Podcast Movement 2014 was an amazing podcasting conference! Here are the top highlights for podcasters.
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5. Presenting
I'm not going to lie, presenting my own session was a big highlight for me. I love public speaking—I've been doing it since I was 13 years old!
My session was, “10 Ways to Podcast from Average to Amazing.” This was essentially the month-long curriculum for Podcast Master Class squashed down to 35 minutes. I was so honored to see the session packed with standing room only!
This has inspired me to change some of what I do in Podcast Master Class, and possibly rework the entire thing to serve podcasters better. Join my email list to get the inside scoop on that when it's ready!
4. Vendors
You might not normally think of vendors as being a great thing at a conference. But at this Podcast Movement, the vendors were unavoidable as they were in the hallways outside of the session rooms. This was a great location, and it encouraged attendees to visit the vendors often.
These were the most interesting vendors I saw at Podcast Movement.
3. Keynotes
There are a lot of expectations on keynote sessions, and it can sometimes be hard to reach those. Here are some short but honest thoughts on each keynote.
- Chris Brogan, from Owner's Mind, presented a lot of stuff about podcasting as a business or part of your business. It was inspirational to podcasters with such a mindset. But Chris also did a lot of self-promotion of his courses, and used some crass metaphors.
- Srinivas Rao, from Unmistakable Creative, presented more of a story of passion behind the work. I thought Srini's webinar with PodMov before the conference actually had more, helpful information. But it was cool to see his rise from failure to success.
- Jamie Tardy, from The Eventual Millionaire, tried to address the future of podcasting, but she presented some misinterpreted information that many people also misunderstood. For example, she showed a chart the indicated Android's current and predicted saturation compared to iOS. Her point was that Android represents huge potential for podcast consumers, but most people misunderstood the point for being that Android users consume more podcasts, which is far from the truth. iOS still dominates the podcast-consumption stats by several factors.
- Evo Terra, creator of Podiobooks.com, has been in podcasting since the beginning and challenged us to turn podcasting into a constructive disruption. This gave us a lot to consider what we can do to make the space better.
- Cliff Ravenscraft, from Podcast Answer Man, closed the conference with a purely inspirational talk about the power of podcasting to change lives.
2. Breakout sessions
Thanks to the virtual ticket, I attended very few breakout sessions (see #1 for why). But here are I think the top three sessions that generated the most buzz and presented the most interesting information.
- “The Top 7 Ways to Grow Your Podcast Listeners and Turn Into Leads” with Tim Paige
- “How I Drink Beer For A Living And Faked It Till I Made It” with Justin Crossley
- “Using YouTube to Help Grow Your Podcast” with Rob Cesternino
- “Audio Post-Processing for Podcasts” with Ray Ortega
1. Networking
The most exciting part of Podcast Movement was the networking—talking with other podcasters (or about-to-be podcasters). I met and had great conversations with many amazing people with amazing ideas!
The conversations were so inspirational that I didn't want to go to bed or leave the event!
Additional mixed thoughts
This Podcast Movement was a first-year event, so I would call it a huge success!
Big props to Podcast Movement organizers for providing the virtual ticket to all registered attendees! Each session was recorded in audio and video!
The party at House of Blues was way too loud—but this isn't solely the fault of the live music. The acoustics of the room were horrible for networking, and I ended up leaving to talk with people over dessert back at the hotel. But huge thanks for providing buses between the party and the hotel.
The hotel, conference space, and dining options were all in the same building, which saved us from walking outside in the hot, humid weather.
I have two regrets about Podcast Movement: that I didn't sponsor it with My Podcast Reviews, and that I didn't schedule my own local meetup. Next time I'm traveling for a conference, I will host a meetup!
You should attend Podcast Movement 2015!
This was an amazing event and I'm confident that you would not regret attending next year! The next Podcast Movement is scheduled for July 31–August 2, 2015 at the Omni Downtown in Fort Worth, Texas.
I would guess that, while this Podcast Movement had a strong business/entrepreneurship theme, next year will be more diverse.
Announcements
New Media Expo will be April 13–16, 2015 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Westgate Hotel (formerly LVH) in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is in combination with the National Association of Broadcasters. So it will be another amazing event! I'll be there and will also cover some of the show flow to highlight products and services for podcasters.
Thank you for the iTunes reviews!
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Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
Thanks for this review. I totally missed the ProCast by MikTek booth (I vaguely remember it being near the libsyn booth?)
I think it’s hilarious that you commented on Chris Brogan’s sneaky ways for promoting his products during the Keynote. Isn’t that what Daniel J Lewis does in each episode of Podcasters’ Roundtable? 🙂
Thanks for including my talk in your highlights. Good overview of the conference and I think you did a great job in your session. I was one of those standing;)
Ray, I wasn’t at the event, but I loved the two episodes where you covered that info. I need to look into that a lot more.
Thanks Joshua. There is more to come that goes much deeper than I could go in my talk. I appreciate you listening.
Thanks for sharing this, Daniel! I really hope to make it next year to #PM15. I’m also looking forward to seeing what you do with Podcast Master Class.
Incredible post Daniel… Thank you for your support. Thank you for being an amazing asset to the podcasting community!
You’re welcome, Jared! I loved being part of the conference!
I’ll email Dan some additional thoughts and ideas you’re welcome to take or discard.
I was there and enjoyed your session immensely, and will be subscribing to your podcast. It was good to see a more critical overview of the conference- I appreciated the honesty.
Thank you, Heather! We didn’t get to meet face-to-face, did we?