Tea in the Sahara
Kev – Fiction Podcast Critic
Welcome podcast fans, I hope you are feeling in the mood for something a tad different for your reading consumption this week?
I recently attended the Podcast Show 2022 in London and thought you might potentially enjoy an unfiltered, unbiased review of my very first podcasting event.
Not to go all nerdy on you, but I will quickly mention that the Business Design Centre building used as the venue for this event is an absolutely striking piece of architecture.
Some quick kudos to the event organisers for finding this little gem set in north London to house Europe’s biggest podcasting event. The enormous single-span glass roof reminded me of Paddington Station and was a stunning backdrop for the event, for those who bothered to look up.
Luckily for me, I wasn’t attending my fledgling podcast event solo as my trusty pal Harry tagged along for moral support, and quite possibly to have a day off work! Cheers H.
Highlights
For me, one of the obvious highlights was watching Louis Theroux as a guest in the ‘interview the interviewer’ session discussing his popular podcast venture ‘Grounded with Louis Theroux’ on BBC sounds.
Being a massive Louis fan from back in the day it was reassuring to see that his slightly awkward, geeky personality was still intact even when having his role reversed and becoming the interviewee. Mr Theroux, you did not disappoint!
IMHO, the same could not be said of Emily Maitlis who joined Louis as a second guest speaker to discuss her own podcast ‘Podcast Radio Hour’.
Knowing Maitlis as a highly credible BBC journalist/interviewer watching her veer off-piste with her answers seemed that the role of the interviewee felt outside of her comfort zone.
If you were at this particular session (25/05 10.00), I’d be keen to get your take if you agree with me or not?
Between sessions, we soaked up the ambience of the event and accidentally (as you do), bumped into Steve Wilson, QCODE’s Chief Strategy Officer.
Steve was a true gent taking time to have a quick chat with me about some of the previous QCODE reviews that I had written.
We had previously seen Steve in a session about Dolby Atmos, so it was pure fluke that he happened to be standing right next to me in the middle of an event full of thousands of people!
Another guest speaker from the day whom I found inspirational was Gaurav Choudhury, founder & CEO of Earshot Media. A production company I had unashamedly never heard of. Indian based Earshot are early adopters of Dolby Atmos, and it was fascinating to hear Gaurav talk so candidly about the podcasting craft, India’s growing podcast marketplace, and future plans to embed Dolby Atmos into their podcasts.
If you take anything away from this review definitely check out Earshot!
Speaking of Dolby Atmos we visited their sound truck aimed at giving the listener the chance to immerse themselves into the Atmos experience. This honestly blew my mind, which I hope you can get from the cheesy grins Harry and I are sporting.
Shout out to Stephanie Dimont-Arakelian from CurtCo for recommending that I try this out. Your recommendation of The SOLAR clip we listened to was truly awesome in Dolby Atmos, and could just be my next review…
Sidenote
All in all the day was completely eye-opening finding out firsthand how vast the UK podcasting market is. With a current value of sixty-four million pounds, it would appear this old industry is heading only one way!
Both myself & Harry said we would definitely return if the event were held in London next year (you lucky, lucky people!)
Although I had an absolutely mind-blowing day at this event there were a few things that could have been slightly better. And like an honest TripAdvisor review, here are my areas of development.
The BBC Sounds stand scored 10/10 for its impressive stylish round shape full of podcast memorabilia dotted about. However, whenever we walked to the stand to chat with someone there was never anyone from the BBC to be seen. True, this could have been poor timing on our part when we rocked up, or either it was cigarette break time, but honestly speaking I think the BBC missed a trick here. If you read this BBC and attend future podcasting events make sure you have enough staff on hand!
My next point is more personally linked to what I do as a podcast critic writer. I completely appreciate that this event was centred around podcast creators. After all, it’s called The Podcast Show 2022 right? Yet for my medium, I felt there was little to nothing in terms of inclusivity.
This was my first podcasting event, and although I do not have my own podcast show I do contribute to this industry. I’m not seeking a violin to play for me, but more work needs to be done to include everyone who works in, and around the podcasting industry.
If anyone from the Podcasting event would like to reach out to me I have a few ideas on how this could potentially be achieved – tinthesahara@gmail.com
And that’s that guys. Thank you for taking the time to read this slightly different format of review. For your podcast submissions email me directly at tinthesaharah@gmail.com, via my socials, or follow my newsletter. Cheers, Kev.
Previous reviews
- The Foxes of Hydesville – Criminal Content & QCODE – podcast review
- TAGGED – SONY Music Entertainment & Goldhawk Productions – podcast review
- How to Win Friends and Disappear People – QCODE Productions – Podcast Review
- The Hunt for Typhoid Mary – BBC Northern Ireland Production review
- We’re Alive Descendants – revisited – Wayland productions
Tea in the sahara 