business, their own company. They've written books, like Dr. Luke Hobson has now written the, what I wish I knew before I became an instructional designer book that is so wonderful, and I'm so mad that he didn't do this like six years ago. But that's okay. But seriously, and same thing with my friend Dr. Don de Perry, with her graphic design, for course creators that we talked about in one of the episodes, I wish it would have been here a long time ago. But that's okay. To the just in time book that I needed. The Agile unemployment, how to be unemployed by Sabina su lot that we we talked about at length then, and how do you go through life and manage life when you've been laid off or are otherwise unemployed, and just so many great people who are creating great things, and products and services and content that I've had the wonderful opportunity of talking to over the past 50 episodes, and the amount of resources that those people have shared, and the time that they've shared to help others in the learning and development community. I know I had an episode about toxic positivity and in something that I feel really passionate about is for my new and aspiring l&d professionals and instructional designers, I'm so passionate that you don't get sold a bill of goods that isn't realistic, right. And I always say, you know, a new job isn't going to fix what's broken inside of you. Right, that if you have experienced a psychologically unsafe environment, or a toxic workplace, or some of those things that I've talked about, then just simply finding a new job is not going to heal you and it's, you know, More money's nice, but it's not going to fix the mental apprehensions that you have the obstacles and blockers that have you kept in this negative mindset every day. And, you know, although I've talked about that, and how it's important to be realistic about expectations, what I will say is that, by and large, everyone that I've met in the learning and development community is kind and helpful. And even if they're crazy busy, will at least give you the time to send you to someone else who's not so busy, or to a website or community or something that will will be of help. But most people who have the timer are willing to help you out and spend time with you, especially people who are active on LinkedIn, I think sometimes we forget that. Not everyone hangs out on LinkedIn. But if you do, it's probably because you like to talk. At least it is for me or like to network, right? Like, that's the whole point is if you're active on LinkedIn, it's because you enjoy interacting with other people. You enjoy connecting and having those conversations. And so, you know, if you see someone active on LinkedIn, connect with them. What's the worst that happens? They're picky about connections. And they say no, you know, I just, I think that learning and development is it seeing a cool time. We're in this post COVID moment where learning and development is becoming mission critical in a way that it really hasn't before, and the skill sets that go along with learning and development. I feel I'm seeing in kind of, in the corporate vibe, and in just the people that I talk to day to day, who normally wouldn't know, what learning and development is, or what an instructional designer is, who are becoming more familiar with the term, and I think it's because when everything happened, and we were in quarantine, and everything was forced to be to be virtual, a lot of people had to rethink their education strategy. You know, you had a lot of companies that were doing in person training. And so when in person trainings happening, you know, the only people that really know about it, are the people who are supposed to have the training room, at the same time, it's been double booked, and the people who are attending the training, right, like, that's obviously a joke and an oversimplification, but, you know, moving education virtually, meant rethinking a lot of things. And if you didn't want to train virtually, it meant considering the possibility of online asynchronous or cohort based or micro learning as your means of education for both your internal employees and your external customers. And so the technology was kind of forced to evolve if the company hadn't really thought about learning and development in that way before. And so I think the need for specific people who are qualified and learning and development also kind of went up as well. So when people ask me, you know, is the market overly saturated in instructional design? I think, high think no, what do I know? But I don't seem to think so I see a lot of people getting jobs, and I see a lot of jobs posted. And so I think it's a really great time to be in l&d. And I know, I'm really excited. And I'm excited for what lies ahead, right. You know, I just announced recently that I'm starting my learning strategy and culture consulting, work and working with clients who are looking to build learning programs, or just strategize about a long term curriculum or learning and development strategy, team strategy, who to put on the team, what kinds of needs are out there, within the organization and within the business, you know, looking at performance and professional development and leadership development. And I'm also looking to continue to coach and help and teach new and aspiring instructional designers. And so I'm planning some programs and classes slash opportunities, events, for new and aspiring instructional designers, because I just love helping out and I love to, you know, talk about more than just kind of the surface level pieces and parts of instructional design and learning and development. And so I'm really excited to keep going and keep releasing. I've already recorded the next episode of the blog and already have another episode two episodes after that scheduled and so I'm just really looking forward to continuing these conversations and so grateful for the conversations that have already happened, that have taught me so much and have helped me to grow and learn and embrace the idea of learning culture wherever I go. Thanks again for joining me on the blog. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and review us on your favorite podcast platform. I hope you'll tune in again soon.