by Dot Cannon

No way!  And we mean that in two different senses.

First of all–there’s no way Podcast Movement 2015 can be half over, already–surely?  It’s gone by so quickly.

And secondly, no way can one post do justice to everything that’s been going on in Fort Worth, for this special weekend conference “by podcasters, for podcasters”.  But here are a few highlights, from the pre-conference and Day 1.
Registration check-in for the conference started at 5 pm Friday, at the Omni Fort Worth.  But the festivities had already begun, with some “pre-show” events.  These included podcast workshops and TED-like talks oriented towards podcasters.

There was also an informal meetup, Friday afternoon, hosted by Cliff Ravenscraft, the “Podcast Answer Man“.  Guests had the opportunity to introduce themselves, tell everyone, briefly, about their podcast and what they hoped to get from PM15, and do what just about everyone had as a main goal: network.

When registration opened at 5pm, this festive mariachi band greeted attendees.

Admittedly, there were LOTS of those!

(More than 1,000 podcasters, from all over the world, were scheduled to attend, according to Podcast Movement’s website.)

Among the exhibitors in the main hall were “Starve the Doubts” hosts Kimanzi Constable and Jared Easley, who are now co-authors.  They were signing copies of their brand-new book!   (You’ll recall that Jared is one of the co-founders of Podcast Movement–which kicked off in 2014, in Dallas, as the end result of a successful Kickstarter campaign.)

Friday evening saw a “first”for this second edition of Podcast Movement.

The first annual Academy of Podcasters Awards, hosted by The Art of Wrestling podcast host Colt Cabana, proved to be a lively, funny and family-friendly show.

(Can you believe that Colt, in his opening remarks, said corporate wrestling told him he “wasn’t photogenic enough”?  Didn’t think so–we don’t agree at all!)

Among the winners were Pat Flynn’s “Smart Passive Income” podcast, which won “Best Business Podcast”, and Roman Mars’ “99% Invisible” in the “Society and Culture” category.  “99% Invisible” would go on to win the People’s Choice award, for which attendees voted by texting–but it was a tough choice, from three excellent contenders!

And congratulations to all the Podcasting Hall of Fame inductees who were honored during the ceremony–including Danny Pena, host of Gamertag Radio since 2005, and Todd Cochrane, founder of RawVoice.

Then Saturday,  Day 1 of Podcast Movement 2015, started off with two great keynote speeches.

In his “The Real Podcasting Struggle: You vs. You” keynote, Pat Flynn dramatized the self-doubt and fear podcasters face.  Using audio as “the voice in your head”, he illustrated the ways we self-sabotage.

“What’s on the other end of your fear?” Pat asked his audience.  Fear, he continued, was often an indicator of the direction we most need to take–because fear means you care about whatever’s scaring you.

Fear of failure was no excuse, Pat added.  He cited his favorite movie, Back to the Future, which was rejected 40 times before the film was finally made.

“If Robert Zemeckis had given up after 40 rejections, I would be doing something else,” Pat said, drawing laughter from his audience.

Roman Mars, in his following keynote “Designing a Career in Podcasting, or How to Never See Your Family Without Leaving the House”, offered a more low-key but equally effective approach.

“More than anything, podcasting needs really hard workers, to be great,” he said.

Roman listed six points for podcasters to keep in mind, while building their careers.  Among them: serve your audience, have excellent production and create a production campaign that has entertainment value.

“Host a party that you would like to attend,” Roman told his audience, using his past Kickstarter campaigns for 99% Invisible as illustrations.  “Pick one thing to ask for and go with it…(and) always think about the “why now” of your fundraiser.”

Another of our favorites, from Saturday’s sessions?  Mike Kim’s “How to Market Yourself Like No One Else Can”.  In his presentation, Mike, who hosts the “Brand You” podcast, outlined seven steps to a profitable personal brand.

Storytelling, he said, was a core factor.  “How do (your content consumers) get to know and like you?” he said.  “The easiest way is simply by telling your story.”

Mike used illustrations of a family-owned pizza parlor that had attracted customers by sharing a family story, and discussed some of the elements of effective storytelling.

“Tell the story of your podcast, and put it on the ‘about’ page of your blog,” he advised, outlining steps and techniques for podcasters.

On Saturday afternoon, Daniel J. Lewis, host of The Audacity to Podcast, would deliver another “can’t-wait-to-try-this” series of techniques.

“Visit website, press play, is how easy it needs to be (for visitors to find your podcast),” he explained, in his “How to Improve Your Podcast’s WordPress Website” presentation.

And “easy” alone wasn’t enough, Daniel said–your podcast’s focus has to be clear, fast.

“A goldfish has a 9-second attention span,” he explained.  “Your website visitors will wait 5 seconds for your site to load before they go someplace else.  And 3 seconds is how long you have, to clarify your ‘about'”.

Daniel also covered an area that seemed to come as a surprise to several audience members, when he talked about affiliate programs.

“Your sidebar will not sell anything,” he said, advising his listeners to “speed up and clean up” their sites.

All this–and as mentioned at the start of this post, we’ve barely touched on the events of Podcast Movement 2015!  Congratulations to Jared Easley, Dan Franks et al on a successful “second edition”–we’re looking forward to Day 2!

(Didn’t get to go to Podcast Movement 2015?  Mark your calendar for July 6-8, 2016.  The Hyatt Regency in Chicago, Illinois, has already been announced as the venue for Version 3.0!)