While we’ve been on our summer break from the podcast, we’ve been hard at work putting together the Publisher Podcast Summit; the first ever conference dedicated to supporting publishers on their podcasting journey. It’s being held at Proud Cabaret City in London – the same venue as the Publisher Podcast Awards – on October 5th 2022.
The Summit will cover four key themes: editorial, marketing, sound & production, and monetisation. There will also be a series of expert-led roundtables in the afternoon covering a variety of topics, from how to get started with subscriber-only podcasts, to advanced microphone and equipment techniques.
The Publisher Podcast Summit is designed for publishers of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re contemplating launching your first podcast, or have a whole stable and want to know how to take your strategy to the next level. We’ve also got team tickets to make it affordable to bring more people – this isn’t one of those stuffy conferences reserved for just senior executives. We believe change happens when people at all levels feel empowered to learn, so we want you to bring along the people who will be driving podcasts.
In this teaser episode, Chris, Peter and Esther discuss their plans for the day, and which sessions they’re most looking forward to.
Chris: Obviously the session everyone’s most looking forward to is my fireside chat with Tortoise’s Head of Strategic Growth Alice Sandelson about why podcasting is at the heart of their growth strategy. But I’m also really looking forward to hearing from Laura Kelly about how The Big Issue is using its BetterPod to bring the stories of marginalised people to a new audience. Podcasting is a prestige format and I know from my work on Media Voices and various other podcasts that high-profile people like to come on and talk about visible companies and issue. But BetterPod proves that you can use that prestige format to shine a line on the disenfranchised and marginalised, whose stories are no less compelling than CEOs, famous authors and athletes, and the like. We love The Big Issue here at Media Voices, so I’m chuffed to have Laura on the agenda.
Peter: The presentations, panels and chats are all brilliant, but I’m most looking forward to the afternoon roundtables. We’re kicking each one off with an expert speaker, then getting into the practical discussions. I love the way a good roundtable gets right to the heart of individual challenges and with these being pre-booked I think some really interesting conversations will develop around very specific real-world issues. Topics on the list at the moment include equipment – a basics session and an advanced session – growth strategies, how to launch subscriber-only podcasts, and advertising and beyond. Attendance at the roundtables is on a first-come-first-served basis to people who have got their tickets – so hurry!
Esther: I’m really looking forward to the opening panel which is about how to create a podcast that aligns with your brand. This is a session you can get a lot from even if you’ve got existing podcasts. The panel features BuzzFeed’s Ada Enechi who leads their Seasoned Sessions podcast, Jendella Benson who hosts Black Ballad’s podcast, and Zoe Chamberlain who has developed Birmingham Mail’s Brummie Mummies podcast into a proper community. Ollie Guillou is moderating – he worked with New Scientist to launch their award-winning podcast last year, so there’s a heck of a lot of knowledge on that stage. Each publication has approached their podcast from a different angle so I can’t wait to see what they have to say about the process and the advice for publishers looking to launch their own podcasts and how they can do so in new and exciting ways.
If you’d like to join us at the Publisher Podcast Summit, you can use the code POD20 for 20% off all ticket types. A big thanks to the Summit’s sponsors: Bababam, Megaphone by Spotify, and Shure for their support.
The Media Voices podcast will be back on September 26th with a new season featuring deep dives with leading industry analysts into some of the year’s biggest media moments.
