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 Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting. I am doing a little bit of a bonus episode this week. We haven't done this in a little while that we've done two episodes in a week. So this is very exciting, but very, very timely as well. Because in this episode, we're talking all about preparing for the London podcast show. I cannot It is next week on the 22nd and 23rd of May. I went for the two days last year and that experience has helped me to put together this list of eight ways that I am preparing for this year. I'm not able to go for the full two days this time round. I'm only able to go for the Wednesday. So if you are there on the Wednesday at the London podcast show, be amazing to see you say hi. But without further ado, let's dive into my eight ways that you can prepare for this podcast show, or indeed, actually, I think you can apply these tips to any podcast show that you go to. So number one, which might sound a little bit silly, but it's 100 percent necessary. Don't forget to eat. Which sounds ridiculous, because you're like, going to a podcast show, what am I, what's there to talk about food for? But don't forget to eat, because if you're anything like me, there's just so much to do and see, and you don't want to miss out on anything. That actually, before you know it, it's nearing the end of the day, and you've barely eaten, or drunk, or anything like that. So, just make sure that in your schedule, and rushing around, taking in Everything that you are learning and doing and seeing. Don't forget to eat. Make sure you know where the bar is, where the coffee stop is, where the food is, where the snacks are. You know, all those kinds of things, but don't forget to eat. Number two is spend time talking to people. These events are so full of people. So when you're in the line waiting to get into the auditorium or whatever the stages that you're going to, just talk to the people around you. So if you're like me and you're going by yourself, don't feel like you can't talk to anybody and you have to be mute the whole day. And equally, if you are with a group of people, I would say stretch your boundaries as well and just Chat to different people because the connections you can make at these types of events are amazing. Number three is visit exhibition stands. There will be so many amazing exhibition stands and I loved it last year. I spent ages and I mean ages didn't even end up buying anything but ages at the Shure microphone exhibition stand and it was just so much fun I got to play around with so many different microphones I went and found this company who've got like these little podcasting booths that you can like DIY flat pack and stuff. Build them in your own house. That was really cool. Spend ages there and just, yeah, just go around, chat with people and visit the exhibition stands. You don't know what's going to be there and people are just really nice and just want to chat to you. Number four is check the schedule and have a plan of action and backups if what you want to see is full. I think this is so super important. They have got the schedule of everything that is there. Go in with a plan of who you want to see, what you want to see, what you want to learn. And what I did was I just had everything stored in my phone. I copied down. In fact, you don't even need to copy it because there's like add to calendar links. And just, I had everything that I wanted to see. All of the, you know, speakers, whatever. I had it all loaded in my phone with alerts so like 15 minutes beforehand I would know that I needed to go and start queuing up outside whichever room it was so that I could get into that certain speaker or auditorium whatever and that worked really well for me I think there was only one room. Talk that I ended up not being able to get into, so just have a plan but also as I said be prepared to have backups because If you aren't very organized or if maybe a talk that you've come out of Finishes like only five minutes before a talk that you want to get into you might not actually get into it So if you don't have something that you Are able to get into just think to yourself. Well, what would you spend your time doing? Is there another talk that you want to do or would you go around the exhibition stands or whatever? Just have a backup number five This is going to sound so silly and I had to think about like what word to use here But number five don't be a twit if something you wanted to do is full So what I mean by this is if you get to an auditorium Maybe a little bit late because they don't always let you into things once but People have started talking, what speakers have started, etc. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It just, it just depends. But sometimes, you know, auditoriums and workshops, whatever, they get filled up really, really quickly. And people can get quite angry about this sometimes. And all I would say is just, Don't be a twit. You know, sometimes there's only one space left and they literally just kind of go, Oh, you're at the front of the queue, jump in. And it doesn't matter who you are or anything like that. And just be, you know, kind of with that, just be nice to the marshals or the staff that are working there, you know, They are doing the best they can. They've got a very stressful couple of days, I don't know how early they have to be there in the morning. But basically, just don't give them a hard time. If you can't get into something, it doesn't matter how much you shout and yell at people. And yes, I did see this last year. Not this year. Very much, but I did see some people getting quite like, twittish, for want of a better word, in their behavior. But just don't be a twit when it comes to, you know, if you can't get into something. It's not the marshal's fault, it's not the staff's fault, it just, it's circumstances. So that kind of goes back to point four of have a plan and then also have a backup if that plan just doesn't work out. Number six is ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions when you are at a talk or a workshop, whatever it is. Don't be afraid during the Q and A to stick up your hand and then draw that attention to yourself and then have that thought process after, Oh, I wish I'd asked that question or something. It takes, especially if you're an introvert like me, which sounds weird because I talk to people on a podcast so often, but it can be quite challenging sometimes to have all eyes on you, particularly if it's a bigger auditorium or a bigger speaker. But do you know what? Probably no one in there is going to remember who you are. And I don't mean that in a horrible way, but I mean that in a kind of way of just ask the question, whatever you want that question to be. So ask questions Number seven is tell people who you are, What you do and about your show, which might sound obvious, but I very naively went there last year, just assuming that everybody was a podcast host, and I don't even know why I thought that. I just assumed that, because there are so many people who do so many jobs. There are sound engineers, there are audio engineers, video engineers, videographers, photographers, there's, you know, people who podcast on literally anything that you can possibly think of. think about. I met so many people with so many different podcasts. I was like, wow, that's incredible that, like, I wouldn't have even thought of that as a topic. So, don't be afraid to tell people who you are and what it is that you do. It's just, the conversations that you can open up with people is incredible. And if you've got a show, don't be afraid to say like, Hey, I'm Verity. I am the host of the Lazy Girls Guide to Podcasting. Do you know what? If they think that you're up your butt, Backside for saying that, then whatever. You probably never need to see that person again anyway. But do you know what? Most people are doing it. So just tell people about you in your podcast. And finally, number eight is have cards, stickers, QR codes, whatever it is. Have something on you so that people can take information about your show away because there is so much information Like what I did after the first day and the second day actually in my hotel last year was I just sat on the Hotel bed and just like spread out all these business cards and all these leaflets and things that I'd like collected from people Because there's so much information being chucked at you that you forget Get stuff. So take a notebook. Actually, that's like a kind of 8. 1 along with that, but take a notebook or like your phone app with notes ready to take notes, but have cards, stickers, QR codes, something that you can give away so that if people show an interest in your podcast, you can be like, Oh yeah, here's a card with the details on it because People will talk to you about shows and I found this last year people were telling me about their shows but the only ones that I bothered to follow up with were the ones who had actually given me like a sticker or a business card or something like that and that was because I just didn't have the brain capacity to remember everybody else's podcast that I was being told. So, Those are my top tips, my eight tips for preparing for the London podcast show next week. But as I said, you can apply these to any podcast show that you might be going to. Above all, have fun at the podcast shows. Don't be a twit, as I said, just have fun and learn as much as you can from them. Otherwise, I'm Verity, this is The Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting, and hopefully I'll see you at the London podcast show, if not next episode. Take care!