On January 19th and 20th, Seattle hosted PodCon2, the follow-up to 2017’s PodCon. Created by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink of Night Vale Presents; Justin and Travis McElroy of My Brother, My Brother and Me and others; and John and Hank Green of Dear John and Hank and others, PodCon is meant to be the first convention for podcast fans and creators alike.

Most who attended PodCon1 in 2017 said the event was the highlight of their year. Now, moving onto its second year, hopes were high that what made it successful would remain, and what missteps it made would be corrected.

The image shows the logo for PodCon 2. The text reads: "PodCon2

However, it quickly became clear that this would not be the case. Between pre-event scheduling and communication confusion to a clunky, disorganized schedule, this second iteration of the convention proved to epitomize a sophomore slump.

This isn’t to say PodCon2 wasn’t a phenomenal weekend. It was–it just often was in spite of the programming, not because of the programming.

The Road to PodCon2

To discuss PodCon2 without discussing the months leading up to PodCon2 would be an only half-true analysis of the event itself. Part of organizing a convention is the communication and structure leading up to the first day, and this is one of the major ways in which PodCon2 disappointed.

Like most conventions and conferences, PodCon2 had a call for sessions from attendees. However, those who did get their panels accepted only heard back about three to four weeks before the convention–just after the holidays. I was told by several people that they had received approvals under two weeks before the convention. Many who heard back about the panels were told that their ideas would be used, but their panel would be completely retooled, giving moderators very little time to research the new panel and prepare new questions. Most of these reworkings were to include more of the “featured guests” and fewer “speakers,” but more on that in a bit. People who submitted a session pitch but were rejected never received an email confirming their rejection.

When a schedule was finally released about 20 days from the convention, it still wasn’t complete.

The schedule listed up to eleven, and no fewer than nine, events for every time slot during the convention. PodCon includes a remote access ticket for everyone who attended, but this meant attendees now had to choose between an almost insurmountable slew of programming.

Furthermore, I heard reports from people who paid to have booths or tables in the expo hall getting confusing mixed messages. Several people were given the same table number, and several people had their table number changed several times. One vendor told me they didn’t expect to receive their actual table number until the day of the convention. Another told me they’d received zero correspondence at all, all the way up to a week before the event.

I can at least say that correspondence for PodCon regarding security questions were prompt, professional, and detailed. In this regard, the customer service was second to none, and I’m happy to know that at least with more complicated, serious questions, the PodCon team gave the time and energy needed.

Day 1

The first day of PodCon2 opened with time for registration and visiting the expo hall. Attendees were given bracelets versus badges for safety reasons, though only a map was given out–no paper schedules, lists of featured guests, etc. Activities like the PodCon Quest, an in-convention sticker scavenger hunt, were not reprised. With the shaky wifi in the conference center, this made accessing the online-only schedule frustrating.

While I understand the reason wristbands were used, there’s something specifically confusing about not having badges for a podcast event. Because podcasts are audio-only, most people don’t know what podcasters look like. Badges allowed names, but also gave podcasters space to write the names of their shows or slip their business card in. Name badges–even blank badges that had spaces for your name and your podcast, and even if those badges cost a few dollars–would have been greatly appreciated on top of the bracelets.

The opening show of PodCon was hosted by Symphony Sanders of Welcome to Night Vale and Good Morning Night Vale and Simone de Rochefort of Rocket and The Polygon Show. The two had a natural and hilarious chemistry: Sanders played up her high-energy charisma, and de Rochefort played up her strangeness and awkwardness. Together, these aspects felt heightened and even funnier, without entirely stealing the show. The individual sketches in the opening show otherwise fell somewhat flat. Getting featured guests to improperly eat a banana was funny, even though Griffin McElroy seemed legitimately frustrated by it.

The first session I attended was a Podcast Scramble, one of PodCon’s flagship events that remains one of the funniest. The concept is that two guests who create radically different podcasts are paired together to make an episode of the podcast they’d make if they co-hosted. The block had a scramble between Hank Green and Teylor Smirl (Still Buffering) disussed Green’s favorite drink, a tequila and tonic. The episode was funny, though a little stilted and awkward at times. The second scramble, though, was fantastic. It paired Helen Zaltzman (The Allusionist) and Arnie Niekamp (Hello from the Magic Tavern) to talk about planning their own funerals. The macabre setup made for some of the biggest laughs for the entire weekend.

The second session I attended was “Sci-Fi Sound Effects Design: Best Practices for Otherworldly Audio,” hosted by Archive 81‘s Dan Powell. My live tweet of the talk starts here:

This workshop was one of the most fascinating and actively useful I attending during PodCon. Powell’s discussion centered on not just the philosophy of sound design, but also a guided listening exercise, a layer-by-layer breakdown of how Powell constructed an alien voice with foley, and a pros and cons for using premade sounds from online libraries. It was absolutely invaluable for creators who want to design soundscapes in speculative fiction.

The next panel on my schedule was the “Fiction Podcasting Q&A” featuring Paul Bae (The Black Tapes and The Big Loop), Joseph Fink, Alexander Danner (Greater Boston and What’s the Frequency?), Lauren Shippen (The Bright Sessions and ARCS), Sarah Rhea Werner (Girl in Space and Write Now), and Kaitlin Statz (The White Vault). My live tweet of the panel starts here:

This Q&A was the perfect mix of helpful and hilarious. The panel had a good variety of writers from different styles and genres, and Bae’s work as a moderator helped bring an assortment of questions for both fans and aspiring creators. It felt like what a panel at PodCon should accomplish. There was the right balance of content to make it feel both fun and informative–it could have easily belonged in either a fan track or a creator track, if PodCon had tracks at all (but more on that in the “The Overall Bad” section).

And speaking of panels that balanced humor and being helpful: the next session on my schedule was “More Pre-Pro, Less Problems: How to set your show up for success before launch.” The panel was hosted by Multitude Productions (Amanda McLoughlin, Eric Schneider, Eric Silver, Julia Schifini, Mike Schubert) and podcast critic Elena Fernández-Collins.

The panel, structured around Multitude’s article of the same title, gave a step-by-step guide on how to prepare your podcast before your launch. The discussion focused on having social media and funding–including crowdfunding like Patreon–set up before your podcast goes live. The inclusion of Fernández-Collins allowed guidance on how to best speak to the press when your podcast debuts.

Finally, I went to the Spirits live show–a live show that shared the same time slot as the My Brother, My Brother and Me live show, not to mention other panels, meetups, etc. The choice to see Spirits live was easy for me, but I can imagine others feeling too pulled in too many different directions to choose anything at all.

Day 2

By the beginning of PodCon day two, it was clear that two days weren’t nearly long enough for everything the convention wanted to contain. With only half-hour breaks between each panel, I didn’t have any time to pick up the swag bag purchased with my ticket; the lines were far too long to get into without missing a panel. That doesn’t even take looking around the expo hall into account. Because there was nothing that pulled my interest too much this morning, I skipped the panels, went to the expo hall, collected my swag bag, avoided a baffling booth from some car company (Nissan, I think?), and bought some merch.

The first panel I attended on the second day was “Transgender Representation in Audio Drama,” hosted by Sophie Kaner (The Penumbra), Mischa Stanton (The Whisperforge, The Bright Sessions, LeVar Burton Reads, Safe for Work, and others), Lucille Valentine (The Six Disappearances of Ella McCray, Modern Fae, Unplaced, and others), Lisette Alvarez (Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services, The Magic King Dom), Jamie Price (The Strange Case of Starship Iris, What’s the Frequency, and others), and Micah Rollins (a scholar of media and LGBTQ studies).

This panel was a beautiful combination of how audio drama creators can be more cognizant of trans actors and stories from each of the panelists. It was a vital session, and I was happy to see it was placed in one of the largest rooms at the convention–and that the seats were just about filled. While audio drama has greater trans representation than other mediums, the panel was an important reminder that the medium still has miles to go and cannot yet rest on its laurels.

Next, I went to the fiction podcast meetup held at the back of the expo hall. The meetup was huge, filling the back section of the hall, and the energy was absolutely electric. It was a moment for some creators and fans to network with each other, but more importantly, it was a chance for people who have become friends online to finally meet each other in person. The fiction podcast community (synonymous with the audio drama community) is somewhat tight-knit and very welcoming, so this opportunity to meet was one of the most appreciated from those who attended. It was this opportunity, as well as just running into each other in the halls, that exemplified some of what PodCon does best: feeling like a summer camp for podcasters. Just, you know, in the Seattle winter.

The final panel I attended was “Managing Your Party – Collaborative Storytelling in Podcasts,” featuring Arnie Niekamp (Hello from the Magic Tavern), Victoria Rogers (The Broadswords), Ray Goldberg (Tabletop Potluck), Eric Silver (Join the Party, HORSE), Celeste Conowitch (Venture Maidens), and Griffin McElroy (The Adventure Zone; My Brother, My Brother and Me; Wonderful!; and others).

This was a fairly specific topic for a panel–managing a party in a Dungeons & Dragons “actual play” (as in, a group of people actually playing the game) podcast–but given the genre’s rise to popularity, it felt very at home in the convention. Of the panels I attended, this one gave the most behind-the-scenes information for advice: instead of best practices, much of the panel revolved around how each podcaster works so that the audience can better define what might work for them.

After the panel, I watched the Sawbones live show, which was funny as always. The McElroy family has spent years honing what makes a good live show, blending their on-stage presence with what will, ultimately, still make for good audio. This live installment of Sawbones, which focused on auriculotherapy, was the perfect example.

And, finally, I watched the closing show, which was substantially more entertaining than the opening show. Between Allegra Frank (The Polygon Show) doing a live podcast season of one-question episodes; the reprisal of Justin McElroy and Roman Mars’s (99% Invisible) Smart Stuff, an asychronous podcast; Helen Zaltzman (The Allusionist) discussing the merits of the word “podcast”; and Carrie Poppy (Oh No, Ross and Carrie!) taking a joke much further than anticipated, the closing show was hilarious and delightful.

The Overall Good

Like PodCon1, PodCon2 was a weekend I never wanted to leave from. Usually, this wasn’t necessarily because of the programming; it was because of the energy of PodCon. There’s something beautiful about spending a weekend with people you only see once or twice a year. Overhearing attendees decide to start a podcast together is something that only the energy of PodCon can really provide. PodCon is a time to meet new friends, reunite with old friends, and form friendships that might become creative partnerships. While other podcast events have this feeling, nothing replicates it quite like PodCon–mostly because other podcast events don’t have such a focus on new or aspiring podcasters.

An impressive change over last year was the increased presence of programming for fiction. Last year, fiction only received a small slice of the schedule; this year, fiction seemed to receive just about as much attention in panels, workshops, etc. as nonfiction. Given much of the attendees were fans of more fiction than nonfiction podcasting, the choice just seemed natural.

I was happy that there were more hands-on editing workshops between Dan Powell’s, linked above, and one by Griffin McElroy. I was happy that there was a panel specifically on trans issues versus just queer issues; the two groups, while they clearly have intersect, are not necessarily the same, and do not necessarily face the same issues.

However, outside of some especially good panels, much of the fun of PodCon happened outside of the schedule itself.

The Overall Bad

To start with the simple: the expo hall was strange, and the swag bag (which came as an additional cost) was disappointing. Having more purposeful vendors would feel less bizarre and unappealing–why not get Blue, the creator of the most prominent podcasting microphones, or typical podcast sponsors like Casper or StitchFix? The swag bag, meanwhile, was mostly ads, accompanied by a notebook, an enamel pin, and some stickers. After last year’s travel mug and book, this swag bag felt a little laughable for the added cost.

PodCon has a programming problem. It’s unclear whether this problem is due to not being steeped enough in the community, not giving enough time to scheduling, trying to maximize panels while minimizing cost, trying to force too much of a fan-forward slate of events, or a combination of some of those things, but it is, without a doubt, the biggest problem facing PodCon.

First: having between nine and eleven events at once–usually including two different live shows and only half-hour breaks to go to the expo hall–is too many. It’s just too many. Even with the remote attendance podcast feed attendees will receive, nine to eleven is too many to not feel overwhelming. Creators were essentially always torn between seeing live shows and furthering their careers. Certain time slots also contained panels with directly overlapping audiences. While I was at the fiction podcast meetup, there was also an audio drama voice acting workshop, a panel on finding the story behind your podcast, branding for fiction podcasts, and a workshop on storytelling from a producer who works on the Marvel fiction pieces.

During the trans representation panel, there was a panel on mental health, a live recording of Dreamboy, and a meet and greet for Nancy–all of which have to do with LGBTQ identities.

These timeslots, and others, were baffling. Seeing voice actors and fiction creators have to skip their own meetup was so strange, and it seems entirely avoidable with some more careful planning–or, best case scenario, a third day.

Because PodCon does need a third day if it intends on scheduling so many panels and events. There needs to be time for meet and greets, time for panels, time for live shows, and time for the expo hall–and those things cannot all be stacked on top of themselves in such massive piles. There needs to be some overlap with programming, naturally, but not to this extent.

In my eyes, most of these issues in programming would be handled by the creation of tracks, similar to what Podcast Movement does. PodCon seems to assume that attendees are fans first, creators second–and in this way, PodCon is wrong. Most attendees create, or want to create, podcasts. Having a creation track, a marketing track, and a fan track would help attendees organize what they want to see and prioritize based on those tracks. It would help make sure that those individual types of events don’t have too much overlap.

And the programming itself needs to be more purposeful. The program had far too many meet and greets and meetups, and not nearly enough workshops or panels with directly applicable advice. Having a meetup for “bibliophiles” instead of literally anything podcast-related makes no sense to me. Having too great a focus on live shows and fan events feels like the convention is missing its mark with its true audience. It feels like PodCon is leaning further away from what made PodCon1 so magical: seeing people come in as fans and leave as creators. With PodCon2, it seems unlikely that fans left as anything but fans, and that creators left as anything but . . . a little disappointed.

The featured guests need to be chosen more purposefully, too. The first frustrating in the featured guests was the amount of overlap between last year. Conventions remain fresh and exciting largely by getting exciting new guests each year versus recycling the same contacts for each iteration. Similarly, some of the featured guests just felt like a strange pull–mostly, in podcasters whose primary work is not podcasting, but who also happen to make a podcast. Even featured guests who made perfect sense at the convention seemed to be used strangely: Hrishikesh Hirway and the Nancy team, for instance, seemed like perfect fits, but were on very few panels. Paul Bae, meanwhile–another perfect fit for the convention, but one who was featured the year prior–seemed to be booked start to finish on both days. There were some “speakers,” for instance, who weren’t listed as “featured guests” but were on more events than many featured guests.

But What About PodCon3?

If there is a PodCon3, there is no doubt I will be attending. I’ll buy tickets as soon as they are available.

But for now, it’s unlikely it’ll be the highlight of my year like PodCon1 was until or unless the organization and communication from the PodCon team improves. I want more, and clearer, communication earlier. I want more events for creators and fewer fluff events. I want three days, and I want the schedule to have room to breathe. I want people to come back from PodCon3 not just feeling like they had another year at summer camp, but that they had another term a an annual creators’ reatreat. I don’t just want people making friends; I want them making art, too.

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