Podcasters are all ears at annual convention in Halifax

Crystal Garrett chats with the co-founder of the Echo Podcast Summit, happening Thursday at the Halifax Convention Centre.

The second annual Echo Podcast Summit kicks off Thursday at the Halifax Convention Centre.

The one-day event will host panels for those looking to build trust and engage audiences through podcasts.

Rhys Waters, co-founder of Podstarter Inc. and organizer of the summit, has helped to launch more than 100 podcasts over the past six years for local, national and international clients.

“It can be a really useful tool to build relationships,” he told CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett about the medium.

The summit is sold-out, and Waters says podcasting has grown massively over the last few years.

“We felt, like, the need to be an event on the East Coast. Atlantic Canada has some incredible shows, it has a huge history in Canadian podcasting, and we were lucky through our business Podstarter to have amazing partners with Acast, Amazon Music, they wanted to invest in an event where we could get everyone in one room for the day.”

This year the convention’s theme is community.

“One of our most precious resources is time and people give podcasts so much of their time,” he notes.

Whether it’s walking the dog or driving home from work, Waters says those intimate times spent with hosts help develop a kind of parasocial bond.

“That’s where community comes from as well, you find like-minded people with the same sense of humour or the same values,” he says.

Heather Gordon and Yael Strasberg, two experts at Acast, are scheduled as the first panel of the day to speak on monetization and show growth.

Acast is one of the largest independent monetization platforms in the world.

“Their Canadian team is incredible, they’re always so invested in developing Canadian shows and Canadian podcast content,” says Waters.

The day is also set to hear about podcasting on YouTube and talks from producers and hosts at Canadaland.

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