Choosing the Best Podcasting Events for Your Time and Budget – Episode 119

[MUSIC IN – GHOSTHOOD FEATURING SARA AZRIEL “LET’S GO” BEGINS]

MARY: September is always the perfect time of year to reset. Here in the Northern Hemisphere. Summer is over, year end is coming back to school routines, and it is a time to plan. I like a good plan session. So whether you’re a new podcaster or a seasoned one, this is the time of year to make that plan. What could you be doing to learn more and implement those learnings to grow your show into the next year? 

One of my clients asked similar questions, so I knew if she did, you would do. Specifically, since she loves to be in person these days, she wanted to know what are some podcasting conferences I would recommend for her to check out. So in this episode I’m going to share how I pick which ones I want to go to and how you can decide for yourself as well on what would actually be worth your time and even a little bit of an investment. Because in person conferences aren’t cheap. Or some online ones too, actually, for that matter. 

So whether you’re looking for a podcasting conference to be in person, maybe an online summit, or maybe even one of those one hour workshops, whether they be free or paid, is it worth it? Should you make some time to spend on this? We’re going to walk through that decision making process for which one of these things do you actually want to attend? And yeah, spoiler alert, in most cases, it actually is worth it. So this is episode 119 on the Podcaster’s Guide to a Visible Voice.

This is episode 119 on the Podcaster’s Guide to a Visible Voice.

<< WOMAN SINGS: So so so so let’s go >>

Hey, welcome back. And because it is September, that means I’m back with my little summer vacay

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and getting my head wrapped around routines again, which means starting back up the podcast, which, okay, honestly, is a little overwhelming, but also like, ooh, so fun because I’ve got these plans, there’s people I want to talk to, things I want to talk about. And I’ve been planning some things in the background over the summer break, so now is the time to implement them. 

But as you know too, there’s so much going on in life, right? Podcasting isn’t our main life goal, which I know some days I wish it was. But we’re being realistic here. We can’t podcast every day forever. So the idea of going to an in person conference or a summit, you really can’t attend them all as well. So how do we get choosy and know which one is right for us? 

[UPBEAT THOUGHTFUL MUSIC IN]

In my situation, firstly, you know, it’s this whole post COVID world. I mean, yes, it’s been six years, but really some people are still sort of in that bubble or their life has drastically changed. I mean, in the past six years, my kiddo is now in middle school. I’ve got more, you know, freedom, um, away from that clingy toddler stage and having really young kids. So life is a little different for me too. And the conferences and the summits, they’ve kind of changed for me as well. 

So in the past few years I made it my goal to attend at least one in person podcasting event a year. I am a people person, so I tend to feed off people’s energies and I love that in person stuff, especially when I do work by myself most of the time and people on the Internet. But like, in person is such a different energy. Yet, I know, like you, I can’t afford to be going out all the time. Like I live in a smaller city, it’s not Vancouver, it’s close enough to Vancouver, but we don’t have all like, the big conferences and stuff that comes here. So I gotta travel for that and then I gotta pay for accommodations which really all adds up. So I limit myself to one, maybe two in person bigger events like this, depending on my budget for the year and of course what else is going on in my life. Your capacity, right? 

So last year my one in person event was Pod Summit in Calgary. Calgary is close-ish enough to me. I still have to fly there. I mean, I guess I could have driven, but long story, concussion, I don’t drive anymore, so I flew there. I loved it. Pod Summit was great. It was just like Kattie Laur said to me in episode 99 of this very show. It’s a cozy conference. That’s her wording for it. And because of that I met some amazing people, some people that have known online for a little while and I got to meet them in real life. There was a lot of great networking opportunities, which is what I loved. And just the vibes was amazing of what Tim created for the conference. So, uh, spoiler alert, I’m going to be there again this year. I’ll talk more about it later. 

However, that was my thing for last year, Pod Summit. This year I was thinking hmm, since Pod Summit isn’t until later in the year, I decided that my one conference this year was going to be in Toronto, Soundwave Summit. That was back in May and I had never ever been to Toronto before. So I thought kill two birds with one stone, go to an in person conference and check out the city at the same time. And like Pod Summit had that great cozy conference feeling. It was similar to that same vibe high vibe feeling, but it was only a full on one day event. 

Again, met so many people in real life that I remember some podcasters, more than one, actually said to me, what, what do you mean this is your first time in Toronto? What do you mean? We’ve never actually met in real life before? [LAUGHTER] Like, it just feels so comforting to be able to be with the people that you hear and have been in your headphones for so long and then meet them in real life. That’s the power of podcasting that you get when you go to these in person events. And so that was a little bit of my idea of why I decided to go to Toronto for my one conference this year. 

But then, you know, I had pretty much written Pod Summit off this year, even though I was like, oh, I’m a little sad, I really enjoyed it last year, I probably won’t go this year. But then this is where a lot of people get the fear of missing out stuff. You know, a conference can come and go and you get to see all the social media stuff, you get to see all the marketing. You’re like, oh, that looks like so much fun. And so I did get a little bit of that this year for Pod Summit. And so I decided I’m gonna go to Pod Summit this year too. That is happening in October this year. 

And here’s my reasoning for that and something that might work for you as well. I reviewed what I gained from being there last year. Who was in the room with me, who did I get to chat with? What was that budget like last year? How much money did I spend? What was my body, mind, and brain feeling after that travel? Because I had a concussion years ago, that still affects me. So is it worth it to go through another travel experience this year knowing what my body can or cannot do. 

And then the capacity too? What else is going on for the rest of the year? Can I make a weekend in Calgary work for me this year? And you know what? It’s another Canadian show, which means I don’t have to deal with borders, I don’t have to deal with currency exchange, which really hits the bank account for Canadians going into the U.S. but you know, those things do matter. Make a checklist of all the stuff that is a pro or a con for you. Those pro and con lists really do work. 

And especially since I went to Pod Summit last year, I can pull from that data. I can pull from my bank accounts, I can pull from the experience and what I remember from it last year. I can pull from the people that I still connect with and talk to since being there last year and will it be worth it for me to go? So the answer was yes, right? Yes. That was my decision making along the way and that was a quick version of what happened this year. So what is this going to look like for you? 

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Probably because you don’t live near me. You’re not going to say, oh, Calgary is close-ish, right? You might start thinking about, okay, where can I go if I want to do the in person route? What are some shows, conferences, summits that I can attend? One of the great sites to use is actually from podnews.net their events tab has all your events happening around the world. Like podcasting is still a very U.S. centric thing. So a lot of the events especially the big conferences like Podcast Movement, Evolutions, Podfest, those type of big conferences are still U.S. based, but there’s some bigger ones too that happen in London, in Europe and so, you just gotta look for those. 

And the podnews dot net forward slash events website is such a great resource. They also have online events as well which are free or ticketed. So this is a great starting point for you and a great resource for you to just to peruse okay, what is out there and are any of these events close to where I live? 

I mean the other easy thing you can do is also Google it. Just Google podcasting events and look for ones that are upcoming. I mean if you don’t Google, a lot of people ChatGPT it these days. 

So either way, put it into your favourite search bot engine dealy and then go click on those links, check the website, see if it matches your vibes. Is the event even still happening? Was the date correct? Has it already happened or will it still be happening that you can attend? There are events, summits, conferences, those especially those in person ones, they take time and money to create and plan and execute. So some do make changes. So you’ll just have to check the website because they only happen maybe like, once a year or they only happen once every few years and then they stop because sometimes they’re not big money makers or there’s not enough sponsors or whatever, right? There are so many reasons that conferences don’t happen. 

So whatever you end up searching for in your results, just make sure that the event is actually happening. Because some people get really excited and then they realize, oh, this was last year, not this year. Whoops. [LAUGHTER] So if you’re really on that excited bandwagon, check the dates first.

[UPBEAT THOUGHTFUL MUSIC IN]

On the, are they worth it path, depends on your goal. What is your goal when attending these events? Is it specifically about what you want to learn? Are you looking for networking opportunities? And okay, networking has such a bad stigma around it. Like, the name is just like, ooh, cringe networking. But okay, when I say that, just know it’s just about meeting other podcasters and having fun. It’s connecting with people with the same interests and making new podcast friends. Okay so networking, just think about just connecting with other fun podcasting people who like to talk. Networking is not a bad thing. Okay. 

Aside from that, when you figure out which podcast you want to go to, part of that is researching who the speakers are, who are on the panels, basically who’s going to be there. Because then you can figure out, ooh, who would I like to chat and meet with? Who do I want to connect with? Because it won’t really be worth your time and money. The planning it takes to get to where you need to get to if you’re not really interested in the people there to chat with. 

For example, some people travel the world, right? Like they might say, oh, I’ve never been to London before. I want to go to the podcast show there. Or maybe you live in South Africa and there’s the Resonate festival happening in Cape Town next year. Because a lot of podcasting conferences are also region and culture specific. Radio Days Asia, they have a podcasting day event. So it’s not just U.S. centric or it’s not just about podcasting in general. It’s also connecting with the way you podcast with a specific culture. Because podcasting in different countries is a totally different thing. 

So when it comes down to choosing your podcasting event that you want to attend, figure out if you need it to be for beginners. There are beginners ones as well. And then decide what your next goal is. Is it for that networking, Is it for culture and representation, or is it specifically for growth and revenue? I don’t talk about that a lot, but there are conferences for things like that. So figure out what is your goal? I love conferences for networking. Okay, the people, the chatting, the connecting, not networking, and the culture and representation piece as well. Seeing people that look like me, seeing people that are having some same frustrations as I am. So what is it for you? 

[MUSIC FADES AND ENDS]

Okay, I know I talked a lot about in person, but a lot of these conferences and how you choose goes into the online version as well. And sometimes people think, well, online there could be like free, which is great. There are a lot of free ones. But there are also some very good valuable ones that are online only summits as well. So research into those because there are some strong points for online learning. You get to do it from the comfort of your own home. If you need a break, a body break especially, you can do that. You can mute, turn your video off, and go do what you need to do. Come back to the conference if you. 

Sometimes they have like, the pay for an upgrade for the recordings. If you pay for the recordings, you can learn at your own pace. So if you can’t actually be there for the time that it is live, you still have that experience after the fact too, right? And or sometimes you have access to these recordings for the next week. So maybe you can make time later in the week to do the online learning. The cons of online learning for me though are that it’s easy for me to just sit, watch, learn, take some notes and then you switch your hat on to like everyday normal, play mom, play worker, play, whatever it is and you forget about all the online learning you did. 

Or the best part is [LIGHT LAUGHTER] paying for those recordings that you have one week access to and then forgetting to watch them. So you’ve paid for the online summit, but then you actually haven’t learned anything because it’s easy to forget about that stuff. How many times, hands up, mine is going up that you’ve paid for something, an online course, and then you just never did it. It just sits there. This is what can happen with online learning. 

Either way though, there is something for everyone. It will suit your capacity of scheduling. It will suit your capacity of like, time it takes. Some of these online events are multiple days as well. Some of these are just one day quick things. Some of these are just like an hour or two. So there’s something for everyone. And having that online space, especially if this is your first time checking out something like this, an online space is so great to just kind of dip your toe in and figure out if this is for you. 

And like I said, there are so many new ones out there too. Like even doing research for this episode, I found one that is specifically for Canadian women entrepreneurs. Like, that’s me. So there is an online summit or conference niche down just for you. So get to online searching and figure out which one will work best for you. 

And a side note, for online learning, it doesn’t have to be a conference. Maybe it’s a quick webinar, such as when Onestone Creative releases the seventh annual State of Business Podcasting Report. They’re doing that this year, November 2nd. And it’s just a report. They’ve done all the research. They’ve got a little online event that will release some high level results of this report and you can learn quickly on the go from this one little thing and then download the report and learn from that. Like what are some things that you could tweak or do based on this report? 

So it’s not always about having to have that like, idea of sitting in a classroom and learning. Have someone else like the business podcasting report do that research for you and then you just gain more knowledge from reading their report, if that’s your thing. 

[CLAPPING AND UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC IN]

So yes, all of this can sound very overwhelming. There is so much out there. It is the Internet where anyone can host anything. So give something a try. Try an online free event, like I said, and then once you hit the bug or you’re like, you know what, I want to meet some other podcasters that I know. Bring a podcasting buddy to an event, see who’s on those panels, go meet them. Like I said, I’m going back to Pod Summit. It’s in October. I’m going to be there for their reach for the mic little podcast game show at the end to wrap up their two day event. So go to Calgary, go to Pod Summit and meet a whole bunch of other podcasters. It’s going to be such a fun time and definitely say hi if you see me. 

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So if you’re ready to invest in more, I love the in person stuff. Find the closest one to where you live. That’s a great way to start. And if you’ve ever wanted to visit a place, use podcasting conference as your excuse to go and visit that city. Then book a few extra days on either before or after and check out the city. I usually like after because I go for the main event first. Like you go for your purpose and then you can travel and continue thinking about what you’ve learned and maybe start jotting down notes to implement that plan for what you want to do next in your podcast while you’re still on vacation. It’s kind of a nice way to do it. 

Anyway, go give it a try. And if you’ve been on the fence and all the stars line up, you know, like you can afford it, it works out for you. The scheduling is perfect. I say try it out and let me know which conference are you thinking of going to? Like I did a whole bunch of online ones, especially during COVID so I’ve done them all. [LAUGHTER] Let me know which one that you’re thinking of going to, and maybe I’ll be there as well. 

And it’s not always a big investment, so if you’ve got an hour or two, there are still some online ones you can check out, or some on a very small budget as well. So something you can learn. And whenever you go to these things, even if it’s one small nugget, it’s something that you can take action on on your next step so you can move forward with your podcasting journey. 

[DRIVING ENERGETIC MUSIC IN]

On the next episode, I asked the question, what is it like to podcast about something that most people find boring? Could you talk about a really boring subject and make it entertaining or interesting and effective for your listeners? You’ll be learning from the experiences of Paul Rosenblum, a bookkeeper for over 30 years and also taught QuickBooks for 30 years. Now definitely, most people would say a stereotyped boring industry, right? But he’s got a huge passion for it, and he even calls his podcast the center of his world. 

His podcast is called the in brackets (The Not Boring) Small Business Bookkeeping And Accounting Podcast. He’s got humor for sure. And I mean, even on his email signature he has the line, I’m a bookkeeper, not a magician, but I can see why you are confused. So we’re definitely gonna have a good time. On the next episode, we’ll chat about how and why he started a podcast about numbers and why podcasting is much more than just numbers, just like in bookkeeping. I’m promising it won’t be a boring episode. We’ll chat with you then.

[MUSIC ENDS // ENERGETIC RHYTHMIC MUSIC WITH CLAPPING ENDS // OUTRO MUSIC IN – SHOW CLOSE]

<< GHOSTHOOD FEATURING SARA AZRIEL “LET’S GO” BEGINS >>

MARY: Thank you so much for listening to the Podcaster’s Guide to a Visible Voice. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d love it if you shared it with a podcasting friend. And to reveal more voicing and podcasting tips, click on over to visiblevoicepodcast.com.

<< WOMAN SINGS: Let’s go >>

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