On the eve of the 2018 Third Coast International Audio Conference, Communications Manager Mitchell Bloom—who produces and edits our podcast—shares five actionable lessons learned from Podcast Movement 2018
BY: MITCHELL BLOOM
ALAS, this weekend, I will not be in the room where it happens.
It’s not my party. I didn’t RSVP in time. And I’ll cry because I want to. The aforementioned “room” is Chicago. The “it” is the 2018 Third Coast Conference. To extend the metaphor a bit further (Hamilton references aren't dated yet, are they? I'm late!), some of podcasting's Founding Folxs will be there leading sessions I will personally be very sad to miss, including...
Speaking of ears: do you hear that? It’s the distant sound of podcast nerds (myself included) singing a chorus of "allelu"s at the mention of those names. It's the sound of ears that can see because the writing is so good. It's the sound of experts in the craft of creating audio stories (aka podcasts) sharing their knowledge and lifting all of us up, together. Jokes aside, I’m bummed that I won’t be able to learn from these luminaries and others at Third Coast. Rather than sit in my sorrow, though, I thought I'd take the occasion of the impending audio conference to share some overdue reflections and takeaways from an Audio Conference of Yore that I did attend: Podcast Movement, which took place right here in Philadelphia—eons ago—in July. Podcast Movement 2018
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Extroverts Extroverting
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The Rest of Us
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In spite of a strong urge to disappear within the walls of the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown because... so many people, I learned a lot over the span of Podcast Movement's three days.
Since much of the industry-wide knowledge unveiled at the conference has already been expertly recapped or summarized by others, I'm going to focus on five actionable items I immediately applied to our podcast after I left Podcast Movement.
TO DO: Simple Changes
You Can Make Now
1) Educate potential listeners in any way possible.
BRAG: We've had a "How To Listen" page since day one.
We created it because we had a conversation very early on with some supporters of the organization who had absolutely no idea how to listen to a podcast. As it turns out, that is very common.
In his keynote at Podcast Movement, Tom Webster of Edison Research urged all of us to do a better job of explaining podcasting to the general public. That keynote is essentially adapted into this article, and is definitely worth a read if you're interested.
According to Edison Research, nearly half (48%) of people who don't listen to podcasts don't know how to listen.
So we bumped that "How To Listen" page up from our website's footer where it was living to a more prominent spot on the landing page.
TAKEAWAY: If you don't have one already, create a "How to Listen" page. Or link to one like this one from Philly's own Rashomon podcast. And make it prominent on your podcast site.
Listen to any one of our 22 episodes (listen to all of them!), and you'll hear us say: "Subscribe on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts."
For better or worse, that's the language the podcast industry has adopted to tell to people to stick with us, to follow our shows, and to listen on a regular basis.
As Tom Webster explains in great depth: "subscribe" suggests that podcasts cost money. In reality, most podcasts are free, so the language we have decided to use is misleading. Especially for potential listeners who don't know any better.
Think about it: if you subscribe to a magazine, you're paying for it. If you subscribe to your local newspaper (highly encouraged), you're paying for it. If you subscribe to HBO, you're paying for it because you watch Game of Thrones or Insecure or both.
I don't know about you, but I'm rarely trying to spend money about something I know very little about.
If you subscribe to a podcast, you're simply following it to keep up-to-date with its episodes. And that's the language we'll begin to incorporate next season.
TAKEAWAY: Lose "Subscribe." Use "Follow."
Who knew three words—"Subscribe on iTunes"—could be so problematic?
I might be exposing myself as a total podcasting hack, but until Podcast Movement I did not know that it was a no-no to direct people to iTunes.
Apple Podcasts is Apple's jam for podcasts. It's different than iTunes.
TAKEAWAY: Direct listeners to Apple Podcasts NOT to iTunes. Or just send them to your website where they can find myriad ways to listen... (food for thought).
THIS is certainly a "duh."
But dang, coming up with a brief summary about your podcast is a) easier said than done and b) never more necessary than when you're surrounded by 2,000 people who want to talk about their podcast inside of a three minute break.
Here's what I came up with: "We talk to teens about topics that matter to them, and then we ask the community to respond."
If the elevator hasn't arrived at its destination, I'd add this: "Each episode features a dramatic monologue written by a high school student and is part performance, part interview, and part conversation."
To be completely honest, I think that still needs work. But the fact of the matter is, our podcast does a lot in a short amount of time. We'll figure it out.
TAKEAWAY: Make sure you can articulate what your podcast is in as few words as possible.
- Bello Collective, an independent publication for all things podcast
- Ma'ayan Plaut, Content Strategist & Podcast Librarian, RadioPublic
- Wil Williams, Podcast journo, Wil Williams Reviews
- HotPod: SUBSCRIBE TO THIS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER for awesome industry insights & news
Right.
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Who are you? Where are you from? What brought you to Philly?
Alexandra: My name is Alexandra, I go by Zandra, Z is my favorite letter and it is too often underused. I grew up in Baltimore, have lived all over the world, and have made Philadelphia home after finishing my graduate degree in theatre at Villanova.
Stephanie: Hiii! I'm Stephanie Kyung-Sun Walters! HeyWhat'supHello! I'm from North Wales, PA (north of the city on the R5 - remember the R5? those were the good ol' days, when Jefferson Station was Market East). I'm first-gen Korean American on my mom's side and American as apple pie, white-picket fence on my dad's side. I lived in Lewisburg, PA as an undergrad at Bucknell University. I've also lived in New York City, London, and Edinburgh, but of all the places I've lived, Philly is my most favorite. I moved here in 2011 and began my career as an actor. Since then, I have fallen into the world of playwriting and teaching.
Carlos: My name is Carlos Roa, and I'm proud Miami transplant! I've been in Philadelphia for about six years now, and what brought me to this city was my exposure to the theatre scene. After watching productions mounted by Pig Iron and The Wilma Theater, I was so blown away by the experience that I knew that this was where I had to be. Philadelphia is a fantastic city for an artist who wants to produce their own work.
WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING AT PYP?
Stephanie: I am the Special Projects Fellow which means I'm working with the Colored Girls Museum on a residency called Performing Identities. Performing Identities is a application-based program for young women of color at the intersection of research and performance. Through this program I will also be leading and mentoring four PYP teaching artists to achieve their teaching goals (#goalgetter). I'm also a facilitator for the Resident Playwrights, an application-based cohort of emerging playwrights who meet monthly to write and revise a play. With Resident Playwrights, I will be co-creating curriculum with Brittany Brewer and generally making money moves with young artists. And I run around to local schools teaching playwriting for core program residencies while generating new curriculum for PYP and our TAs, as a whole. Cash in me in the office, how bout dat?
Carlos: I will be serving as the Education Programs Fellow, where I'll be helping out with programming at PYP, working as an Assistant Teaching Artist in schools throughout Philadelphia, and translating PYP's handouts and worksheets into Spanish for our ESL students! And of course, you'll definitely see me participating in our New Voices Festival and the Mouthful Monologue Festival!
Alexandra: As a Resident TA I will be working mainly on the Episcopal Community Services after school program. I'll be teaching students ranging in age from kindergarten to 8th grade, developing a curriculum that focuses on social emotional learning, and mentoring other Has in the program. I'm also really looking forward to getting involved in other PYP programs.
WHAT'S THE BEST PIECE OF CREATIVE ADVICE YOU'VE EVER BEEN GIVEN?
Carlos: "Nobody is coming to save you." This is the hardest reality that an artist has to face, and I'm so glad that this book taught me that in a gentle and palatable fashion. I taught myself to produce, market my own work, and put together an artistic team for a Fringe show I wanted to make, and I grew so much because of the experience. And yes, there were moments where it was messy and stress-inducing, but it meant that I still have room to develop my own producing skills.
Alexandra: The best creative advice I've ever gotten was that you have to be willing to fail.
Stephanie: 1) "You are enough" had a pretty big impact on me. Growing up, I never felt like I was enough anything. When it came to my identity or my art, I always felt like I was trying to keep up (with the Kardashians). I had a teacher in New York named Erin Ortman, who probably wouldn't remember be if her life depended on it, but I remember working on a scene from Diana Son's Stop, Kiss...which, LET ME BREAK DOWN HOW IMPORTANT THIS WAS FOR ME: Korean American playwright from Philadelphia, off-Broadway play starring Korean(-Canadian) Sandra Oh....WHHATTTT?! Anyway, I'm rehearsing the scene, and I'm working. I mean, I'm working HARD. Erin stops me and says, "Stephanie, you don't have to work so hard. You are enough." Boom. Game changer. I'm enough. And you are too.
2) "Take your vitamins" - my mom
This one is pretty easy, but also easily overlooked. You're a TA, right? You're going into schools, right? Schools with a bunch of kids. You know what those kids are doing? MAKING GERMS. They are germ factories. So you, TA, are going into a building with hundreds of FACTORIES of germs. TAKE YO' VITAMINS (but eat something first).
by Tiara Bounyarith
![Picture](/uploads/4/3/7/7/43779537/published/image1-1.jpeg?1533666020)
Every year, Philadelphia Young Playwrights hosts its Annual Playwriting Festival, which welcomes submissions from elementary, middle, and high school students from all across Philadelphia and neighboring counties. With the hundreds of plays Young Playwrights receives yearly, it would be nearly impossible and inefficient to solely have staff review entries. Assisting Young Playwrights with play evaluation is the Literary Committee, a contingent of teachers, interns, employees, volunteers, and others who thoroughly read a varying number of submissions. Readers also are responsible for two primary tasks, one of them being to evaluate which plays have the potential to advance to the Final Committee, who determines possible festival winners. The second assignment for readers is to compose a letter of response to each play’s author (or authors) detailing the piece’s strengths and useful revision tips. Overall, the participants in the Literary Committee contribute valuable time and energy in aiding the Playwriting Festival’s operation.
Reading for the Literary Committee was one of my duties as an intern here at Philadelphia Young Playwrights. For me, it was a two-day process, the second being more laboring than the first, as I spent that day drafting letters to the participating students, fingers flying above my keyboard for 3 continuous hours, mind growing more and more stale as the minutes ticked by. The first day, though slightly more lax in terms of activity, was insightful. During this period, I perused my assigned plays, and formulated bulleted lists of “pros and cons” for each submission - in other words, the assets of the play that I found to be effective versus the ones I felt had promise but needed some modification. Considering I was reading the works of 6th graders with little to no experience in theatrical writing, I found my “cons” lists to all be significantly longer than the “pros”. However, this doesn’t mean I loathed any of the plays (or the task of spending 5 hours at my computer with them). In fact, I utterly enjoyed them.
While reading, I found myself filtering out the technical errors to see the plays for what they really were: the ideas of budding writers (in all their dramaturgically inaccurate glory). The art of writing, regardless of age, is a discipline that requires brain power strong enough to take one tidbit of your imagination and expand upon it while nurturing the same amount of fervor all throughout the debilitating process. To see this notion illustrated in the creations of people as young as 12 or 13 was eye-opening. It showed me what forms of narratives first-time writers cherished enough to write one-act plays about. There was one particular play I read that stuck out among the rest. Besides the fact that it was the lengthiest of the batch, the writing resonated with me in the sense that it didn’t only tell a unique story, but it also integrated important themes of individual growth and self-resilience. To request a 6th grader to write a play for the sake of a school assignment is one thing. To have the 6th grader construct a plot with layers beneath the surface level is another. It proves that even the youth have voices to contribute, and refreshing perceptions to offer.
My personal experience as a Reader for the Literary Committee probably wasn’t the same as those of other Readers. To gain more perspective, I’ve asked 2 other Readers to share their reflections.
What were some unexpected challenges you encountered while reading, recommending, and writing responses for plays?
Byshera: When I was reading these plays, I had to be aware that they are written by students who may have never written creative fiction before, let alone had some unknown person guide the quality of their work. Because of this, I had to adjust the way that I looked at each piece and think, “What is this student trying to articulate and are they doing that to the best of their ability?” When it came to writing responses, I thought it would be difficult to write a page of constructive feedback that was also encouraging. However, you don’t want to be discouraging. Thankfully, I was a student who wrote a play for PYP in high school, so I was able to emphasize and thus focus on the positive elements of each student’s writing.
Emily: An unexpected challenge I've run into is the 1-page limit for responses. We receive so many wonderful plays each year, and sometimes, I want to write about a piece for more than a page!
The participating young writers gain tailored responses from readers that allow them to review their plays’ points for revision, but also realize their hidden skills as artists. How have you benefited from your experience as a reader for Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ Literary Committee?
Byshera: It’s really inspiring to see students from third grade to high school taking ownership of their voices. As an adult who aspires to write, it is difficult to put your work out into the world. You are afraid of rejection and that others won't care about what you have to say. This fear often leads to self-policing. You are afraid so you don't even try. However, these students are unencumbered by those fears. At its very worst, the Young Playwrights Process allows them to give voice to how they are feeling through fiction and get encouraging feedback from someone who wants them to keep writing. At its best, they get to experience what it is like to have something they wrote adapted into a play that hundreds of people will see. As a reader, I get to give students, hopefully, useful feedback that will propel them into other writing projects. I’m definitely taking away a new perspective and attitude about being a reader.
Emily: I think the biggest benefit to being on the literary committee is getting to know the schools through the writing their students produce. As a TA for PYP, I only work with a small percentage of our student community during the school year. So, it's been lovely to read plays from schools I am not familiar with and see how much thought and dedication went into writing them.
Provide an example of a play that you have read that stood out to you, and explain why this piece was so memorable.
Byshera: One play that stood out to me was String by Maya Jennings. There were some really advanced themes being addresses and very complex characters created by an 8th grader. The story is all about Lee Cuevas, a teenage boy who suffers from anxiety and a learning disability, and his older sister Isa Cuevas, a slightly older teenager who aspires to attend a private scientific institute. But throughout the story, you can see this complex backstory unfolding and I think that once the writer finds the goal of the play she will have something really powerful. These characters really stuck with me and I found myself wanting more and that is the sign of good storytelling.
Emily: My favorite play of the summer (so far) is about a boy who builds a time machine in his backyard. This play is memorable for so many reasons, but the best thing about it is the fast-paced, witty dialogue that is flooded with puns. It was a joy to read, and I am excited to pass it along to other readers.
In a culture where ageism is still prevalent and students who yearn to impact their communities are repressed from doing so due to their age, the expressions of young people are constantly being silenced. As a young writer myself, attempting to insert myself into a world where my opinions may not be as valued as those with more life experience can be daunting. It makes me feel as though my voice is something I have to safeguard - a fragile sentiment vulnerable to the world’s harsh sect of adults. However, Philadelphia Young Playwrights celebrates young people taking the initiative to broadcast what they have to say, and goes as far as to motivate students to prevail in their writing. For me, the mere act of reading and responding to the works of children across the city made me feel like I was a part of this virtue. It allowed me to be a team member of a process that cultivates promising artists from the ground up - a process that ensures writers of all ages that their voices can and will be heard.
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