The percentage of Americans who have listened to podcasts in the last month has doubled since 2008 (Pew Research Center).
I may be a newcomer when it comes to podcasts as I’ve only been listening for a little less than a year, but I can without a doubt say that they have helped me grow in my digital marketing career and even my personal life. However, I’m not talking about podcasts, like Serial.
I’ll admit it; I’m a nerd. So, I listen to podcasts about data and analytics - and you should to! If you’re interested in expanding your thinking in ways you had never thought of before and want to handle challenging situations/meetings/presentations much better than you had before, give data podcasts a try. Without further ado, here are my four favorite podcasts for data enthusiasts:
1) The Digital Analytics Power Hour
The Digital Analytics Power Hour is hands down my favorite podcast. The bi-weekly Digital Analytics Power Hour is hosted by 3 analytics professionals. Not only can you genuinely feel how much fun the casters have making each episode, but I always walk away realizing or learning something new. The podcast covers everything from high level, strategic ideas to granular analytics details. It’s perfect for the college grad (they even did an episode for the recent college grad!) and Director level professionals. It’s hard to choose my favorite episode, so here’s two I’ve listened to multiple times and still thoroughly enjoy:
2) Linear Digressions
Linear Digressions is a short podcast that focuses on data science and machine learning. One of my favorite episodes this year discussed Neural Nets, which are models designed to process information similar to an organic system, like our brain. Neat stuff! New episodes are added about every week or two. Here’s the soundcloud link to the podcast as well. If you’re interested, the casters even teach courses on UDacity!
3) The Present Beyond Measure
If you’ve ever presented data to anyone, you understand how terrifying and hard it can be - but it doesn’t have to be. The Present Beyond Measure podcast series is a MUST listen to for anyone that presents data regularly, creates reports or wants to use data to make decisions (which is pretty much every professional in 2016). Lea, the caster, frequently brings on top notch guests. The production and quality of this podcast is on point. My favorite episode to date was Eric Feinberg’s Secrets Top Secrets for Killer Conference Room Confidence, where I learned how to better prepare and become a better communicator.
4) Data Stories
Similar to the Present Beyond Measure & Linear Digressions podcasts, Data Stories focuses on teaching listeners how to create engaging data visualizations - that go beyond the scope of just regular analytics. Featuring lots of esteemed guests in bi-weekly episodes, this podcast always makes me hungry to learn more. A few of my favorite and thought provoking episodes from this podcast discussed the topics:
Do you listen to any awesome data-driven podcasts? Share your favorites in the comments below or tweet @@JayCohh.
