The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Podcast Event Newbies

Last week I talked about recording on the road and somebody said, hey, Dave, I've never been to one of these things.

Got any tips?

Yeah, I got plenty.

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So you're going to an event.

These are great ways to build your network, find opportunities, and grow your audience.

So great.

What do I do?

Well, first things first.

Have one of two or both.

And that would be a business card with your website.

You do have a website, right?

With your website on it and not some sort of bitly link or link tree like a real website.

This is all about first impressions a lot of times.

I will now put a QR code either on the front or back because some people don't want to carry your business card.

So they're like, oh, they'll just do this.

And that should go to your website.

Preferably, I would send them to the follow page so they can follow your show.

And it's that simple.

If you're using PodPage, it's just your website.com follow and I use Switchy IO for my QR codes.

I love that tool.

I use it all the time to track what's working and what's not.

Now, in terms of clothes, comfortable shoes, because you're going to be on your feet and you're going to be walking a lot, a lot of walking.

So keep that in mind.

Breath mints are great because you're gonna be doing a lot of talking.

And chapstick, even in the summer, bring some chapstick because you're talking so much, the hot air coming out of your mouth dries out your lips and stay hydrated.

And then the other thing I have learned, the older I get is, yes, it's fun to hang out with your friends, but if you go two, three nights in a row with not a lot of sleep, you're gonna get sick because you're gonna fly on a plane.

Just, you know, yes, stay out a little late, but don't get crazy.

And I remember once I made it almost through the whole week and it was the last night.

And I'm like, all right, last night I made it and stayed up till about three in the morning, and by the time I got home, I was sick as a dog.

So keep that in mind.

I also now I wear a suit jacket over a T shirt.

Well, Many times, because I'm talking.

I kind of want to be a little dressy.

But if you don't want to wear a suit jacket, a hoodie, something, because what they do, it could be 800 degrees outside, and they will have the air conditioning cranked way down because they'll go, oh, it's going to heat up when people get in here.

And then if they don't have enough people show up, you're freezing to death.

So you'll be very happy that you have two layers of clothes on that.

And likewise, if it's too hot, you can take one off.

So that's something else to keep in mind.

The other thing you have to do, and I realize a lot of podcasters are introverts.

You just got to pretend you're not.

That's it.

Just fake it till you make it.

All you have to do is walk up to somebody and say, what brings you to the show?

I remember once I was in a dinner for just speakers, and I could not have been any further away from all the other speakers because there are times when I'm very, very shy.

And I just looked up and I'm like, look, if anybody in here needs a podcast, it's the speakers.

And I looked over and there was a young woman there, and I was like, all right, can you walk up to her and say, what brings you to the show?

And I just kind of mentally grabbed myself by the shirt and drag me over.

And it's really no big deal.

So you need business cards, you need comfortable shoes, you need breath mints.

You might want to pack some sort of snacks that you can stick in your pocket or in your book bag or something like that.

Because there are times that just things are happening, and you look up and you're like, oh, wow, I never ate lunch.

And all they had for breakfast was a banana.

And so you start to get hungry, and again, you got to keep your energy up.

So some sort of granola, you know, some sort of snack thing to kind of keep you going, that's always something good to have in your pocket.

I mentioned QR codes if you don't have the budget for business cards.

And they are ridiculously cheap, for the record, but I get it.

Then make a QR code and somehow get that on your phone.

So if somebody asks about your show, you're like, here's my QR code.

And they can just scan that with that.

Now, when you get back to your home after going to the event, follow up with the people that you wanted to follow up.

With because if you say I'll do it later, you're probably not.

The other thing you can do is pick whichever pocket is your good pocket and the one that's like probably not a great fit and just pay attention that when somebody you want to follow up with, put them in the follow up pocket and somebody that's like, yeah, not really somebody I'm probably going to connect with later, stick them in the other pocket.

And then when you get back to the hotel for the room, you're going to get some good shut eye.

You can kind of just ditch those other business cards and keep the one you want, put them into your phone.

Whatever you're going to do to follow up.

I like the there's a great tool called Dex.

I'll put a link in the show notes and you can actually it's just meant to manage your relationships.

It's not so much a sales funnel, it just, hey, I want to remind me every three weeks to follow up with this person or remind me once a year to connect with this person.

It's a great tool and I think it's $12 a month, something like that.

It's really cheap, so do that.

But the other thing you want to do is before you get there, figure out what sessions you want to attend.

That's always a good one because I know you're going to tell yourself, hey, I'll listen to the recordings.

I can just tell you you're probably not.

But with that in mind, if you're in the hallway and you're having a phenomenal conversation, you look up and you're like, oh man, the session I wanted to attend is starting.

I would stay in the hallway.

Almost always the hallway networking is better than the education you're going to get.

Not that the speakers are bad, because one of those is me, but I'm just saying if you're having a great conversation, you're like, man, I'm so glad I got to bump into you.

You might want to stay with that.

I once had Michael Stelzner, who is the man behind Social Media marketing world, spent 20 minutes explaining how he started this project.

It didn't work, how much money he spent on it and why he canceled it.

And that was like a master class on how to follow your head and not always just your heart.

And I wouldn't have gotten that if I had gone to the session that was starting.

I stayed in the hallway.

So keep that in mind if you have any other questions, as always, you can find me out@podcastconsultant.com and while you're out there, you can click on the button and join the school of podcasting that comes with unlimited coaching, step by step tutorials, and the world's most amazing podcasting community.

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And if you ever do bump into me at an event, please stop me and say, hello, I'm a really nice guy.

I'm not scary at all.

That always makes me scratch my head.

I was going to say hi, but I don't know, I was nervous.

I'm like, look, I'm just a dude.

Really.

Just a dude that wants to be your podcast consultant.

I've been doing this for 20 years, and I can't wait to see what we're going to do together.

Thanks so much for listening.