Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Podcast Conferences: How to Get Your Money’s Worth

Episode Date: February 28, 2020

The first time I attended a podcast conference, I left feeling kind of ‘meh. Don’t think I need to do this again.’    I realized later that I didn’t really think about what I wanted to get out of the podcast conference before I went. I knew I wanted to attend sessions and meet fellow podcasters, but I didn’t have a plan (I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of gal).    So...I asked my friend Steve Stewart, podcast editor extraordinaire and conference lover, to come on Podcasting Step by Step to discuss how we can get our money’s worth out of conferences, and not leave feeling like we’ve wasted our time.    Steve is hosting the first Podcast Editors Conference March 6! *** Ready to start your own show? Download my free guide: “8 Mistakes New Podcasters Make and How to Fix Them.”    Looking for a podcast media host? Use my Libsyn affiliate code POSTCARD to get the rest of this month for free and next month free.    I’m your podcast launch consultant, Sarah Mikutel. If you’d like to learn more about me, you can check out my other podcast, Postcard Academy travel podcast. This travel podcast is for the ‘experiences not things’ kind of person who believes travel goes deeper than a fantastic meal (though that is pretty great). Every week, I interview people who packed up everything to start a new adventure in another part of the world. You’ll learn how they did it and get their best insider food and culture tips.    Thank you so much for listening to Podcasting Step by Step. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Have you been wanting to start a podcast for a while now, but something's holding you back? Maybe it's fear of putting yourself out there or confusion about the technology. I'm Sarah Mikital and on podcasting step by step, I'll break down how to podcast with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and the confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Let's get started. The first time I attended a podcast conference, I left feeling kind of, me. I don't know if I need to do this again. I realized later that I didn't really think about what I wanted to get out of the conference before I got there. And I also had the good fortune of meeting

somebody really cool on my very first day. And so we ended up hanging out together the whole time, which was great. So new friend for life. But I didn't actually spend that much time connecting with anyone else or going to a lot of the events. And I attended certain sessions. And I attended certain sessions, but I don't know. When I left, I was just kind of like, I don't know if conferences are my thing. I now know that conferences can be a ton of fun and very valuable as well if you do a little pre-planning ahead of time. So today I'm speaking with my friend Steve Stewart, editor, extraordinaire, and co-founder of the podcast editor's conference. And we will be talking about how to get the most out of a podcast conference or any conference, really. Because podcast conferences,

aren't cheap. You've got to buy the ticket. You've got to invest in getting there and having a place to stay. So my goal for this episode is to help you get your money's worth when you go to a podcast conference. Let's jump into my conversation with Steve. Welcome, Steve. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me. This is a pleasure. I am so excited to see you again in Florida in a few weeks very shortly. We're going there for Podfest, but not just Podfest. You have started a brand new conference, so tell us what that's all about. Yeah, it's crazy. I've been wanting to do something for podcast editors for a while. I've got a Facebook group of just podcast editors. We've got over 5,000 members. I was thinking about a virtual summit, but could never get it together. And then my

friend, Mark Deal, who's now my business partner and all this had talked to Chris Kermitzels, who runs Podfest. And they're like, hey, how about having this microcon? And what a microcon is, They've done this at another conference that I'm very familiar with, kind of grew up in the conference called FinCon. They've always had this pre-conference thing. So if you were interested in credit cards, they had a one-day thing about just credit cards, and then you could also be interested in going to FinCon.

Well, people who are interested in podcast editing are probably also interested in other podcasting stuff. So it's the perfect marriage, one location, same weekend. It's just going to be a perfect place to have, you know, the business side of podcast post-production people. That's us podcast editors. And then people are also going to podcast. Podfest, just rubbing elbows together and maybe getting some business done.

Oh, so this is the Friday of Podfest, right? Yeah, it's Friday, March 6th at the World Center Marriott. I can't forget, it's like four words, but it's the big one. And what's the name of your conference specifically? It's podcast editor conference. Nice and clear and easy to understand. U.R.L is dot com. So there you go.

We got it. So is this for people who are already podcast editors for other people? Is it for newbies? Is it for people who just want to learn better? What are you going? Who is this for and what will you be teaching there? Yeah. The theme of this year is the business side of podcast post-production.

So it's how you grow your business into a serious side hustle or your full-time job. Now, this works not just for people who want to get into editing, though, because we're not talking about editing. There's almost nothing in this conference that specifically, about the skills of editing. There's one that kind of touches on it. The rest are all about branding, marketing, pricing yourself right, getting rid of the dud clients and hiring the right clients, processes, systems, how to speak to clients.

And this could also be good for VAs as well who want to get into serving podcasters as a VA. They don't have to learn how to edit. They can also find someone to outsource the editing too, but then be the person who does all the contacting the guests, scheduling the things, setting up the tape sinks, communicating with the guests. And that's just four things right there. Then we've got the show notes. We've got the transcriptions. We've got the artwork. We've got the social media. We've got the website management.

All kinds of things that VAs can do. We're not teaching them those skills. We're teaching them how to make it a business that they can then run themselves. Yeah, small business skills, I guess. It sounds like which is stuff that we could all learn. I think even if we don't have a business yet, I think learning those skills helps you become a better podcaster. Because you know, need all those skills, right? Like, you need to have, like, a successful podcast that doesn't make you want to lose your mind. You have to have certain systems in place. You have to know how to promote yourself and market yourself. So I think really anyone could benefit from this conference. Well, thank you. I think so, too. Yes, I will always sing your praises, Steve. You're one of my

favorite people ever. You're a joy. So for people who have not been to a conference before or have been to conferences, but kind of get nervous at them or don't feel comfortable. I would love to hear your advice on how can we have a good game plan to get the most out of a conference? You want to be in the sessions. You don't want to miss those. I'll tell you the biggest benefit in what you're going to get out of these types of conferences is the hallways, the conversations that you have late night or breakfast or lunch or just in the hallways. You can get so much more value from having a casual conversation that turns into a really great educational resource

when you're talking to somebody who probably wouldn't be able to sit, on an hour, you know, Skype call with you to talk business or, you know, podcasting. But if you're in the hallways already, they're already there. So take advantage of those times in the hallways to stop someone if they're not already in a conversation or try to get yourself in that circle when there's a group of people and just join the conversations. Yeah. So that's, we're talking now like your conference, but then also Podfest, which is a bigger

conference. But so, Steve, you're, you're a sociable guy and you are already. friends with so many podcasters, but what about somebody who's new to the scene? What advice would you give them to meet new people? Yeah, I'll tell you, one of the biggest problems with, I don't want to say problems with podcasters, we all, not all of us, but there's a lot of people who we want to get on the microphone, but we're kind of introverted at the same time. And we can't be that way at a conference. We've got to be able to walk up and talk to somebody. And I'll tell you some of the easiest things to do is to go up and everybody's going to have their name badges on.

Walk up to them and just greet them by name and say, hey, what's your podcast about? Podcasters love to talk about their podcast. You'll instantly start that communication. Even if you're an introvert and you're scared of this, just listen. That starts those conversations. And I think that's where you're going with this question. Is how do we get started? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's one of the things that you've got to do. Because I know there's a guy who is. was big in my niche in the financial, I used to be in the financial personal finance genre, I guess you call it. And he went to FinCon, the financial blogger conference, which is now the Money and Media Conference. First year, he didn't talk to anybody. And the next year, he was like, I wasted so much time going to that, just going to sessions, sitting down, taking notes, where the next year he came in like a roar and he just, he networked his butt off. And it was good for him because he had a purpose. I mean, you don't go to these.

conferences just because you want to hang out. If you're an introvert, you're not going to do that. So you're going to the conference to learn. You're going to the conference to network. You're going to the conference to meet people. And in the case of the podcast setters conference, you know, you're going to ours to learn some business stuff, but you're also going to be able to apply those in maybe rubbing elbows with potential clients that are there. Yeah, I think having an intention before you go is key. Because I will say, I'm not the best planner. I am very fly by the seat of your pants, trying to change that, but I know who I am at my core. But I do think it's helpful if you know what you want to get out before you go. And so I might, like, I don't tend to even, like, look at what sessions are

on when I'm there. And I think this time before I go, I think I'm actually going to, like, look at the playbook and see what's there so I can not miss a session that I want to go. And then, to your point, meeting in the hallways is really great and really fun. And your icebreaker, was great as well, like just asking people what their podcast is because we've all got one. And another thing I would say is see if there's going to be people there in advance that you actually want to meet. Look through the program, look for speakers, but then also people in groups that you might belong to, like she podcasts, for instance, or your podcast editor's Facebook group. And if you don't know anyone yet who's a podcaster, a lot of people in those groups

or just saying like, hey, I'm going to Podfest and I don't know anyone. And usually people are jumping in like, well, we can meet up. Like, let's hang out. Yeah, and one of the things you can use, and I do agree that you should probably look at the schedule and start planning out some things you want to do. But don't be upset if you don't get to the session that you planned on is take a look through the session, see what titles grab you. It's just like a podcast episode.

The title's got to be the grabbing thing. And that might not be fully represented at this session, but you could always walk out. But you set up that schedule. In fact, there's an app that the Podfest Expo has, and the podcast centers conference sessions are in there as well, that can allow you to set reminders that, well, hey, 10 minutes before this session starts. So you could actually make that your default backup system to, hey, I figured out I want to go to these sessions, and it's all in my calendar.

But then if you don't get to go to it, you know, it's not a big deal. But at least you had the plan in place first. You said, hey, I really want to get something out of the audio drama. stuff. You know, Glenn the Geek and Robin Sales are doing improv thing. Maybe I really want to do that. You know, pick out those sessions and those events that you want to do. Make that your first plan. And then everything else can be supplementary to that. Yes, yes, I totally agree. That, yeah, that app is the H-U-V-A app. Have you checked it out yet? Is it whoo-I-I-was pronouncing it wrong? How do you say it? I don't know. You're right. W-H-O-V-A-W-W-F. Yeah, whatever. But I think you're right.

The same debate happened at Sheepadcast Live because they also were using the Hubea app. And a lot of people were calling it Hube, and then somebody heard it and was like, is it Hube or isn't this other? Yeah, so who knows? What else is fantastic in there is it has everybody's name who's registered on the app that's going. And then that's a way you can connect with people, individuals before you can get there and maybe say, hey, I want to, you know, meet with you for whatever reason. Or better yet, there's a whole section for just meetups. And if there's a meetup, like there's a female podcasters meetup, I think it's lunchtime on Saturday or something, perfect opportunity for females to get together and talk about podcasting. And you don't have to have announced yourself and, you know, shaking everybody's hands before you got there. You just go ahead and show up.

Yeah, and you can actually create your own meetup, I think. So if people are from, I don't know, Boise, Idaho, just randomly popped into my head, you could be like, hey, are there any other? Boisian. Boisian is much better than Idahoian. That just doesn't sound right. I don't think that's a real word. I should have said Boisian. Anyway, you can have a Boisian meetup. So anyway, what was your first podcast conference, Steve?

The first podcast conference would have to have been podcast movement because that was really kind of, well, I can't say it's the first one because there was the local ones. There was a pod. Oh, shoot, I can't remember. Dallas was kind of the first one. Dallas had a meetup group and they had their own podcons. And they were getting rather sizable. I know Florida was big too in California as well. But I'd have to say the first one was me for it was a podcast moment.

I got to contribute to the Kickstarter in 2014, went through the first year. It was game changing because that was at that point, I was still a podcaster. I wasn't serving people in the post-production role. So I was going out there to learn and network. really communicate with other people about this medium that I loved. And that totally worked for me. I had no idea. Looking back now,

it's like, wow, what a great thing that was because I was going there as someone who wanted to learn and someone who wanted to meet other podcasters, but not try to serve them in any other way other than just being that support person, who's also a podcaster. But now as a post-production person, it's a completely different world for me,

but I'm kind of that community. I feel like I'm, I belong to that community. I'm going to save the story of how Steve went from podcaster to podcast editor for next week's episode because we are going to get into how you can start your podcast editing side hustle. To summarize what we talked about today, have a goal for attending the podcast conference. What do you want to get out of it? Plan what activities you'll want to do when you get there. So before you even get to the conference, try to get like 20 minutes on your calendar to review what the sessions are and what you want to attend during the day, but then also at night because there's probably going to be some fun events happening.

Another thing we mentioned today is connect with people before the conference. Our attendees chatting about the event somewhere online already. The reason that I liked my second podcast conference much, much more than the first one is because I started to build a lot of friendships online, especially in Chi podcast Facebook group. So start conversations before you even get there. I think conferences are a lot more fun if you're looking forward to meeting somebody in person there. And then when you do get there, be the first person to break the ice. So Steve and I didn't talk about this, but I like to follow the five second rule.

So if you show up in a room and it's just you and one other person, within the first five seconds, be the first person to break the ice, say hello, ask an open-ended question like, what was your favorite session today? Or what are you most looking forward to this weekend? If you wait more than five seconds, chances are you're going to check it out and not say anything or you'll both feel like it's too awkward, like I want to say something, but too much time has gone by. So just be the first person to say something within the first five seconds. And then also stay comfortable.

So Steve and I didn't get into this either. But wear shoes that feel comfortable on your feet, bring a lot of snacks. So bring like a canvas bag or something with some healthy snacks. Because hotel food can, one, get expensive. And it just gets, you know, I love to eat out. But after a while, it just gets a little bit old. In fact, my friends and I are renting an apartment for a pod vass. So we can have a little bit more space. It's going to be a little bit more relaxing, I think, than staying in a hotel. But then we can also come back and cook our food if we want. too. So there is another little tip. See if there is a place nearby that might be cheaper and more comfortable than staying in a hotel. So that's it for now. Stay tuned for a future episode with me and Steve talking all about how to break into podcast editing. And I will talk to you soon. Thank you for listening to podcasting step by step. You are now one step closer to launching that podcast you've been dreaming about. But I want to get you even closer. I created a free guidebook for you with actionable worksheets called

Eight Mistakes New Podcasters Make and How to Fix Them. To find that, head on over to sarah micahatel.com slash fix. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation cheat sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.