Podcast Freq

Well 2 days travel for a 2 days conference. Tough schedule but well worth it as Podcamp Boston was a great event to attend. As I have said before I have always wanted to go to the Boston event as it is the home of the Podcamp and I wasn’t disappointed. So what are the key, top line takeaways for me personally?

1) The US are ahead of Europe in terms of thinking about podcasting. The conversation is much more about social media and how podcasting fits into that model rather than the tools of podcasting. There was much more emphasis on marketing, on creating a community, on branding. But the gap is closing and closing quickly.

2) The importance of face to face meetings/conferences. On line friendships are a vital part of my life now and I see them as strong as many of my offline ones. However, there really is nothing like meeting the face behind the voices. You can see the passion, you can see the personality, you become inspired by the level of ideas being thrown around the corridors and rooms. Never feel “Oh, I can’t be bothered to go…”, be bothered because you get so much personal development and even contacts that events really are worth the effort.

3) The power of audio as a brand. Many podcasters such as John Wall from The M Show I could just recognise from the voice….the realisation that the voice is the brand, the sound of the podcast is the brand. That before you change the sound of the brand, ensure that you are not compromising the brand values or if you are, it is part of your plan!

4) That as a podcaster you often do not realise that your passion has faded a little…I love podcasting, love doing 3 shows - The Podcast Sisters, Middle Age Shed and The Engaging Brand but all that editing can drain some of the energy away without you realising it. Finding events like a barcamps or podcamps, can top up that energy by acting as affirmation of why you are podcasting…why this medium was so important to you when you set out…and also how far you have come.

5) Another lesson for me was that, we do have to try and get the podcasting message out to the world! I heard a few people say..other people don’t get it….well I think that is dangerous. Once upon a time, I knew nothing about podcasting…it didn’t mean I was stupid, it meant that someone needed to help me, help explain the benefits and how to subscribe to these free shows…I remember thinking there must be a catch! We shouldn’t build a barrier of superiority because we understand podcasting, but instead throw a challenge down to ourselves that we will have introduced a 1,000 people to podcasting over the next 12 months.

So a great event and I will share more about various sessions during the week but check out the podcamp schedule and if there is one near you go…if there isn’t one…why not organise one yourself?

podcamp, podcamp boston, podcasting, barcamp,