
6 Ways To Continue Your Learning
Oct 25th
The International Women’s Podcast Festival 2024 was an absolute feat of programming, with dozens of sessions from podcast experts teaching audio production, podcast promotion and discussing inclusive principles behind creating good shows. We are so excited to be able to share the sessions from our London event with a wider audience soon.
In the meantime we wanted to help you continue learning about podcasting, by signposting to some suggestions from our attendees. Here are six ways to upskill your podcast prowess.
Content is Queen’s podcast resources and talks!
“So… the Content is Queen newsletter comes every two weeks, and it’s really good” said Naomi Mellor from Everybody Media, without any prompting! We couldn’t agree more, as we work year-round to try and demystify podcast production for everyone. The other place we would point you towards for more podcast resources is of course the IWPF24 Global Voices sessions, which you can access for free on our virtual stage, right now. There is an abundance of learning, connection, and inspiration with podcasters from around the world, and sessions include ‘Podcasting for Activism’, ‘Boost Podcast Discoverability’ and a voice workshop for podcasters.
If you have zoomed through those sessions already, perhaps you can head back to some of our original generation of free resources to nail the basics.
AIR Media
Another recommendation from Naomi Mellor was AIR Media, which is the Association of Independents in Radio. “I’m quite a big fan of what’s provided through AIR in the States. A lot of that is online, ” Naomi told us. “Some of them are free, some of them are paid for, but they do some really good teaching with some really good international experts.” The ‘Toolbox’ section in particular has a number of resources, and whilst it is US-centric, there are some very specific webinars such as ‘Pitching NPRs National Desk’ that could give some much-needed inside advice.
Multitrack Masterclasses
“I would say that if you want to continue your learning, then there are some great events that Multitrack puts on,” Meera Kumar recommended, and it’s a favourite of ours as well. “They put them on in collaboration with great organisations like Audible or Audio Labs or AudioUK. A professional will come in, show you how they do things. You can upskill really quickly. And I think having access to sessions like that is invaluable – I came through Multitrack and I’ve done those upskilling sessions”.
Meera herself is now one of those experts running a session on ‘Creating a Sonic Identity for a Story’ on Friday 8th November, and she recommended keeping an eye on their social accounts to see when new events are announced (you can also follow them on Eventbrite itself).
BBC Academy Podcast
“The BBC Academy Podcast on podcasting” is a recommendation from Lisa Hack (who ran a talk on ‘Don’t Fix It In Post’ to help you set up good recordings). This podcast is for the broadcast production, journalism and technology communities, and it isn’t just about podcasting but instead aims to give practical advice on all aspects of TV, radio, and journalism. “It’s a bit of a sporadic podcast in itself. I found some good bits in there.” The recent ‘minipods’ series on smartphone journalism, in particular, is something we didn’t specifically cover in our festival this year but could help you make professional-quality audio journalism even if you don’t have the budget and equipment of big media establishments.
BUILD by Broccoli Productions
BUILD is one of the legacies of Broccoli Productions, who sadly closed earlier this year. If you want to work in podcasting, this is a great resource because it is an audio-first learning podcast platform. The classes cover aspects of audio creation across five pillars: marketing, production, business, personal development, and storytelling. This is especially good for those of you who want to work in audio and podcasting professionally, as you can learn more about navigating the industry as a whole, as well as creating good content. For some encouragement to get networking, Danni Haughan (who previously ran the Apple Podcasts business in Europe and produced the Penguin Podcast) will help you think about it in a different way, and figure out where you fit in the industry, and who you might want to work with.
Your Fellow Podcasters
Speaking of networking, we couldn’t neglect to mention one of the best resources for learning about podcasting and this is your fellow podcasters. It was such a joy to see the conversations that were occurring around the sessions on 4th October. We are keen believers that expertise is not limited to the speakers and panellists, and that includes you reading this! If you haven’t yet connected with people following the festival, pop over that email, send that DM or arrange a coffee. No matter where you are in your podcast journey, you have something to teach as well as something to learn.