3 Things to Get the Most Out of Podcast Movement 2024

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another 3 Things in pod casting. This one is going to be a little different. I am recording this before I go on vacation and you are hearing this while I am on vacation.

[00:00:16] And so I have missed a whole week of news, if something crazy happened on Wednesday and you're like, how come you're not talking about it? Well, it's because I'm on vacation and I probably didn't hear about it because I didn't bring my laptop.

[00:00:29] So instead today I want to give you 3 tips to look for or for you to do 3 Things for you to do at podcast movement. Podcast movement is going to be in Washington DC, really national harbour Maryland

[00:00:47] In a couple of weeks as this episode comes out, I'll be there. So if you're going to be there, let me know. I'd love to meet up

[00:00:55] But it is a big conference. There are lots of talks and tracks and expo floor and people and I've done it a few times. I think I did one year really the right way and one year really the wrong way

[00:01:13] And part of that the year I did it the wrong way is mostly because it was in Orlando, Florida. I'm a huge Disney fan if you can't tell from my background and my brother works at Disney world

[00:01:29] But also that was right before Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opened up and I was able to preview Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. And so I kind of skipped out on the conference a bit now to be fair that year was very similar to the year before that I don't feel the talks were particularly good

[00:01:54] There was a lot of repeats stuff from the year before and this was like 18 and 19 and so you know probably a lot has changed since then but I haven't been back since

[00:02:08] Now that I'm more deeply embedded in the podcast community though, I am really excited for a lot of things to see a lot of people I know to meet new people. I'm way more focused on helping podcasters now

[00:02:23] And so this is really where I feel I need to be that said, I don't think I'm going to go to a lot of talks. There are a lot of talks so many

[00:02:38] I think that it's really hard. Like I used to look through the schedule and plan my whole day out and now I just kind of play it a little bit more by ear. I'm way more interested in forming the relationships not to say that all of the talks are bad there's just a lot of talks

[00:03:00] And so like Tom Webster is I think speaking he's always a staple. I'll definitely go to that. I think I regalasted speaking this year and just like from a story telling aspect it'll probably be really cool. I learned a lot from Terry Gross, a fresh air the first year I went and so

[00:03:17] There are going to be a lot of great talks from a lot of great people, but aside from the talks I think that there are three things or three ways that you can really get the most out of

[00:03:33] And so let's look at those three things. The first one is collaborations this is the biggest podcast conference at least in the United States right it's like the premier industry podcasting event

[00:03:53] That means lots of podcasters of all sizes are going to be there and I think one of the best ways for you to grow your podcast is by doing podcast swaps trailer swaps feed drops

[00:04:10] In other words that might rhyme with swaps and drop and being in the room with people and really getting to know those other podcasters of similar or around similar sizes is going to be really beneficial you'll get to meet other people in your niche outside your niche and it's really a good opportunity for you to set up

[00:04:35] Potential recordings or collaborations for your show now they are also going to have boots there and so like like recording boots

[00:04:47] And so you can meet people there and record a live show with them right I think a lot of my friends I sadly missed craft and commerce this year which is convert kids

[00:05:00] And they have like a new creator studio with a great podcasting booth and a lot of my friends recorded episodes from those booths and I really felt foam about that but

[00:05:15] You know people are going or you have a co-host who you normally record with remotely or you meet people at the conference this is a great opportunity for you to record a really great show live show with somebody to release on your feed later

[00:05:32] Or it's just a really great place to meet new podcasters and set up a bunch of podcasts swaps you're in the same room you can get scheduled there or you can go to the booth and record something

[00:05:47] Or you can just say like hey I think this would be a really good opportunity for us to do like a trailer swap right either way this is

[00:05:56] Lots of podcasters are going to be there and this is your opportunity to collaborate with those podcasters whether it's just doing a feed drop or a podcast swap of some sort

[00:06:09] Or doing a joint interview or video or something like that right record from the expo floor and share that video to your social media great place for you to meet and work with other podcasters

[00:06:25] So that's the first one similarly the second thing the second tip I think for you as you move into or if you decide to go to podcast movement is partnerships. They have a massive exhibition hall.

[00:06:46] Everybody almost everybody like involved or remotely involved in podcasting is going to have a booth on this floor.

[00:06:56] I actually I don't have the website up usually they have like a bunch of logos and stuff like that so that you know who's going to be on the expo floor but the expo floor open all day.

[00:07:11] And so if you decide that you're not going to do the talks then you can hang out on the expo floor maybe schedule some time with some potential. Sponsors or partners and things like that let's take a look I have it up here now so.

[00:07:31] Sponsors and exhibitors so most of the time the sponsors are going to also have a booth so I heart lips in airwave CNN Descript.

[00:07:44] A bunch of other places event event sponsor so like a cast audio boom, OSHA black magic design Amazon music audacity podcasts like big podcast networks could jobby is going to be there and then if we look at the actual.

[00:07:59] Exhibitors like these are people who are definitely going to have until it looks like the sponsors. Our our mentioned here as well so highlight a few airwave B and H right they are a gear outlet right. Blueberry buzz sprout captivate Descript.

[00:08:24] For cast headliner headliner is a previous sponsor of mine NASA's going to be there which is pretty wild riverside of course seeker simplified.

[00:08:36] And a few other places the legal premier and so this is your opportunity to meet with a lot of great people in and around the podcasting space.

[00:08:51] And this is I mean yes so these are the exhibitors and the sponsors and so you'll probably be able to get face time with them but there's also you know a great agenda of schedules of speakers on the schedule panels and something called brain dates and lots of other networking opportunities and so.

[00:09:14] Going into this you should think about what potential partnerships inside the podcasting space could look like.

[00:09:23] I'm uniquely positioned because I cater to podcasters and so I have a lot of overlapping audience but if you serve a niche that some of these podcasts companies are going after like coaches maybe.

[00:09:41] Or you know fitness influencers right like maybe being age is trying to sell a microphone that you can work out with or something like that right. This is your opportunity to say hey I have an audience in this niche I'm an experienced podcaster I can speak.

[00:10:01] I can speak well I could speak intelligently there it is about your product to my audience right and so. I would say don't go like whole hog and be like sponsor my podcast but ask them.

[00:10:18] You know what are their goals for the rest of the year what are they trying to achieve who were they trying to reach why are they at this conference. And then take that think about it and tell like show them how you can help them solve their problem.

[00:10:39] Exchange contact information and continue the conversation when everybody's home right so I think that is a really good opportunity that has worked super well for me especially in the WordPress space.

[00:10:51] I would go to word camps where I knew people were paying five figures to have a booth as a sponsor. And if I could position my offering as hey you're paying twenty thousand dollars for a two day event.

[00:11:10] What if you paid me ten thousand dollars for six months of me talking about you on my podcast that's pretty good positioning. If you're reaching the right audience and you're helping them solve their problems. So I think there are a lot of partnership opportunities there as well.

[00:11:29] And then finally there is a ton of content at podcast movement I haven't even looked at this schedule yet but I know that they have multiple tracks.

[00:11:40] And then we're going to go out the day just like looking at the first time slot it looks like we have keynotes. And then the first non keynote time slot is 1015 we've got one two talks and then at 11 we have one two three four five talks.

[00:12:03] So you know we're probably looking at three to five tracks per time slot that's a lot right this is why they sell the virtual pass right where you get all the recordings.

[00:12:16] But that's a lot that's information overload so what I'm going to advise you do is between now and the conference. Think about where you need the most improvement maybe that's growth maybe that's content maybe that's getting feedback or sponsors or improving your membership improving your podcast processes and.

[00:12:43] Look for one piece of advice from the conference that you could take home an implement when you get back. Because here's what usually happens you go to a million talks you take a million notes and then nothing there's too much to act on right.

[00:13:06] And you've missed a few days of work anyway so now you need to find time to organize and prioritize forget that.

[00:13:16] Right down one thing right maybe you can write down one thing each day or two things each day but at the end of the conference on the flight home or the drive home think about the one thing you're going to implement.

[00:13:36] Because some action based on a limited list is better than no action because the list is too long. So that's what I recommend look at collaborations look at partnerships and find one way to improve your podcast as soon as you get back from podcast movement.

[00:13:56] If you do that I think you will have a very successful conference and of course I will be there so if you are enjoying this and you want to meet up and chat.

[00:14:11] Let me know the best way to get in touch with me and find out kind of my plans for podcast movement is to join my mailing list over at podcast work flows dot com slash join.

[00:14:23] Thanks so much for watching this I hope that your summer is going well and if you are going to be at podcast movement I hope to see there until next time.