Big Podcast Club

During my time in the music business, there were a few instances of acts who would seemingly come out of nowhere, be everywhere, then disappear as quickly as they came.

This is how I feel about Clubhouse right now.

There were a couple of months when you couldn't go anywhere online without people talking about it, "invites" to get in were going for big money, and many podcasters were fearing it would negatively affect their audiences.

Right now, except for people who largely invested in Clubhouse and are still selling that dream, nobody cares. At least in most niches. Like anything, there are still a few groups sticking things out.

But not podcasters.

Facebook, Twitter, and other major players are working on audio-only options that are similar to Clubhouse. And Clubhouse is still valued at something like $4,000,000,000.

But is it valuable to you and me?

For now, I'm sticking to non-Clubhouse options are far as connecting with people. The US is doing better as far as COVID-19 numbers, which means we may be able to get together for in-person events soon. And Zoom is still going strong.

"Big Podcast Club" isn't dead. Let's call it a hibernation. Or maybe just a transformation.

Whatever it is, I'm not doing anything on Clubhouse at the moment.

Will I be back to Clubhouse in the future? Maybe. But until then visit me here.

We're now an "official" club on Clubhouse. Search for "Big Podcast" to find us.

I've made it so that anybody can start a room under this club, so feel free to do that, but please keep topics limited to the business and art of podcasting.

MEETING DETAILS

DATE: 02/18/21

MODERATORS: David from Build A Big Podcast and Karen from Deconversion Therapy

CONTENT

THE BIG IDEA - A co-hosted podcast is great when it works, but awful when it doesn't. How to make your co-hosted podcast a success.

TOPICS

• Your podcast foundation
• What makes a good co-host?
• Finding a good co-host
• Dividing podcasting tasks and responsibilities
• Staying in your individual lane, but also moving forward together
• The backend
• How the money works
• Things to think about before you start a podcast with somebody else

Thanks to everybody who dropped in. Thanks to Helen from Who You Needed and John from No Driving Gloves for your contribution to the conversation.

MEETING DETAILS

DATE: 02/16/21

MODERATORS: David from Build A Big Podcast and Wendy The Print Journalist

CONTENT

THE BIG IDEA - The seven elements you must have to have a successful podcast, both in terms of growing an audience and your ability to sustain it

TOPICS (These are general topics covered – not the seven-part framework itself.)

• Am I the person to share this message? How to know...
• Your podcast topic – what happens if you get sick of it?
• Controlling your message, what happens when you lose control, and how to take it back
• Making a podcast listeners feel is just for them
• Building audience connection
• Being associated with a topic/movement/philosophy you no longer want to be associated with
• The two reasons people will take a chance on your podcast (and keep listening once they try it out)
• The number one reason people won't listen to your podcast, even if it's a good match for them
• How to make something listeners feel connected to and will share with their friends

Thanks to everybody who dropped in. This framework and more details on it will be included in my upcoming book on podcasting, so if you're interested in hearing more about it, that will be one place to find it.

Clubhouse for Android doesn't exist yet, but if you're on Android and want to have a similar (?) experience, you may want to look at Space, which has both Android and iPhone options.

I haven't yet decided if I'm going to do anything for Big Podcast Club on Space, but if there is enough interest, I will definitely consider hosting something there or giving you the tools to do that yourself.

My goal with this experiment is to get podcasters talking to each other as well as listeners of their podcasts. As far as platforms go, I'm agnostic.

I wrote an article about Clubhouse for podcasters that you may find helpful for your Clubhouse podcast strategy.

As podcasters, I think we have a real opportunity with Clubhouse as well as similar services that are (supposedly) coming soon, including one from Twitter and another from Mark Cuban. We have the skill set in place, so I think these audio-only social media networks are definitely something for us to look at, although I'm not buying into the hype like some are.

For me, Clubhouse is like a wave – let's ride it until it crashes and we have to hop off. It's been great for podcasters here to connect with each other, which I think is good enough on its own. As far as connecting with your podcast listeners, Clubhouse for podcasters has more info.

I'm looking forward to talking to you at the next meetup!

Need a Clubhouse invite? Let me know via the Big Podcast Instagram.

MEETING DETAILS

DATE: 02/09/21

MODERATORS: David from Build A Big Podcast and Wendy The Print Journalist

PARTICIPANTS: Larry from Readily Random and Helen from Who You Needed

CONTENT

THE BIG IDEA - How To Quickly Build Guest Rapport

TOPICS

• The general attitude/persona you need to have to quickly build guest rapport
• Letting guests know your process
• How researching guests helps with interview rapport (and how to do it)
• The "pre-interview" process
• First impressions – How to control the guest experience
• Guest nerves and how to calm them
• Getting on the same side as your guest
• Guest feedback and how to deliver it
• What happens when the interview goes bad?

Great to see everybody in the audience. Our goal is to balance delivering information and audience interaction while keeping the conversation moving forward and the format is a work-in-progress. Thank you for sticking it out with us!

MEETING DETAILS

DATE: 01/28/21

MODERATORS: David from Build A Big Podcast and Larry from Readily Random

PARTICIPANTS: Rafeal from Srvd Radio, Kathi from The Power of Reinvention, Helen from Who You Needed, Adam from Apartment Investing Show, Karen from Deconversion Therapy, and Luisda from Content Is Profit

CONTENT

THE BIG IDEA - The "Clubhouse Opportunity"

TOPICS

• Having the courage to get "on stage"
• Reinventing your life
• Going full time as a podcaster – what it takes
• Larry's "How I Quit My Job" Plan
• Speaking your truth
• "Anonymous" podcasters
• The power of one person connecting to your message
• Diversity in media
• Doing things to build your podcast that aren't scalable

Great to see everybody both on stage and in the audience to kick off The Big Podcast Club. It's inspiring to see people coming from so many different backgrounds, each with a different (yet valuable) approach to podcasting.

Social networks come and go as quickly as podcasts. Or do they? Remember Ello? I just checked and it's still there, but now it's "a community for artists."

Clubhouse is the latest social network to be getting a lot of buzz. As a podcaster, it's worth paying attention to because it's audio-only and a great way for you to interact with podcast listeners doing what you do best – talking and listening.

I was skeptical about Clubhouse, but Larry Roberts kept on me about it. Finally, I jumped in and I agree with what people are saying that there is a lot of potential there.

I love that it's interactive. That's something that we have in podcasting, but not in the way that we have with broadcast radio. Because of this, there is a ton of potential for you to get connected to your podcast audience in a new way.

There's also an opportunity for us to connect to each other as podcasters in a new way, so I've set up this site as a way to support that.

The first presentation will be me talking with Larry about his experience using Clubhouse as a way to build an audience for his podcast.

The official Clubhouse "Club" is coming soon. For now, follow me @davidhooper.