Month: September 2016

Podcast Cruise 2017 Happens in February

~ jen

podcast-cruise-2017Podcast Cruise 2017 will combine some of the world’s top podcast personalities with an elite group of attendees as they join forces to discuss emerging strategies, latest trends, and best practices that will help you create, grow, and monetize your podcast. Space is limited!

Podcast Cruise will depart from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on February 11, 2017, and return on February 16, 2017. Registration is limited to the first 40 attendees to ensure they get the full benefits of this exclusive gathering.

Registration is a two-part process. First you book the conference portion of the cruise, and then you’ll be directed to the cruise agency to pick your stateroom type and location. The information says: “If your significant other is cruising with you, the conference portion is waived, and they will just need to be booked on the cruise portion only”.

The podcast conference includes:

  • Two full days of elite level training and masterminding. Includes keynote speeches, panel discussion, small group roundtables, and more
  • Unparalleled access to some of the top names and experts in podcasting
  • Participate in an event with a very small number of elite attendees, and an incredibly low speaker to attendee ratio
  • The opportunity to participate in the optional, and limited, on-shore activities, that will include port excursions with the speakers and a small group of other attendees
  • Networking opportunities in a unique setting not available anywhere else

At the time I am writing this blog, the website for the Podcast Cruise 2017 has yet to reveal their complete speaker lineup. They have, however, noted the organizers.  Jared Easley is one of the co-founders for Podcast Movement. He is also the host of the Starve the Doubts podcast. Dan Franks helped start and still organizes Podcast Movement. He is also the business manager at Midroll Media.

Libsyn Celebrates International Podcast Day with Online Conference

~ jen

libsyn-live-conference-international-podcast-dayInternational Podcast Day takes place on September 30th every year. Various podcasts will be doing something special on that day. Libsyn is celebrating by doing a One Day Online Conference. You can participate!

Libsyn’s contribution to this year’s International Podcast Day is the Libsyn Live: One Day Online Conference. They will feature four of Libsyn’s in house experts tacking varied topics ranging from podcasting basics to podcasting from an iOS device.

Anyone who wants to participate can do it for free! Just visit the website for the Libsyn Live: One Day Online Conference. Those who are commenting online about the event, or who want to let others know about it, should use #LibsynLive.

Schedule

9:30 AM EDT – light introduction and content from some of Libsyn’s shows

10:00 – 11:00 AM EDT – Podcasting 101/201
This session will be given by Libsyn’s support power house Krystal O’Connor. It is the perfect session for those who are just getting started and for those who want to brush up on the basics.

12:00 – 1:30 PM EDT – Podcasting 100% from iOS Device
This session is given by Rob Walch who has over ten years of podcasting experience. Learn how to be super mobile with your podcast. Record on the go as well as integrate interviews and editing all while mobile.

2:00 – 3:30 PM EDT – Growing Your Audience
This session is given by Dave Jackson who is new to Libsyn but not new to podcasting. He covers the topic: “How do I grow my audience?”

4:00 – 5:30 PM EDT – Social Media Best Practices for Podcasters
Elsie, who handles most of Libsyn’s social media presence, shares her best practices with you. She is the co-founder of She Podcasts. She gives you details on making sense of all the platforms you feel like you HAVE to be on.

7:00 PM EDT – Roundtable/Q&A
This is the time for you to ask questions and get them answered by the Libsyn team.

If you cannot make the Libsyn Live: One Day Online Conference, it doesn’t mean you have completely missed out. Libsyn is going to make the entire event and sessions available on their YouTube Channel.

International Podcast Day 2016 is Here!

~ shawn

International Podcast DayNational Podcast Day badge is back for its third year. The online event started in 2014 and is officially celebrated on September 30th. And while it’s still technically September 29th in many part of the world, it is in fact September 30th in the far Eastern Hemisphere, and that’s why Podcast Day 2016 is kicking things off by featuring podcasters from Australia and New Zealand.

The Podcast Day event is jam-packed with podcasting-related discussions from producers located all over the world. Here’s just a few of the presentations planned during the event:

  • Film & Television Podcasting
  • Growing a Podcast Network in India
  • How To Craft the Perfect Story
  • Storytelling From an Old-Fashioned Industry
  • Podcasts As a Business Asset
  • Podcasting and Entrepreneurship
  • From Branding to Promotion
  • Past, Present and Future of Podcasting
  • Highlighting the LGBT Community
  • Anxiety Relief… One Podcast At a Time

International Podcast Day’s live streaming partner is Firetalk. A live broadcast of the event will be ongoing until the end of September 30th on the Podcast Day Firetalk page.

The International Podcast Day Twitter account is also actively covering all Podcast Day-related news. If you’d like to help promote Podcast Day, there are a full set of promotional materials available on the event’s website.

World of Podcasts Takes Place Before BlizzCon

~ jen

world-of-podcastsCon Before the Storm is featuring World of Podcasts on the night before BlizzCon X. This will be World of Podcast’s 4th year. The event is a party organized by fans, for fans. It includes special guest “personalities” who come to meet fans in person.

The World of Podcasts event will take place at the Anaheim Hilton, in Anaheim, California, on the evening of November 3, 2016. BlizzCon starts the very next day, and continues from November 4 through November 5. Con Before the Storm’s World of Podcasts focuses on Blizzard’s games, and the people who play them, podcast about them, or listen to podcasts about them.

Con Before the Storm will have a Fan Art gallery, a photobooth, meet & greet autograph rooms, live podcasts, and more. There will be several panels at this year’s World of Podcasts.

Con Before the Storm & World of Podcasts Kickoff

  • Heather (Xia) – The Sundering
  • Vee (Zoopercat) – Ask Mr Robot
  • Dave (Ceraphus) – The Sundering

Hearthstone

  • Moderator: Garrett Weinzierl – The Angry Chicken
  • Josh Augustine – Happy Hearthstone
  • Chris Chan – ValueTown
  • Espo – Legend of the Innkeeper
  • Kevin Hovdestad – Well Met!

Heroes of the Storm

  • Moderator: Scott Johnson – Core
  • Rilandune – HoTScast
  • Ryan Reider – Lords of the Storm
  • Kyle Fergusson – Into the Nexus
  • Jon Jagger – Core

World of Warcraft

  • Moderator: Bay – Final Boss
  • Dustin – Horde for Life
  • Belle – Pwncast
  • Ben – Azeroth Round Table
  • Tavata & Tovo – Line of Sight Gaming

Overwatch

  • Moderator: John Horstmann – The Payload
  • Veritech – The Guardians
  • Frostee – Overcast
  • Kevin Ellis – The Calvery
  • Rosh – The Payload

Podcasting

  • Moderator: Rewt – Hearthcast
  • Chris Case – The Game Case
  • Fimlys – Twisted Nether
  • Freckleface – Hearthcast
  • Medros – All Things Azeroth
  • Kevin – Darkmoon Herald

Starbucks Upstanders Includes a Podcast

~ jen

upstanders-podcast-logoStarbucks has created its own original content series. It is called Upstanders and it includes both videos and podcasts episodes. The purpose of the Upstanders series is to help inspire us to be better citizens.

Upstanders is a collection of short stories, produced either in film, written word, or podcast episodes, that share the experiences of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to create positive change in their communities. Starbucks calls this group of people “Upstanders”.

There are a total of 10 episodes in the series. The series is written and produced by Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz along with Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Starbucks executive producer and a former senior editor of “The Washington Post”.

In addition, there is a social campaign that is being powered by Fotition. You can post a photo of yourself and join a movement of people determined to make positive change together. Stand up and become an Upstander. Your “Fote” is your pledge to stand up in support of others regardless of their race, their religion, the color of their skin, their gender, their sexual orientation, or their political beliefs.

Four episodes of Upstanders have been released on iTunes (so far).

“The Mosque Across the Street” asks the question: What happens when a mosque moves across the street from a church in the Bible Belt?” Pastor Steve Stone learns that a mosque will be built across the street from his church. He found a way to welcome the community of people who would be at the mosque.

“Scholarships for Every Student” tells the story of residents of Baldwin, Michigan, who banded together to raise enough money to provide every high school student with a college scholarship.

“Homes for Everyone” tells the story of a unique solution Utah came up with to reduce the chronic homeless population by 91%.

“The Empathic Police Academy” is about Susan Rahr’s efforts to transform the way police officers are trained in Washington state. She wants them to become guardians of the community.

 

Four Forbes Podcasts are Joining PodcastOne

~ jen

PodcastOne LogoForbes has announced that a quartet of Forbes podcasts about business, women and tech will debut on PodcastOne in early October of 2016. PodcastOne has over 200 podcasts on a wide variety of subjects.

AdWeek reported that Forbes had been testing its Women@Forbes podcast series on its own properties for a few months and had decided to ramp up its efforts in podcasting. It appears that Forbes is expecting to see “plenty of ad revenue” from the agreement with PodcastOne.

There are a total of four Forbes podcasts that will soon make their debut on PodcastOne.

The Limit Does Not Exist is hosted by Cristina Wallace and Cate Scott Campbell. They believe that creativity and STEM can and should hang out together all the time. Why limit yourself to one side of your brain… or one career path? The Limit Does Not Exist includes plenty of guests.

Mentoring Moments is hosted by Denise Restauri. The main idea of the podcast is “women you may never meet will be become your mentors”. The show includes stories by women from multiple generations who share their “wow, you need to know this” stories that propelled their careers.

The Premise is hosted by Parmy Olson. This podcast is a business leader’s dashboard for what’s next. Each week, Forbes writers and editors explore the technology changes affecting your company, industry, or portfolio.

Hiding in the Bathroom is hosted by Morra Aarons-Mele. The show features successful entrepreneurs who share the strategy tips that you won’t learn in business school. This podcast is for entrepreneurs who want to embrace their introverted selves while building strong relationships and achieving success.

 

Ads Come to Overcast With Latest Update

~ shawn ~ 1 Comment

Overcast logoMonetizing podcasts isn’t always easy. And apparently, the same rule applies to podcast-consumption apps. That’s the ultimate truth Marco Arment, the developer of iOS podcasting app Overcast, has determined. In a lengthy blog post, Arment breaks down the monetization tactics he’s tried during Overcast’s first two years. And while those tactics did show momentary glimpses of hope, none of them seemed likely to work long term. That got Arment to consider some new monetization options:

Ads are the great compromise: money needs to come from somewhere, and the vast majority of people choose free-with-ads over direct payment. Ads need not be a bad thing: when implemented respectfully, all parties can get what they want.

Most podcasts played in Overcast are funded by ads for this reason, and as a podcaster and (occasional) blogger myself, I already make most of my income from ads.

Prior to this move, Arment had tried in-app subscriptions and a Patreon campaign to try and make Overcast a profitable endeavor. But those systems fell short of the mark. Arment is hopeful that running display ads inside of his app will prove to be more profitable in the long run. Overcast users who want to banish display ads and unlock all of Overcast’s features can also now buy a $9.99 subscription for one year.

Patreon Lauches Private RSS Feeds

~ shawn

PatreonRSSPatreon has become a popular crowdfunding platform for podcasters. And the people behind the service have taken notice. Patreon launched a new feature this week that could’ve only been inspired by the needs of podcasters; Private RSS feeds.

Offering premium content behind a paywall is a monetization strategy used by many podcasters. But the solutions for doing that can be complex and unreliable. Usually, podcasters just upload a cache of files to a server behind a password-protected paywall. Or they’d try and create their own premium content system using various combinations of WordPress plugins and third-party providers.

Patreon’s new offering should make the process of providing premium podcast content much easier. When Patreon creators upload media files to their account, those files will automatically go into a generator on Patreon’s backend that creates unique, private RSS feed URLs for Patreon backers. Those URLs can then be added to most popular podcast-consumption apps, like iOS Podcasts, Downcast, Overcast, Podcast Addict, and more. When creators add new media file to their Patreon accounts, backers will receive them via their private RSS feeds.

The Patreon website discourages users from sharing their private RSS feed links. But it’s unclear if Patreon will be actively monitoring the usage of these feeds for potential infringement. And while it seems logical that these feeds would stop working for backers who’ve stopped donating, the website doesn’t say anything about this.

Canada is Getting Its First International Podcast Festival

~ jen

Hot Docs logoThe Hot Docs Podcast Festival will take place on November 18-20, 2016. It is Canada’s first international podcast festival. It is presented by Hot Docs. Many of the attending award-winning podcasters will present their podcast live for the first time ever, or the first time in Canada, at this inaugural event.

Earlier this year, in August, the Toronto Podcast Festival was held. It was founded in 2013, and was the first Podcast Festival in Canada. It featured podcasts from the Toronto area.

Hot Docs was founded in 1993 by the Documentary Organization of Canada (formerly the Canadian Independent Film Caucus), a national organization of independent documentary filmmakers. In 1996, Hot Docs became a separately incorporated organization with a mandate to showcase and support the work of Canadian and international documentary filmmakers and to promote excellence in documentary production.

Why is Hot Docs, a group of filmmakers, holding Canada’s first international podcast festival? They had enormous success with their recent live podcasts at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema with The Moth, Harmontown and Canadaland. They realize that, just like documentaries, podcasts are a means of engaging, empathizing, revealing and opening doors to encounters with new people, places and ideas.

The Hot Docs Podcast Festival will shine the spotlight on more storytellers including Radiotopia’s award-winning Criminal, Gimlet Media’s iTunes chart-topper Science Vs, and CBS’s recently-renewed Sleepover. The festival will also include more live podcasts, panels and listening parties.

More details about the Hot Docs Podcast Festival will be released on Monday, September 26, 2016. Passes will go on sale to Hot Docs members on that same day. Passes will go on sale to the general public Thursday, September 29, 2016. Single tickets will go on sale Tuesday, October 4, 2016.

A Tellabration of Podcasts is a Storytelling Festival

~ jen

A Telebration of PodcastsA Tellabration of Podcasts is a production of the No Extra Words podcast. They are doing a Telebration because they want to give podcasters a chance to shine and to gain recognition as storytellers. They also want to give podcast listeners a new experience and the chance to hear a different kind of storytelling.

The No Extra Words podcast is a weekly podcast of great English language short stories under 2,000 words. Stories come to this podcast from all over the world. Episodes typically feature 2 to 3 stories and they try to keep every episode around 15 minutes. The Producer and Editor of No Extra Words is Kris Baker Dersch.

Any podcaster is welcome to participate in A Tellabration of Podcasts. You can be as creative as you’d like to be with your story. The goal is to focus on a good tale.

Record your audio in .mp3 format and send it to noextrawords@gmail.com Your audio must be four minutes or less. Make sure you include in your audio the name(s) of the storyteller(s) and the name of your podcast.

Rules:

  • One piece of audio per show.
  • Clean content only. (Your podcast itself can be explicit, but your story submission audio must be clean).
  • Respect all copyright and fair use laws
  • By sending in your audio, you certify that you represent your show, so check in with your co-host(s) and co-producer(s) if applicable.
  • Your audio must be received by International Podcast Day – September 30, 2016.

Those who have questions can email the No Extra Words podcast and ask. As many as possible of the audio that is submitted will be used in the Podcaster’s Tellabration episode of the No Extra Words podcast, which is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2016. (Audio may also be used in other ways as part of Telebration! 2016).