Introducing the Bad Podcasters Club!
Readers of this blog will know that if there’s one thing that gets my goat about the podcast industry, it’s the tendency to obscure all reality with convenient and puffed-up evangelising. And there’s nowhere that goat-getting impulse strikes harder than at industry events and conferences.
I live in London, and so we miss most of the big soirees, which tend to happen on the North American continent. But this month Podcast Show is hitting town, complete with lots of exciting speakers (and lots of speakers that I genuinely can’t imagine what they have to say about podcasting). What it means is that, for a couple of days, a fair chunk of the British and global podcast industry will descend on north London. I’ll be there on the Wednesday (at least) so do drop me a line to let me know you’re coming, if you want to have a chat.
Anyhow, this struck me as the perfect opportunity to launch a little fringe event, the Bad Podcasters Club. This is something I’ve been considering doing for a while; trying to create a safe space for people to share their anxieties and failures, as well as ambitions and successes. It’ll be happening at the legendary basement bar of the Hope & Anchor in Islington (where The Cure, The Clash, Joy Division and others have played) on Wednesday May 25th (just a very short walk over from the main conference venue, so you can easily do both) and tickets are totally free. Just book them here. Here’s a little more on the mission statement, from the event description:
“Why call it the Bad Podcasters Club? There are, of course, no bad podcasters. But this is intended as an antidote to the evangelism and careerism that we see in so much of the podcast industry. All hierarchical values are left at the door — this is a place for indie podcasters and senior executives to mix and mingle. You can share successes and share failures. We all know that podcasting is a tough ol’ business, and too often we only talk about the triumphs and opportunities, rather than the bombs and frustrations.”
I may, or may not, arrange a short panel discussion about some of the unspoken issues in the world of podcasting. If I do, then it will be no longer than half an hour. Mainly this is a chance to meet and drink and network with fellow London-based (or international, fly over if you want) podcasters. I’m arranging this and paying for it all out of my own pocket, but if your business wants to chip in then that would be grateful. Just let me know how much you’d like to contribute and I’ll add you to a Proudly Supported By list on all emails and other literature. All money after the costs of covering the venue are met will go straight behind the bar, so that podcasters might enjoy a free lemonade or two.
Hopefully this will be a great success and I can run future editions of the Club here in London. And perhaps you’ll want to open your own chapter of the Bad Podcasters Club in your home cities around the world (we could form the Bad Podcasters Union). If you have any thoughts or questions or whatever, drop me a line to nick@podotpods.com or reach out to me on Twitter.
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