Ep 87: Maximising Your Podcast Show Experience: Your Survival Guide to The London Podcast Show 2024

Hello everybody and welcome

back to another episode of the

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Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting.

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I am doing a little bit of

a bonus episode this week.

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We haven't done this in a little while

that we've done two episodes in a week.

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So this is very exciting, but

very, very timely as well.

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Because in this episode, we're

talking all about preparing

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for the London podcast show.

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I cannot It is next week on

the 22nd and 23rd of May.

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I went for the two days last year

and that experience has helped me to

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put together this list of eight ways

that I am preparing for this year.

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I'm not able to go for the

full two days this time round.

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I'm only able to go for the Wednesday.

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So if you are there on the

Wednesday at the London podcast

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show, be amazing to see you say hi.

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But without further ado, let's dive

into my eight ways that you can prepare

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for this podcast show, or indeed,

actually, I think you can apply these

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tips to any podcast show that you go to.

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So number one, which might sound a little

bit silly, but it's 100 percent necessary.

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Don't forget to eat.

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Which sounds ridiculous, because you're

like, going to a podcast show, what am

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I, what's there to talk about food for?

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But don't forget to eat, because

if you're anything like me, there's

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just so much to do and see, and you

don't want to miss out on anything.

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That actually, before you know

it, it's nearing the end of the

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day, and you've barely eaten,

or drunk, or anything like that.

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So, just make sure that in your

schedule, and rushing around,

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taking in Everything that you are

learning and doing and seeing.

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Don't forget to eat.

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Make sure you know where the bar

is, where the coffee stop is, where

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the food is, where the snacks are.

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You know, all those kinds of

things, but don't forget to eat.

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Number two is spend

time talking to people.

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These events are so full of people.

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So when you're in the line waiting to

get into the auditorium or whatever

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the stages that you're going to,

just talk to the people around you.

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So if you're like me and you're

going by yourself, don't feel like

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you can't talk to anybody and you

have to be mute the whole day.

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And equally, if you are with a

group of people, I would say stretch

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your boundaries as well and just

Chat to different people because

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the connections you can make at

these types of events are amazing.

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Number three is visit exhibition stands.

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There will be so many amazing exhibition

stands and I loved it last year.

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I spent ages and I mean ages didn't even

end up buying anything but ages at the

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Shure microphone exhibition stand and

it was just so much fun I got to play

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around with so many different microphones

I went and found this company who've got

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like these little podcasting booths that

you can like DIY flat pack and stuff.

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Build them in your own house.

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That was really cool.

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Spend ages there and just, yeah,

just go around, chat with people

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and visit the exhibition stands.

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You don't know what's going to be

there and people are just really

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nice and just want to chat to you.

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Number four is check the schedule

and have a plan of action and backups

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if what you want to see is full.

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I think this is so super important.

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They have got the schedule

of everything that is there.

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Go in with a plan of who you

want to see, what you want to

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see, what you want to learn.

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And what I did was I just had

everything stored in my phone.

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I copied down.

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In fact, you don't even need

to copy it because there's

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like add to calendar links.

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And just, I had everything

that I wanted to see.

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All of the, you know, speakers, whatever.

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I had it all loaded in my phone with

alerts so like 15 minutes beforehand

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I would know that I needed to go and

start queuing up outside whichever

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room it was so that I could get into

that certain speaker or auditorium

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whatever and that worked really well

for me I think there was only one room.

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Talk that I ended up not being able to

get into, so just have a plan but also

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as I said be prepared to have backups

because If you aren't very organized or

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if maybe a talk that you've come out of

Finishes like only five minutes before

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a talk that you want to get into you

might not actually get into it So if

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you don't have something that you Are

able to get into just think to yourself.

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Well, what would you

spend your time doing?

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Is there another talk that you

want to do or would you go around

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the exhibition stands or whatever?

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Just have a backup number five This

is going to sound so silly and I had

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to think about like what word to use

here But number five don't be a twit

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if something you wanted to do is full

So what I mean by this is if you get to

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an auditorium Maybe a little bit late

because they don't always let you into

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things once but People have started

talking, what speakers have started, etc.

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Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

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It just, it just depends.

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But sometimes, you know, auditoriums

and workshops, whatever, they get

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filled up really, really quickly.

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And people can get quite

angry about this sometimes.

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And all I would say is

just, Don't be a twit.

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You know, sometimes there's only

one space left and they literally

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just kind of go, Oh, you're at

the front of the queue, jump in.

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And it doesn't matter who you

are or anything like that.

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And just be, you know, kind of with

that, just be nice to the marshals or

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the staff that are working there, you

know, They are doing the best they can.

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They've got a very stressful couple

of days, I don't know how early they

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have to be there in the morning.

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But basically, just don't

give them a hard time.

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If you can't get into something,

it doesn't matter how much

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you shout and yell at people.

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And yes, I did see this last year.

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Not this year.

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Very much, but I did see some people

getting quite like, twittish, for want

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of a better word, in their behavior.

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But just don't be a twit when it comes to,

you know, if you can't get into something.

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It's not the marshal's fault,

it's not the staff's fault,

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it just, it's circumstances.

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So that kind of goes back to point four

of have a plan and then also have a

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backup if that plan just doesn't work out.

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Number six is ask questions.

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Don't be afraid to ask questions

when you are at a talk or

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a workshop, whatever it is.

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Don't be afraid during the Q and A to

stick up your hand and then draw that

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attention to yourself and then have

that thought process after, Oh, I wish

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I'd asked that question or something.

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It takes, especially if you're an

introvert like me, which sounds

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weird because I talk to people on a

podcast so often, but it can be quite

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challenging sometimes to have all

eyes on you, particularly if it's a

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bigger auditorium or a bigger speaker.

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But do you know what?

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Probably no one in there is

going to remember who you are.

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And I don't mean that in a horrible

way, but I mean that in a kind of way

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of just ask the question, whatever

you want that question to be.

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So ask questions . Number seven is

tell people who you are, What you

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do and about your show, which might

sound obvious, but I very naively went

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there last year, just assuming that

everybody was a podcast host, and I

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don't even know why I thought that.

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I just assumed that, because there are

so many people who do so many jobs.

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There are sound engineers, there are

audio engineers, video engineers,

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videographers, photographers, there's,

you know, people who podcast on literally

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anything that you can possibly think of.

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think about.

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I met so many people with

so many different podcasts.

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I was like, wow, that's incredible

that, like, I wouldn't have

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even thought of that as a topic.

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So, don't be afraid to tell people who

you are and what it is that you do.

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It's just, the conversations that you

can open up with people is incredible.

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And if you've got a show, don't be

afraid to say like, Hey, I'm Verity.

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I am the host of the Lazy

Girls Guide to Podcasting.

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Do you know what?

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If they think that you're up your butt,

Backside for saying that, then whatever.

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You probably never need to

see that person again anyway.

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But do you know what?

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Most people are doing it.

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So just tell people about

you in your podcast.

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And finally, number eight is have cards,

stickers, QR codes, whatever it is.

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Have something on you so that people can

take information about your show away

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because there is so much information

Like what I did after the first day and

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the second day actually in my hotel last

year was I just sat on the Hotel bed and

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just like spread out all these business

cards and all these leaflets and things

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that I'd like collected from people

Because there's so much information being

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chucked at you that you forget Get stuff.

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So take a notebook.

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Actually, that's like a kind of 8.

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1 along with that, but take a notebook

or like your phone app with notes ready

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to take notes, but have cards, stickers,

QR codes, something that you can give

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away so that if people show an interest

in your podcast, you can be like, Oh

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yeah, here's a card with the details

on it because People will talk to you

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about shows and I found this last year

people were telling me about their shows

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but the only ones that I bothered to

follow up with were the ones who had

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actually given me like a sticker or a

business card or something like that

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and that was because I just didn't have

the brain capacity to remember everybody

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else's podcast that I was being told.

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So, Those are my top tips, my

eight tips for preparing for the

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London podcast show next week.

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But as I said, you can apply these to any

podcast show that you might be going to.

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Above all, have fun at the podcast shows.

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Don't be a twit, as I said, just have fun

and learn as much as you can from them.

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Otherwise, I'm Verity, this is The

Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting, and

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hopefully I'll see you at the London

podcast show, if not next episode.

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Take care!