The Good, The Bad & The Audio

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

Last week, I joined hundreds of podcasters, creators, and audio enthusiasts in Chicago for Podcast Movement Evolutions 2025 - and let me tell you, it was a rollercoaster of insights and interesting conversations. Three days, more coffee than I drink in a month (which is typically like 1 cup, so this wasn’t hard), and one speaking session later, I'm finally ready to unpack everything that went down - the good, the bad, and yes, the slightly messy. Podcast Movement is the biggest event for audio creators in the US, and I was super excited when I was notified that I was accepted as a speaker for this event. Besides having an excuse to visit Chicago, I was excited to meet folks I’d only ever talked to virtually or on LinkedIn. Getting to see the Ambies and hear the acceptance speeches was a nice bonus.

In this article, I’ll share:

• A Little Backstory

• My Experience

  • Experiments

  • Gripes

  • Highlights

and even a few predictions! But first…

A Little Backstory

Despite previous controversy, this is still the biggest podcast conference in the States, and I wanted to get Honey & Hustle in front of a larger crowd in 2025. Patrick from Disctopia asked me about coming as well, so I wanted to see what the hype was about.

I was excited to attend all the awesome meetups, which in many ways are arguably as important as the sessions. Disctopia, Audacy, Riverside, and the women’s sports meet-ups were incredible, and I had so many great 1:1 conversations.

My Experience

First and foremost, not to toot my own horn, but MY TALK WAS OFF THE CHAIN. A huge thank you to the 50-75 folks at any given moment who were sitting (some on the floor?!), standing, and asking super engaging and relevant questions. I had no idea my topic would be so relevant, that even folks who couldn’t attend were coming up to me later to connect and ask questions. THANK YOU! I think that really set the tone for my experience at the conference.

All the vendors were really incredible and relevant, I had some great 1:1 convos and met tons of new people (literally so sorry it’s taking a minute for me to follow up with everyone), and I attended some great talks. I’ve heard that the conference has been “bigger” in the past, but I felt like it was just big enough. But I’m fairly introverted, so take that with a grain of salt.

One reason I was excited to visit Chicago was to experience their public transit. I took the train to and from the airport. It caught on fire on the way back, but I still arrived safely. I got lost on the train while in the city on the first day, which is a rite of passage. The airport train/blue line was $5, and the intercity train I took from the stop closest to where I was staying to the stop kinda closest to where the venue was $3.75. A bargain compared to Uber/Lyft fares and with fairly comparable arrival times. I think getting around the city probably would’ve been best with an e-bike for where I was staying and the off-venue events, but I wasn’t super familiar with the e-bike parking stations. Transportation options in a city are something to be factored in when traveling for conferences, as they can add up. Let’s talk about the financial elephant in the room: the cost of attending.

As a speaker, I didn’t have to pay for a ticket. A friend let me stay with them, so I didn’t have to pay for a hotel. I only paid for my meals, airfare, airport parking in Atlanta, train rides, and Uber rides. Altogether, I paid around $500-$600 to attend this festival. Did I get a return on my investment? I firmly believe so. I was a guest on a podcast while I was there, I walked away with countless new connections (well, I can count them, I just don’t feel like it), I got to have some meaningful conversations around growing Honey & Hustle, and I got to be in community with some women sports podcasters, which is a massive help for the new visual storytelling brand I’m building.

Experiments

I wouldn’t be a creator if I weren’t running experiments. I created a zine in collaboration with a designer and printed 50 copies to have on hand for my session. The zine had a QR code that led folks to my Linq landing page, and a survey to get attendee feedback (you’re welcome to complete it even if you didn’t attend but are interested in the topic!). I gave out all but 3 before my talk started, and that’s only because I wanted to start my session on time. The response was awesome, and it was cool to see the interest in the “phygital” product (is that still a word?). 10/10 highly recommend having something to physically give people. I also had stickers and printed tickets, but didn’t get a chance to give those away.

As one of the few filmmakers at the conference (likely the only one), I got to try some Sony camera gear that not too many people seemed interested in. I tested the Sony A1, the Sony A9III, the Sony 28-70mm f2, and the Sony 85mm f1.4. It is by far the fastest camera autofocus system I’ve ever used. I also didn’t have an issue with the Sony color science that so many people complain about. I really loved the 28-70mm f2 lens. I didn’t notice the 4mm loss on the wide end. Coming from using Fuji and Leica cameras as my primary hybrid and photography cameras, the menu system and ergonomics were atrocious. I think the menu system is something I could get used to over time, but the plethora of buttons and knobs were overwhelming and didn’t provide the seamless experience I’m used to and prefer. These are very expensive and highly specialized cameras that I wouldn’t recommend for podcasters. I was testing out the high-megapixel and global shutter features for my use cases as a professional photographer. If you’re looking at the Sony ecosystem and want something a little more robust than their entry-level vlog cameras, the Sony FX30 is the video camera I would recommend. It’s perfect for podcasters and video content creators who are posting primarily on YouTube and social media. It’s a crop sensor camera, so you have more lens options, many of which are smaller, lighter, and more affordable than their full-frame counterparts.

Gripes

This wouldn’t be fulfilling without a few veggies. Podcast Movement has a contract with a certain hotel group for the foreseeable future. The venue we were in was absolutely massive. The food was super disconnected from where the sessions were, and required a lot of walking. It was really hard to get food and get back to the next session in an hour break. They really could have had 3 food trucks by the downstairs entrance, provided diverse options, and made it more accessible for folks.

During my talk, and all of the roundtable sessions, there was no microphone. So my 5’1 self was yelling in the foyer to a group of people for 30 minutes straight. Even people in my session couldn’t hear others asking questions, and could barely hear me answering them. Everyone else who had a roundtable session, which were often more well-attended than the sessions in the main area, had this issue.

I missed this part of the conference, but apparently there was a lot of anxiety and resistance to video podcasting. YouTube sponsored the video podcast stage, and most of the talks were aimed at people who weren’t video creators so I didn’t feel a need to attend them. I’d actually like to do a more intermediate or advanced talk about video podcasting, maybe in August or at next year’s event. I won’t spend time defending the creative medium I know and love. You can read this incredible article from Steve Pratt or this LinkedIn post from Harry Morton, who have some really cool and valuable perspectives to share. One thing that was clear to me is that audio purists who are up in arms about video podcasting and the “decline of the RSS feed” don’t truly know how the mediums work together and the opportunity that exists for podcasts that are optimized for video and audio audiences. Spend less time gatekeeping and more time creating. There’s enough room in the podcast space for all of us. I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.

Highlights

I saved the dessert for last. Everyone was awesome, sincere, genuine, and enthusiastic to talk shop. It’s nice to find people who are both indie and industry folks in one place. I got to meet Sarah Spain. Yes, that Sarah Spain. I was the only person who got to ask her a question during her session, and I got a photo with her like a true women’s sports groupie. The Head of Podcasts at ESPN 30 for 30 followed my podcast, Melanin MVP, on Spotify right in front of me! Can’t believe this is my life right now.

I can also confirm that Substack does have actual humans who care about podcasters because they had someone speaking on a panel with the incredible Ronald Young Jr. I had a moment to ask her questions about Substack Live (adding Android functionality and an actual API for streaming software) and adding more paywall options (pay-per-post and paid subscriptions for collectives and newsrooms) after their panel. While she was super helpful and thoughtful with her responses, it was very clear to me that she and the Substack team don’t spend anywhere near enough time talking with creators and iterating on the features we need most to succeed. Still, it was nice to see someone from the company there and making a genuine effort to bridge the gap between indie writers and Substack bestsellers.

I honestly wish I got to attend more sessions, but there were so many things happening at the same time, it was really difficult to balance social time, talking with vendors, meetups, eating???, and attending sessions.

Here were my 3 favorite sessions and topics:

• creating a live podcast show

• women sports podcasting

• documenting the sounds of a city

I’ll leave you with a prediction and a question to consider.

A prediction:

A question:

Will you be attending Podcast Movement in August in the wonderful city of Dallas?