1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,440 Hey everyone, Ashley here with RSS.com. 2 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,560 Today we're chatting with Chris Kormitsos, the Chief Creative Officer at Podfest. 3 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:23,560 Enjoy the show. 4 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:24,560 Alrighty. 5 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,040 Well, thank you so much for being on the show. 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:28,400 I'm so excited to have you here. 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,400 I can't wait to talk all about Podfest. 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,480 So can you do us a favor and introduce yourself and tell us what you do? 9 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:35,200 Yeah, Chris Kormitsos here. 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:42,000 I am the Chief Creative Officer of Podfest and we are the longest running in person continuous 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,720 event since COVID because we've we were very fortunate to have a big event right before 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:48,720 the lockdowns. 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,800 But just we organize an amazing community of creators. 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:58,300 The majority of them are podcasters and we do have a smaller community of video creators 15 00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:01,800 and vidfests of youtubers and tik tokers and stuff like that. 16 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,800 Now and you guys also did you break a Guinness World Record during the pandemic? 17 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:10,040 Yeah, we set a Guinness World Record and then we broke a Guinness World Record because 18 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:11,720 the pandemic went longer than we all thought. 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:13,440 So it was like, hey, we got nothing to do. 20 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:14,760 Let's keep at it. 21 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:21,360 And we had over 5000 people attend virtually over a week's time. 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:27,720 And the second time around, we had over 500 something speakers, 12 languages spoken in 23 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:28,720 taught in. 24 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:29,960 It was incredible. 25 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,440 We were uniting the world with podcasting. 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,240 It was pretty awesome. 27 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:35,240 It is very awesome. 28 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,240 And I've seen some of the free classes that you guys have on your on your website occasionally. 29 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,840 So tell me, let's go way back way back into the you know, when you first began, tell me 30 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,700 a little bit about your podcasting journey and how you started how you got into this 31 00:01:47,700 --> 00:01:51,480 medium and how you finally founded podcast. 32 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:56,080 So I mean, I used to produce TV shows on terrestrial through public access. 33 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:02,600 So we used to do live TV shows, serialized, you know, business shows. 34 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,640 And then one was a political debate shows a lot of fun. 35 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:12,200 And then in August of 2013, we hosted a meetup about podcasting and I got bitten by the bug. 36 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,780 I went home told my wife I'm starting a podcast. 37 00:02:15,780 --> 00:02:20,920 She said she's starting a podcast and we couldn't both do it because we were doing so many events 38 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:26,360 at the time that she started her podcast, Biz Women Rock, and I became her marketing 39 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:27,360 manager. 40 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,120 And it kind of dovetails perfectly into how pod fest was born. 41 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,680 I would go all over the state helping people start their podcasts. 42 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:36,260 And I would use my wife as a case study. 43 00:02:36,260 --> 00:02:38,560 So it helped highlight her podcast. 44 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,160 And then after doing that, all these people said, what do we do now you help to start 45 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:48,680 a podcast and that's how pod fest was founded with 100 people in 2015. 46 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,140 And since then, we've doubled year over year. 47 00:02:51,140 --> 00:02:55,920 When we moved it to Orlando, that really was our inflection point of internationalizing 48 00:02:55,920 --> 00:02:56,920 the conference. 49 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:01,280 So the last big in person event we had was 2020. 50 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,560 We had over 2000 attendees. 51 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,200 Last year, we did a much smaller engagement just to keep things safe. 52 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:11,800 And we had literally an arena of the Amelie arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning played 53 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:16,760 to host pod fest origins since we brought it back to the source for one year only. 54 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:18,120 But this year, we're excited. 55 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,800 We're going full force in Orlando. 56 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:25,720 And we don't want to jinx ourselves, but it looks like we'll be over 3000 attendees. 57 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:27,200 So it's pretty amazing. 58 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:28,200 Wow. 59 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,320 So how did you, like whenever you first started with the in person conference, how did you 60 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:37,080 start getting people interested in it and drum up enough attendees to make it a full 61 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:38,280 fledged conference? 62 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,020 In the beginning, it was easy because no one knew anything about podcasting. 63 00:03:41,020 --> 00:03:42,240 So it was a hot topic. 64 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:44,120 So then we got 100 people. 65 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,720 The next year, we said, we should invite all our friends like Jessica Kupferman and all 66 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,800 these other amazing people from all over the country. 67 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,760 And they flew in. 68 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,240 And then when we moved it to Orlando, that really helped us grow. 69 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:59,240 So what we've always focused on is on our community and their needs. 70 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,320 So for instance, our closing keynote is the community itself. 71 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,160 We start, we close it out with a gratitude ceremony where people will tell us what they're 72 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:09,960 grateful for up on the main stage. 73 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,180 We have a hands on experiential learning hall that we added this time around. 74 00:04:13,180 --> 00:04:17,120 So we have three tracks where you could learn any editing software. 75 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:18,300 How to use Canva. 76 00:04:18,300 --> 00:04:22,620 So literally you bring your laptop in and thanks to the podcast editors for helping 77 00:04:22,620 --> 00:04:24,480 us put that together. 78 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,360 Mark Deal and Steve Stewart. 79 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,400 And then we have, we're going to have a job fair for our companies that are in a trade 80 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,980 show that could hire people with these specialized skills, as well as the people, the podcasters 81 00:04:34,980 --> 00:04:36,560 that need to add teammates. 82 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,460 So we're always thinking about how can we create value for our community? 83 00:04:39,460 --> 00:04:43,280 And that's what we're always doing is adding that value back. 84 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:44,280 And then we have 10 tracks. 85 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:47,760 We'll have over 500 speakers at podfest in May. 86 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,680 So we were, we're full bore. 87 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:55,120 We also created the first ever Amazon live conference for Amazon live creators. 88 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,040 We found that a lot of video streamers all want to start podcasts. 89 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,640 So it's a really great synergy for podfest. 90 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,900 Now is the conference also going to be virtual as well this year? 91 00:05:04,900 --> 00:05:06,580 We will have a virtual pass. 92 00:05:06,580 --> 00:05:10,880 The virtual track, the way it works is we actually have a room at podfest that is set 93 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:16,660 up and we take some of the best of on the floor and we invite those presenters to come 94 00:05:16,660 --> 00:05:20,420 up and they will teach through the laptop, which is more conducive to virtual learning 95 00:05:20,420 --> 00:05:22,880 and then people could join virtually. 96 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,020 We think that's going to be a much better learning environment. 97 00:05:25,020 --> 00:05:27,060 So it's gonna be interesting. 98 00:05:27,060 --> 00:05:29,200 So we're not just streaming what's in the room, we're going to take someone they're 99 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,840 going to be on their laptop showing and talking to virtually chatting with you in real time. 100 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:35,640 So we have a room dedicated for the virtual component. 101 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:36,640 Wow. 102 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,400 I mean, that sounds like a lot of work. 103 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:43,680 It's a lot of work, but it's the we always ask ourselves, how would we want the information 104 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,200 delivered and how would we want it delivered? 105 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:51,640 And I think that's why we attract creators from all over the world that feel heard because 106 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:57,480 we listen to their feedback and we make sure that we deliver it in the way that they want. 107 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:02,560 Do you have a favorite experience that you've had at your at your conferences? 108 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:07,140 I mean, the gratitude ceremony is I don't know if there's anything else like that hearing 109 00:06:07,140 --> 00:06:12,180 people's I remember last year, two years ago, is time flies. 110 00:06:12,180 --> 00:06:14,600 I remember Maxwell Ivy, he's the blind blogger. 111 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:19,240 I remember him going up during the gratitude ceremony and saying we give out a treasure 112 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:24,520 map that you could it's a physical piece of paper that you could get signed by the exhibitors. 113 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,520 This year, I think we'll have virtual and physical but anyways, I forget that he cannot 114 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,540 see so how is he going to get it signed and what happened was each and every exhibitor 115 00:06:32,540 --> 00:06:36,780 took him by the hand to the next exhibitor and his entire treasure map got signed. 116 00:06:36,780 --> 00:06:41,780 And he shared this up at the gratitude ceremony that at pod fast, everybody's his friend and 117 00:06:41,780 --> 00:06:43,240 everybody took care of him. 118 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,560 To me, that's the ethos of our entire community. 119 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:46,560 It really is. 120 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,840 I mean, that's that's one of the most fascinating things to me about the podcasting community 121 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:56,080 is, you know, with so many other industries, it seems like everyone's like trying to hold 122 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,600 what they're doing like behind the curtain, you know, don't don't want to tell anybody 123 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:04,160 because if you give away your secrets, then you know, you either need to charge for them 124 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,920 or everybody's going to try to outdo you but it seems like with podcasting, everyone seems 125 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:13,520 to want to help everybody else and there's something so beautiful about that. 126 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:19,040 And it seems like with with your conference, you definitely add to that. 127 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,200 So why should why should people attend? 128 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,400 Why should they come to podfest? 129 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:30,560 Well, if they're looking to grow and collaborate with creators in the podcasting sphere, I 130 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,560 would say it's a great opportunity to meet other creators to understand that we live 131 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:36,680 in a collaborative economy. 132 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:41,140 So it's you're showing to add value not to take value. 133 00:07:41,140 --> 00:07:42,920 And that's the podcast mantra. 134 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:47,000 So if you come from that space, then I highly recommend you show up. 135 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,080 If you're looking for a conference where you want to take something and run away, it's 136 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:51,080 not the podcast way. 137 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:56,000 So anyone that's looking to collaborate, learn, share, be part of an amazing community show 138 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,800 up any day of the week, we welcome you with open arms. 139 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:00,800 It truly is a community. 140 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,720 We have beginner tracks, we have we have like 10 different tracks. 141 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:08,840 I mean, and then we have industry B2B and all different kind of niches. 142 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:14,720 So if you're looking to create and learn, come to podfest, we'd love to have you and 143 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,640 be part of our pod fam. 144 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,520 Now in your pod fam, do you welcome people that don't even have a podcast yet? 145 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,120 Yeah, that's our beginner track. 146 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,000 We help people we get their feed set up. 147 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,480 We literally even have a booth this year, where we give you pointers on the trade show 148 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,840 floor of how to, you know, start your podcast. 149 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:35,600 And if you just started as well, what to look at to grow your podcast. 150 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:39,960 So we also have a YouTube review channel because some podcasters tried to do YouTube and they 151 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,600 don't do it as well as they should. 152 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,960 So we have actually experienced YouTubers sitting there and they'll do a free YouTube 153 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:46,640 review of your channel. 154 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:47,640 That's amazing. 155 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:48,640 Wow. 156 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,280 So you can actually like get hands on from the experts hands on from from the people 157 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,440 themselves, we'll have a Kelly link for them to schedule. 158 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,320 We have a media row for creators that want to create in real time on the podfest show 159 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:01,400 floor. 160 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:06,760 And like I said, any company that's looking to add team members, we will have think of 161 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,600 it as a job fair, but not really, it's more of a dance, but there'll be areas where you 162 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,360 could post up and meet with these people. 163 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,440 And we have private rooms for people to have a hold meetings to get to know one another. 164 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:23,040 Now one of the things that that I hear from a lot of podcasters that haven't started yet, 165 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,920 they really, really want to start their show. 166 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:26,000 Is they're afraid? 167 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:27,560 They have a lot of fears behind it. 168 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:29,920 They think they need so many pieces of equipment. 169 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,760 They need all this background knowledge and all that stuff. 170 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,240 And you wrote an awesome book about that exact idea. 171 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:37,800 And can you talk a little bit about that? 172 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,600 Yeah, the title of the book is Start Ugly. 173 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,040 And it's a short story, fictional story. 174 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,640 And it's about a person that lost their way because they got stuck in perfect execution 175 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,800 and and the fear of, oh, my God, I don't want to start. 176 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:55,620 I would say based on what I've seen, the people that start ugly and perfectly execute along 177 00:09:55,620 --> 00:10:01,040 the way, even if that podcast doesn't go anywhere, are usually head and shoulders ahead of the 178 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:05,880 people that wait for a year or two to perfectly execute because they have the skills of how 179 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,920 to podcast and usually they'll pivot to another topic or show and that hits right off the 180 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:10,920 gate. 181 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,880 But the reason why hits off the gate is they started and they learned and they know how 182 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:19,240 to use the tools and they understand how SEO in the podcasting world works. 183 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,340 So I'd rather you start ugly and perfectly executed along the way than sit there and 184 00:10:23,340 --> 00:10:28,000 waiting for some day to happen for everything to be perfect, which never exist in anything. 185 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,000 Yeah. 186 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,160 And I mean, you can have all the all the amazing equipment in the world, but it still doesn't 187 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,120 mean that you're going to know what you're doing when you sit down on the microphone. 188 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:36,120 That's right. 189 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:42,960 So now with all of that in mind, what do you see for the future of podcasting? 190 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,240 Because just just right now, there's been just in the last couple of years, there's 191 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:47,240 been so many changes. 192 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,600 I mean, we've got podcasting 2.0 coming out. 193 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,960 We've got people, like you said, trying to do YouTube with podcasting. 194 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,080 What do you see for the future of the medium? 195 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,760 Well one more money is going to come into the medium at a level that people I don't 196 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,320 think they even can fathom because podcasting when we started, I mean, you remember this, 197 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,520 we're lucky if we had $10 million spent for the year and we're so excited, oh, next year 198 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,180 it's going to be 20 or 50. 199 00:11:09,180 --> 00:11:11,080 So now we're in the billions. 200 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:15,280 Finally, I think it was like 2 billion this past year, but it's going to start going to 201 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:16,280 five, six, seven. 202 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,480 So the reason why I mentioned that that money will float into the ecosystem and allow people 203 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,080 to afford teams as they grow their podcasts. 204 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:24,320 That's one. 205 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,640 That's a big, that's a big shift because it professionalizes a lot of independence. 206 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:28,640 Okay. 207 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:30,040 And we love that. 208 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:31,320 The other is Web 3. 209 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:38,720 Web 3 is the blockchain and all the innovations that we hear terms like NFT. 210 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:43,340 Basically you're going to see people owning their content at a much higher level and the 211 00:11:43,340 --> 00:11:46,840 individual have more rights, creative rights. 212 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,960 And I think that's going to be a fine foundational shift. 213 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,880 We actually have an entire Web 3 track at PodFest teaching people what these tools are 214 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,360 just to get used to them. 215 00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:01,440 But I think as you see that, you know, it's as foundational as RSS, but Web 3 is really 216 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,320 going to be the big one. 217 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,200 I don't think we know how that's going to shape up right now because the plumbing is 218 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:08,760 still being put into Web 3. 219 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,600 But next two or three years, we're going to see things that we can only imagine. 220 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:18,040 Dave Jackson is doing a presentation on how to add through the Lightning Network Bitcoin 221 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:19,560 payment onto your podcast. 222 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:23,360 That to me is an exciting presentation. 223 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:24,360 That's wild. 224 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:25,360 Like, wow. 225 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,880 I mean, that's something you wouldn't have even like considered a few years ago. 226 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:34,040 But I'm curious, you said the thing about, you know, the billions of dollars coming into 227 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:35,040 the medium. 228 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:41,280 Do you think that that helps or hurts the independent little podcaster who's just starting 229 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,520 out with just their microphone and a podcast host? 230 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:49,480 I think it helps because you have to realize podcasting for a long time had no monetization. 231 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:55,680 And the reason why YouTube is whatever 70 times bigger than the podcasting universe 232 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:59,720 is they allow creators to make a little bit of money and half the time we're not talking 233 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,840 a lot of money $18 here $100 there. 234 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,600 Pod match has some monetization capabilities for people using their service. 235 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:12,200 Obviously the Spotify universe is adding kind of following the YouTube model in some ways. 236 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:16,280 To me, it helps the independent sometimes know that they're on the right track if they 237 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:22,440 get 50 or $100 and it reaffirms that they could multiply a friend of mine always said 238 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,660 on the internet, it's hard to multiply zeros, but you could always multiply one. 239 00:13:26,660 --> 00:13:29,020 So I think that's a foundational shift. 240 00:13:29,020 --> 00:13:30,400 Are there going to be networks? 241 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:31,400 Absolutely. 242 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,520 Does that mean an independent might be able to join a network and get both benefits? 243 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:35,520 Absolutely. 244 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,600 So I think it's good for the entire scene. 245 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,240 And you know, independence is a loose term. 246 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:44,120 I mean, my wife has a meditation network, but she's an independent and there's tons 247 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:45,560 of people like her out there. 248 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:47,080 There's no need for them to join networks. 249 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,240 But when and if the time comes for them to join, that money is going to flow through 250 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,840 the podcasting ecosystem in many different ways. 251 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,600 So it's a it's a win all around, I think. 252 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:00,960 I guess the question would be then what do you say to the naysayers who are like, well, 253 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,280 as the celebrities take over this medium, we don't matter anymore. 254 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:06,440 I mean, I don't think that's true. 255 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,400 A lot of these celebrities, they suck at podcasting. 256 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:11,400 They get these deals. 257 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:12,400 It's true. 258 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,640 And now that I've been around a bit in this space, you see like, I don't know, so and 259 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,720 so from the Jersey Shore gets a podcast and it doesn't exist a year later. 260 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,240 Or the first lady gets a podcast, you really have to have like a love for this medium to 261 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:27,560 show up to it. 262 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,080 So they could give these celebrities tons of money. 263 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:31,240 Some of them will do well. 264 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:32,240 Absolutely. 265 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,520 Comedians tend to do well, because they need to talk to their audience directly. 266 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:37,560 But I Yeah. 267 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:42,800 And don't forget, these celebrities, they've, they've worked their butts off for 1020 years 268 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:44,440 building a brand. 269 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:46,420 Now are they going to build a podcast? 270 00:14:46,420 --> 00:14:48,240 It doesn't guarantee anything. 271 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,520 What it guarantees is they'll probably start at a higher level download than you. 272 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,160 But it doesn't guarantee that they'll last and majority of them pod fade. 273 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,880 They take the money, they barely release one or two episodes from the Spotify deals. 274 00:14:58,880 --> 00:14:59,880 So I wouldn't worry about that. 275 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:05,040 I would say, stay in your lane focus on what the consumer wants what your audience wants 276 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:09,320 focus on your search engine optimization, your graphics, what your logo looks like your 277 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,760 messaging, your sound design, and you'll be fine. 278 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,740 So what would you say to the person who's considering starting? 279 00:15:15,740 --> 00:15:17,120 Do they need a specific niche? 280 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:18,800 Do they need a certain amount of equipment? 281 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,800 What do they need to get going? 282 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,800 So I think a good mic would be great. 283 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,520 So a dynamic microphone, we all use different ones. 284 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:32,240 But I would just say there's a lot of great ones from sure audio technical aisle, some 285 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,320 are more than others. 286 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:38,100 Start wherever you want budget wise, but you could start under $100 for a really decent 287 00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,000 mic to start podcasting. 288 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:44,640 The next thing I would say I would spend more time researching before you get started on 289 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:50,160 your niche, your title, your art, I can't tell you how many people I see with cheap 290 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,960 artwork and they don't realize that that's the first thing I see. 291 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,920 Therefore, I might not even click on your cover. 292 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:57,120 And then what are the words? 293 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:58,480 Do they mean something? 294 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:03,400 So I remember once someone told me that the name of their show was their literal name. 295 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:04,400 And I said, What are you doing? 296 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:05,400 They said event planning. 297 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,080 I don't get that from seeing, you know, Suzy show. 298 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,440 And they I go, who told you I was good all my friends? 299 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,320 I mean, talk to experts in the space. 300 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,320 They're there. 301 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:14,320 They're great. 302 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,960 School of podcasting is a great resource. 303 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,200 And I remember the person saying, if I called it an event planning show, there's a lot 304 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:23,480 of event planning podcasts. 305 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,420 And I said, maybe there's a reason for it. 306 00:16:25,420 --> 00:16:27,880 And maybe you could find a niche within that event planning niche. 307 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,960 So like you said, niche down a little bit and find your audience. 308 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,960 Now, do you have any regrets with your own podcasting journey? 309 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:35,960 So I'm a hobbyist. 310 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,800 So I started the story jam theater podcast. 311 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:40,140 Those are still up there. 312 00:16:40,140 --> 00:16:44,020 We create a podcast on the messenger. 313 00:16:44,020 --> 00:16:47,160 So I do have the kid friendly network. 314 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:48,780 We're restarting it up right now. 315 00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:51,400 And I have a producer that creates that content. 316 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:52,400 I'm a perfectionist. 317 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,080 I suffer from the perfectionist gene. 318 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,400 I wrote start ugly really for me. 319 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:01,680 Regrets, I wouldn't say I have any regrets. 320 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:07,440 I would just say, I wish I could innovate a little quicker than I do on some things. 321 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:12,720 But my burden to bear my love, I should say, is doing these events for whatever reason. 322 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:13,880 I'm a glutton for punishment. 323 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:15,320 I love doing events. 324 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,840 So that's where I think I could service as a home for the medium. 325 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,960 And that's where I really have put my efforts in excelling to make sure that independents 326 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:24,960 have a voice. 327 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,920 That they have a home and to make sure that they don't get lost in the noise as this industry 328 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:29,920 grows. 329 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:31,600 And that's pretty much my mission. 330 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:32,600 I love that. 331 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:33,600 I love that. 332 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:39,320 So with your with your podfest expo, when is it and how often do you have these events? 333 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,400 So podfest expo is pretty much every year. 334 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,240 This year, it's May 26 to the 29th. 335 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:50,300 However, traditionally, we're usually the first weekend of March. 336 00:17:50,300 --> 00:17:54,880 It's a four day event this year, we will have like I said, I believe I'm positive. 337 00:17:54,880 --> 00:18:00,000 We'll have 2000 people, but we might get as many as 3000 attendees. 338 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:01,000 We do it once a year. 339 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,920 And we also do pod global, which is a full virtual event now every year. 340 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,920 That's the one that we've earned now to Guinness World Records. 341 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:09,520 I think we'll retire the record books. 342 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,920 We'll just do the event without the records because it creates a lot of extra work for 343 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:13,920 us. 344 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:15,680 But that'll be in September every year. 345 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:21,160 And we're excited to you'll hear it here first, Ashley. 346 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:26,160 As we get bigger, and the sponsors bless us with some additional monies, we will be doing 347 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:32,500 events in the UK, where we don't want I know it's gonna sound very weird. 348 00:18:32,500 --> 00:18:34,240 We're not looking to make money. 349 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,640 We're just looking to break even and see if we could scholarship some podcasts to come 350 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:40,440 out with us to do almost like a foreign exchange in different countries. 351 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:41,600 Oh, wow. 352 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:42,600 That sounds really cool. 353 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,480 So we're gonna do Japan, but COVID lasted too long. 354 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,000 We had it all planned out earlier this year. 355 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,920 Yeah, I'm sure that I can speak for everybody listening to this and everyone around the 356 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:52,920 world. 357 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:54,960 We're all over COVID. 358 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:55,960 Definitely. 359 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,880 So where can people find you online? 360 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:03,320 podfestexpo.com if you're looking for my name, it's Chris Krimitzos. 361 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:04,320 It's a long Greek name. 362 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,520 I'm sure that Google will respell it for you. 363 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,520 But you can find me on all the socials. 364 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:11,960 I'm on Facebook a lot. 365 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:13,280 And you could you could catch me there. 366 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,320 But podfestexpo team and I manage those accounts actively. 367 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,440 Yes, and it's very active. 368 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:19,440 Absolutely. 369 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:20,440 Now. 370 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,200 So we'll definitely leave all the links below. 371 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,840 But before I let you go, I gotta ask you one question I ask everybody what is one question 372 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:31,520 I did not ask you really wish I had? 373 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,520 Probably something about my wife like power, not power couple, but how we support each 374 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:37,520 other. 375 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:38,520 So we are a podcasting couple. 376 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,200 I'm on the event side, she has a podcasting network. 377 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:47,120 And I would just say, if I were to be asked, you know, what have I learned from my wife, 378 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:49,480 because she's an inspiration. 379 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,880 I've learned that mindset is everything. 380 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,240 I remember she started her network with one show, and she kept expanding her mindset. 381 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,060 Now she's up to five shows on the network. 382 00:19:59,060 --> 00:20:03,080 And it's been amazing to watch her grow something that helps women the world over through women's 383 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:04,080 meditation network. 384 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:05,900 Oh, god, that is so sweet. 385 00:20:05,900 --> 00:20:06,900 I love that. 386 00:20:06,900 --> 00:20:08,560 That's what you wanted the question to be. 387 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:12,960 That is just, I'm sure everybody listening to this is just giving up. 388 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,720 I really she's amazing. 389 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:17,000 And I learned so much from her. 390 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,400 I'm not an operational minded person. 391 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,520 I'm more of the excitable entrepreneur on the cutting edge. 392 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:27,840 But I've learned so much on how to run operations from her and to watch her systemize her podcast 393 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,440 to support women all over the world has been pretty amazing. 394 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:31,440 Well, that's fantastic. 395 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,680 Well, Chris, I just want to say thank you again so much for being here with me today. 396 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:40,880 And I leave all the links below and I just I just really appreciate your time. 397 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:41,880 Thank you, Ashley. 398 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:42,880 I appreciate you. 399 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,640 Well, my fellow podcasters, I hope you enjoyed everything that Chris had to share with us. 400 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:52,360 To learn more about how to launch and grow your own podcast, head over to rss.com backslash 401 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:53,360 blog. 402 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:56,360 You can start your show for free and get your first episode on us. 403 00:20:56,360 --> 00:21:05,920 Thanks for tuning in.