How to build a podcast festival
This season, we're talking about issues that startup founders and creators in the School of Splice mentorship program faced on their journeys. This episode features Bhrikuti Rai. Bhrikuti is one of two co-founders of Boju Bajai, a Nepali podcast about politics, media, and feminism in South Asia.
Going into the School of Splice, Bhrikuti had a goal of wanting to connect podcasters across Nepal to help improve the local podcast industry, and to tap into an important growing community. So they decided to build All Ears, an online podcast festival. Here's how they did it.
Also starring Masuma Ahuja from Girlhood, and Janie Octia.
Hosted by Rishad Patel and Alan Soon. Produced by the lovely people at Lawson Media.
Notes
Follow Bhrikuti on Twitter
Listen to the Boju Bajai podcast
See the Boju Bajai website
Or listen wherever you get your podcasts
The transcript
RISHAD: Welcome to the School of Splice. I’m Rishad,
ALAN: And I’m Alan.
RISHAD: And in this series we’re going to help you build a viable business by exploring the problems faced by other media entrepreneurs.
ALAN: One of the most powerful tools for any media business, especially those in emerging markets, is your community. And I’m not talking about just your audience, but also your peers.
RISHAD: Yes, industry events help build awareness about ideas, trends, and new methods of working. They also celebrate the achievements of others in your region, and ultimately help build the whole ecosystem.
ALAN: Today on the show, we’re profiling an entrepreneur who wanted to build a podcast festival from scratch for the growing Nepali market.
Bhrikuti Rai: So in Nepal over the last, I think two years or so, we've seen a lot of new podcasts coming up.
RISHAD: This is Bhrikuti Rai, a journalist from Nepal that co-created Boju Bajai - a podcast that explores gender and politics in Nepal and South Asia.
Bhrikuti Rai: Boju Bajai started about six years ago. Back then they weren't a lot of Nepali podcast really, but over the last two or three years, there's been so many podcasts that we've seen, but, uh, we didn't really see a way of, see that they were talking to each other. Like we ourselves were not really aware about, you know, like. Um, we knew about podcasts, but, uh, there was some limitation, like, let's say if someone like a common trend or a journalist, that's has a podcast, then we would know about that, or have a way to sort of like talk to them about it, you know, share our work with each other.
But we clearly saw there was, um, there was a need for a community. For Nepali podcasters to come together. And these aren't just podcasts based in Nepal, but, uh, the Nepali diaspora, uh, also has a lot of podcasts that are started and we're doing very well, um, in the last year or so. So we thought it would be a good time to, uh, have a platform, to sort of start something to bring them all together and do something that budget, which I had always wanted to do sort of, um, you know, like talk about the.medium, talk about podcasting and where it's heading towards. So I think that was sort of like where, from where we started.
RISHAD: Going into the School of Splice, Bhrikuti had a goal of wanting to connect podcasters across Nepal, and amongst Nepali diaspora, to help improve the local podcast industry, and to encourage knowledge sharing.
Bhrikuti Rai: We really wanted to say, see where the conversations would go when Nepali podcasts would come together. Uh, like for example, I have been in touch with podcasters outside of Nepal, or So we are following, we've been following work off, you know, like, uh, podcasts in other countries or other regions where, how the, uh, medium itself has been doing. But we really wanted to see what sort of conversations, uh, The podcast festival would sort of like start a lead towards.
ALAN: So why did you decide on a podcast festival, right? Of all the things that you could have done to bring the community together, but it was it about a festival that made it so appealing.
Bhrikuti Rai: So I think, um, initiative, we wanted to do like an in-person, you know, you know, Like we'll lose networking events sort of thing. But because we sort of like started planning this I, and, and, you know, Alan, we've been talking about this for so long.
There’ve been like several waves of, of COVID. And we sort of decided maybe just doing like an online, um, festival would be a good idea. And also because we wanted to use. As an opportunity for Nepali podcasters to also listen from podcasters who are not from Nepal. And we thought, uh, if, if we did, if we, if we sort of like planned this, uh, like a festival, then it would be an opportunity for a Nepali podcasters to also sort of get in touch, hear from, um, other podcasters who aren't necessarily Napoli, uh, you know, uh, who are, who've been doing sort of similar work outside of Nepal. Um, so, so we, we utilise, maybe the festival format would be a good idea instead of just like, let's say like half a day, uh, informal sort of talking to each other networking session. That's something we sort of was also part of the festival. Uh, but we thought the festival format would allow us to allow ourselves also to explore different aspects of podcasting that we also weren't very, uh, you know, Aware about or wanted to learn more about, for example, you know, uh, we had Carl from Puma podcast talking about the business of podcasting, right.
So, um, so the, these sort of conversations aren’t happening in the Nepali podcasting sphere, really. So we really wanted to, in some ways also move beyond just Nepali podcasters to, uh, to give, to sort of like, sort of look towards what others are also doing outside of Nepal. So I thought we thought that the festival format would be like a perfect way to do that.
RISHAD: Many of us have missed out on the networking opportunities that existed before Covid, and only some of those in person events are starting to return. But network is so important for developing a community. As Janie Octia from Meta’s Journalism team says, you need to pay attention to what others are doing both in your industry, and outside of it, so you can improve your own product offering.
Janie Octia [02:04] - First, always pay attention to other content creators outside of media or news and how they engage with their audience. Gaming for example. There's a lot we can learn from them that could work for news as well, but we just, haven't tried. Second, ask younger people around you, where they get and how they consume information. I at the age where it's hard to form new habits and even more difficult to break old ones. So speaking with people younger than me is my way of keeping up with trends.
ALAN: Bhrikuti recognised the importance of connecting with other podcasters, and so had to figure out not only how to create a brand new podcast festival, but how to do this during a global pandemic, when most of the participants would be online.
Bhrikuti Rai: I think, um, we've been planning this since I think November last November, and we did it in April. I think, um, just decide because it was a big undertaking for us because we hadn't planned something like this and, and, and to do it virtually came with its own set of challenges. Um, but I think, uh, we were very fortunate enough that a lot of our speakers that people really wanted to have. Um, part of the festival, for example, like Sabina Kalki of SAPs, because she's like one of the most popular, uh, you know, uh, podcast is in the country.
He was been, was in radio and transition to podcast. She agreed to do it immediately. And then we had carved from Puma podcast and then we were able to get Molly Webster from Radiolab, which was amazing. Um, so I think it was a lot of like learning experience for us also. And it also gave us an idea of. Uh, I think as we started planning and as it started coming together, it also gave us an idea to think about, okay, what are the conversations that would really, uh, benefit that will really benefit the community? The podcast community. Not just because we wanted to have XYZ speaker. it was also because we wanted to really get something out of everyone and sort of like start thinking about things that a lot of us as Nepali podcasters probably did not think earlier, you know,
ALAN: When you’re thinking about starting an online event, one of the biggest concerns every founder should have is around discovery. If you go to all the effort to put together a festival, or other online event, how will people know it exists? How are you going to reach your target community, and get them to turn up?
RISHAD: Before you launch your event, you should create a marketing plan to get the word out. Whether it’s engaging people through social media, or through partnerships with brands or other media organisations, make sure you get your event in front of the community. There’s nothing worse for an event creator than putting all the effort in to create an event, but having nobody show up.
[Music change]
ALAN: Bhrikuti and her team ran the ‘All Ears’ Nepali podcast festival in April of 2022, and for a first event, it was a huge success.
Bhrikuti Rai: But I think the sheer number of people who showed up, um, I think the registrations was amazing. Like we had about, uh, I think people for each event, they were about like 40 to 50 or sixties in some events registered.
Obviously not everybody showed up, but, um, I guess, um, our main, we really wanted to reach out to the podcasting community and others also, who were interested in podcasting in. And Nepalese living abroad also. So I think in terms of, um, uh, sort of meeting the objective of this festival, which was to bring together, uh, Nepali podcast, I think, Uh, we were able to do that to a great extent.
ALAN: Bhrikuti has a number of learnings from this first event. One of the challenges with running any event, is not only how to market the event, but once people know about it, how do you actually get them to sign up? This is something that we’ve got direct experience with thanks to Splice Beta, both in person and online. And the biggest aspect of this is removing friction.
RISHAD: One of the ways we’ve tried to remove friction for our signup process is …
ALAN: For Bhrikuti, she found these backend processes to be one of the more challenging parts of running the festival.
Bhrikuti Rai: Our focus was on sort of like working on the, let's say the content side of the festival, but we sort of did not anticipate the sort of time and work it would take to get.
Going in terms of the backend work, I would say, you know, um, you know, before the postures are launched before you, the registration link is up, all the things that goes behind, it was really a big learning experience for us and also the most, most stressful part of it all.
RISHAD: Many online event creators have jumped on Zoom to run events throughout the pandemic. And Zoom is great to a point, however there are many reported examples of Zoom calls going wrong thanks to trolls. Unfortunately, this was also an issue that Bhrikuti realised the team overlooked.
Bhrikuti Rai: Because this was a virtual event, uh, there were so many things that we completely did not even anticipate. For example, the security aspect of that is something that I would really go back and try to, you know, like, uh, if, if given an opportunity to do.
Really well, for example, and we did mention earlier, right? All the events were going pretty smoothly towards the end. We got what people now know already as being zoom bombed. Um, so we had these, uh, sort of like, I think trolls who are like, you know, like, uh, interrupting our sessions towards the end and we can really get to, uh, sort of the concluded, uh, as we wanted to.
So it was quite an onset ammonia sort of like conclusion. You know, like six months of working. And that is something that we wish we had thought of it earlier, in terms of like security, how do we manage, how do we secure these conversations? You know, some of it we're close. Uh, some of it we're being broadcasted on Facebook live, but, uh, the, uh, the, the last event of the festival sort of.
Um, made us rethink our, you know, the entire planning and how we are sort of completely missed out on the security aspect of, you know, when you, when you have the zoo links up, uh, the whole point was of. Uh, making it more accessible to everyone. Um, and, um, I don't know, we just, uh, did not anticipate that we would have haters that people would call it.
RISHAD: One of the ways you can deal with trolls for your online event is to use a meeting password, or a waiting room. Having ways to screen people coming into your digital event is similar to having a registration desk at a physical conference. It’s an insurance policy to make sure only those who registered, actually get admitted into the event.
Bhrikuti Rai: So that is something I think when we do, uh, and, um, you know, like the security aspect of it, but I guess we'd also maybe sort of make it more easier for people to, um, Like, like you said, find our, uh, uh, you know, the link to our even how to register to make that more easy seamless, uh, because we are promoting it on multiple platforms and we did get a lot of queries from people.
Like, how do we do this? And, you know, all the, we had like a. If ACU tread on, on our social media, I think that was something, um, you know, just to make it easier for people to discover the festival and then how to sign up. I think, um, if we had made it slightly worked on the interface better, a bit ahead of the festival, then maybe it would reach more people, but we're still very happy with the turnip, uh, at the, at the festival.
ALAN: Has this given you new ideas about new products or new ways to engage a community that, that you didn't know about before?
Bhrikuti: Yeah, definitely. I think, uh, and then we've actually just after this, uh, festival, we, uh, boujee, we're able to be part of this other, other podcast called the Tiki journal podcast. We talked about the festival, we talked about podcasting and also, I guess it's also already started to open, I think, avenues for possible collaborations and, you know, like networking and.
Coming together to do things. Um, and also made us aware about, um, uh, this sort of like interest in podcasting is what I would, I would say. Um, that is something we would really want to work on. For example, uh, one of the most popular sessions was. Uh, about learning about podcasting itself on our second day, uh, you know, we had a session that was led by us, and then we had a session on sound designing by Dodge and , who's a music producer and has done a lot of sound designing work for us and several underbelly movies and, you know, music videos.
So I think . Um, keen interest in, in learning more about the medium and, and, uh, I think people are interested in going beyond just the interview style, you know, like, uh, like a lot of us, we talked a lot about the YouTube podcasts. Uh, you know, like everywhere in the world, like it's even in Nepalese becoming massively popular.
So there was a lot of talk about, you know, how do we, uh, sort of like, uh, you know, move forward, you know, when there's this sort of like more celebrity driven podcast, video podcast, where do we stand? You know, like, let's say smaller podcasts within, let's say not that much following. So how do we sort of do it?
Um, is there a way that, um, the, what are the ways to move beyond the interview style podcast? So that. Uh, the creators also enjoy the, uh, enjoy and experiment with different forms of audio storytelling. Something that we really wanted to do and talk to more Nepali podcasters about because we don't see that happening as much.
So I think, um, that was also, uh, something that, uh, uh, that moving forward, I guess we'll be able to sort of talk about it more and sort of try to do our own ways of, uh, experimenting with the audience.
RISHAD: According to Bhrikuti, All Ears had great feedback from those who attended. Many podcasters learnt about options for funding new ideas, and how to make their shows sound better. And it’s inspired the team to try and continue those conversations into the future.
ALAN: It’s something we love to encourage here at Splice, because continuing the journey with your new community is so important to running future events. If you have an active community, and you keep supporting them, people will keep coming back to future events. You can even involve them in the planning for the next event, which means you don’t have to start from scratch every time.
Bhrikuti: So we are in a very privileged position to be able to even do this to the, to do the festival that we were able to do, uh, because a lot of, um, you know, podcasts who are just starting out. Did not even, we're not even aware, that there could be possibilities, like, you know, like, um, crowdsourcing things, or going on platforms like Patreon or applying for grants.
So moving forward, I think, um, one of the, one of the things that we, and, and, and, uh, thanks to, uh, uh, Alan And Russia, we've been really trying to, uh, push for this podcast is community beyond the festival also. So we now have, um, a small WhatsApp group is try to keep the conversations going with. Different kinds of things around podcasting, including, um, talking about financing and, you know, like if there are opportunities around, okay, this might, so we might come across something.
So we share it in the group and we hope that group will keep, uh, we'll we'll, uh, you know, continue to talk about these things and, you know, not just sharing our work, but also like asking for help and, you know, like coping, we can collaborate in the future. So I think that's one of the biggest, I think, um, things that's come out of this festival also.
RISHAD: So how do you tell if your event has been successful? And if you continue those conversations - how do you know if the time investment is paying off?
ALAN: We want to leave you with some great advice from Masuma Ahuja the founder of Girlhood, a community and media platform powered by girls and their stories. Masuma has some great advice for anyone creating a new community.
Masuma Ahuja [00:17]: When I think about getting feedback from our community, we are constantly asking our community for their thoughts. We're listening to them. And including them in our decision-making their participation, not just their feedback, but their participation means we're always building for them. My favourite way to engage with our community is to literally give individual members of our community a seat at the table, and to constantly be bringing more people into our conversations and our decision-making.
This means they have a sense of ownership over Girlhood. The space is theirs and they're helping steer it. There's a lot of power in that. When I think about measuring the value of Girlhood, we have a lot of the standard KPIs to measure impact and engagement, but what's more powerful is thinking about our bigger values as an organisation and looking at how they manifest.
So this includes things like the friendships created in our community, the kind space we're cultivating for girls to meet people from different parts of the world and have honest conversations and the stories that they're telling that haven't been told elsewhere that we aren't reading or watching or listening to us.
OUTRO (Swap roles for each episode):
RISHAD: Thanks for listening to the School of Splice. This episode was hosted by me Rishad Patel and Alan Soon. Production by the team at Lawson Media.
In case you didn’t already know - Splice is running the next instalment of Splice Beta later this year. To find out more, visit schoolofsplice[dot]com.
And a big thanks to the Meta Journalism Project for sponsoring this podcast!
We’ll speak to you again soon.