Podcast Meetups 101: How To Host, Grow And Fund Local Events With Badr Milligan

Summary

Buzzcast Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Podcast Meetups 101: How To Host, Grow And Fund Local Events With Badr Milligan
Date: February 13, 2026
Host: The Buzzsprout Team (primarily "A" - Alvin, "B", and "C")
Guest: Badr Milligan (Host of The Short Box Podcast, Co-founder of Jax Podcasters United)

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Episode Overview

This episode is dedicated to exploring the nuts and bolts of creating and growing local podcast meetups. The team speaks with Badr Milligan, a long-running podcaster and leader in the Jacksonville, FL podcasting community, to uncover actionable strategies for building in-person podcasting events. The conversation travels from the early days of scrappy meetups all the way to hosting full-fledged educational events and charity fundraisers. Listeners will leave with a real-world toolkit for gathering podcasters, whether in a big city or small town, and an appreciation for the value of in-person community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. From Online to IRL: Rethinking Podcast Promotion

• Oversaturation Online: The hosts mull over the burnout that comes with endlessly promoting podcasts on social media. Real-world tactics are needed to cut through the digital noise.
  • Quote: "Maybe as podcasters, we almost do too much focusing on an online presence versus, you know, IRL, like, in real life and engaging with people outside of social media." – Alvin [02:00]
• Creative Offline Promotion: Printing flyers, leaving posters at comic shops, or partnering with local businesses often leads to more engaged listeners with less competition for attention.
  • Memorable tactic: Leaving flyers at comic shops and tracking actual listener growth from physical presence. [03:07]

2. Building Jax Podcasters United: Origins & Evolution

• Unpretentious Beginnings: Badr and his co-founder Blythe started by simply gathering local podcasters, not chasing perfection or monetization.
  • Quote: “We did not put the cart before the horse... It was just a very pure mindset of like, hey, let's do these meetups, because people really enjoy them.” – Badr [17:53]
• Community First: Maintaining free events fueled by passion, not dollars, encouraged growth and cultivated trust.
  • Quote: “We weren't selling anything. It was like, hey, we’re just here to meet up, talk, express our frustrations, our joys of podcasting... I think that went a long way.” – Badr [18:39]
• Scaling with Purpose: All growth was gradual and fueled by attendee enthusiasm; their directory and website came much later, after real demand was established. [15:14, 16:00]

3. Venue Partnerships & Building Relationships

• Local Focus: Lean into existing personal networks—local bars, libraries, studios—and approach as a mutually beneficial partnership.
  • “All of our venues, we really try to keep them at a local place... to emphasize, like, hey, this is a group for Jax by Jax in every single way." – Badr [21:28]
• Venue First: Secure the venue before the date, and try for midweek events (Wednesday/Thursday) when venues are slow and willing to host without a fee. [32:21]
• Bartering and Value Exchange: Sponsorships often are service trades (e.g., studio time, printing, prizes), which can be more valuable than cash. [40:16]

4. Marketing: Getting the Word Out

• Start Local, Grow with Tools: Use Facebook Events, Eventbrite, local news, radio, and library community boards to invite others.
  • "We found a lot of success on Facebook… built the Jax Podcasters United Facebook group page, Eventbrite…" – Badr [25:11]
• Tap Community Calendars: Don’t overlook free community calendars on local TV, radio, or newspapers. Local news loves highlighting grassroots creative groups. [29:22]
• Capture and Share: Even at small events, document with photos/reels for future promotion—hire a photographer if you can. [38:04]

5. Day-of Logistics: What Actually Happens?

• Planning is Key: Take the day off work if possible. Bring name tags, signs, QR codes, feedback surveys, and thank volunteers and venue staff repeatedly.
  • “The JPU might as well be sponsored by Sterilite because the amount of tubs and bins I have...” – Badr [36:48]
• Community Buy-In: Volunteers will emerge naturally once events pick up momentum. Accept help, delegate tasks, and build ownership within the group. [36:35]
• Small Touches Matter: Focus on creating a welcoming environment: signage, music, stickers, food (usually pizza or sandwiches), and ways to connect newcomers. [34:44]

6. Elevating Beyond Meetups: Workshops, Camps & Charity Events

• Keep it Fresh: Avoid repetition—start with networking, but add workshops, panel talks, and even charity functions as you grow. This keeps engagement up and avoids burnout.
  • “We never wanted it to be, like, give someone a reason to skip, because it’ll be just like last time.” – Badr [41:33]
• Half-Day & Educational Events: Partnering with sponsors and local contributors (Buzzsprout, Guitar Center, etc.) made larger, more ambitious events like “Podcast Camp” and “Potathon” possible, still keeping them free to attend. [47:48]
• Charity Angle: A portion of event proceeds go to local charities, fueling goodwill and community pride.
  • “Since we did our third year event last year in 2025... we've raised almost $2,000 for charity.” – Badr [50:00]

7. Lessons & Motivations for Other Communities

• Start Small, Iterate: You don’t need to be an event planner—just reach out, post on social, and start with a handful of people.
  • “You can start small, and I do recommend that. Start small for the first couple… it can be as simple as, ‘I found this venue that’s willing to host us.’” – Badr [54:59]
• Genuine Passion Wins: The spirit of service (not sales) for the local community is the foundation for long-term growth.
• Lean Into Your City: Any city—big or small—can become a “podcast hotspot” if someone puts the energy in. (“Why not Boise?” and “Why not Jax?” are recurring refrains). [49:31, 56:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Perfectionism:
  “Perfect is the enemy of good. I always love referencing that. If you’re waiting for it to be perfect, you will never hit publish.” – Alvin [08:53]

• On Community Building:
  “Our mantra as of lately has been, why not Jax? Like, why can’t Jax be like this new hub for podcasts?” – Badr [10:38]

• On Keeping Events Free and Authentic:
  “All of our events—I don’t think we’ve ever charged for an event… we always kept it free.” – Badr [17:53]

• On Event Growth:
  “I bought like, I swear it was like 30 boxes of pizza... 50, 60 people showed up and it was like truly a—oh my God, it was like a lightning in a bottle moment.” – Badr [12:35]

• On Documentation:
  “At a certain point, after a couple of meetups, you’re going to want to show what a meetup feels like. You want to be able to showcase and share photos or… hire a videographer... all I want is a one minute reel.” – Badr [38:04]

• On Should You Start a Meetup?:
  "Why not Boise? Like that phrase, you build it, they will come, really encapsulates what the JPU has been for us." – Badr [49:31]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–04:45 - Rethinking podcast marketing and going IRL; guerrilla tactics for audience growth
• 09:24–15:05 - The birth and evolution of Jax Podcasters United; finding your feet with grassroots events
• 20:14–23:40 - Partnering with venues and bartering; maintaining that "for the community, by the community" vibe
• 25:11–29:41 - Detailed marketing tips: Facebook, Eventbrite, local media, library community boards
• 32:21–34:31 - Choosing venues/dates and why midweek events work; respecting attendees’ time
• 34:31–39:07 - Day-of event logistics; signage, volunteer management, and ace event execution
• 41:14–45:53 - Evolving into workshops and camps; inviting new speakers and educational value
• 47:46–52:41 - Launching larger, charity-driven events; keeping things intimate and valuable for attendees
• 54:59–56:02 - Advice for starting meetups in any community (“Why not your city?”)
• 59:24–61:42 - Personal passion for community, pride of place, and wrapping up

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Start with what you have: Don’t overthink. Get the space, get the people, the rest follows.
• Stay true to your intent: Authentic, non-salesy community is more attractive and sustainable.
• Choose reach over scale: Focus on serving your immediate community. Physical presence stands out.
• Iterate and improve: Start small, grow as you go, and let your community help shape the journey.
• Success in podcasting—like meetups—comes from consistency, not viral hits.

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For more info, visit:

• Jax Podcasters United
• The Short Box Podcast

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Final Mantra:
"Why not your city?" – Badr Milligan

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Buzzcast listeners are invited to suggest future topics and contribute their own stories via the 'fan mail' link in the episode notes.

Transcript

[A]

Alvin, I've seen more and more of you on my Instagram. I've seen your face a lot on my Instagram feed, and that's a good thing. You're out here dishing some really good advice about podcasting, about thinking outside of the box. I love the. It's almost like a meta commentary. There's a video where you're talking about, tired of posting on Instagram and trying to promote your podcast, and it's not working well, they all post on it, and it's on Instagram. I'm like, I love this type of content.

[B]

Oh, man. So I don't really like social media. I definitely don't like vertical video. And yet I'm becoming the person who's doing it. And so, yeah, you wouldn't believe how many people in my real life. Real life. I mean, everyone's in my real life, but people who I know outside of podcasting at work have messaged me and been like, what the heck are you doing online, man?

[C]

Yeah, and your videos are getting, like, more and more creative. I'm starting to see, like, more camera angles with everyone.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Oh, I got one compliment on switching a camera angle, and I got addicted. And then I was like, oh, it is so much more engaging. You pretty much have to change something. Either it's you're punching in or a different angle. And originally I thought that I had to be consistent in, like, moving my head to the new spot, but almost you don't even have to do that. And I don't know. I'm noticing. I mean, I'm learning a lot. I'm trying to do one every day so that I'm learning as much as possible. And it is funny to me how much of the. I mean, I mean, when yesterday was like, the Internet basically stressing you out, you need to be getting off the Internet and onto podcasts. And then I went and posted on all the social media places that I think are the most toxic.

[A]

But you also gave use cases of other podcasts thinking outside of the box in terms of promotion. There was one in particular about some sign at a bus stop. I think it was like, for a crime podcast that was like, hey, join the story. And just their choice of wording the QR code. It wasn't like your typical, like, subscribe and follow this podcast. And it got me thinking that maybe as podcasters, we almost do too much focusing on an online presence versus, you know, irl, like, in real life and engaging with people outside of social media. And it made it got Me thinking about some of my earlier tactics of spreading the word about, you know, my podcast. Yes.

[B]

I always put your story in the real. And then was like, I don't know if Botter really wants me to bring this up. And then you were like, dude, good video. And I was like, dang it, I need it. I should have put it in there.

[A]

But it got me thinking, like, in the early years, guerrilla marketing, I would, like, print out little flyers. I'd drive to a different comic shop every weekend to drop off some flyers or hang up a poster or, you know, leave a flyer on the cork board at a coffee shop. And you'd be surprised by how many people would email me or tell me they found out the show. I picked up a flyer at so and so. Oh, I saw a poster, you know, on my drive here. And yeah, I guess don't doubt the power of, like, being in the physical space. It doesn't all have to be social media, especially if it's, you know, getting on your nerves or you're feeling burnt out. Switch gears.

[B]

Yeah, everything used to be, like, in real life marketing. And then once digital marketing became ubiquitous and we looked at it and we went, oh, it's like, almost infinitely scalable. You know, the total addressable market is the entire world, you know, so if I put up one reel and it went mega viral, you know, millions and millions of views. So that's the whole marketing strategy is, like, luckily going mega viral.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But that means that you're competing with, like, the best marketers in the world and people who maybe aren't even trying to sell anything, they're just trying to make, you know, a funny meme and put that out there. But in real life, people are going to a comic book shop because they like comic books, and you could just ask, hey, is it cool if I drop some flyers here? And they're like, sure. Wow, more people into comic books. That's even better for me because I sell them. And, like, yes, the market is less because only a few hundred people go into that comic book store every week. But the people who are going in there are perfect for your audience.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And there's no competition because there's your flyer and there's not 400 other flyers and everything else that's out there on the Internet. And so I don't know, I feel like I've been leaning more and more into just this advice. We need to stop posting just online. Online is good, but I think we all gravitate there because we see it's infinitely Scalable, but there's a real value in community building. And also, just how do I market in real life so that my podcast stands out a bit. Rather than getting drowned out by the noise over on Instagram.

[A]

On the topic of that, I just tried a new thing. So one of my longest running sponsors is my local comic shop. They've been a sponsor for years. Like, years now. As part of his sponsorship, he could submit a question via voicemail for any interview. Because, I mean, I'm interviewing writers and artists that are working on these books that he's selling. So I would let him, as part of sponsorship, like, he could submit a voicemail. Whoever I interview would love it. They'd be like, oh, this is so great to hear from a retail store, and things like that. The other thing I started doing too, was I would record an episode with him one to two times a year from his shop, and it would normally be towards the end of the year to promote, like, hey, here's the best comics of 2025 with someone that has been, you know, sleeping, breathing, eating comic books.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And those episodes do really well. Well, this year I actually put together a little flyer that was like, hey, listen to Ben talk about the best comics of the year. I put his face on the flyer. I made it really nice.

[C]

And.

[A]

And I put a QR code for his episode, and I got that printed full color. I put it in a little case and I dropped it off at the shop. I was like, ben, do you mind if. If we put this here to promote your episode? And of course, Ben is like, yes, dude. Like, put it right here at the cash register.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

My only thing I would do different is I would have used a trackable link to really gauge how that's working. But, I mean, the episode has done great. But once again, you know, like, engaging with people in real life. That is my Target demo. They're, you know, the last step is them paying for the books. Ben is a really good salesman and talker, so he's going to promote it too, because his face is on the thing.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So, you know, just thinking outside of the box like that.

[C]

Yeah. If I owned, like, an audio equipment shop and someone had me on and they brought in, like, an episode with QR code in my face on it, and they're like, hey, can I drop it here? I'm like, yeah, yeah, exactly. I've been enough. I'm going to be like, hey, guys, look at this episode I was on. You should listen to it.

[A]

I think Alvin, too. Something you said about you know, one a day got me thinking about. I think one of the biggest takeaways I got from PodFest, especially attending the Pat Flynn speaker note, was I loved hearing him say that. Making room for play, for experimenting, for maybe just creating a, whatever, a video series that you're not so precious about, where you're forcing yourself to like, hey, I have two hours to record, upload, and at the end of the two hours, wherever it's at, I'm posting it. So, like just kind of build, like repetition and just experiment. That is something I'm trying to incorporate too. Where I want to do more video stuff for online, more reels to promote that somehow promote the podcast, but not exactly. I think I'm more getting into the mindset of like, just awareness, like just building like my profile online that isn't always like, hey, make sure you check out the show. And hoping that I can build a pipeline where it's like, oh, I love seeing Badr's little clips and maybe I should check out that hour long episode he got.

[B]

Yeah. One of the things that's come out of doing these every day is you don't have the opportunity to be your own worst critic. You pretty much, you have to. Something has to go out.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And I've made that commitment to myself that it's almost every single day with how much time I'm dedicating to these. And so I know when we get off, I've got three and a half hours till the end of the day, something will go out. So you have that sense of urgency to get on it and start recording. And you can make lots of little improvements along the way, but there's something to just starting. And whether it's you're starting a podcast, you're starting making videos, you're starting a podcast meetup, whatever the thing is, you're going to get better by doing the thing. You're not going to get better by planning. Everybody plans tons of really great ideas and never executes them. It's the people like you and Blythe that actually go, hey, let's just execute and figure it out along the way that end up being the ones who have the cool community versus everybody else. And I'm sure there are tens of thousands who've thought, I'd really like a cool community and ended up with, you know, still wanting it years later.

[A]

Perfect is the enemy of good. I always love referencing that. It's like, you know, if you're waiting for it to be perfect, you will never hit publish.

[C]

I saw this meme the other day, and it was like the ADHD mantra of it doesn't have to be done, it just has to be perfect. I felt that in my soul.

[B]

That's actually even. That's a better quote. That's good.

[A]

Way more true. Way more true for me.

[B]

It doesn't have to be done, just has to be perfect.

[C]

Yeah, that's me.

[A]

That's great. I love that.

[C]

Here we go. Welcome back to. Welcome back to buzzcast, the podcast about all things podcasting from the people at buzzsprout. Today we're going to be talking about hosting a meetup, whether it be with your listeners or with other podcasters in your community, and creating a community group. And to help us talk about that, we have Badr Milligan. Badr is the host of the Short Box Podcast, which is one of the longest running comic book podcasts, which is very cool. And Bader is also one of the founders of Jaxx Podcasters United, which is the J meetup group. Why did you start that group? Because you started this back in 2018, right?

[A]

Jack's podcasters United. For those that don't know, like, what is Jack's Podcasters United? Like, how would I describe it? And honestly, it's like, it's, it's a lot of things. And we call it the JP for short. Jack Podcast United jpu. It's Northeast Florida's go to community for podcasters. We're really proud about like that. And I think we, we've lived up to that title. We have over 500 plus members. Whoa. We do meetups, workshops. We also have the region's most compreh of Jax Podcasters Directory. So we've got our own little directory that's mainly to showcase and spotlight and highlight the podcasters in the Northeast Florida area. But all that being said, at the end of the day, the JPU are champions of podcasting. We love podcasting. We love podcasters and helping everyone around us level up their game. Our mantra as of lately has been, why not Jax? Like, why can't Jax be like this new hub for podcasts? And we have so many talented podcasters and businesses for podcasters. I mean, buzzsprout is here. You brought up Alex Sanfilippo before we hit record. You know, he's here in Jax and you know, the amount of talent that we have when it comes to podcasting at Jax is so impressive. And that's what the JPU is all about. Just shining a spotlight on our community.

[B]

Vader. I mean, y' all have Been a big part of that. What got you to start in 2018? Because I remember when we found that JPU was in Jacksonville and I expected to go to a meetup with, like, three people, and I'd pretty much only been to, like, big events that had a big marketing budget. Budget. And so there's thousands of people showing up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I was like, oh, yeah, there's a meetup in our backyard. And I was like, yeah, it's going to be small. Like, I mean, I've gone to marketing meetups, and I've gone to all sorts of meetups. I went to a social media meetups, and they're always like, a few people.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah. I think I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out my co founder and my lovely wife, the big brain, Blythe Brumleaf, who is integral to this story as well. Back in 2018, we had. We were just dating. We weren't married then, but both of us were, like, attending a lot of meetup events here in Jaxx. We've got a really rich art scene here in Jaxx. We got, like, entrepreneur meetups that Blythe is going to. I was going to a lot of, like, artist meetups, and we were going to enough of these. And then at the same time, we've been. We both have been podcasting individually for a long time. I think I started in 2012. She started around that same time. So, you know, we both were like, man, we're going to all these meetups for these other industries. Let's see if we can do something for ourselves. It doesn't seem that hard. You know, pick a place, make an announcement, maybe have some food there and hope people show up. And that's what we did in April 2018. We teamed up with an art gallery at the time. It's called Space 42. It was this really cool, all brick, kind of industrial warehouse, kind of art gallery. And it was huge, too. So I had plenty of space, like, more space than we even needed. But I had a good relationship with the owner there. I said, hey, I want to throw a meetup. I just want to see who would show up. Like, expectations were very low. It was like, if we even get 10 people, awesome. We were slowly meeting other podcasters. Like, I knew other podcasters in the city. She knew a few. You know what? Word was kind of going around, like, oh, we'd meet people and they'd be like, oh, do you know my cousin Dan's got a podcast about the Jags and It's like, okay, so this isn't this thing that me and her are only doing. So we put the word out in 2018. And that first event, I mean, like you said, Alvin, my expectations were really low. I bought like, I swear it was like 30 boxes of pizza. I don't know why, but. But that, that same of people showed up. It was like 50, 60 people showed up and it was like truly a. Oh my God, it was like a lightning in a bottle moment. So many people showed up. And the. Just the love we got there too, and everyone saying kind of the same thing, like, oh, wow, I thought I was the only one podcasting. Oh my God, there's. Wait, all of you guys are podcasters, so. And that really was like. I mean, from there we carry that momentum. We started doing quarterly meetups up until,

[C]

you know, Covid, it's so funny you talking about just kind of like going at it and like you buy pizza because that's what you think you should do. And looking at your website, it is so professional. Like you guys have like an LLC and you have all this professional photography and it's beautiful. But reading the about page for Jack's Podcasters United, I'm gonna quote this real quick. Using their self taught and trial by fire tactics, they've since teamed up with other podcasting fanatics to create the ultimate networking group that's passionate about community and collaboration. I read that and I was like, okay, this is exactly what the normal people who are just wanting to get in community with other podcasters in their area are going to be feeling. They're going to be feeling that like, I'm not a professional event coordinator. I'm not used to hosting this kind of thing or starting it up, but no one else is doing it, so it's going to be me.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And so I wanted to ask what that kind of looked like. You guys trying to figure out how to get to where you're at now?

[A]

Yeah, I'm actually. I know Blythe will listen to this and she'll have a big smile hearing you compliment the website and the photos and things, which that.

[C]

It's perfect.

[A]

Thank you. Thank you. That came much later. I mean, we've truly. This has been an ever growing experiment where we try to get better and be more professional and get more on the up and up. But yeah, in those early years it really was. I mean, the JPU was held up by Facebook event page, word of mouth and Publix Deli Publix Chicken Tenders, like was the Integral recipe for these events. I mean, you know, prior to the website, we didn't really have any online visibility. We didn't even have that Facebook group. For the first couple of meetups, we really were like, hey, create a Facebook event page share of as many people ask the folks that showed up to share. We'd even have an email newsletter. So a lot of it was like word of mouth and you leveraging our connections with friends and other entrepreneurs and artists and podcasters that we knew. You know, it took many years for us to like, sit down and was like, okay, if we want this to thrive, to grow, to be, you know, manageable, like, we've got to invest in things like a website and really build out like a, you know, our group page and things like that. Luckily, it also helps that I come from a project management background and Blythe is super type A, also project manager. So we have like that built in skill level of coordination and, you know, knowing what tasks to hit. But a lot of it was attributed in those early years to just drive and then just being so happy to find our community and our tribe. I mean, like I said, that first event led into the second one and just we continue that momentum of excitement and like, okay, who from the last one is going to show up this time? It felt like those first couple of events. I mean, at this point, you know, we've hosted close to 30. I think we're like too shy of like saying, hey, we've hosted 30 events. You know, that's across meetups, workshops. We've done a couple of online little meetups. But yeah, a lot of drive and just a lot of dedication to, you know, building a community. It takes a lot.

[B]

Yeah. Something that strikes me, Botter, is when you approach starting something new, you can look around as other people who are doing it well. And I look at the website, go, okay, so got to have an LLC set up for some reason. I'm not sure why, but I need that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And okay, I need to have a contract. I need to understand what kind of contracts I need to have with the restaurant. Okay, I'm gonna go try to research that. I'm gonna go down this rabbit hole of selling tickets. I think you probably should sell tickets if you want to make money. And like, you're doing all these things except the meetup itself.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And the story you're telling is the opposite. You're like, hey, I want to do a meetup. So we did a meetup and we sent it out to people on Facebook and 50 people showed up, and so we went, let's do a second meetup.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And it just spiraled from there into something that was more professional.

[A]

Yeah, I like that you brought that up album, because that was a really big key to success in those early years, is that we did not put the cart before the horse. I mean, I think a lot of it came with just. We weren't really sure what we were doing, what the JP exactly was. It was just a very pure mindset of like, hey, let's do these meetups, because people really enjoy them. We get to meet other podcasters, and we knew there was something there, but there were so many steps that we weren't even, like, considering. And I think that helped us out in the beginning of earning people's trust, because we weren't selling. I mean, to this day, all of our events. I don't think we've ever charged for an event. I don't. I think we've always kept it free. So it wasn't like we were approaching this from a financial monetization standpoint. You know, it was free, and we weren't selling anything. It was like, hey, we don't. I mean, we could sell you some of our services, but we're not here to do that, you know? And that was just. We kept the vibe very pure. Hey, we're just here to meet up, talk, express our frustrations, our joys of podcasting, how can we help each other? And I think that went a long way, because once you get people to buy in with the idea and they build a connection, and then that can come later, then it's like, I think everyone wanted to see the JP succeed, wanted the group to, like, get better, wanted us to be compensated for, like, our time. I mean, because this stuff takes a lot of time, a lot of things. You got to think about the amount of emails I would send is insane. But you got to win people's hearts over. You got to come off as genuine.

[C]

Yeah. I will say I finally attended an event. I don't. I've never attended, like, a community event here in my own community, and I finally attended one, and it turned out to be run by this, like, marketing agency. And I went there, and I was excited to, like, meet other people that, you know, maybe have podcasts that are in our community. And then they had me, like, sit down. I had to, like, watch a video about testimonials about their marketing agency.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I paid, like, $15 to go to this. I was just like, all right, well, I'm Done with that. And so I still get, like, the emails, like, inviting me to, like, future events. And I'm like, no. And I think that you're so right, where if you come from a place of, like, we're not trying to sell anything to you. We're just trying to, like, get to know you. We're just trying to help each other. It goes so far because if that had been the case, I would have attended every single one, like, every month from here on out. Right.

[A]

I think it also helped that we both. Like I said, I've been podcast in 2012 life for just as long. It's like, I don't have a podcast about podcasting or giving you tips. I have a very niche podcast. I talk comic books, movies, and pop culture.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, like, I think other podcasters saw that, and we're like, oh, he's. He's pretty. Like, yeah, they're legit. Like, yeah, they're podcasters.

[C]

What's so cool is that you have this podcast that's not about podcasting, but you're so ingrained in the podcasting community. I mean, you even spoke, I think, at, like, Denver Podcast, you spoke play at this most recent one, too. And you've just been helping the podcasting community so much, and I think it's just so great. One thing that I did want to ask you, because you had mentioned at your very first event, you had coordinated with this, like, art gallery. So how do you look to find other people, other venues to, like, team up with? You know, you've just kind of, like a snowball, been gaining people to help you out with these meetups. You know, you have, like, the people at Buzzsprout hosting workshops. You have Pod Match. There's. There's all these different people that you've been gaining in your corner to help with these meetups. So where do you find them? How do you start looking for those people that are going to kind of champion your community group?

[A]

I think it was helpful in the beginning that both me and Blythe, like, I said I would hang out with, like, the artists here in town, and she knew a lot of entrepreneurs, so we had, like, existing relationships with bar owners and restaurant owners. Same thing for her. So once the word got out that we were building this community, it was easy for us to, like, tap into, like, hey, I know this person that owns this really cool bar. It's local. And I think that also helped, too, where we really emphasize the local aspect, where all of our venues, we really try to keep them At a local place, whether it be a local restaurant, local bar, a local event venue, something like that, to emphasize, like, hey, this is a group for Jax by Jax in every single way. And then other times, it's like just asking, like, hey, this is what I've got. You know, I want to bring people to your establishment. It could be beneficial for you. And just like, leveraging, you know, some bartering for sure takes place where it's like, hey, I'll bring some folks. If you'll cover this, we can get this covered, and things like that. But really, just asking, you'll be surprised how many places want people to come to their establishment. Right. Like, that want to have people there. And when you lead with, like, hey, this is a community, and, you know, we're there to, you know, like, grow and prosper, I think it goes a long way. Honestly, finding venues has never been the biggest hurdle because I think we've been fortunate enough to find venues that are open and welcoming to, you know, groups like ours.

[B]

Yeah. When you think of, like, a wedding venue, you're paying a ton of money to get that venue.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But there's bars you go to, and someone's doing trivia. They're getting paid to run trivia because the bar knows if there's something to do, people are going to hang around and we'll make more sales. And so if you can run a meetup, like, that can be a benefit not just to your community, but to the place that you're going. Yeah, because they're going to sell some food, they're going to sell some drinks.

[A]

And I think when. When we leverage that perspective, like, hey, all of our events and venues are local places. People just want. They. They definitely want to come out and support. So, you know, it's not like we bring a bunch of people. No one spends money or buys drinks or food. Like, we, you know, our group understands that, you know, we're here for free by the graciousness of the venue. So let's give back.

[C]

Yeah. And has it always just been Jacksonville? Because I know that you have a lot of members in your group now, and so are you still staying just in Jacksonville? Are people, like, commuting to your meetups now from other cities or.

[A]

We talked about expanding a little further out, but I think between, like, our professional lives, our personal lives, there just is not enough of us to go around to, like, expand that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So we do keep our focus on Jacksonville and northeast Florida, but, you know, through the power of the Internet and just word of mouth, as well. It's always impressive to meet folks that'll drive down from, like, South Carolina, like, Mr. Whiskey, I think he's from South Carolina, and he'll drive down however long that drive is. I know it's not a short drive, but we'll have people like him drive down. We've had people from Tampa to drive down St. Augustine, like just other surrounding cities in Florida. And it's always impressive. And we always try to plant that seed in folks that drive down or make these commutes that, hey, you could do this too. You know, like, we're honored that you would come to down to our event and take part in it. But, hey, you can do this too. And we do get a lot of questions from people from other outside of, like, the northeast area that are like, man, my back home, this isn't even a thing. You know, how can I do that? And we're always sharing information.

[B]

Okay, so with that in mind, what's the answer there? What do, like, the logistics look like if you're trying to set this up? Because I've had the exact same question. People know that we have it. We've talked about you on this podcast. And then people will say, I'm in Raleigh. You know, how do I show up to one if there isn't one?

[A]

Yeah. So, I mean, obviously, I think first step would be figuring out your base logistics, you know, like the big ones, like, where are you hosting it, what's the date? And then you got to think about how are you getting the word out, where are podcasters at? You know, for us, we found a lot of success on Facebook and building out a group that actually came second after a couple of the events, because then we started getting questions like, okay, I want to stay in touch online. So we built the Jax Podcasters United Facebook group page, Eventbrite. Even, I think I underestimate, maybe even under use some of the tools that Eventbrite offers. You know, you could build an event page. And there's a lot of tools even on the free version that'll help you market your event. They've got like their own email newsletter blast. People can subscribe to your profile on Eventbrite. Like, there's a JPU profile that we have a few followers, so they get, you know, automatically updated. I think also local news and radio, too. Don't underestimate the power of that in the reach. We are very fortunate enough here in Jax that wjct, which is an NPR affiliate radio station, they also have a podcast that they produce too. I think most radio stations nowadays have some sort of podcast element.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So teaming up with them too to get on their shows, go on radio shows. In the last two years, we started going on some local news stations to promote, you know, events and local news and radio are always looking for things like that to highlight. So finding out who the point of contact there is, I will also say just thinking about like being on the up and up, being a little more professional. Press releases have become such an invaluable tool because it's like, you know, you, you build a one page document that answers those very important questions. The who, what, when, where, how. And that's a great thing to send to, you know, news radio of venues, potential sponsors and partners, you know, like giving them all the information and you just seem more official that way too. Yeah.

[B]

Did you ever find people through like Meetup or Eventbrite? Have any of those ever helped you connect with people?

[A]

Yes, Eventbrite. One of my goals this year is to lean more into, to meet up. I know, I think Buzzfrout, you guys have done things on Meetup as well. So I want to start using that a little more. But Eventbrite goes a long way. One thing we always do at every event that we do is ask. Me and Blythe try to be very forward facing, have FaceTime with as many people as we can, especially new folks. One of the main questions we ask is how did you hear from us? And we get a lot of like, I was on Eventbrite just searching for podcast stuff or meetups and you guys popped up. Like I said, we know a lot of artists and entrepreneurs and content creators and we get a lot of answers that too, like, hey, this is a very Jack specific one, but Create Jax is an Instagram profile run by a good friend of mine. He used to put out an event list every Thursday, like, hey, here's what's going on for this week. And I would hit up, I would hit him up every time like, hey, can you add this to the list? And he would add it and we'd get a lot of folks like, oh, I saw you guys on Create Jax or oh, Yaya recommended me to you guys. So like just getting the word of mouth out to like the people you know and that are related. So, you know, local news and radio, local content creators, local pages that promote events in the area.

[C]

Yeah, I'm thinking about like as you're talking about this, I'm running through all the Instagram profiles and podcasters that are local in my head. Because, you know, I mean, Boise is not big at all. And even we have like, there's like Real Housewives of Boise and it's like this women's group who like are supporting each other. And then we have like, this is Boise. And then we have like the Boise Bubble, like podcast. And so I imagine, like, even if you are in a smaller city, like I am, it shouldn't be too hard to find people that are really ingrained in the community and they would be able, they'd probably totally be willing to

[A]

support your get together and think about where podcasters are. Yeah, Pod News, which amazing newsletter, right?

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

They have a section where you can submit events on their calendar as well. And then, you know, I've been fortunate enough to have Buzzsprout include things in their newsletter as well, which I think works out. Cause we're both in Jax. But yeah, just cold outreach and emails. I think that's where that press release comes into play. You know, you try to send as many emails as you can and hope something bites.

[C]

You know, when I was an event coordinator at the local library here, one of the things I would always do is just go to the local news station and newspaper website. They have community calendars and you can just add your event.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

And it's just like a Google calendar. It's so easy. And I think a lot of people overlook that.

[A]

I'm glad that you brought up libraries. Our local library, which we've hosted. I think we hosted one of our first five events at our local library.

[C]

Oh, smart.

[A]

But it worked out because they, they have like podcast equipment. They had like they were trying to promote, like, hey, we have this thing called a maker studio where people can come in and record a podcast. So think about like the local libraries, local news stations that have these programs or things that they're trying to get, get people into as well.

[C]

That's so smart.

[B]

That's interesting. But you know, when you said that I'm also. I've been looking at different podcast studios.

[A]

Yeah. Yes.

[B]

And I've met multiple people who had studios at your events. And if I was starting a new event and you know, I'm based in some small town or you know, medium sized city, kind of like Jax. There's probably a studio out there that is desperate to get some podcasters to know about them and they probably have an email list and they probably, probably are looking to do events.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

And if you're willing to put it together, they're probably the most excited of anybody to know. Oh, local Podcasters in this area. Yeah, Connect me.

[A]

Alvin, you said something that is one of our superpowers is the fact that once we approach, especially, like a podcast studio, when we approach these folks, and it's like, hey, we're taking care of everything. You know, we'll handle the logistics, the event planning, we get a lot more. You know what I'm saying? It's like, hey, we're making it very easy for you to reach your target demographic or whatever, your ideal customer. I think it goes a long way when you have your stuff, you know, together. When you are on the up and up and you've been doing it for a while and you've got a very clear grasp on how to throw events, more people are just want to work with you because it's like, okay, all I have to do is whatever, help spread the word, and you got the rest. It goes a long way.

[B]

Yeah. From our perspective, we went to one and we were like, oh, this is really nice.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then the next one, we said, what can we do? And you're like, you don't need to do anything. Just come. We're like, well, can we. Can we cover the pizza and drinks? And you're like, sure. How about 200 bucks?

[A]

I know.

[B]

Yeah, we gave you 200 bucks. We were like, that took no work at all for us. But when people send something over, it's like they're like six packages.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And there's a whole thing, and they want to do cross. There's all this extra, like, just thinking through what the deal is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It overwhelms you to the point you're just like, we're good. We'll look at it next time.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You'd mentioned that you're really good at, like, not putting the cart before the horse. But for someone who is not experienced in event planning or coordinating this kind of stuff, what have you found is the best order of operations? Like, do they decide on the date first and then they kind of go around and try to find a venue? Or do you put feelers out and see if there's any availability and then schedule an event?

[A]

Okay, so venue first. Right. Because the date can. Can be flexible, and it doesn't matter if you have a date. You don't have a place for people to meet up. So I think venue is definitely top priority. Then work with them to figure out a date. A little piece of advice here, especially with, like, a bar or a restaurant, we will purposely. All of our events have either always been hosted on a Thursday or a

[C]

Wednesday, that was gonna be my next question.

[A]

And that's strategic because for a lot of these type of places, that's kind of slow time for them. Right? Like if we were trying to compete with a Friday or a weekend, that's when they might ask like, hey, we necessarily don't need people because we have too many people showing up. So now you might have to pay a fee, see what dates work for them. When's a slow time that we can bring folks? So yeah, I'd say venue and then lock in the date and then figure out like, all right, now we got to get the word out. And that's when you, you know, you lean into whatever social media or any of the other marketing outlets we talked about.

[C]

That's interesting that you have such high attendance rates for just smack dab in the middle of the week. I think a lot of people would probably assume that the best day to host a meetup would be like 1pm on a Saturday.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

But maybe that's not the best day. Maybe it is just in the middle of the week, like after work.

[A]

I think, I think for us too, we've always been as two very busy people. I think we try to respect people's time. We also are very realistic about what the JPU is and what we want. We'll get asked a lot about, hey, is this going to become a convention? You know, like that is a logical road to become like a throw our own convention. But I think we've always been like, that would require so much more resources and time and effort that we've fine tuned this process and we have a very loyal community that once again it comes to that, like cart before the horse. Now some of our newer events like podcast camp and Potathon are starting to creep into like maybe we do need to consider two days. But for us it was like Thursdays right after work. You know, a happy hour vibe. Like it gives something to look forward to. It's after work. It's right before like you go home. So like you get a more incentive to stop by. It's like, okay. Their events are usually 5:30 to 8 or 6 to 8. It's like, okay, I can, I can do that. I can jump in there for a quick, that'll count as dinner or whatever.

[C]

Something that I actually want to dive into is what does the day of the event look like?

[A]

Chaos.

[C]

It's like planning a wedding. Like you have like months of planning and then the day of is just. It is like crazy.

[A]

So I normally take the day off Work the day that we do the meetups because I need to full concentration and effort towards that for like your first meetup or so. You just need maybe a sign up sheet, some sort of sign that says Jack's podcaster is here or something to let people know. Yeah, maybe some name tags, maybe some pens and stickers. You know, we also would print out like a little piece of paper that like said it was a survey with a QR code. I think QR codes go a long way for events like this. I also try to do as much prep leading up to it. So things like in the past couple of years we've definitely put a bigger emphasis on signage and printing and look and feel. I work in marketing and branding, so I try to bring some of that over to our events to make it stand out. You know, I'll hire a local graphic design artist to come up with like our banner, our main images and they give me art assets and I build out signage and things like that. So leading up to the event, we're thinking about name tags. What do those look like? You know, we got to get those printed. We're thinking about especially for like Potathon where we have a schedule. We're thinking about, okay, we need to print out schedules to have on the table. We need clipboards for those schedules, pens and markers for Potathon. We also have a podcast pod, a thon station where people can get in front of the mics and we have like people interview podcasters there about their podcast. So it's like, okay, we need a spare iPhone for that. We need, you know, our mics for that. I'll bring walkie talkies especially for Potathon because this is a two story building. So if I'm downstairs and someone needs me upstairs, I have a walkie talkie on me. And I think a lot of this stuff you won't need in the beginning, but the day of it is like making sure that all of our the JPU might as well be sponsored also by Sterilite because the amount of tubs and bins I have in here, like, oh, that's the Potathon bin, that's a podcast. So for us, the day of it's like making sure that we've got all of our equipment set ready to go. We'll show up to the venue about two hours early, were fortunate enough to have volunteers that like want to be there and help out. That's what I'm saying. Like you got to put in some reps to get buy in and you need to build a community that also wants to see it grow. Like, it took me so many years, much like my own regular podcast journey before I asked for help. I was podcasting six years before I even thought about asking for money on Patreon because I felt so weird about it. Yeah, but same thing with the podcast events. It took me a long time to ask for help. But at some point, like people are offering, like, let me volunteer. Can I move a table? Can I do something? So, you know, meeting up with the volunteers the day of the event, a regular communication with the venue manager or whoever. Your point of contact is just letting them know the game plan too, right? Like, hey, here's our list of stuff we might need access to Wi Fi. Do you mind if we run a cable right here? You know, making sure they've got buy in and they're good with it too. I think having a happy venue goes a long way. It's less friction. You. They sometimes will help go above and beyond. Like there's been a few times where I think just because the relationship I've built, where they'll sometimes let us get rooms that they normally would pay for because they're like, oh, this is a good group. And you know, these guys, you know, they, they come, they support the establishment. So having a good relationship with your

[C]

venue, is there anything else that people should think about for like future marketing of events that maybe they wouldn't think of right away?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. At a certain point, after a couple of meetups, you're going to want to show what a meetup feels like. Right. You want to be able to showcase and share photos or in the past couple years I've hired like a videographer to like come shoot the event. And all I want is a one minute reel. Right. I don't need a full.

[C]

I love that.

[A]

Yeah, I don't need a, you know, a 40 minute sizzle reel. I just need something to share on social media. Because you're thinking future wise, right? You're thinking like, okay, I'm gonna need to promote this event next year and I want to give people an idea of what it feels like, the people there, the food there, the prizes, whatever it may be. So yes, if it's in the budget to hire a photographer, we're very fortunate that I've worked with the same photographer for almost every single event and they charge a very fair rate. I get some great photos, but it goes a long way in having, you know, especially for website, like to have those pictures there to have assets. But that, like I said, that comes a little further down. Like you need to build the community and things like that. But it's never a bad idea to snap photos at the event, even for yourself.

[C]

Let's say, worst case scenario, nobody shows up. You can just snap some photos of like the table settings with like your posters and like the giveaway items. Like, you can get creative with that.

[A]

You know, prizes, you know, also build incentive. And you know, I'm thinking about sponsorships and working with partners and I want to say that all of our events are free. I can go on record to say we don't make any money from these events and if we do, it is very little. It doesn't really compensate the time and effort that we put in. If I'm being honest, what we make now covers the events and maybe, okay, now we can use this money for next year to maybe run some ads. That's our thing now. It's like any money we happen to make now just goes right back into it. So it is a very. If you're gonna start this type of do, build a community, you can't do it for money. Because I'm telling you right now, buddy, ain't no money in it unless you want to like, you know, sell out like that.

[C]

It's like podcasting, exactly. Like, don't start for the money.

[A]

What makes you think that you're going to make money off of events when even, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, this is my podcast monetization

[B]

strategy was this start a podcasting event.

[A]

Sometimes sponsorships don't look like money. Sometimes it is exposure, sometimes it's legitimacy, sometimes it's a trade in services, like studio podcast suites here in town. They'll donate free two hour sessions, you know, and it's a, it's a nice prize and a nice trade. And services. Sometimes sponsorships are things that you actually need for the group to thrive. You know, like, hey, they might cover printing or hey, we'll donate something, you know, sometimes sponsorships, sometimes you almost want those that trade in services rather than the money, because the money you're going to burn through quick. But sometimes that services or that trade or whatever it may be is a lot more valuable for the long run, for the longevity of the group.

[C]

So, okay, so the meetup just started as like you're gonna meet up at a bar and then like people just show up. But now you've sort of like evolved into hosting workshops. And then in like the last year or so, it's evolved into like a Podcast camp and like, a charity event.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

How did that come about? And how did you get people to kind of host sessions at this workshop?

[A]

I think at a certain point, we just never wanted the JPU to get stale. And having attended so many other kind of networking meetups and just like, happy hours, after a certain point, you're like, okay, this will be just a repeat of last year or last month.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And we never wanted it to be, like, give someone a reason to skip, because it'll be just like last time. So we strategically kept it in the beginning quarterly. We didn't want it to be too overbearing or become kind of stale too quick. So we started quarterly to kind of keep it fresh. Gives it somewhat attendees, like, a reason to look forward to the next one. And after a certain point, it was like, okay, we really started focusing on bringing value to the events and to the attendees. It's like, we also started just getting more new podcasters, you know, from 2018 to, you know, especially, like, 2020, 2021. Like, just how the medium had exploded, how podcasting had become so popular, you know, like, so many people started getting into it. And I think we started seeing that influx of new podcasters that were like, I thought this was gonna show me how to podcast. Or like, hey, I have very basic questions. And it's like, okay, there's an opportunity here to, you know, if we're all about empowering the podcast scene here, then maybe we need to consider bringing educational value. And I gotta give buzzsprout a lot of credit. We hosted a few of our events, so many of our events, actually, at their office, and they have a really great office space. And I think one of the first times we ever did a workshop event was because buzzsprout had the office, and that gave us or the space and the seats and the chairs and all of that. And the reception was great, too. It also gave us a chance to spotlight and empower, like, our members who were showing up a lot that were also, like, kind of more seasoned podcasters to give them a platform to share their tips and tricks.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So, yeah, it really came from a stance of, like, okay, we want to bring more value to our events other than just the networking and the drinks and the camaraderie. We really wanted to, like, emphasize education.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good point, Botter. I don't think I recognized how intentional you were with that, but there's some where they have it every single month they have the same type of event, and that's really fun. The first two, three times you go, yes. And then after that you go, well, everyone will be there. This time is a little. It's not going to be that easy. And so you skip. And once you start skipping, then you don't really know as many people. You don't really feel like going next time. And it's too easy to say, I'll be there next month.

[A]

Yeah. And peer pressure is a thing and was a thing. Life is very good at keeping me, like, focused on track, where people would tell me, like, hey, you should do this monthly. I would show up monthly, or can you do more meetups and things? But we never, like I said, also just being very busy people. It was like, hey, we need to be realistic for ourselves. We can't burn out and then. And not do this ever again. So it had to be something that was manageable for us too, but then also gave the incentive. And, and you want people wanting more, right? Like, you want them to, to ask for more instead of like, oh, all right, I'll just, I'll come next month. Because it's very easy to snowball into. People just stop showing up because you're doing the same thing.

[C]

How much extra work was it for you to just take that, like, step forward into coordinating these, like, workshops style meetups?

[A]

I think that's where it really becomes, I won't say like a full time job, but it's pretty close coordinating. Because now you're, you're trying to look for speakers. You're. You're vetting speakers, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Like I said, we're very fortunate that we have some really awesome creators that, you know, are podcasters themselves, but also work on the business side of it. So like I said, our community is so awesome that we can put the word out, like, hey, we could use some speakers. And we know that we can rely on Alex, we can rely on Phil and Eric from the Wait for it podcast or Rita. Yeah, we just have a really great crop of podcasters that we trust to, you know, lead workshops and things like that. But it does take some work, especially now that we're trying to invite some new voices, some new blood. It does take work to build out a form like we use, like Google form that volunteers and speakers apply, and then reviewing that and then figuring out like, okay, what are the topics that people have asked about? What topics do we need to offer? This person wants to talk about this. Does it really fit into our vision?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Figuring out the lineup of speakers.

[C]

Are they going to sell to people?

[A]

Yeah, because you never. Yeah, it does take a certain balance of like, okay, this person works for this company, they will. They're paying to be a sponsor. So, you know, we've got to honor our side of the deal. But we also don't want it to be too silly. So it does take some effort and mental power to walk this fine line.

[C]

Okay, so you added these workshops and you said, wow, this is a lot of extra work. And then you said, you know what, let's actually take it a step further. And we're gonna host a charity event this year and we're also gonna host

[A]

a podcast camp, Psychopath.

[C]

So can you tell me a little bit about those events too? Cause I would love to hear about em.

[A]

I say you gotta be a certain level of crazy to one, be a podcaster, you know, especially haven't done it this long. And then two, to also want to be an event coordinator on your off time. Insane. Yeah, but man. Yeah, I love it. Our two events now. Because at some point we stopped doing quarterly events. It was starting to become a lot for us.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[A]

And with the focus on education and more elevated events, that was our thing. We were like, okay, we've done plenty of networking meetups and happy hours and things like that. Let's push the envelope. Let's offer more elevated. We don't want to be a conference. We don't want to be a three day annual conference, but we want something a little more regular. But we don't want to go that big. So let's work on like podcast camp. That's. That was our newest event. We. We threw the first one last year. It was a partnership that we did of Joby jct, our local radio NPR affiliate radio station. And that one was strictly workshops where we had a podcasting 101 track and a podcasting 102 track. And it was like every hour or every other half hour, one of those was a different speaker, a different workshop. And then at the end of the event, we did a big town hall Q and A. And then we did a happy hour after that. So it really was like a half day event. It started at 1 o', clock, technically ended at 5, but then we did a happy hour in a at a local pizza spot downtown. And so that lasted until about 8. So Jack's podcast camp, that one is strictly like education focused workshops. All day town hall. You know, you can ask questions and that's free. Yes.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

That's incredible.

[A]

I guess this is here where I can shamelessly. Not even shamelessly. I Say this pridefully. I'm tired of shameless Plug. This is prideful Plug. This is where having relationships and amazing sponsors comes a long way. That the only way we can even offer free education and events like that is because of sponsors like buzzsprout or Riverside. Focusrite has donated so many great prizes for, like, Podathon Studio, Podcast Suites, podfest Expo, Guitar Center Pro, you know, which was a contact that I made here at one of our events. You know what I'm saying? It's like thinking like that, too. Like, okay, there is a Guitar center here. There's a guy, they have an account manager. He happens to be a podcaster. He came to one of our events and he was like, hey, if you ever need any equipment, let me know. You build that relationship. Now he wants to be involved.

[C]

So it's so funny because when I meet people who are from the Jacksonville area at these podcast conferences, I'm like, oh, so you've gone to Jack's Podcasters United, and they're like, what? What's that? No, I'm always, like, so shocked because in my mind, just because of, like, knowing you and being involved with buzzsprout. In my head, Jacksonville is like the epicenter of podcasting of the universe because there's so many, like, companies there and amazing people who are just really involved in the podcasting industry. Like, there's just something about, like, it's a hotspot for podcasting, Jacksonville. But now, while talking with you about this, I'm realizing that maybe that's because you brought them all together. And so it just seems like there's so many. Like, it makes me wonder, if I were to start a meetup group in my community, would I suddenly be like, you know what? Boise is a podcasting hotspot. You gotta get involved in the podcasting space in Boise, right?

[A]

Why not Boise?

[C]

Why not Boise?

[A]

Why not? You know, like that phrase, you build it, they will come, really encapsulates what the JPU has been for us. Like, we built this thing and we've been very fortunate. And I think a lot of it also, too. Like, there is a luck factor, you know, like the fact that we have buzzsprout, Alex, and all these great people that happen to be here in Jaxx. I think that I won't discount the fact that just being lucky in that regard as well. But I don't see why anyone couldn't at least put the word out. Just try one meetup event and see how it goes. It's not like, like, we're in 2026, everyone and their mom has a podcast. You know, 2018, it was a little more like, will people show up? Like, how many podcasters are there really throwing an event now? I don't know. I think you have a better chance of a lot more people showing up and things like that. I want to really quick mention, you mentioned a couple times, the charity one. Yeah. Jack's Potathon has been maybe one of our most, for me, especially our. One of our proudest events, because that one is a charity aspect. There is a charity aspect tied to it. And since we did our third year event last year in 2025, and since then, we've raised almost $2,000 for charity. And just at last year's event, we gave away almost, like $1,100 in prizes thanks to, like, Focusrite and all the sponsors we had. But that one is like, we will do workshops. We call those table talks. We started something called table talks, where it was like a rotating workshop event where you. You can sign up for every 30 minutes, we'll do a workshop, and then you can swap tables to another, you know, table that's doing a different topic and workshop. So there's that aspect, you know, just coming up, like, fun things, you know, to keep it fresh for yourself, but also to keep it fresh for the attendees. And then we also, like I said, the charity aspect is that we'll take donations and we'll do a raffle for prizes, and all the money goes to. For us, it's Feeding Northeast Florida. That's our charity of choice here.

[C]

Love that, man. What a. What a genius idea to mix the education aspect of, like, the workshops and the community, because it's like, small groups. And then you're like. And at the same time, we're gonna, like, raise a bunch of money for charity and have these giveaways. Like, I love that you married those two things. That's really cool.

[A]

And, you know, I think even if for us, it was also another intentional thing to lean in on the intimacy, like, hey, this is Jax. It's not the biggest city in the world. And. And, yeah, some events, you know, we've got 30 people showing up. Maybe it's not like one where we have a hundred people. We just lean in on the intimacy. Well, now it's like, oh, that's even better. There's less chatter, less noise, and we could really connect with the people there. I think making the attendees feel seen and heard goes a long way. Whether it's 100 people that show up or 20. If anything, the smaller group is a lot more easier to manage and you can really build the connections there. And I think it goes back to us just wanting to be realistic about what we can do with this group at this current moment and really leaning in on like, okay, we can't compete with a conference like Podcast Movement or podfest yet. Well, yeah, we can't cater to thousands of people. We could definitely cater to like 50, 60, you know, like, let's lean in on that fact.

[C]

Yeah, you know, I've been to quite a few conferences, including the big ones, you know, Podcast Movement and podfests and stuff like that. But. But there was. It only happened one time, unfortunately. But There was a one day conference in Portland and it was PodConf and Pat Chung put it together and it was like 100 people. And I went and spoke at it and it was really intimate and I got to know all these podcasters really well and it was actually one of my favorite events I've ever attended because it was at this like small hotel and we were just like in the small rooms together and I actually got to know people really well and you know, we still talk. So I think that there is something to be said of like, yeah, you're not gonna put on like a huge event, but maybe that's a good thing.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

Like, lean into that.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

I love it. So for someone who is thinking about starting up a community group, they're hearing this and going, that sounds like a lot of work. Would you say that it is worth it? Has it led to like, more opportunities for you? Is there something that they can look forward to if they start their own group?

[A]

Yes, I will say, personally speaking, doing the JPU and being, you know, I consider myself, yes, the co founder, but also like, I take the biggest pride in saying, hey, I'm a community leader, like, emphasis on the community part. I love bringing people together. I love sharing my knowledge. I think it's the only way that podcasting as a medium will continue to grow and evolve and you know, the only way to produce better podcasts then the other aspects of it too. Right. Like we were able to speak at like Pod Fest. We've had a chance to like travel to Denver to do podcast movement. Yeah, so there is that. There's a legitimacy as well. But nothing beats the opportunity to help people and put a spotlight on our city and the amazing like creators coming out of it. Because at the end of the day, you know, that's what matters. It's. Why not Jax? It's the community itself. So I will say that, yeah, there will be a little bit of work, but you don't have to do these things that I'm doing. You know, we've been doing this for plenty of years, and we have a lot of repetition. We recycle a lot of things. We have templates that we follow. But in the beginning, it can be as simple as, I found this venue that's willing to host us. I'm telling you, there's plenty of venues that will host a group. They want you there. Restaurants especially want people there. Bars want people there.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So you can start small, and I do recommend that start small for the first couple. Get an idea for how many podcasters are in your group. How many of them are willing to meet up? Right. Like, you don't want to go start off big, but only 10 people show up. Like, I think you also need to get a good understanding of what your city offers in terms of audio creators and podcasters and be willing to kind of do the legwork of finding other podcasters and understanding, like, you know, the creators that that are in your city. But you can start small. It can be as simple as, I found this venue. Here's a Facebook event page or eventbrite or meetup. Like, there's so many platforms now that you can throw these events and getting on social media and, you know, promoting it and then asking other creators that you know to promote it as well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And see who shows up. And then from there, like, really focus on nurturing that relationship, getting them to buy in and feel, like, a pride of, like, being a part of the group. Right. It's like, you know, like, it's like a sports team. Right. Like, you. You want to build pride. You want people to feel prideful about, you know, repping that team.

[C]

Why not your city?

[A]

Damn right. Why not? Why not? Why not Boise?

[C]

Why not Boise? All right, well, thank you so much, Botter. This was, I mean, just so incredibly informative.

[A]

This is a lot of fun.

[C]

If anyone wants to find you, where can you be found on the Internet?

[A]

Yeah, so I can be found on Instagram at boddermilligan, but I'm just gonna point you to Jax podcasters united.com if you're a comic book fan or someone into comic books or pop culture, you could check out my podcast, the shortbox podcast, @theshortbox podcast.com. but if you're in Jacksonville or the northeast Florida area, we are working on bringing Jack's podcast camp back this year. And Potathon In December. So once Again, Jax podcasters united.com Potter,

[B]

thanks so much for joining us. This was incredible. Jordan, what do we have for our next big episode?

[C]

I'm actually not sure. I was going to ask you if you had any ideas for that, Potter.

[B]

Do you have one?

[A]

Oh, I got one.

[C]

Oh, do you?

[A]

Actually, I always will tend to write down topics that I want to pose to our Facebook group. I think you guys might have had a similar topic. I think I was looking at the buzzcast list of episodes and you guys did one of like, when not to publish interviews.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

I would love to hear you guys talk about and pontificate on the idea of. I do a lot of interviews and I also edit my own show. So there are certain times I have to take creative liberty and what gets edited, right? Especially the person's comments, you know, you know, you gotta make an editorial choice of like, okay, this is a very long winded answer. I'm gonna try to trim it down to here. I'm always interested in other podcasters that edit their own show, how they go about the editorial process, the decision, and like, okay, I want this to be a good, listenable show, but I've also got to walk a fine line between being an editor but also respecting that, you know, this is this person's words and feelings and thoughts, like, what goes into the decision making process for other podcasters when it comes to that.

[C]

That is such a good topic because, you know, we have had an episode where, you know, we talked about how to cut down editing time. And so really that was focused on, like, you know, equipment and mic technique and making sure that you are speaking properly. I don't think we've ever gotten into content editing.

[B]

Yeah, I think a lot of the stuff that's out there about editing is like, oh, here's how to use Audacity. Here's how to use Descript. Yeah, here's how to make sure you get really good audio. And if it's something that like NPR would put out, it's all content editing. It's how do you remain honest to the source and yet craft a story that's compelling and find a way to kind of create a thread through the whole interview. So let's do that episode.

[C]

Thanks, Botter.

[B]

Hey, if you want to be featured in this next episode, we want to know what are your questions about content editing and what tips and tricks have you kind of pulled together? Do people who are editing, do you have an idea of where the story's going when you start the Edit or are you kind of doing that on the fly? So have your answer featured. Smash the fan mail button in your description and send us a short message. We'd love to feature you on the next episode.

[C]

All right, that sounds perfect. Until next time, thanks for listening and keep podcasting.

[A]

Man, I just realized how much I love talking podcasting.

[C]

It's so fun.

[A]

I mean, I love talking comic books, but I. I do love getting into the nitty gritty. So that's. That is what I love about Buzzcast. You guys do cover a really good range of topics that really mean something to me.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

You know what you also really love? Badder is Jacksonville.

[A]

Damn right.

[B]

I used to always joke that when I was like, man, I don't want to really be a lawyer anymore. And I was like, I should go work for the Chamber of commerce because of how much, like, I. This is, like, a good city, and I think we have this, like, weird. It's, like, fun to make fun of Jacksonville, like, nationally. And I love hearing you talk about, man, Jacksonville's got a lot going on. There's an art scene, there's lots of food. There's lots of venues. There's tons of stuff going on. Why not Jax and I feel that when I go to all your events, because everyone's showing up in Jack's gear.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Everyone's pumped about where they're from. People aren't embarrassed saying, like, oh, yeah, I'm back home in Jackson, not really doing anything. It's good to, like, where you are.

[A]

Exactly. There is enough jokes. There's. There's enough jokes about Jacksonville. Someone's got to champion it. And, you know, I brought up my buddy Tony and his create Jax page, I love.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

He says only the boring get bored. So I try to, you know, bring a little fun, you know, you got to create. You got to make the place that you live fun, you know?

[B]

Yeah, well, that's definitely true for our city. I mean, how often people will say something like, I didn't really do much when I was in Jacksonville, and I was like, oh, well, you do any water sports?

[A]

Yeah. Did you even try? Exactly. Did you try to find. Because there. Yeah, there's something for everybody if you. If you look and if you're open minded. So. Absolutely. Yeah.

[C]

It's funny because, like, coming from. Boy, like, there's literally nothing to do here. Like, literally. We just got a topgolf, like, last year. It's. And it's booked out. But it is so funny because when Josh and I go to Jacksonville. Like, Jacksonville, Phil, feels like a really big Boise with a lot to do and a lot of really freaking cool people.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And we talk all the time about how, like, if we were to move to Florida, like, we would a thousand percent move to Jacksonville, like, it would be the best place to move. And it's so funny because sometimes we'll get, like, an Uber or something, and someone's, like, complaining about, like, oh, yeah, there's, like, nothing to do in Jacksonville. Like, it's really boring here, and everything's too far, and I'm like, like, you're spoiled, man. There's so much to do here.

[A]

Yeah.