After a flight delay and predictably bumpy and turbulent flight home to Denver, I’ve had a few days to reflect on my experience at Podcast Movement Evolutions 2023 held in Las Vegas. As usual I had a phenomenal time with a few hiccups. I like to review the conferences that I attend so that I can give some insights into why I choose the conferences that I attend, the long-term impact of attendance and the perceived value. People who know me know that I have a pretty strict protocol around how I attend conferences. I cap attendance to 5 a year max, ideally with at least one or two of those conferences in my homestate-eliminating the need to travel.
*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy here.*
I also alternate years that I attend most events, though I did attend Podcast Movement Evolutions 2022 in Los Angeles. I like to give myself time to apply what I learned, and also room to experience events that are in other niches that I work in. I should also mention that I won’t be attending any conferences in 2024, so the ones that I attend this year have to really make sense and have long-term impact. I’m going to share the good and the bad of Podcast Movement Evolutions Las Vegas and I’m using a slightly different format than in previous reviews. Listen on.
Welcome to the Brand Building Lab, I’m your host Michelle Jackson and I help online entrepreneurs building kind online brands. There’s nothing better than getting paid while uplifting the communities that you serve online and not causing financial harm.
Listen to the Episode
Podcasters Getting Paid-The Resource
If you’re a host or producer of a podcast getting 10,000 or fewer downloads a month and would like to begin monetizing your work I have a resource for you. Podcasters Getting Paid is a monetization idea curation resource that I’ve created to help hosts of smaller shows reimagine what monetizing their projects and platforms could look like.
There’s a reason why I say “Fuck the CPM Model” It won’t work for small shows so you have to approach monetization differently. There are two tiers to this resource. You can subscribe for free or pay $5 a month. The $5 monthly fee includes access to recorded and live conversations with podcasters and other creators who have monetized their creative work, workshops and office hours. Make sure to sign up for Podcasters Getting Paid-The Resource today.
Related Posts
Podcast Movement Evolutions 2023 Review
In this year’s Podcast Movement Evolutions review I’ve decided to use a Best and Worst format. But, before I get into it, I do want to share what I perceive to be the differences between Podcast Movement Evolutions and Podcast Movement.
- Podcast Movement Evolutions is a smaller more intimate conference going experience. I find that it attracts more industry professionals and podcasters who are well past the beginning stages of podcasting. This year The Ambies podcast awards show was also held during the event, attracting a lot of West Coast (think L.A.) based professionals in the podcasting space.
- Podcast Movement-This is a huge event that I find to be more heavily attended by independent, mostly solo podcasters or shows with very small teams. Industry professionals absolutely attend, but it feels like they are more B2C in their conference interactions with other attendees.
I’ve attended both events and have enjoyed them immensely. In fact, I’ve even recorded an episode about “How to Prepare for Podcast Movement Denver 2023” definitely give it a listen if you’re planning to attend.
The Venue-Westgate Hotel Las Vegas
If you’re looking for a kitschy old-school Vegas hotel, The Westgate is definitely it. It was not a perfect venue. If attendees were looking for a new, crisp boutique feel-The Westgate wasn’t that place. But, if you were looking for an affordable venue then The Westgate absolutely worked! I had a huge room with a king-sized bed. By the way, I only spent $35 a night, plus resort fees. Around $300 for 3 nights. The stand out amenity for the venue-The Monorail. I had a blast taking the Monorail to the I Heart Media party. It’s surprising how things like that can influence an experience.
In fact, the Podcast Movement Denver event will cost me significantly more than what I paid to travel to Las Vegas because I’ve decided to stay in the host hotel instead of commuting from my house. I love that Podcast Movement Evolutions was financially accessible as a result of the venue. The conference space was a small footprint that made it easy to see everything and everyone that I wanted to see.
I was also able to walk a few blocks over and catch the bus to the Freemont Experience and check things out. If you’re in Las Vegas-add it to your list. The team is really nice and I appreciated the daily turndown service which was unexpected.
Making Great In-Person Connections
The smaller the event, the easier it is to meet people and not feel overwhelmed. I’m a lifelong extrovert who has changed post-COVID. I’m a little more reserved than before so I appreciated how easy it was to connect with people that I already knew and the ability to meet folks new to me. I was able to meet The Podcast Academy team and hang out (briefly) with my wonderful friend Jared Easley co-founder and Head of Community of Podcast Movement. He’s always cheering me on!
I just really loved being able to have in-person conversations. I need people. I NEED PEOPLE. Clearly, I will continue to do virtual meetings. But, I am at the in-person or bust point in post pandemic life. I needed the hugs, making jokes, dancing, eating all the actions associated with hanging out with old and new friends.
Meeting Podcasters Getting Paid Subscribers
I absolutely LOVED meeting my Podcasters Getting Paid subscribers in person. It’s hard to know if a project like that one is resonating with people, so meeting people who are using the resource is huge. In fact, I was working at a little coffee shop when I ended up getting locked inside with one other patron. He ended up being Jake, a subscriber to my newsletter!
I was able to cheer on Maya, the host of Proud Stutter that was nominated for an Amby and hung out with the fabulous Paulette, host of La Vida Más Chévere and also happens to be one of my amazing The Podcast Academy mentees.
The Ambies hosted by The Podcast Academy
Because I got into podcasting via personal finance, I’ve had a difficult time understand the podcast industry eco-system. It only took 3 years, but I finally understand that The Ambies is produced by The Podcast Academy. I have to say it’s a fabulous production. Literally, one of the best awards shows I’ve ever attended. I now have a list of podcasts that I will be listening to.
One thing though, I left the show feeling like independent podcasters would have a very difficult time being recognized for their work via an Amby. As each team that one walked to stage and thanked their teams, I was like…I’m a team of one. They even added a “DIY” category that Ana Deshawn won. She noteably mentioned that she wasn’t spending $3,000 an episode. I do want to say that I loved that the $3,000 was shared as an episode cost because I actually have a goal to attract around $2500 to produce an episode for my personal finance show. I wasn’t that far off when it came to quantifying the cost of production.
How accessible are The Ambies to small independent producers? Yes, the content can be just as good. But, these shows might not have the marketing spend or the capacity to get in front of audiences in the way that many of the winning shows could.
The Speaker Ready Room
Who ever added this piece to the event planning is a genius. I really appreciated having time set aside to make sure that my presentation looked right. Speakers were able to schedule a time to review their content prior to their session and it was one less thing to worry about.
The Best of Podcast Movement Evolutions 2023
Here’s my list of best aspects of PME 2023!
- Best Pricing By an Event
- Say what you want about the venue, but it was financially accessible which is a huge thing that I look at before saying “yes” to an event. Also, there were opportunities to work the event for a $500 stipend.
- Best Initiative by a Company + Best Panel
- I can’t say enough about the NextUp program created by Annah Hossnieh and hosted by I Heart Media. The panel that shared the initiative and the podcasters participating in the current cohort was a standout panel for me.
- Best Awards Ceremony
- Unironically-The Ambies. Fantastic production. They killed it.
- Best Product + Connection + Branding
- Podops-I truly enjoyed learning about this product and platform as well learning about Teddy Pickles the dog that is on the t-shirt they were handing out.
- Best Keynote
- Stephen A. Smith-I don’t follow sports media. But, I am familiar with Mr. Smith. I loved gaining some insight into his motivations and work ethic. I left feeling fired up.
- Best Panel
- How Podcasting Amplifies the Voices of Women and Marginalized Creators-I truly appreciated how vulnerable the panelists were and especially comments made by Maribel Quezada Smith and Ana DeShawn.
- Best Session-Mine!
- How to Create A Podcast Eco-System that Attracts Collaborations that Pay
- Best Coffee
- All the free coffee! Thanks Paramount (loved the cool mountain too at their conference footprint)
- Best Event that Everyone Was Invited To
- The Simplecast Creator Connect event ROCKED! I told the young woman who was in charge of it that it was like she understood who I was. I loved the venue so much that I returned the next day to check out the cute coffee shop in the venue. I loved the vibes, food, drink and hanging out. If I go to Las Vegas again-you’ll see me hanging out at Peyote. That’s how much I liked it.
Worst of Podcast Movement Evolutions
I’m a little leery to say “The Worst” think of this more as some things to improve on moving forward and for future events.
- Panels that don’t deliver on the topic-This is something that I’ve complained about before. But, if you’re proposing a panel-do the work so that it kicks ass. Industry professionals-don’t propose a talk or panel if you’re not going to prepare prior to the event. It’s so annoying and disrespectful to the attendees and the Podcast Movement team (or, team of any conference that you’re attending)
- Speaker room yummies-I would love to see mini muffins or yogurt in the morning if possible. I do know that the venue has certain menus that they offer. But, other speakers did mention the chips for breakfast (I do like salt though)
- Las Vegas is still a throwback in some ways-I was totally unprepared for smoking inside the casino. I think it caught me off guard even though it is Vegas and I should have expected it. If we return to Las Vegas, maybe there’s a venue with the casino set back a little further from the convention space.
- Monorail Directions-I think it would have been good to have directional support showing people how to get the Monorail. Yes, it was close. But, it’s a nicety.
- Offsite event in nature-Las Vegas is close to some beautiful nature, I would have loved to participate in a pre-conference event that took us offsite. I would have paid extra.
- I wish more people had attended sessions-I noticed that attendance wasn’t as robust as in past events. I know that we can watch the sessions after the event, but it’s so nice for panelists and speakers to have people sitting in front of them.
- Unintentional gatekeeping in much needed conversations-I attended a session that ended up being completely different than I expected. I made a comment to another attendee about that. That person pointed out that by having this specific conversation on site with colleagues in attendance or team leads-it changed how the conversation would actually be off-site or in a more intimate location. I bring this up to say that I love that we’re having nuanced conversations about many topics but do know that they may not be as open and candid as you would like them to be.
Overall, I had a fantastic time at Podcast Movement Evolutions 2023 and continue to recommend and support this space. If you’re looking for a smaller podcasting event typically teaming with industry professionals and podcasters who’ve been at it for awhile this is the event for you.