An honest review about The Podcast Movement 2026
Every year, The Podcast Movement, one of the largest and oldest podcast conferences, occurs with thousands of participants in North America. This year, it changed things up in several ways. Before it began, , the President of Podcast Movement spoke with on her Substack to talk about the changes.
A big change was that, instead of moving every year, it was announced that the conference will now always be held in New York City. In the past, I have attended it in Denver, Dallas, Washington, DC, and it has been in other parts of North America over the last decade. This came with some interesting experiences. Here are my honest thoughts from the conference.
PROS:
+One of the changes was that the talks were based on votes, not just a committee. The range felt more diverse, and I think there were more first-time speakers, which was nice to hear and learn from them.
+As with any annual conference, like this one or London’s The Podcast Show, etc, it is nice to meet and see some old friends, colleagues and fellow podcasters. Many come from Europe too, some who did not make it to the London conference (which happens every May), so we got to catch up this time around.
+The conference rented a Times Square billboard so we were able to upload our podcast logos so they would feature on it. Now, I can officially say that two of the podcasts I work on have been featured at Times Square! 😉
Above you can see a grainy but undeniable logos of MediaMaker Spotlight and Who was she? Podcast.
CONS:
-The conference was held at Terminal 5 in Midtown, a popular concert venue. This meant that it was dark, very, very dark. Oftentimes, we had to squint, lean uncomfortably close to each other to tell how it is we are speaking to.
-For such a venue where it had three floors (many didn’t realize there was a third floor; rumor has it, there was another floor too), it felt small and cramped. It was hard to move around through, and there were no elevators, so while I was happy to get my steps in because I am on quite a health journey, it was not the easiest thing for people to go up three flights of stairs to find somewhere they could at least sit and talk to someone (but of course, still in the dark).
-Again, the venue had more security than usual with metal detectors. So the first day, we were often late for the morning talks. I spoke with one of the speakers who said she came an hour early because she had a feeling security would cause a delay. She still had to wait to enter 30 minutes before her talk, but many were late or missed her and other first talks entirely due to the long security process.
-Similarly to not being allowed in earlier, we were given a schedule of 4 to 6 to meet with groups in designated areas in the venue on different floors. Video podcasters, first-time conference goers, Spanish-speaking podcasters, etc. But by 5 pm, Terminal 5 announced it was time to leave. The next event was at 6 pm, and I was already exhausted, and now I had nowhere to go for an hour, so I went home. It was an odd choice that the place announced closing when the schedule allowed us another hour to stay there.
-No vendors, or rather, only a small handful where they are not allowed to give out anything for free. I like free shit; who doesn’t? But the vendor tables are not just good for their t-shirts, stickers, pens, etc. It was a good place to network, meet with people, and another place to learn from leading platforms. Without the vendors, we were left with “which stairwell? I don’t see you” and software or platforms that my clients use, I couldn’t find as easily to talk to. They were walking around trying to be everywhere at once instead of being in one place for us to reach them.
I get that this is a learning experience and experiment. The venue was clearly not a hit for me. And there are still some great elements that I am glad I got to see. For any talks I missed, we get recordings, which I am looking forward to listening to and learning from.
So if you feel some fomo, well, consider it for next year. If it stays at Terminal 5, I honestly would reconsider coming back.
Were you at The Podcast Movement? What were your thoughts?