2020 was an odd year for everyone. In what felt like just days, it seemed everything had changed and the rules were being rewritten almost daily about how we would all be engaging with one another. We went from racking up travel, hotel stays and airmiles while visiting our customers during regular face-to-face meetings, to all at once being almost universally “grounded.” Virtually overnight, the world went from a global neighborhood, to global lockdown.
It’s difficult even now to articulate the full impact this had, and the immediacy with which it took hold of almost every part of our lives. While a few organizations were deemed “essential” and were allowed to continue limited hours of operation, even those organizations were significantly restricted in terms of the number of workers who could be present and the conditions under which they could conduct business.
The world had changed; and it became clear that business tactics would need to change with it.
The days of meeting with customers face-to-face had seemingly come to an end overnight, and even the idea of calling a meeting with a group of customers or prospects was in question, because – as difficult as this may be to remember – prior to 2020, the use of “video conferencing” was not nearly as widely accepted as it is now… and certainly not a standard like it is today.
So the question for KCAS Bio (and virtually every other organization on the planet) became “How do we now stay in touch with our audience, when the majority of them are now working from home, where they may have limited access to email, and even more limited access to their work phones?”
We Should Start a Podcast!
While a number of plans were discussed and put into place, one idea that caught a lot of attention here at KCAS Bio was one that resurfaced from previous conversations: We Could Start a Podcast!
Noticing the rise of interest in Podcasts and the lack of bioanalysis-oriented options available, our internal teams had already identified starting a podcast as a possibility, but for years the idea of sitting down with our scientific experts to record a regular podcast seemed somewhat implausible, given their busy schedules and constant jet-setting… but now, with literally EVERYone at home, the concept of recording and publishing a podcast seemed like a no-brainer.
The first Episode: “What in the WORLD just happened?”
After quite a bit of planning in February and March, it was early April of 2020 when our producer, Jeremy, sat down at his recording station and dialed in to Dominic Warrino, PhD and John Perkins, PhD for the inaugural episode of “The Weekly Bioanalysis” podcast.
The title of the first episode was fittingly named “What in the WORLD just happened?” The guys discussed all the things that the world had experienced and how a drug development organization like KCAS Bio – and others within the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry – would play a part in eventually getting the world back to normal.
That first episode set the standard for what listeners would come to expect in terms of structure and flow of each episode: the guys introduced themselves and their backgrounds, before diving right into news relevant to the industry. After a bit of commentary on a few news items, they moved right into the “main portion,” which were topics selected based on current events and eventually occasionally selected by listeners.
An impressive reception to “The Weekly Bioanalysis”
The first episode was released on the website and YouTube, and garnered an impressive few hundred views right off the bat, but it wasn’t until episode 10 (the number of episodes required at the time to officially “register” a podcast with distribution channels like Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.) that KCAS Bio began seeing views racking up in the thousands.
The ability for our audience to engage with our hosts from their homes while we were all on lockdown became a perfect way for KCAS Bio’s brand to grown within a segment that had previously had very little in the way of Bioanalytical news and commentary.
The World Returned to Normal… and the Podcast Continued!
And so this went on throughout COVID, with a portion of the news section in each episode even devoted to “COVID News,” but eventually – oh so slowly – the world was able to begin returning to normal activities.
With this return to normalcy, came the return to live events and trade shows. This was ultimately when we received our first real glimpse into the full impact our podcast had had on the industry while we were all in quarantine…
Our first return to AAPS in 2022 was met with person after person approaching our booth, asking if they could meet the hosts of “The Weekly Bioanalysis” – they even requested photos with Dom, John and Jeremy they could show their colleagues back home! It was clear that we had struck a chord within the industry. Our podcast had become more than just a way to get news or follow relevant topics… our listeners felt connected with the podcast team in a way that made them really enjoy each new episode – and the feedback was clear.
Starting our Second Podcast Series
While the audience for our first podcast had grown, so too had the organization itself – with KCAS Bio boasting additional locations around the world by the end of 2022; one of which was a flow cytometry laboratory in Philadelphia.
As the success of “The Weekly Bionalaysis” podcast continued throughout 2022 and 2023, it was clear that the opportunity was there to take what we had learned from our first podcast and introduce our audience to another, more focused series – one featuring the amazing world of Flow Cytometry, and who better to host than the leaders of our new Philadelphia flow lab?
After some initial planning in mid 2023, our producer, Jeremy, dialed into Brian Wile, PhD and Adam Cotty, PhD and the inaugural episode of “The Conversational Flow” was published in late 2023, and greeted with a warm reception by many of the same listeners of “The Weekly Bioanalysis” as well as new listeners tuning in to learn about the world of Flow Cytometry – a specialty that KCAS Bio offers around the world from locations in the US and Europe, and our strategic alliance partner in Australia.
Send us your thoughts, ideas and feedback – and enjoy the future of KCAS Bio Podcasts!
New episodes of both “The Weekly Bioanalysis” and “The Conversational Flow” are published regularly. Topics are designed to be relevant across a range of bioanalysis across the world, and we invite you to subscribe and take part in letting us know what you think!
Dom, John, Brian and Adam will regularly read fan feedback on their shows and Jeremy often set up topics for the guys based on that feedback! We also have appearances from our team in Lyon, France and our strategic alliance partners in Australia.
We have loved being part of the industry over these past few years, and we could not be more grateful for those of you who have come along with us for the ride! Besides being posted on the website, our podcasts can be found and downloaded at the following locations:
| The Weekly Bioanalysis | The Conversational Flow |
| Apple Podcasts YouTube Podcast Amazon Podcasts Buzzsprout Spotify iHeartRadio |
YouTube Podcast Buzzsprout |