I was going to sum up every session I attended in separate posts, but instead, I’ll provide a Day One summary. Here’s a summary of the sessions I attended:

• Podcast Format – I sat on this panel discussion along with Chris Brogan, Christopher Penn and a few others, with Bryan Person moderating. I spoke at length about the results of the Canadian Podcast Listeners Survey and all the panelists agreed that content is the most important factor that one should consider when thinking about podcast formats.

• Knowing Your Audience – Andrew Baron led this session looking at how to determine what your audience is looking for. He said that there are 3 things your audience is looking for in your podcast – information, entertainment and belonging (actually, the last was offered by someone in the audience).

• Podcast Consulting – Jason Van Orden led a panel which also had John C. Havens and another gentleman on it. They focused on how to build a business offering podcast consulting. The general consensus is that consultants shouldn’t price themselves too low since thye’re offering a very specialized service.

• Plan A Killer Podcast – Led by me, I focused on the 3 things to consider before you start recording your podcast – Content (what people hear or see), Image (how people perceive your podcast) & Promotion (methods you use to prompt people to subscribe to and dialogue with your podcast).

• Pricing Your Podcasting Services – John Havens led this session looking at how to price the podcasting services you may offer to others. One thing that stuck out is that if you make money off of podcasting, don’t forget to charge clients for the project management of the podcasting project by adding 15% to 20% on top of the fees quoted.