Podcast Conferences: Are They Worth The Investment?

May 20th

As podcasting gets more established, podcast events are popping up all over the place – and it is impossible to attend all of them. Francesca Turauskis asks some questions to help you decide which events are worth the price of admission.

Attending podcast events is one of my favourite things about my job, and because I write about podcasts I’ve often been lucky enough to have press passes – but honestly, if I always had to pay myself I wouldn’t go to half of them. I’ve found that the events that are sold or perceived as valuable (with high ticket prices or big attendance) are not necessarily the ones that have been valuable to me.

This certainly isn’t something that is unique to UK events or my own experience – earlier this year, Sangeeta Pillai from the Masala Podcast wrote on LinkedIn how she “left the room annoyed” after Podcast Movement, a US-based set of conferences that self-describes as ‘biggest and best events’ in podcasting. How is it even possible for events like that to curate a line-up that isn’t relevant or representative?

Whilst I can’t tell you if it’s worth investing your time and money into attending any one particular podcast event, I do have a few ideas to help you decide which are worth your investment.

Know What YOU Want From Attending

The fear of missing out that lingers around podcasting events can be real, but is FOMO a good enough reason to attend? It can be good to think about attending events as a way to invest in your show. Do you want to get better at making your content? Look for events with workshops as well as talks. Do you want to build your community and team? Aim for networking and events built on community. Are you looking for listeners? It might be better to attend an event about your subject, rather than podcasting.

I feel like a large portion of people attending podcasting events expect to find some business, but if you’re going into an event hoping to find funding – you may be disappointed. It is possible to get funding or connections through events, but there’s a lot of people selling and not many buying.

Look For The Write-ups

Whilst there aren’t, in my opinion, enough journalists covering podcasting in the UK, there are a few places where you can find reviews of podcast events. Pod Bible (who for transparency, I also write for!) covers many podcast events, with different freelancers sharing opinions – for example this lovely, honest review of the Podcast Show London 2023. Emily Crosby is another independent who’s written about podcast events previously, and of course Content is Queen shares news of the events we personally find value in, including International Women’s Podcast Awards.

Another place to look is LinkedIn, which often has plenty of small write-ups, such as this one from Kobi Omenaka. Perhaps more useful are the discussions underneath that can highlight different opinions.

Who’s Behind The Event

One of the major things that will draw me to an event is how much I know and trust the creators of the event. You see a lot from the Founders and organisers of events such as the International Women’s Podcast Festival, UniPodFest, and the Independent Podcast Awards. In comparison, it is quite difficult to find out about ‘Who’s Behind The Podcast Show 2024’ (there’s a small drop-down on the Contact Us page where you can find out about Founders Jason Carter and Tim Etchells). I personally love to see the festival teams show their passion for podcasting – and the audio part of the industry in particular.

Head To The Fringe Events Instead

If you still have some FOMO about the big events, the good news is there are often fringe aspects to them. Communities and companies might put-on meet-ups the same day as events that are cheaper, or even free, and can be less overwhelming than big conferences. These aren’t often advertised by the event, so it’s worth signing up to podcasting newsletters or following podcast professionals on LinkedIn to find out when they are.

Look For Digital Passes

Attending an event digitally can be a great middle-ground of investing time without too much extra effort. Events about recording content for non-linear consumption could very easily record some events for people to access digitally. Unfortunately, not all events do, and for some smaller events that can be about capacity – but for larger events it strikes me more as gatekeeping information for profit. This can be a good indicator that the price of admission is more important to the organisers than podcasting is – in my opinion, anyway!

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Are you looking for a podcasting event that ticks all your boxes? The International Women’s Podcast Festival includes live podcast shows, workshops, talks, networking and socials that celebrate the best in women’s podcasting. join us on 4 October at the International Women’s Podcast Festival, live in London and online. We hope to see you there!