PodSummit YYC 2024 Recap: The Biggest Moments from the inaugural return of Canada’s Podcast Event.
Vol. 55 - What went down at PodSummit YYC 2024, the ISO's Podcast Program is back, and a long list of Canadian network news.
Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday! It’s Libra season baby!!
In this issue:
A PodSummit YYC 2024 Recap.
Canadian Indie: Between Two Fermenters
True North Podcast Feature: Ancestral Science
The ISO’s Podcasting Program has returned!
CBC Podcasts Fall Slate announcement!
The ongoing comings and goings at Canadaland.
BTW:
There are currently 32 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 30 First Nations communities across Canada. The last lifted advisory was June 2024. The most recent added advisory was July 2024.
PodSummit YYC 2024 Recap: The Biggest Moments from the inaugural return of Canada’s Podcast Event.
As you’re more than likely aware, your girl Kattie Laur was visiting Calgary just under two weeks ago with Pod the North as a Media Partner for PodSummit YYC 2024. With new leadership at the helm – husband and wife power duo Tim and Sydney Truax – this marked the exciting inaugural return of the western-Canada based podcast event since 2022.
Over the last year, Tim, Sydney, and their team of advisors; Jeff Humphreys, Meg Wilcox and the event’s previous organizer, Ernest Barbaric, have been tapping into the community to make PodSummit YYC 2024 a custom-made and sustainable experience for Canadian podcasters. The theme for this year’s summit was “explore your why”, and as Tim explained in his opening ceremonies, his was community. “You're not here as an individual,” he said in the kick off, “You’re here as a community. Let's push some boundaries”. I loved that.
Practically all of the podcast conferences and events I’ve attended in my life have been in Toronto – an easy choice for events to tap into the headquarters of major podcast networks, studios, and outlets like CBC Podcasts, Frequency, Spotify, Amazon, Acast, the Sonar Network and way more. I was excited but a little nervous about the prospect of connecting the community in Alberta; Would anyone actually make it out west? Especially given Alberta’s less-than-progressive persona that’s widely understood to be true across most of the country.
That’s why I was thrilled that one of the first people I met at the PodSummit welcoming party was the host of Queer in Alberta, Kels Delamarter, who’s podcast shares the voices of everyday 2SLGBTQIA+ Albertans who are living proudly in Calgary, Edmonton, and across the Canadian prairies. My conversation with Kels that night challenged me to rethink about what it means to build community in Alberta, and it was a beautiful invitation into many of the other themes that would come up over the next couple of days: vulnerability, innovation and pride.
Day 1: “In podcasting, discomfort is where the real magic happens.”
The first day of PodSummit YYC 2024 was kicked off with a keynote from Jeremie Saunders. He shared how his experience living with Cystic Fibrosis led him and his two best friends, Brian Stever and Taylor MacGillivary, to creating their acclaimed show Sickboy, which was ultimately picked up by CBC Podcasts. The passion they found through Sickboy led the three of them to create their Halifax-based podcast production company, Snack Labs. During his keynote, Jeremie explained that from his perspective, in life and in podcasting, vulnerability is crucial. That leaning into heaviness, and carefully balancing it with humor, only helps to connect to an audience. At 10 in the morning, there was barely a dry eye in the room, and yet, Jeremie’s keynote was a wonderful spark of inspiration for podcasters of all backgrounds; to grab life by the horns and just make the damn thing. Cue: the rest of PodSummit.
The rest of the morning was a choice between panels and workshops for attendees. One of those panels included the aforementioned Kels Delamarter, Red Thunderwoman / Michelle Robinson (Native Calgarian), and Camille Craig (Inside Out Theater), in a conversation about the impact of podcasts on underrepresented communities, moderated by Brad Clark of the Community Podcast Initiative: CPI. This panel was another incredible exercise in the power of vulnerability, innovation and pride in podcasting, and was an important reminder that inclusive conversations don’t just bring one person to the table - they bring many. “One person doesn't speak for a whole community,” said Kels during the panel, “the most powerful thing we've all been given are our voice and the power to use it, and the power to step aside and allow people to use theirs”. Michelle echoed her sentiment, adding that the more voices that are included and welcomed into podcasting, the harder conversations will get, especially when it comes to reconciling with disadvantaged communities in Canada. “If you don't feel comfortable, are you learning?” she said.
Outside of the many other exciting and insightful talks and panels throughout the day, including my own on the future of Canadian podcasting with Meg Wilcox (CPI) and Bob Kane (Libsyn Ads), a keynote presentation from Fede Vargas (My Most Authentic Life) on redefining success, and a live-podcast recording of The Calgary Sessions, my other highlight of Day 1 was a workshop on how to create and use digital content outside of the actual audio of a podcast, from Canadaland’s Digital Content Producer, Tony Wang.
Tony’s audience was notably stacked with podcast studio, network, and indie producers alike, and he was perfectly candid during his workshop, sharing how he makes compelling short-form video content — even when he has no actual footage from a podcast recording — and how creating high-quality, short-form promotional content is a tricky game to play when you get little to no lift from the platform algorithms.
Day 2 - Creating change.
The second day of PodSummit was fueled by a lot of future-looking. I missed the opening keynote from Chris Van Vliet as I spent a large part of the morning running around doing interviews and catching up with folks, but was happy to catch the panel run by Acast on growing a podcast with a network. In that panel, I was struck in particular by the words of Amil Delic, former Sportsneter and Head of Original Production at The Nation Network, a network of fiercely independent sports podcasts. “The reason I left Sportsnet was that I wanted to connect with communities,” Amil said during the panel, “There are so many underserved sports being represented, and Rogers just keeps cutting programming.”
What I found fascinating about the shows that Amil spoke about on the network is that they’re just that… shows. Each podcast is more than a podcast – they’re websites, written articles, daily shows, post-game shows, video content, social media clips, and way more. This is an important shift in the landscape of podcasts that was notable to encounter in Calgary, and one that I talked to Dan Misener about back in August. When I asked him, Amil said that making sure a podcast could be more than audio was an intentional focus for onboarding new podcasts onto the network which, from what I’ve seen, is a unique mission compared to most other podcast networks across the industry, and a really great indicator of what’s the come over the next few years.
In the afternoon I joined Captivate.fm’s Danny Brown along with Tim Truax for a live recording of In and Around Podcasting, where we discussed the changes in the way the podcast industry is thinking about podcast metrics and growth.
At the same time Tchadas Leo (Our Native Land) was joined by the Indigenous Screen Office’s Podcast Program Manager, Isabelle Ruiz, who announced that the Podcasting Program, which provides funding of up to $30K for Indigenous podcasts, would be back for its “second session”. A massively exciting announcement, especially given the caliber of shows that were produced from its first iteration. A huge win in the Canadian podcasting ecosystem.
The future-looking continues! ADOPTER Media’s Adam McNeil hosted a fascinating talk about how to cultivate and measure authority for a podcast, even showcasing a formula that measured authority based on podcast reviews called the “Goldmark Ratio” – I’d never seen anything like it and highly recommend looking into it more. In the wings, he also shared some extremely valuabe tea for the upcoming second season of Canardian, so keep an eye out for that!
I joined freelance producer and fellow Libra, Emma Krebs, along with JAR Audio’s Director of Audience Growth, Liz Hames, and freelance podcasting powerhouse and co-host of Rooked: The Cheaters Gambit, Jess Schmidt, for an all-women led panel on building a career in podcasting. It was wildly cathartic: we shared war stories, insights for early career producers, and discussed the opportunities out there for folks dreaming of making podcasting a full-time career. Canadian women being at the forefront of this conversation, though absolutely thrilling, was nothing new to me. Over the last year in particular I’ve noticed a trend in Canadian women leading conversations in the podcasting space, which I believe is a pretty staunch representation of the backbone of the industry. One that I’m certainly watching!
The day was wrapped with an insightful “Ask the Experts” panel, where attendees could pick the brains of CBC Podcasts Executive Producer Cesil Fernandes, Sonar Network Co-Founder Michael Mongiardi, Canadaland Digital Content Producer Tony Wang, and Shortline Creative CEO and host of The Calgary Sessions Podcast, Jeff Humphreys, for a full hour. It was followed by a live recording of the acclaimed podcast from CBC, Personal Best, which celebrated Andrew Norton and Rob Norman’s exciting return in their third season. The highly-produced and wildly engaging live show for Personal Best was the cherry on top of an action-packed couple of days.
Though I’d never gotten a chance to attend PodSummits of the past, I’d call PodSummit YYC 2024 a comeback!
While the two days were chalk full of wonderful programming, a huge success for the event was the accessibility of the conversations and connections happening in the lobby and various nooks and crannies of The GRAND, a beautifully spacious and historic venue in Calgary. I practically yapped my mouth clean off, and spent the better part of a week back home drinking tea and sleeping, and I know I’m not alone in that.
At the end of Day 2, most attendees – networks, pros, indies and corporations alike – found themselves congregating at Kaks Bar and Podcast, absolutely pooped but not wanting to say goodbye — A great testament to the power of Canada’s podcast community and an energy that is only sure to grow in 2025 (call me an optimist!)
Thanks for having me Calgary, I’ll see you next year!
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Check out this Canadian Indie: Between Two Fermenters
Ever wondered what life is really like in the craft beer industry?
Whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur, a home-brewing enthusiast, into Ontario beer history, or just someone who enjoys some good ol’ breezy beer banter, Between Two Fermenters Podcast is your go-to deep dive for all things beer from an insider perspective.
True North Podcast Feature: Ancestral Science
Exploring and Sharing the depth of Scientific Knowledge within Stories that humans have been gifted from the Star, Land, and Animal Ancestors for thousands of years.
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Listen to Pod the North’s flagship podcast, Canardian, and rate it five stars!
What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:
New Releases:
Sep 20, 2024 — A new local sports podcast from North Bay Echo Network has launched; Echo Sportscasts. Each Friday morning, Paul McLean and Dave Dale cast a weekly spotlight on local high school, club and recreational sports.
Sep 25, 2024 — Curious Tourism is back! The responsible travel podcast that I make with award-winning travel writer and content creator, Erin Hynes, is back with a fresh format, a new monthly cadence, and SO MUCH to talk about. Each episode looks at how travel can be better for people and the planet.
Sep 30, 2024 — The Globe and Mail has launched In Her Defence: 50th Street. Amber Tuccaro was 20 years old when she left her infant son with a friend at a motel on the outskirts of Edmonton, and got into a vehicle with an unknown man. The new season of In Her Defence explores the flawed police investigation into Amber’s disappearance and death, and asks serious questions about her unsolved murder. Was Amber’s case compromised by what her family alleges was a racist and biased police investigation? And does it mean a serial killer is still out there?
Oct 8, 2024 — THE GRAIN is a new podcast and newsletter from , about the pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity. As Novak says in her teaser trailer, the show is “not about threats or trinkets or tech. It's about the shared experience of adapting to a new era.”
Oct 1, 2024 — CBC Podcasts has announced it’s new Fall 2024 Podcast Slate! The news shows due to come out of the network this season include:
Personal Best, Season 3: Funny guys Rob Norman and Andrew Norton help ordinary people work through the little things they’d never bring to a life coach — like having the courage to dine alone at a fancy restaurant or getting less awkward at handshakes.
Split Screen: Thrill Seekers: A new six-part series that explores the impact of a mysterious reality show where 12 ordinary people get the chance to take part in the adventure of a lifetime. But there’s a catch: the audience knows everything but the contestants are kept in the dark.
Celine: Understood (October 15): Host and Celine expert Thomas Leblanc explores the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created one of the most enduring superstars the planet has ever seen
Uncover: Bad Results (October 28): For over a decade, countless people from at least five different countries put their trust in a Toronto company offering prenatal paternity tests. Their clinic promised “99% accuracy” — their results were anything but.
Someone Knows Something, Season 9 (November 6): Christine Harron, a book-loving teenager from Hanover, Ontario, leaves for school in the spring of 1993 and is never seen again.
Personally: Short Sighted (November 19): An innovative audio experience to explain vision loss to a sighted audience.
You oughta know…
The Indigenous Screen Office has announced it’s second round of the Podcasting Program! This funding program supports the development and creation of engaging and unique podcasts by Indigenous screen-based and audio storytellers. Applicants can access this program to research and develop their podcast and apply for up to $30,000 for individuals (including sole proprietors), collectives, companies and community groups. The deadline to apply is October 24, 2024!
The story at Canadaland over the last few weeks and months has been a mess of emotions, with a mix of exciting and bleak news. Following the departure of the beloved Jonathan Goldsbie and Mattea Roach, plus the end of Wag the Doug, more and more updates just keep coming from the network, which have also sparked a big ol’ thread on the Canadaland subreddit.
Sep 16, 2024 — After two years, Canadaland COO, Alan Black, announced that he’s leaving the company to “pursue some new projects that have been living in my head for years and taking up an exceeding amount of space lately.” Alan is slated to remain at Canadaland over the next couple of months to wrap up some of his ongoing projects before he moves on.
Sep 17, 2024 — The CanadaLabs fall lineup of workshops and events was announced to kick off October 17th, with a slate of topics including audio journalism, creating a serialized narratives, the business of podcasting, a two-part “Pitch Fest” and more! The events are geared towards podcasters and journalists of all levels.
Sep 20, 2024 — Longtime contributer to Canadaland, Justin Ling, announced that he’d be parting ways with the network following an episode of Short Cuts. On Substack he wrote, “I was filling-in as host alongside my guest Paris Marx, we had a fascinating chat about the enshittification potential of generative AI, as well as Russians At War, which I highly recommend. We also talked about the war in Gaza.[…] after the show had passed a fact check — publisher Jesse Brown decided to impose some unusual and fairly sweeping cuts to our conversation about weapon sales to Israel. I objected to these cuts and Jesse relented on some. […] I absolutely despise the deluge of hate, often veering into antisemitism, that Jesse gets. But I also don’t believe Canadaland is a free and neutral place to discuss this issue in particular, given that Jesse — as publisher and owner — frequently imposes his editorial line on others’ work.” Of course, this story has absolutely exploded on
TwitterX.Oct 1, 2024 — The Backbench long-time producer, Noor Azrieh, now joins the show as it’s new host. Noor’s first episode as host, “#99 Canada’s Gutless Palestine Policy” is out today. Congratulations Noor!
North Bay Echo Community Podcasting Network has turned 1! Since their exciting launch, the network ahs produced more than 200 episodes of a variety of podcasts and 100 Echo Essentials newsletters reaching tens of thousands of listeners and viewers. In a recent episode of echo essentials, Founder, Scott Clark, network consulting partners, Erin Trafford and Dave Trafford, and Echo content director, Dave Dale, discussed the highs and lows of the podcast industry and the journey of the network over the last year. Congratulations to all!
Good Reads:
Just Joe (in preparation for fall)…
Thanks for supporting Pod the North, I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks!
Kattie
@Podkatt (Twitter) | @PodtheNorth (Instagram)
It sounds delightful! I really wanted to go but didn't get back to Canada until just too late