Category: News

Greetings PM Family…Happy New Year!

We realize that the new year is already a few days in and it is easy to make resolutions, only to bail on them when the resistance kicks in. Our desire is for your podcast efforts to thrive this year! We thought it would be helpful to share some updates that will hopefully encourage you to stay focused and hitting that record button!

The Podcast Movement Community shared some of their podcast goals for 2018, and we’ve got help for three community members’ goals:

Finally Launch Your Podcast (Kelly Goldhorn)

If your goal is to launch your podcast, it is time for you and Kelly Goldhorn to get started….and we think we’ve got the solution. We’re excited to announce the first annual 28 Day Launch Your Podcast Challenge, and invite you and your friends to take part! There are some great prizes in store for those who finish.

The 28 Day Launch Your Podcast Challenge came out of the number of aspiring podcasters who we talk with daily, but who never actually ever publish an episode. This challenge will spread the launch process up into 28 daily, bitesize steps. From zero to launch, with the support and feedback from the community, and fellow challenge participants.

What will the challenge cover? Over the 28 days, some of the topics and steps we’ll walk you through include:

• • Hardware & Software options
  • Concept & Creative directions
  • Podcast Service Providers
  • Accountability
  • Music & Artwork for your Podcast
  • Editing & Production
  • Getting Your Podcast Live
  • Regular Feedback from the Community & Fellow Participants
    & more!

And did we mention the prizes? We’ll be picking 5 Winners from those who complete the challenge, with the grand prize being an all expenses paid trip to Podcast Movement 2018!

Are you interested in joining the challenge? Do you know someone that you think could benefit from participating in the challenge? Go to www.PodcastMovement.com/challenge to learn more, and sign up. The challenge begins February 1!

Get Your First Podcast Advertiser (Brandie Crank – Bad Girl, Better Woman)

Brandie Crank is one of many fellow PM community members hoping to land a sponsor for their show this year, and we set out early in 2017 to put together an initiative to help.

We teamed up with conference partner FreshBooks, as they presented the “Pitch Your Podcast” booth, created uniquely for attendees of Podcast Movement 2017 in Anaheim, to give new and emerging podcasters an opportunity to earn a sponsorship. Freshbooks selected this year’s winners—and their podcasts— You can learn more about it here! And keep an eye out for your chance to participate in 2018.

Congratulations to LuAnn Nigara of Well Designed Business Podcast, Kwame Christian of Negotiate Anything Podcast, and Pablo Fuentes of Small Business War Stories.

Speak On Stage at Podcast Movement (Jeffrey Bradbury – TechEducator Podcast)

Every year the question we get most is, “How can I speak at Podcast Movement?” We’re happy to have an answer for you, and Jeff as well. Starting next Wednesday, we’ll begin taking panel and session submissions for Podcast Movement 2018. Get your awesome ideas ready, as the competition is always stiff. We had over 500 submissions last year for just around 50 spots…so make sure to submit your best!

More next week…

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Podcast Articles, Happenings and Tips

• PM community member Aaron Dowd shares a few easy adjustments you can make to ensure you’re getting the best sound quality possible from your microphone every time you record.

• Kim Hansen shares in her article why most of us really, really don’t want to “read” most podcasts…yet.

• PMx Emcee Mark Deal, and the local podcast meetup in Atlanta, are hosting a special podcasting seminar this Saturday, January 6 at the new Sewell Mill Library Cultural Center.

• We’re going to be around town in the coming months, and would love to have you at one of our upcoming Podcast Movement Community Meetups. More info coming soon, but mark your calendars!
  • Saturday, February 10 – Orlando, FL
  • Tuesday, February 27 – San Diego, CA
  • Tuesday, April 10 – Las Vegas, NV

• We just re-launched our Youtube channel, and have added the keynote talks from the first two years of Podcast Movement! Check out talks from Marc Maron, Aisha Tyler, Pat Flynn and more!

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If you’ve not yet registered for Podcast Movement, we’ve got some exciting things cooking…including the Super Early Bird Discount Registration Sale going on now!

Register for a low price, and don’t miss any of the fun.

Again – Happy New Year to you & your family! We are looking forward to seeing you at Podcast Movement later this year in Philadelphia, or at one of our upcoming community meetups

Keen in ‘18,
Team PM

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Would you rather listen to this week’s, or future, newsletters? We’ve got a podcast!

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Season’s Greetings, and happy “last week of the year” week!

We trust that you & your family are enjoying the holidays! As the end of this year draws near, it is always wise to examine and interpret our podcasting experiences to gain new understanding. We asked the PM community what worked for their podcast in 2017, and received some great answers that we can learn from as we go into 2018. We could only fit a few of the replies in this newsletter, but encourage you to check out the post

Starting it! Devani Anjali – I Create Daily

Being a non-business related podcast it was having a clear vision of what we wanted it to be and the messages we wanted to deliver. Michael Payne – We Leave You This

Saying yes to myself and going in 100 percent. Roseangel Perez – Cafecito Break Podcast

Encouragement…from my listeners and from my Podcast Producer. Civilla Morgan – Childless Not By Choice

Consistency, passion for my subject and being a contributing member of my community outside the podcast. Plus listening/learning from successful podcasters. Stacey Simms – Diabetes Connections

Having the opportunity to launch the show live on stage. Elaine Appleton Grant – One More Shot Podcast

Getting off my butt and pushing through. Joseph Foley – No Sitting on the Sideline Dad Podcast

Having more fun with my guests. I’ve learned that my audience isn’t as impressed by how awesome or high profile the guest is (and I’ve had some great influencers) but how we jive on the episode; the banter, the questions, the answers, their stories. Chris Jones – The Art & Business of Writing Podcast

Improvement of sound quality Cole Johnson – Cole Sportz

Simply putting in the effort. Doing a fiction show that is new each month, rather than an ongoing thing, is not a good recipe for typical success. But it keeps me writing short fiction, and that’s all I ever wanted from it. Christopher Gronlund – Men in Gorilla Suits

Featuring on so many other podcasts. From Snap Judgment to The Moth’s 500th ep, EoFire, and so many others… Shannon Cason – Homemade Stories

Listening to other podcasts and beginning to find our groove. We have three hosts, so it has been a learning process. I also agree with the more effort in Planning! That is key!!! Sharon Torrence Jones – Lady Tech Charmers

Building relationships with my listeners Jonathan Oakes – Trivial Warfare

Attending Podcast Movement. No question that PM17 had the BIGGEST impact on my role as an editor this year!!! Jennifer Longworth – Podcast Producer for Savings Angel

Let your voice be heard! Visit the Facebook Group, and let us know what worked for you in 2017, and also what you have in the works for 2018!

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New Year’s Resolutions (aka Podcast Articles, Happenings and Tips)

• If you can’t wait until Podcast Movement 2018 to hear Terry Gross speak (she is our closing keynote speaker this year), she had a great interview with Current, where she speaks candidly on her career, and how it might be different if she were getting started today.

• We’ve all been hearing that “the smart speakers are coming.” Well it appears as if this holiday season, we’ve moved to “they’re here.” Amazon Alexa and Google Home topped the App Store charts on Christmas day, and this might be only the beginning

• For anyone waiting for podcasting to become “official,” it might have just happened. Stony Brook University is now offering a podcasting certification. Their Audio Podcast Fellows will have some big name instructors, but some are questioning if this is needed, or even the right approach for those looking to get started.

• Podtrac split their top podcast list into two; one which is the normal list of podcasts, and another which is “snackable podcasts”. Join us in learning about this new term!

• The team at Orbital Jigsaw is running a short survey to find out more about the podcasting community and would love your feedback. They will post the results of the surveys in the Facebook group once they’ve obtained enough responses.

And a final reminder from a longtime PM speaker and supporter:

If you took the holiday off, time to pull out the mics! Millions have new devices in circulation today, all looking to be filled with content! The year’s #1 Podcast subscription growth period is from the 20th to the end of January…with peak time running through the 7th. Get busy! Todd Cochrane – CEO – ‎RawVoice / Blubrry

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And one last reminder to take advantage of our holiday sale, and join us this summer at Podcast Movement 2018!

OUR HOLIDAY SALE ENDS TODAY!

Register for the lowest possible price ($300+ off standard cost), and get an exclusive (free) PM Holiday Shirt. Don’t miss it!

We hope that you & your family enjoy the remaining days of 2017! We will back next week to look at some goals to consider for your podcast in 2018.

Happy New Year (early),
Team PM18

Perry Como first sang the holiday classic “There’s no place like home for the holidays” in 1959. This song continues to stand the test of time and is covered by the Carpenters, as well as other artists, over the years. The core idea of being home to enjoy this season with family continues to resonate, no matter where you live.

Did you know that our PM family is represented all over the world? Podcast Movement attendees in 2017 call over 20 countries “home”, including:

Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Sweden, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates

We thought it would be fun to spread some holiday cheer this week by highlighting a few of our global podcast members who call somewhere other than the United States “home”!

Edie Berg (Israel) – Host of The Strong Women’s Club
Long story short… we love Edie Berg! You won’t find fluff, abstract or cliché’s when you listen to her podcast. Edie talks to real women who have worked hard, had bumps and lumps along the way, and are sharing their stories so that we can learn from them. Edie is also a CrossFit enthusiast so if you are looking for tickets to the gun show…

Christina Canters (Australia) – Host of Stand Out Get Noticed
Christina is easily one of the most creative podcasters that we have ever met. She is also a sensational communicator! Check out her new speaker reel!

Nikolas Dane (Uruguay) – Director at Appleboy Productions
Nikolas is a podcast pioneer in Uruguay. He founded Appleboy productions which is currently producing 3 podcasts that are top shows in his country! Podcasting is still in its infancy in Uruguay. Nikolas applied for a government grant to help cover travel costs to be able to attend Podcast Movement this year. Needless to say, we are excited about his efforts & are cheering on his podcast success in South America!

Tarek El Bolbol (Dubai) – CEO of Booklava
Tarek is originally from Lebanon. He is the CEO & Co-founder of Booklava. Booklava is a holistic platform for Arabic audio books and short titles, offering bestselling content for a convenient and enjoyable listening experience on-the-go.

Karin Hogh (Denmark) – Founder of PodConsults.
Karin is a veteran podcast consultant in Denmark! She is also an author and runs a sound studio. Karin should be at the top of your list if you want to make a new friend in 2018.

Hani Mourra (Canada) – Creator of SimplePodcastPress
Hani is a seasoned speaker at Podcast Movement. He is also the mastermind behind various popular software tools and applications. We love Simple Podcast Press and strongly encourage you to check it out.

If you don’t see your country represented (or even if you do), we hope you’ll join us this summer in Philadelphia!

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(not so ugly) Christmas Sweaters (aka Podcast Articles, Happenings and Tips)

• Analytics in the podcasting medium are changing, and it impacts everyone in the space. Apple finally released their long-awaited-for analytics last week, and the team at Jacobs Media share their first impressions.

• PM alumni speaker Steven Goldstein takes an interesting look at the podcast categories that contain the most podcasts, plus discusses the four categories that are responsible for over 2/3rds of Apple Podcasts’ top 200!

• Jon Levy shares 7 secrets to producing engaging podcast content. Some are obvious, but others not so much.

• PM18 platinum partner audioBoom reported a record year in 2017, and is even more excited about 2018!

• PM alumni Caitlin Thompson of Acast shares why Apple, Google, Amazon and others are betting on the 70-something percent who don’t regularly listen to podcasts to start listening through new ways of discovery in 2018 and beyond. Plus she speculates on the longevity of RSS feeds in podcasting. Do you agree?

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Regardless of where home is for you, we’d love for you to join us as we all get together next summer at Podcast Movement 2018!

OUR HOLIDAY SALE ONLY LASTS ONE MORE WEEK!

Register for the lowest possible price, PLUS getan exclusive (free) PM Holiday Shirt, between now and December 26. Don’t miss it!

Remember to be unusually kind and compassionate to those around you during the Holidays…because you never know who will end up being your Secret Santa!

Team Podcast Movement wishes you & your household a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

Making the yuletide gay,
Team PM

Joy to the podcast world, we hope your holidays are going great!

In the spirit of the season, we decided to pull a Mariah Carey with this week’s newsletter, and find out everything that the PM community wants for their podcast this holiday season. We asked the community Facebook group what their “wants” were, and compiled some of our favorites:

“A few good guests!” -Esta Fiesta, Poised n Polished

“..a million more downloads..” -Tim Lewis, Begin Self Publishing

“Sponsorships” -Kathy Reagan Young, FUMS: Giving Multiple Sclerosis The Finger

“A few honest, hungry listeners to give it a chance” -Matt Ham, Whole Life Matters

“Zoom H6” -Teer Hardy, Brewing Theology with Teer

“To be featured in New & Noteworthy!” -Patrice Washington, Redefining Wealth

“Money” -Alaska Jayne, Murder Under The Midnight Sun: True Crime Stories From Alaska & Beyond podcast

“iTunes reviews lol” -Alina Brown, Wellness Geek

“A few more hours in the day so that I could try out that sleep thing everyone’s talking about!” -Tyler Allen, Minds of Madness

“Network Neutrality” -Gordon Firemark, Entertainment Law Update

Haven’t answered yet? Please feel free to share your answer with the group as well… and we promise no coal for your stocking!

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Tis the season to be jolly

The holiday season is about a lot of things, and one of the most important is holiday cheer! If you’re looking for some extra, and there’s no egg nog handy, check out this hilarious video. You’ve got to watch until the end!

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Elf on the Shelf (aka Podcast Articles, Happenings and Tips)

• One of our favorite things about podcasting is that you can literally podcast about anything, for any reason. We see that in action this week, as Duolingo has launched a Spanish Podcast for English speakers who are learning Spanish.

• Nielsen continues to help us learn more about our podcasts’ listeners. The most recent study they released explores brand lift across different measures, and it’s more good news for us!

• Caching has been a common practice online for years, and has not been foreign to podcasting either. But there are a number of effects that it has on our industry specifically, and Triton just put out a whitepaper that takes a deep dive into the subject.

• We’ve seen a lot of traditional radio broadcasters making their way into the podcasting space…and for good reason! Not the least of which was written about this week by the team at Jacob’s Media: evergreen content!

• It’s the end of the year, and in podcasting that always brings us a slew of “best of” lists. This week we found one a bit out-of-the-ordinary…we think you’ll like Podmass’ podcast superlatives of 2017.

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What’s that, you want to know what WE want for Christmas?
ALL WE WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU (to come to Podcast Movement 2018)!

Register for the lowest possible price, PLUS get an exclusive (free) PM Holiday Shirt, between now and December 26. Don’t miss it!

Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet,
That’s the Podcast Movement Team rock

Happy Holidays to you and your family! The Podcast Movement team is excited about this time of year for all kinds of reasons. Some of those reasons we expected, while others caught us by surprise. The lead of this week’s newsletter is one of those (good) surprises.

Much like many of you, we’re always looking to innovate and improve what we do. And when we found out that some of the members of the PM community were having issues with a certain offering, we went to work to address it. So consider this a “case study” of that process, and we hope it is one that helps you.

If you’re not interested, you can jump straight to some of the great articles and links that we’ve curated for you this week!

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The Naughty List

We always try to deliver the best experiences possible for the community, whether it is in person at our live events, or through one of our online offerings.

So when we received feedback from some of community members that we were on their naughty list, our ears perked up.

There were a number of attendees who purchased last year’s Podcast Movement Virtual Ticket (on-demand video recordings of every session) who were having some pretty serious issues. Some folks had difficulty logging in, some were not able to find the content, and others had simply given up after logging on and having too many technical difficulties.

Since the last thing we want is a lump of coal in our stockings, we decided to go to work!

Milk & Cookies

The good news is that we’d recently attended Fincon 2017 (a great conference for those in the financial media space), where we met the team at Teachable.

The reason we’re sharing this is because after learning about Teachable, it dawned on us that it could be a great tool for podcasters who are planning to expand their podcast beyond being a standalone offering. If you’re looking to share content in the form of a membership site or online course, it’s one of the easiest and smoothest solutions we’ve come across.

So circling back to the focus, we decided to add our existing Virtual Tickets from previous PM events to the Teachable platform, in addition to their current home. We did a variation of what’s referred to as a “split test”. We were hosting the identical virtual tickets on the two platforms, inviting PM16 and PM17 virtual ticket holders to try them both, and then asking them what they like best.

The milk and cookies had been left on the mantle, but would they be eaten by the time we woke up?

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Curious about the results? We’ll let some of the responses you sent us speak for themselves:

OMG, thank you for doing this!! Podcast Movement Rocks – Dawn Fraser / Barbershop Stories

Wow, Dan! Thanks for going the extra mile, making sure everyone got the recordings. See you at PM18!!! – Rodrigo Caetano / Strategic What?! Podcast

Moving to Teachable is the best thing you’ve done! Thank you! – Kunal Sampat / Clinical Trial Podcast

Teachable appears to be a step in the right direction for Podcast Movement. Is it a tool that you should consider using as a podcaster? Check out an example of how Lee Cockerell (former VP of Disney World) and Jody Maberry from the Creating Disney Magic podcast are using Teachable for one of their classes on Time Management.

If you want a sneak peek at the PM17 Virtual Ticket, we’ve made the closing keynote from Aaron Mahnke of Lore free to preview, to see what it’s all about!

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Stocking Stuffers (aka Podcast Articles, Happenings and Tips)

• It’s been over a year now since RadioPublic launched as a listening app, with the goal of creating a platform to help listeners discover, engage with, and reward podcast hosts. Yesterday they announced a new group of strategic investments, and let us in on some cool new initiatives that could be great for podcasters.

• Blubrry announced the launch of Podcast Mirror, a new service that “mirrors” your RSS feed. It’s a free service, and might make sense for you and your podcast!

• PM community member Colin Gray discusses something many of us have thought about, but might not know about: recording and equipment for highly produced podcasts.

• Two hot genres this year in podcasting are “news” and “local”. Well a group of publishers in New Jersey have joined forces to combine the two!

• Many of you attended the session on Audio Search at PM17, lead by Anne Wootton of Audiosear.ch/Pop Up Archive. Last month they announced they had ceased operations, however this week we learned that it was because they were acquired by Apple. Interesting!

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Not yet registered for Podcast Movement 2018?

Our Holiday Sale is going on now, and we’ve got a heck of a deal!

Register for the lowest possible price, PLUS get an exclusive (free) PM Holiday Shirt, between now and December 26. Don’t miss it!

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,
The Podcast Movement Team

We hope that everyone in the US had an enjoyable and safe holiday weekend, and maybe even got some good deals on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday! If you got a great podcast-related deal, Tweet at us to let us know.

We’re trying out all kinds of different things with this newsletter, and this week we’re really excited to introduce (or re-introduce) you to one of the members of the Podcast Movement community.

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Community Spotlight – Matt Marr

Matt Marr is the host of the Dear Mattie Show. His podcast is a modern day Dear Abby with your gay best friend, which is an entertaining advice podcast where he and a guest co-host answer listener questions about family, depression, job, stress, relationships and more.

He is originally from Oklahoma where he received his master’s degree in clinical psychology. He is a psychologist by day, but was encouraged to also pursue commercial acting when he moved to Los Angeles. In fact, this is where we first learned about Matt.

Matt might be best recognized from a commercial where he was in a hotel hallway, in his underwear, with Captian Obvious from Hotels.com. He also appeared in a commercial with Justin Timberlake for Target, plus numerous other nationwide commercials for KFC, McDonalds and Intel.

He started podcasting because he loves entertaining, but he wanted more control over at least one of his many projects. Podcasting seemed like the best way to go. Since then, Matt has published over 150 episodes of his own show, and made guest appearances on over 50 others.

Matt wanted to continue to grow his podcasting efforts, which compelled him to get on the Google machine and start searching for resources to help him with some questions about his podcast. His search helped him to learn about Podcast Movement 2014 in Dallas, Texas. While he wasn’t able to attend that particular event due to a conflict with the summer camp that he was starting, he kept Podcast Movement on his radar.

He eventually was able to join us in Chicago at PM16, where he was asked to emcee PMx! Matt said he loved the experience so much that he decided to participate as a speaker the following year in Anaheim, where he signed up to take part in the first ever PMx Competition.

Matt’s talk about Public Narrative was incredible. He explained how to share stories in the most effective way possible using a technique that makes stories more exciting and engaging. Matt’s speech resonated with the audience and judges, so much so that he was announced as the first winner of the PMx Competition, and was awarded the championship belt the following evening!

He was excited to be part of the awards ceremony, and had noticed that also in the audience was Dr. Drew. When Matt took the stage, he was thrilled to win the award, and also took the opportunity to compliment Dr. Drew on how handsome he looked from the stage. It was a funny comment, but little did he know that this would end up creating an unexpected opportunity. Matt was tapped on the shoulder after his acceptance speech by Dr. Drew’s producer, and invited to be a guest on the Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew show!

Matt’s advice for anyone that is planning to attend Podcast Movement 2018 in Philadelphia is to:

Spend an hour or two before you go learning about the speakers, sessions, download the app and set up your schedule. When you get there… be prepared to let it all go. Expect to speak with podcasters from all over the world that want to know the answers to the same questions that you have. Be open and stay in the moment to meet great people. You can always watch the sessions later with the virtual ticket, but the conversations will prove to be invaluable.

Connect with Matt here: https://www.facebook.com/talktomattmarr

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Other podcast articles & happenings

• Past PM panelist Russell Lindley of AdResults asks how much analytics actually matter in podcasting.

• How one podcaster was able to quit his day job job after co-creating a critically acclaimed mysterious, paranormal docudrama.

• Big on science, but short on attention span? Then these 13 science podcasts are for you!

• A magazine and podcast have set out to accomplish a unique goal: bring Pittsburgh’s African-American community into the craft-beer scene.

• An elementary school in Texas is getting its students introduced to (and started in) podcasting early!.

• Finally, if you’re looking for a good podcast laugh, check out Dr. Ryan Gray’s post in the Podcast Movement Facebook group, and don’t be scared to contribute one of your own!

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Missed the Thanksgiving Registration sale?
Don’t worry, we’ve still got you covered!

REGISTER FOR PODCAST MOVEMENT by the end of the year to still get a great price with our Holiday Registration Special, and you’ll still also get one of our exclusive PM18 Holiday Shirts!

Have a great rest of your week!
The Podcast Movement team

Before we get to this week’s newsletter, we wanted to take a quick moment to wish all of our US based community members a Happy Thanksgiving (and for those who live anywhere else, happy “week of US based community members posting food pictures and stories)!

We’ve got a Thanksgiving registration special for those of you not yet registered for Podcast Movement, complete with free T-Shirt! You can read about it at the end of the newsletter.

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Where we’ve been

Since we first launched PM in 2014, we’ve tried our best to give back to others in the community, aside from just the conference. PM was a proud supporter of DC Podfest again this past month, as a sponsor for the attendee bags! Congrats to PM family member Jennifer Crawford and the team for putting together another high quality event!

In the Facebook Group

The PM Community Facebook group continues to foster conversations surrounding podcast tips, industry trends as well as solving unique challenges that every podcaster runs into along the way.

• Dan Franks asks Is anyone doing anything special with their podcast for Thanksgiving? and got some funny, and some smart, answers!

“Yep.. I did a “Diabetes Thanksgiving Survival Guide” a round table of adults with type 1 to give advice (and have a lot of laughs) about what happens around the table. My show is (obviously) about T1D” – Stacy Simms

“We recorded our last week and we’re putting it out at midnight. We’re a comedy based Relationship podcast so for the first half we told the legend of Pocahontas via the Disney movie, then I play the drunk uncle who ruined thanksgiving with all the facts and the true story for the second half.” – Josh Kuykendall

“Thanksgiving is much like degrees Fahrenheit, or podcasts in Google Play Music, or thinking 3/12 means a day in March. It’s something that the rest of the world doesn’t have.” – James Cridland

• Daniel J. Lewis explains Why You Should NOT Publish Audio on YouTube, and it started quite the discussion!

• A discussion about Net Neutrality broke out, and we heard different perspectives on what it could mean for the podcast industry.

Other podcast articles & happenings

• USA Today recommended some of their favorite Thanksgiving podcasts for your holiday drive. Check out the ones from PM alumni speakers Dan Pashman and Nora Mcinerny.

• Jon Levy on Inc.com gives 4 reasons why starting a podcast can help you stand out from other job candidates and competitors.

• Our friends at Podbean and Samson let us know they’re doing another free gear giveaway. No purchase necessary, but you can win a kit that includes a microphone, mic stand, USB mixer, headphones and more. Hurry up, your last chance to enter is December 15!

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The PM18 “Thanksgiving/Black Friday Sale” is happening now, and ends on Monday!

REGISTER FOR PODCAST MOVEMENT by November 27 to not only get the lowest possible price, but to get one of our exclusive PM18 Holiday Shirts!

Happy Thanksgiving (or if you don’t celebrate, then Happy Wednesday)!
The Podcast Movement team

We’re so excited to welcome you to the first (of the new-era) of Podcast Movement newsletters.

As you might know, we regularly send out emails that discuss all things related to the Podcast Movement conference, but sometimes it feels like all we talk about is the event. But the truth is, we feel like Podcast Movement is so much more than a conference… it’s a true movement of podcasters and of the podcast industry.

So that’s why we’re “relaunching” the newsletter into something that will of course still keep you up to date on the latest happenings in PM land, but will also let you know what else is happening in the larger community.

If you have something that you think would make a great story or article for a future PM Weekly newsletter, let us know!

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In the Community – Podcast Movement Meetups

We’ve travelled the country the past few weeks, and got to hang out with lots of members of the community along the way! Check out a few shots from a few of them.

Washington DC

The PM Community meetup was held at Open City DC. All types of podcasts were represented, including Military Law Matters, Data Driven, Brookings Cafeteria and The True Voyage Soundcast.

Jas Hands from the popular The Brown Liquor Report said:

“DC meetup was like a finely blended cocktail. One part: exploring how I’ve found this kind of medium to be the best vehicle for our stories and views, to one part: listening to others from locally-based shows, with totally different interests, share how their style of storytelling. Blend well and serve over mics. The meet up broadened my horizons on what podcasting can be and I can’t wait to see what else Podcast Movement has in store.”

Philadelphia

The meetup in Philadelphia had a really cool ambience courtesy of the Garces Trading Company on Locust St! Huge shoutout to Ryan Martin of Wealthadelphia for helping us to set this up.

This meetup had some podcast veterans on hand to share their perspective with newer podcasters. Learning from Christina Philburn of Whiskycast (active for over 12 years) was a treat!

Shoutout to Gabriella Vargas, Michael Szubrowski (Time is Me), Jessica Kupferman (She Podcasts), Erik Harbison (Aweber) and Matthew Passy (Pod to Pod) for making it a fun night!

Dallas

Is everything actually bigger in Texas? As far as Podcast Movement Community meetups go, the answer was yes!. Four Corners Brewery provided an excellent location that not only brought together podcasters from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area, but as well as multiple other states and even other countries!

“I enjoyed the fun event and amazing networking” – Tatiana Smith (Talking Off the Couch)

“It was great getting together with so many talented folks.” – Ronei Harden-Moroney (Coffee Talk w/ Ronei)

“It was a blast! Had so much fun seeing everyone!” – Kimberly Brown Cain (the Naked Vibes Show)

If you’d like to host an official Podcast Movement meetup in your town, email us!

In the News – Meet the people who listen to podcasts at super-fast speeds

We’ve heard stories of podcast listeners who like to listen to podcasts at 1.5x or 2.0x speed, but we learned from Buzzfeed that some people listen even faster. And we were surprised to learn that your brain might thank you for it!

Spotlight – Inside a successful niche podcast launch

PM Community member Jeremy Enns helped fellow podcaster Hayley Akins launch her new show, Motion Hatch. He put together a great writeup and case-study detailing the methods he used to help get it off the ground.

Toolbox – Formatting your show notes, and knowing how they look in apps that your listeners are using?

Alban from Buzzsprout recently shared with us a tutorial he put together to help podcasters learn basic HTML to use in their show notes. Then a few days later, James Cridland wrote a great (and detailed) article comparing how these show notes look in many of the different listening apps our audiences are using. Both are well worth your time to check out!

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The PM18 “Thanksgiving/Black Friday Sale” is happening now! Register your spot at Podcast Movement by November 27 to not only get the lowest possible price, but to get one of our exclusive PM18 Holiday Shirts!

Talk next week!
The Podcast Movement team

Podcast Movement is only 1 week away, and we cannot wait. If you are pumped, please let us know by taking a selfie and posting in the Podcast Movement Facebook group or on the PM17 app!

Today we will cover the New Attendee Orientation, ESPN’s session, Pitch a Sponsor and the Thursday Evening Luau! Let’s get this party started.

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New Attendee Orientation (and alumni refresher)

Podcast Movement continues to evolve each year, and one of the many great opportunities that developed organically from previous events was the desire for attendees to connect with each other before the event begins (yes that means you too introverts!). They also wanted an overview of the best strategies to get the full PM experience, including

• Using of the event mobile app
• Deciding and scheduling what sessions to attend
• Finding out about networking opportunities, meetups and parties
• How to find someone to eat with even if you’re alone
• Understanding the best way to connect with the exhibitors, speakers and fellow attendees

Therefore, we’re excited to bring you the inaugural New and Returning Attendees Orientation with Joe Saul Sehy, Jennifer Briney and Rich Jones. This will take place on Tuesday afternoon, August 22 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the Platinum 7 ballroom. Thanks to Simplecast, who is partnering with us to make this event possible!

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Inside ESPN’s 30 for 30

One of the top podcasts this summer is ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast, and it has been praised by sports fans, and non-sports fans alike! We are honored to have the masterminds behind this popular show discuss some of the lessons learned from Season 1.

The session will be a conversation about the creation, story selection, execution, and business approach behind the launch of the podcast, as well as discussion of the future of the series and ESPN’s plans for future storytelling initiatives. This session features Adam Neuhaus (Producer), Rose Eveleth(Producer) and Tom Ricks (VP of ESPN Audio).

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Looking for your first podcast sponsor?
Freshbooks wants to hear from you at PM17!

You asked for it and PM17 is hooking it up! We have heard from many previous PM attendees that they have everything rocking and rolling on their podcast, but still lack sponsors. At the same time, we’ve heard testimonials from various podcasts that have picked up sponsors that originally started with conversations in the hallways during the conference.

Well this year, with the help of Freshbooks, we put two and two together, as they have agreed to sponsor the podcast of at least one Podcast Movement attendee.

At PM17, you’ll have the opportunity to make a pitch to Freshbooks on why your show would be a great fit. You will not find this type of opportunity anywhere else, and we urge you to take this seriously, and show up prepared!

LEARN MORE, AND SIGN UP HERE

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Get Lei’d at Hostgator’s SoCal Luau Thursday Night

Who doesn’t love a Luau? Podcast Movement & Hostgator are bringing the Aloha spirit and fun to Anaheim for our annual Thursday Night Party! The party will be on the Lanai (or plaza) steps from the Anaheim Marriott, and all attendees are invited. Plus, if you’re traveling with non-attendees, they can join the fun too, with a small cover charge at the door.

We will have live island music, games, polynesian dancers, drinks and networking!

Remember to pack your Aloha shirt or Luau dress. The Thursday evening party promises to be one that even Don Ho would envy!

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We are excited to see you next week! Any questions, reply to this email…we’re here to help!

Ready to rock (and hula),
Team PM17

The Academy of Podcasters Awards is pleased to welcome Heather McDonald as the host of this year’s Awards and Hall of Fame Ceremony. Heather is a popular touring stand-up comic as well as an Actress and NYT Best Selling Author, as well as a writer for seven seasons on Chelsea Lately. Heather is also the host of the Juicy Scoop podcast where she discusses controversial topics with fellow actors, comics and reality stars. The show averages over 1 million downloads a month, and is a featured podcast on the Wondery podcast network.

We’re thrilled to welcome Heather as the host of this year’s awards, and know that you will be laughing when Heather takes the stage to lead the Awards and Hall of Fame ceremony this year!

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Speaking of the awards, don’t forget to be there to honor all of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, and best podcast nominees. We invite you to arrive early, and stay late, by participating in all festivities August 23:

iHeartRadio Red Carpet Party
6:00PM – 7:30PM

Come early for music and drinks, both courtesy of our friends from iHeart. Plus get your picture made on the red carpet as we prepare for the AofP Awards & Hall of Fame Ceremony!

AofP Awards & Hall of Fame Ceremony
7:30PM – 9:30PM

Wondery brings us a night to honor those who have contributed in the past year, in addition to lifetime contributors to podcasting. Heather McDonald hosts the evening, filled with laughs, fun, and a few surprise appearances!