Tonight, @newstalkscience is celebrating its first ten years. I'm proud and grateful to have been a part of its first three. I can't be there tonight because I'm sick, so I wanted to share 5 things I learned from being a producer on the show.

1. Listen to journalists

I was the scientist on the team, and I got to work with amazing journalism, communications, and media people. I learned a lot of important things from them about reporting, news, ethics, storytelling, editing, and interviewing.

Team meeting, 2011

2. Keep moving

I like to reflect, but there's very little time for that on a weekly show. After each show was produced, we had a team chat about what did and didn't work, then we focused our attention on the next four episodes. It worked. Always look ahead.

An early review

3. Experiment with format

This is one of @jonathan_mccrea's superpowers. Radio has some practical restrictions (audio, ad and news breaks, etc.) but we were always encouraged to break with convention.

This won Futureproof its first award ( http://bit.ly/fpdeath )

4. Look beyond your network

Some of my favourite guests were the ones I found browsing journals for interesting research. Covering current stories is important, but look for new, diverse guests too - and be flexible and supportive to make it easier for them to take part.

5. Have fun!

Making Futureproof was demanding and stressful, but we also laughed - a lot! If you can, have fun. It will make the show better.

@ianbrunswick and @jonathan_mccrea on a typical news day

Also:
Early contributors will become friends ( @marynmck, @Dr_Niamh_Shaw)
Early friends will become contributors ( @twisteddoodles)
A cosmonaut will cause the best chaos
Newstalk will lose some of its best people
@jqbilbao and @Baigneuse1910 will give the best advice