Exploring the Art of Audio Profit and Boosting Brain Health with Dr. Craig Curtis

Unlock the potential of your voice and ideas as I recount my electrifying journey through PodFest 2024, brimming with the latest podcasting innovations and savvy monetization tactics awaiting your discovery. As the narrative unwinds, you'll glimpse the future of content creation, learn about a pioneering course crafted for audio aficionados eager to monetize their mellifluous musings, and understand how the inclusion of YouTube distribution via Headliner can amplify your reach. The episode also provides a chuckle with a tale from a night of comedy at PodFest, reminding us that podcasting isn't just a craft, but also a community.

Sharpen your mind and enrich your daily routine with the wisdom of Dr. Craig Curtis, a luminary in brain health, who graces us with actionable insights on nurturing cognitive vitality. Dr. Curtis doesn't just share knowledge—he offers a pathway to a seminar designed to deepen your understanding of brain wellness. As anticipation builds, get excited for the melodious tones of musician Wayne Richards and the compelling narratives from an array of authors slated for future episodes. Engage with the show through reviews, and if you have insights to share or know someone who does, consider this an open invitation to join our vibrant podcast family.

Transcript

Emily: 0:11

Welcome to the Open Forum in the Villages Florida podcast. In this show we talk to leaders in the community, leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live here in the villages to give perspectives of what is happening here in The Villages Florida. We hope to add a new episode most Fridays at 9am. We are a listener supported podcast. There will be shoutouts for supporters and episodes. As a supporter you will get a direct email link to Mike. In season 5 we are making significant improvements and changes on an ongoing basis.

Mike Roth: 0:41

Now you can help me afford to keep making this podcast by becoming a supporter. First, a quick note about the podcast. It's available because I absolutely love doing it, despite the fact that it cost me probably more time than I can actually afford. Now I can't buy back my time, but there is one thing that you can do that would be really helpful, and that is help me to afford making this podcast. You can do that by going to the website open forum in the villagesflorida. com and clicking on the supporter box. We are making a small donation of $3 to $10 a month and you can cancel at any time. Really, a small donation of $3 will still make a difference and I'd really appreciate it, but you can't afford to do that.

Mike Roth: 1:25

I completely understand it's economically tough times for a lot of people, but there is something that you can do for free that can really help. If you want to. You can rate the podcast. You can give it five stars or maybe even give it a review on whatever podcast application you're using. That will make a huge difference because we will be discovered by more people. If you're able to do that, we would massively appreciate it and it would help keep this podcast going in 2024.

Emily: 1:56

If you have a book that you would like to turn into an audio book, let us know via email to mike at Rothvoice. com. Hope you enjoy today's show.

Mike Roth: 2:03

About two weeks ago, I went to PodFest 2024, which was the 10th annual podcasting convention held in Orlando. It was a long event three days covered a lot of topics and I thought it would be important for me to get even more up to date on some of the newest ideas and trends in podcasting as we go through this next year. I will be improving the content of the podcast based on what I learned. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, I do teach a course in podcasting. It's called Podcasting 101 for Beginners at the Villages Enrichment Academy. Both villagers and non-villagers can come to the course. Currently, I'm teaching the course in February, the first three Wednesdays in February, and then I'm going to be teaching it, I think, in April and June. You can check in your Enrichment Academy catalogs for the dates and the times. Hope to have more people in that course. Podcasting 101 is all about how do you get started in podcasting, how do you make your first episodes, how do you structure them, how do you edit them, how do you put them up in syndication or on a podcast platform, and we talk a little bit about monetization of your podcast. Now, I learned a lot more about monetization at the podcast convention, and I'm thinking about creating podcasting 102 course, which will cover nothing but monetization of your podcasts.

Mike Roth: 3:32

Now, from a podcasting perspective, there's the traditional audio only podcast, which is probably what you're listening to, and a few people have found that. I have used a service called Headliner and now the podcast is available on YouTube. Now a few people are listening to it on YouTube, but it's a nice transition. It's not very fancy, but it serves the purpose of broadening the distribution of the podcast. From a podcasting perspective, there are over 8 million podcasts. Probably only 3 million are active. That means they produced at least one new episode in the last three months, and there are always new podcasts, and a large percentage of podcasts is quit before they turn out their sixth episode. So this is something that it's not hard to do a podcast. It gets a little bit harder to keep it up, whether it's a hobby or it's a bad vocation. I was really surprised by the number of people who are producing podcasts as their full-time jobs, but it mildly, it's difficult for most podcasters to monetize their podcasts. That being said, the most important thing is your content and in our shows going into 2024, what I'm calling season five I've had some very interesting guests lined up, including Wayne Richards, who is a gifted musician and composer. He'll be talking about his new show and music. We have a number of authors who have self-improvement books that we're going to be talking to, and we have a lot of I'm going to call them pleasant surprises for our listeners. You're always looking for supporters. If you hit the support button on, if you're listening to the podcast on the website openforuminthevillagesflorida. com, you will see a support button on the upper left in black. If you hit that, you can make a contribution to the podcast of three to five or even $10 a month. You can't make those kinds of voluntary contributions as a supporter, then I invite you to give the podcast a positive review on your podcast listening platform. That way, more people will hear about it and want to learn more. You listen to a lot of podcasts over the next year. You're going to hear me on some of the people's podcasts that I met at PodFest.

Mike Roth: 5:56

I went to the convention last year but only stayed for a day. This year I stayed for the full time three days Now. It was an interesting experience. On Saturday night they had a stand-up comedy open mic night, and what I did is. I told one joke which absolutely brought the house down. There were about 300 people in the room and then we did a improvisational number called sound effects, where I brought three people up out of the audience. One played in the scene with me and the other two made the sound effects required by the scene. It was absolutely hilarious. You never know where the scene is going to go and I asked the audience where is the scene taking place? And one of the audience members suggested it was going to take place in a strip joint and that was the start of it. And we started there. And at the start of the scene I got down on my knees and played a seven-year-old and said to the actor playing the other part Daddy, why is mommy up there on that stage? That's when the audience broke out laughing. Some of you might be curious what the starting joke of the routine was, so I'll tell that very short. Two blondes walk into a building. You would have thought one of them would have seen it.

Mike Roth: 7:08

Let me share a couple of the guests that are going to be coming up in the next few weeks. First is a guy named Mike Dombroski. He has brought a new tennis sport to the villages. It's called Touch Tennis Planet. Philbin wrote a great book called Show Up for Yourself. It's been a best seller on Amazon books for the past two years or so. It's a guide to inner growth and self-awareness. Janet's going to be a great guest. She's going to be one of our remote guests. We're looking forward to having her on the show in February. Speaking of Amazon, we're going to be heading something new to our podcast. Those are going to be products or services that are offered by Amazon that I will recommend to my listeners. That will be coming sometime in 2024. Now let's listen to another Alzheimer's tip from Dr Craig Curtis. Dr Curtis, how important is it for people to keep their brain sharp?

Dr. Craig Curtis: 8:08

It's extremely important. So we all lose a little bit of our cognitive abilities as we age. Everyone's brain starts shrinking in our 50s. However, we can still maintain good cognitive health into old age by making a few good daily choices, including keeping your brain active. Crossword puzzles, seducu. Just getting out and socializing is good for the brain. Good. Thank you, dr Curtis, you're welcome.

Warren: 8:35

With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, dr Curtis's goal is to educate the village's community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, craigcurtismd. com, or call 352-500-5252 to attend a free seminar.

Emily: 8:50

Remember our next episode will be released next Friday at 9 am. Should you want to become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mikeatrothvoice. com. This is a shout out for supporters Tweet Coleman, Williams and major supporter Dr Craig Curtis at K2 in the villages. We will be hearing more from Dr Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mikeatrothvoice. com. We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Rothvoice 2024, all rights reserved.