Why should you attend live events for your podcast?
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
No matter your podcast topic, there's probably a conference, expo, live show, concert, rally,
or some other kind of live event with people in person around that niche.
And besides the topic you cover, there are live events specifically about podcasting.
I'm at one right now, at the time of this episode's release at least, talking about
Podcasting 2.0.
Hope you came to my session if you're listening to this episode later, or maybe you can come
to a session that I have in a future conference.
And I think you should come to an event at some point, because I think live events can
be of great value and opportunity to you and your podcast.
It comes down to four benefits I'm about to share with you.
Keep in mind that any one of these benefits alone could be reason enough to attend a live event.
But the more events you can find in the overlap of these four things, the better that event could be for you.
I've done multiple episodes in the past about events, about things like business cards at events and how to prepare for events and such.
So I'll have a list of those episodes if you want to check them out in the notes for this episode.
and you can get those notes a simple tap or swipe away or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/whyattend
Number one, grow your knowledge. The obvious first benefit is that live events,
especially things like conferences, are a great place to grow your knowledge and learn more. That
could be knowledge about your industry, learning about new trends, discovering resources in your
niche, or learning how to refine your own craft, whatever that craft is that you cover in your
podcast, or even learning to be a better podcaster. I think that the most important way to grow your
knowledge at events is to take notes and, this is the key, translate those notes into actionable
steps. For example, I often speak about podcast SEO, that's search engine optimization. In such a
session, I would present lots of advice, demonstrations, and techniques that you could
try to write down and record everything I say, or ask for my slides, which wouldn't really help you
that much because of the way I design my slides, but merely collecting the information won't make
you a better podcaster, and it won't make your podcast more findable. Instead, you should take
what you learn and apply it. Decide what you need to do first, and set aside the time to do it with
your podcast as soon as possible, even before your next episode if you can. Otherwise, it's like all
that knowledge goes in one ear and out the other instead of coming through your hands in what you
do and through your voice in what you say and how you communicate and with whom you communicate.
Number two, grow your content. Podcasters are content creators. We're telling stories,
sharing interesting guests, educating, inspiring, having fun, and more. And as such, a live event
could be a great place to help you make more of that content. For example, I've attended events
such as the Consumer Electronics Show, the National Association of Broadcasters, and Podcast Movement,
sometimes with the specific goals of creating content while I was there. It's often been
on-floor interviews with exhibitors. That's, by the way, how I met Deidre Shen from CAPTCHAO.
but also sometimes bringing a simple audio recording device to record other attendees.
So my peers answering a question that I could then share their answers in an episode of my podcast.
I've done that before and it's been lots of fun.
I would come and ask the same question to multiple people.
Like one of the episodes I did in the past was asking people,
what's a podcast problem that you solved for your own podcast?
How did you solve that podcasting problem?
and got some really interesting answers from that. And that was a lot of fun. Might do that again
someday You could do something like that or you could do other things actually creating content there at the event and going with the purpose to create content Trying to grow your content at a live
event can be complicated though, especially if you want to get into things like video and then
you have to start thinking about, well, do I need one microphone or two microphones? How am I going
to light this? What kind of lighting environment will I be in? How noisy will it be? Do I need a
tripod, a monopod? What kind of camera? Can I use my phone? It doesn't have to be complicated. It can
get complicated and the higher quality you want it to be, the more complicated the setup will be
and the more planning it takes. But it doesn't have to be that complicated. Sometimes it could
be as simple as turning your smartphone upside down and holding it as if it was a handheld
microphone and talking into the microphone that way. That might be good enough for the audio that
you need for an audio podcast. Or you could bring things to be able to record video and then publish
those on the video-first platforms like YouTube, TikTok, X, Facebook, and other places. Regardless
of the complexity or simplicity of whatever setup that you bring, it can be a lot of fun to create
content at an event because there's so much energy there. It can be energizing to you, energizing to
the other people. They're excited. They are there to share information, to learn information. They are
pumped to be there and you can leverage that in your podcast and it can be a whole lot of fun,
especially being able to describe things and experience things and talk to people that you
might not otherwise ever be able to do. And that brings me to my next point. Number three,
grow your network. People are the greatest value at any event. I've been to countless events where
I've invested more time talking to people in the hallways and on the expo floor than I spent
learning in sessions. And I say invested because it really is an investment when you talk to people
and get to know other people. You're investing in them and maybe also investing in yourself.
I don't think that I've learned everything that there is to learn, so I'm not skipping the
sessions because I feel like, oh, I know that all already. No, there is lots of stuff I still want
to learn. But talking to people is so much more valuable, I think, because most conferences allow
you to get a virtual ticket so that you can watch or listen to the sessions later. And I always
recommend that upgrade, especially some of these conferences where there are so many great things
happening from so many really smart people all happening at the same time. So you can't go to
all of them, but you can get the virtual ticket and consume that information later. But you can't
meet the people, especially not face-to-face like this, so easily after the event. That's something
that can really only be done there, at the event, in person, with other people, in person. Growing
your network isn't about becoming a business card ninja, shooting your business cards at whoever
will take them, or even people who won't take them, but it's really about making connections
with other people. And in fact, speaking of business cards, if you use business cards,
and I've done an episode in the past about making your own cards for your podcast.
But here's my challenge to you and what I try to do myself.
For any business card you request or are given, look it over, ask questions based on it.
And this is the most important part.
Write something about that person or your conversation with them.
It could be as simple as what you talked about.
For example, I still remember when I first met Dustin Stout at Social Media Marketing World
And I wrote on his business card that his wife watches Once Upon a Time, the TV show
that I had a podcast about at that time.
And now, Dustin is the creator and head of Magi, my favorite AI toolbox.
And Dustin has become a very special friend, and I've gotten to know him and be encouraged
and challenged by him through a small mastermind group that I host.
And all that started from meeting him at a conference and being more memorable because
I wrote something down on the business card that he gave me But even better than writing only about your conversation would be to write an action that you need to take That could be connecting that person with someone else checking out a resource that they recommended
or some way you want to follow up with them. And for any card you want to give someone else,
write something on it for them. It could be one of your episodes that you think they would like.
Maybe it's a different podcast that you think they should check out. Maybe this one. Maybe you
I recommend this episode to them, one of my other episodes. Or maybe it's someone else that you want
them to meet or something that you recommend that they try. Like I was at a conference recently
where I talked to so many people about the Hollyland Lark M2S. And that was even before I had my own
one. It was just, I'm such a fan of the design of the microphone. And I was telling other people
about it. So I was writing it down on business cards saying, you got to check out this microphone.
It's a portable lavalier microphone that works really well. It's wireless and all of this stuff.
and you might see me with it at Podcast Movement or at a Podfest or some other event because I just
love the system. And when I get back to making videos, you might see me using it in videos too.
And so that's something that I wrote down on my business card that I gave other people,
and that made my business cards more actionable for them too. Even without business cards,
you could still do this kind of memorable networking through the conference apps or
simply by quickly sending each other messages through your preferred channel, whether that's
social networks, direct messaging, emailing or texting or whatever. Number four, grow your podcast.
Live events also give you the opportunity to reach a bigger audience and grow your own podcast.
But unlike my first three points, this one is more effective if you go to the right events and you
have to be more picky if this is your goal. For example, Podcast Movement and PodFest are my
favorite conferences about podcasting. I do highly recommend them. But unless you also have a podcast
about podcasting, don't expect to grow your audience much by mingling among your fellow
podcasting peers. They have their own shows too. You have your own show. You're probably not going
to get much of an audience from other podcasters, unless you have a podcast about podcasting.
This is where and why you should focus on the niche you serve.
If you have a dog breeding podcast, for example, you could go to dog shows and hand out flyers
about your podcast as you meet people there, whether vendors or other attendees, anyone
that you think might be interested in it.
Don't just spam people with your information.
Get into conversations, do that networking, and then maybe there are opportunities for
you to mention your own show.
And if they are there about the topic that your podcast is about, then they might be
much more interested in your podcast.
You could even sponsor the event to get extra attention on what you do or combine a few
of these top level benefits that I'm mentioning in this episode and consider trying to create
content while you are there at the event.
And that act of creating content could open all kinds of opportunities to promote your
podcast as others see the energy happening around you, especially if you can plan in advance for
some of these things. Like if there's a vendor that you go to, they have a booth set up, you could
plan in advance and give them some flyers that say something like, I was featured on the so-and-so
podcast that you could then give them so they could give it to other people after you've recorded
your interview with them. Or as you're talking with people and they see you going around with
a microphone and maybe a camera or lights or whatever your setup is, they might be interested.
Hey, what are you doing there? Or these days people might actually just ask, hey, do you have
a podcast about dogs? And then you can say, well, yes, I do. In fact, hey, here's a card. Hey, do you
have an interesting story you might like to share on my podcast or a question that I could answer
live right here with you that we record and publish on the podcast? See, you can create
content you can network especially if you at the right kind of event you can use these things to grow your podcast Because I think what makes this so powerful is that a live event has so much energy around it Everyone is just so pumped up to be there enthused about it
This is really what helped inspire me and gave me the kick to bring back The Audacity to Podcast
is I went to Podcast Movement Evolutions in Chicago in 2025. And I really felt like,
you know what? I just have so much I want to say again. I have got to bring back The Audacity to
Podcast. And with the 15th anniversary that was this year, I also felt like this was a great time
to really bring it back. And I've missed it so much. And I want to do the podcast again. And
it was the energy at the event that got me doing that. And so you can't really grow a dead podcast,
but I've resurrected the podcast and it is growing again. I'm very grateful for that. I'm
grateful for whatever you might be able to do to help grow the podcast. But see, that kind of energy
at a conference is something you can tap into and capture in your own podcast and also tap into those
opportunities because of that energy. And that's creating content, discovering networking
opportunities with other people, or discovering audience for your podcast. These four benefits
are why I think attending live events can be great.
And it doesn't always mean an event
that's about podcasting.
That can certainly help you with a couple of these,
but more specifically,
an event about the topic that you cover.
These four events, again, are number one,
grow your knowledge.
Number two, grow your content.
Number three, grow your network.
And number four, grow your podcast.
Thanks to Brian Inspinner from Top Tier Audio
for supporting The Audacity to Podcast
with 254 Satoshis.
He streamed those through a Modern Podcasting 2.0 app.
And if you get value from The Audacity to Podcast,
I would love it if you would consider
what that's worth to you
and give some of that value back.
You can do that through a Modern Podcasting 2.0 app,
just like Brian did,
or through theaudacitytopodcast.com/giveback.
Now that I've given you some of the guts
and taught you some of the tools,
wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I can't end this without teasing something.
I've got a new app coming up,
a new brand new product
that is so much better than the other options out there.
It's going to be an app.
Well, not just going to be, it is.
It's already working.
It's in beta stage right now,
maybe even released by the time that you're hearing this.
But it will help you to better add chapters
to your podcast episodes.
And it provides transcripts.
And it does some really amazing things
that the first time I got the pieces working
and then press the button to make it do its magic.
and that magic was automatically placing my outline
into timed chapters inside of my episodes.
The first time I saw that, I got chills
because it's just like, wow, did it really just do that?
Did it just save me all that time and frustration
of finding exactly where those chapters needed to go?
So watch for my announcements for that new tool.
I'll certainly mention it here on The Audacity to Podcast
and also on my social accounts.
like I'm pretty much everywhere as the Daniel J. Lewis.
And if you get my emails, I'll announce it there too.
But it's a brand new tool coming.
Notice that I haven't mentioned the name or the website yet
because it's not quite ready for the public to see,
at least at the time of this recording.
Maybe it is by the time that you're hearing this.
But you might even be wondering,
what's the use of chapters?
Do I need chapters?
What are they?
Even what can they do?
Why are they beneficial?
I'll have an episode all about that very soon.
It will tie in very nicely.
talking about my new app to help you make chapters for your podcast and what you can do with that.
So watch for that. And in the meantime, go launch and grow your own podcast for passion
and profit. I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com. Thanks for listening!