I don’t attend a lot of conferences on purpose. In fact, I now attend a maximum of 5 conferences a year. This number also includes events being held in my town. I’ll record a podcast episode about my conference attendance strategy and add it to the show notes in case you’re curious about it. So, when I decided to say “yes” to the first in-person Afros and Audio conference since COVID-it was kind of a big deal. If you’re wondering if you should attend, I’m sharing a review and what you need to consider. Listen on for the following Afros and Audio Review.
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“Welcome to the Brand Building Lab, I’m your host Michelle Jackson and I help online entrepreneurs design businesses that lead with empathy and intention while earning money. In today’s episode Shivawn Mitchell shares her project Seated with Strangers, an initiative that brings strangers together over a meal. I absolutely love that she is helping people make connections with new people over dinner making the world a little less lonely and a lot more connected after each meal.
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What is Afros and Audio
Afros and Audio is a podcasting community that nurtures Black podcast creators and the adjacent communities that help this community thrive as creatives in this space. Afros and Audios, for me, is a really safe space to be a Black creative. I feel like I can show up as my normal self and not worry about posturing in certain ways to be included in the space. I know that I’m not the only person who felt this way. Attendees included the creators of the following communities:
- The QUBE (a podcasting directory + app)
These were a few of the powerful spaces and folks who made their way to Philadelphia to connect, learn and inspire Black podcasters in the work that they do. Throughout the year, Afros and Audio also hosts Twitter spaces, workshops and other events with the goal of fostering success in the podcasting space for Black Creatives.
Afros and Audio Review
I was really excited about visiting Philadelphia and I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, Philadelphia has pushed New York City off of my top 5 favorite big American cities list. I loved everything about how accessible the city is for citizens and visitors alike. The venue was the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square and it was a perfect facility for the event.
The team at this hotel is incredible and I do want to shout them out. I also liked that the hotel was across the street from a park that also happened to have a farmer’s market the weekend of the event. I found it incredibly easy to make my way from the airport to the city. I should mention that I decide to stay at a local hostel vs. the hotel because I do like to spend as little as possible for events. I felt that the hotel was a little pricey, but honestly most people were coming from the East Coast vs. myself and a couple of other people coming from out West.
Also, because I was flying in from Colorado, I decided to stay for 5 days which is why I economized in the way that I did. I stayed at the Apple Hostel of Philadelphia and will share a review on my Square State Colorado website in case you’re thinking about going to Philly for a long weekend from Colorado. One thing I would change for that specific hostel is I would book my own room but because I booked everything at the last minute, I was unable to do that. I should why I waited to book everything-I was recovering from COVID and I wasn’t sure if I would be up for making the trip…even though I was a speaker. Happily, everything worked out.
What I did love about where I stayed was the staff, the location and the ease of walking around the city to and from the event venue.
Afros and Audio Content
The content was phenomenal. I don’t just say this as a speaker. I say this as an attendee who still loves attending sessions at the conferences I say “yes” to. The content was incredible. Here are a few of my favorite sessions.
- Crowdfunding: Get That Money-Anna Deshawn, Founder of The Cube, dropped some INCREDIBLE tips and information on how to crowdfund affectively. She shared her journey to crowdfunding $70,000 to fund The Cube. It didn’t happen overnight and it was a lot of work-but, she earned the amount that she was focused on. If she makes this a pre-recorded session for sale and you’re remotely interested in doing a crowdfunding campaign-buy it.
- State of Black Podcasts Panel-With the following 4 speakers: Talib Jasir, Keisha TK Dutes, Krystal Hill and Lloyd George discussed how we can collectively create a sustainable eco-system that allows Black podcasters to continue to thrive in this space. It’s a creative space that we can’t take for granted.
- The Black Canadian Podcasters Guide to Using Podcasting as a Branding Tool for Your Business-I was unable to attend this session. But, what I loved is that there were nuanced conversations addressing the Black Diaspora and how podcasting shows up differently in different places.
- Podcasters Getting Paid: How Shows with 10,000 or Fewer Monthly Downloads Can Monetize Their Brand-I had a lot of fun talking about how smaller shows can monetize their content. My goal was to encourage people to think creatively about what that looks like for their show and community. By the way, this was a content creation conversation not a “legal design” of your business conversation. I’m not the person to get advice about that.
Afros and Audios Downsides
Every event has a few things that could be tweaked. That’s just the nature of running events. Here are a few minor details that I noticed.
- No coffee-There was tea and yummy cookies provided. Sadly, no coffee. The good thing was that there was a nice coffee shop adjacent to the hotel venue. Of there is someone listening to this review and thinking about sponsoring-please sponsor some coffee.
- Too many sessions at the same time-The content was so good and there were a couple of times that had several sessions offered offered at the same time. Maybe in 2023 it would be possible to add an additional day to the event?
Afros and Audios Upsides
I can’t rave enough about how much I loved this event. I thought that I would share the following reasons why.
- The Community-The people who attendee were so warm, genuine and kind. I literally didn’t know how much I missed this type of connection until I was there. Moving online connections offline is always a thoughtful process and attending in-person events allows us to do this safely.
- The hugs-I also realized how much I missed getting hugs from friends at an event. It really was a deeply emotional and beautiful experience.
- The Content-I learned so much and I am working to implement all of the suggestions and ideas shared during the conference into my business.
- BLERDS everywhere! Sometimes I go to events and I feel a little awkward. This was not the case at Afros and Audio. I loved that these were my people. Creative, thoughtful, inspiring and doing incredible transformative content from a Black perspective (across the diaspora) I just was able to show up 100% as myself and it was a wonderful thing.
- The future trajectory of this community-COVID temporarily suppressed the growth of organizations. across the world. I love the potential for community for Afros and Audio as a safe space for Black creatives. I love being a part of that grow and am excited to see what the future brings.
Should You Attend Afros and Audio
HELL, Yes! You absolutely should attend. If you’re looking for a smaller podcasting event specifically tailored to the growth of Black podcast creatives-add Afros and Audio to your list. Fantastic content, amazing people and a mission that I support. Now, I’m wondering where it will be in 2023?
Afros and Audio 2023
As luck would have it, the city and date for Afros and Audio was announced after I finished editing this episode.
- Baltimore, Maryland-October 21-22, 2023
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