Podcast Movement 2025: What I Learned Speaking and Why Practical Advice Beats Flashy Growth Stats

A woman came out to me afterwards and said thank you so much for the practicality of this talk , like she listened to all these other industry talks around video , podcasting or how to grow , how to monetize , like all these things , and she was like this was the only practical talk that I actually heard . And I kind of started the talk like hey , I'm not going to blow your mind , this isn't rocket science like what I'm going to teach you here today . It's probably stuff you already know .

I'm just giving you the space to think about it and consider oh , these are probably things that you should do with your podcast or consider adjusting or just thinking about if you have . You started your podcast years ago and you've never thought about these things in years . So welcome to the Proffitt podcast , where we teach you how to start , launch and market your content with confidence . I'm your host , Krystal Proffitt , and I'm so excited that you're here .

Thanks for hanging out with me today , because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation , this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut . So let's get right to it , shall we ? So I'm on my way to Dallas right now . I have a reservation at the Gaylord , which is where the podcast movement event is this year .

So I went to the podcast movement let me see 2021 , and it was at the Gaylord in Nashville , which I love , I love . It's funny because I live in Texas . I'm actually driving up from Houston to Dallas and in all my years of being a Texan , I've actually never stayed at the Gaylord in Grapevine , which is super nice , like my mom was saying . She was like oh , I've been there so many times .

We go . Well , she , like her , and my dad have been multiple times . They do this cool like ice sculpture thing in the wintertime , so it's like , it's like a whole thing . People have been there and I've just never gone .

So I'm excited because I know the layout of these are incredible . It is August , it's mid-August , it is so stinking hot outside and I'm very , very grateful that there's a lot of walking that you can do inside the hotel . So you may or may not know this about me , like , I've just been on this walking streak , walking kick . I'll probably run , probably twice a week , maybe three times a week , but walking is my jam and walking consists of anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes , sometimes even an hour .

So I'm obsessed with walking right now and I'm looking forward to being able to walk inside the Gaylord and just enjoy exploring and people watching and all the things that come with that , because it's just like you know . It's like going to an airport and you could just walk around and see all the different cool people , but this time it's all the different people that are in podcasting , because it's podcast movement , so you just never know who you're going to be waiting in line to see .

You know buying a coffee or grabbing lunch . So that's super fun . But anyway , I thought I would just give you a little rundown of my drive up there . I'm excited about my talk .

I actually haven't practiced it today , but I did it three times at least yesterday and I'm almost off book , which is funny because I'm like I only know that because I've listened to so many podcasts of like actors and stuff and they say that like , oh , I'm off book . It just means I don't have to sit there and look at my notes for every single piece . I can just look at my slides and know , okay , this is the next thing I need to say , or this is you know , this comes next , this is the transition phrase I want to use or things like that .

My talk is only 20 minutes and I've gotten it to down to where I'm pretty much at 18 minutes and 45 seconds , which I feel so good about . So good about . If you didn't see the video I did previously , I thought I was going to have 30 minutes and I don't . I have 20 .

So my talk I drastically had to cut it down and I'm okay with it . I'm actually like it feels very impactful . None of it feels fluffy . A lot of it did and I had to cut it way , way , way down and I'm glad that I cut it down to where we're at .

So there's my latest update on my drive up there and then we'll see . We'll see what it's like whenever we get there later and do the opening party and all the things . So stay tuned for more . Oh , it's August , it's the middle of August and it's too hot for me to walk back outside and come back in and do the whole influencer thing of like .

Here's my room , we're in here . Okay , this is my cute little room at the Gaylord and I love this . Oh , I thought I'd turn all the lights on . Love this shower , like I mean , it's so cute .

I love how everything is there's not all the little individual bottles anymore that you have to worry about , right ? This is cute . Like hi , here I am . That's super cute .

I actually have never been to this hotel , so I've got two beds . Normally I would get a king all to myself , but my mom is coming to stay with me , so super fun . Oh , let's see , I don't like this view . It's gonna be great .

Guys , we're looking , I guess there's water , there's water over there . I don't know if this is a convention center , like , like I said , I've never been here before , but I can tell you , holy moly , it's so bright . Oh , now we're in the middle . Okay , now it's there we go .

There we go . Got a little light going on . I'm someone who I like to turn . I love a lamp .

I don't like harsh lights . I can't handle harsh lights at all . I don't like harsh lights . I can't handle harsh lights at all .

But I am the person that comes when I stay at a hotel and I crank it down . It's at 68 degrees now , but I just got here . I'm going to go meet a friend for dinner . Oh , I got to put on some more deodorant .

Maybe that's more than you really wanted or needed to know , but , like I said , it's 100-something degrees outside in the middle of August and Mama was hoofing it from the hotel parking garage trying to make it in time to pick up my badge . I didn't make it in time to pick up my badge , so I'll have to do it tomorrow . So , yeah , see you then . Okay , getting ready for day one of podcast movement , I'm actually trying to make sure I have my room key before I leave .

I should have done like a what's in my bag , because maybe you're wondering , like Krystal , what is all that stuff in there ? Okay , yeah , I . This is a classic example of if I were marooned on a desert island . Everything I would want with me is in this bag .

I have a sweater , water bottle , snacks all the things that you really need whenever you're going to a conference , but , most importantly , I have a sweater . You have to take a sweater whenever you go to one of these conferences , so write that down if you have not already . Sweater whenever you go to one of these conferences , so write that down if you have not already . So we just wrapped .

Well , I guess I should say I wrapped podcast movement 2025 for myself . Uh , the conference is technically one more day it goes tomorrow , but I only came for the Tuesday , wednesday and then now I am on my way home . This is what I spoke in . Clearly , I'm still wearing what I had on .

I wish I would have changed into some more comfy clothes because I have an almost four-hour drive . But that's okay . Here we are , we're driving home . So first thoughts .

First thoughts on the conference . You know one thing for me in having been , this is the first podcast movement that I've gone to since 2023 . When I went to podcast movement evolutions in Vegas , which had a lot of headliners Like I have a video you can go watch the video from the last one this one didn't really have a headliner . That I was like oh my gosh , I cannot wait to listen to you know so-and-so speak .

Like I just I didn't have that at this , so I don't know if it just wasn't advertised really well . And then someone told me they were like well , the headliner was Adam Curry , like the godfather of podcasting , and I was like no , he just did a breakout session . I sat and watched his breakout session , so he wasn't a keynote . So that was kind of strange for me .

Like I just didn't know like who was the main stage headliner that you're trying to get to come , so I don't know if that's going to be different . The headphones thing , y'all this was so strange to me . It's like if you've ever been to a silent disco , that's what this was like . People are , you have different channels that you listen to depending on which stage you're at .

And it was just very , very interesting because , first of all , I hate headphones . I hate them so much . I know , as a podcaster you're like wait what Krystal ? Like I have a video that I recorded of like why I don't wear headphones as a solo podcaster , I just don't do it .

I hate them . I don't like wearing them unless I need them for editing . I will use them for editing purposes . I do not like to use them unless I have to .

And so the fact that I had to wear them all day , the fact that I had to wear them all day , I have like stud earrings and my glasses on because I can't see , like I'm hit that like midlife advantage , right , I can't see anything anymore . So I have to wear my glasses , my earrings are like just digging in and I just it wasn't a great experience for me personally . That's like the con of it . The pro was that you don't have to sit down .

You could walk around the whole ballroom if you want to , but you could still be tuned in to someone that's on a stage across the room . So that was really cool . But other than that , not a fan of the headphones , I'm really not . It was distracting , it was weird being a presenter and I don't know , it was weird , so I don't have a lot of pros for it .

So podcast movement if you're listening , I'm sure it worked for your event space and having multiple speakers , multiple sessions but not a fan , it wasn't very comfortable as a audience participant an audience member I did my talk today , which was so incredible . I'm actually going to do a version of my talk in a future episode . So like and subscribe so you can see it in the future . Talk in a future episode .

So like and subscribe so you can see it in the future . But it was all about three time management tools to avoid podcast burnout and I shared a little bit about it . There's a video that you can go watch an episode about what I did to prepare the talk and now that we're on the other side of it , I have to say it turned out really good . It turned out like really good in the sense that I feel really confident .

I didn't practice it as much as I would have liked to , like I did for the last one . I was practicing for like two weeks beforehand . I only got like a solid week , I would say , if that Like maybe five days , where I did it every single day . I did do one more dry rehearsal yesterday , like a full dry run of all the content , and then I just did it today .

I felt good about it . It was 20 minutes , which is the shortest talk I've ever done , and it was . It was a good creative challenge in that I've done 60 to 90 minute webinars . I've done a five minute talk , which I felt like a five minute talk was actually a little bit easier to structure than this 20 minute talk , which is weird , but all in all , I felt really good about it .

I had some great feedback . A woman came out to me afterwards and said thank you so much for the practicality of this talk . She listened to all these other industry talks around video , podcasting or how to grow , how to monetize all these things . She was like this was the only practical talk that I actually heard .

I kind of started the talk like , hey , I'm not going to blow your mind . This isn't rocket science like what I'm going to teach you here today . It's probably stuff you already know . I'm just giving you the space to think about it and consider , oh , these are probably things that you should do with your podcast or consider adjusting or just thinking about if you have .

You started your podcast years ago and you've never thought about these things in years . So that made me feel really good that people were like oh , this was like practical , tactical , not just pie in the sky . The rules of engagement for like 99% of people , because that is how some of those talks went . That is how some of those talks went .

They were like oh , let me tell you about how amazing I am or how I grew my show from . I saw one that was like from 2,000 subscribers to 135,000 in like a year or two , they're like that's 6,000% growth . And I was like , yeah , but unless you're teaching everyone in the audience how they can replicate that , how is that helpful ? You're just up there bragging like on the stage , like that's not helpful .

So one thing that I've come to realize is I want to support practicality and consistency . I mean obviously like that's , that's my jam . That's my thing . That I love to do is talk about consistency .

It's why I chose to talk about how to not burn out , like that was when I told people . I was like talking to you know friends in the industry , and they're like , oh , what's your talk about ? I saw you're talking and I'm like it's about how to avoid burnout and they're like , yes , we need that . We need that .

I could have submitted a talk about AI . I could have done one about marketing . I could do one about email marketing . I've done about strategy .

I could have done about a million other things , but I'm like people don't need the new shiny thing , they just need the space to have that . Like , oh yeah , I am kind of burning the candle at both ends , or I'm having considered that maybe I should reevaluate . Do I still want to talk to this same audience ? Or you know , I know my camera is so shaky .

I'm driving home when I'm recording this , which you know . Here we are . Here we are guys . Like it's just I'm tired .

I've drank way too much coffee today . I still have about like two hours in my drive back to Houston . I think that my phone is probably going to continue to shake . So I will wrap this up with saying I had a lot of fun .

I got to meet some really incredible people . I reconnected with some folks that I haven't seen in a long time and I just got re-energized about creating and being authentically me and I hope that that is something that I can encourage you to do is , like , if you haven't thought about , like , why am I doing this ? Why am I curious about this ? I genuinely love creating .

To create I do . I genuinely love it . Like , no one has to pay me anything and I will still show up Y'all . I did a podcast for three years .

I did the potty report 900 episodes . I didn't make any money on that podcast and I loved it so much . The only reason why I stopped is I just didn't have any more time for it . I really , truly didn't .

And I look back at that and I'm like , yeah , we just need to keep pursuing the things that bring us joy , bring us life . That's why I went to this conference . I was invited to come speak . I love speaking on stages , I love getting together with podcasters and creators in person , and it just really gave me joy in life to connect with so many of you incredible podcasters .

So if we met there like please let me know in the comments . I would love to you know , give you a shout out an upcoming video . But it gave me some stuff to think about , things that I'll ponder , and I'll leave you with one final thought . Something that I did not expect but was the best compliment that I got of the whole conference was someone came up to me and they were like man , I've been wanting to meet you for a long time .

We're in , you know , just in the industry . And he said to me you have the best reputation . I was like cool , like okay , and then he kept talking . He was just like you just have such an incredible reputation in the industry .

Well , made me think of two things . Like one , does that mean other people have terrible rep from ? Like , like just ways that they interact with people about just a decent person , and that's like the low bar . But the other thing was like oh , that was intentionally unintentional .

That's something that I strived from the very beginning . I want to be relatable , I want to be funny , I want to be someone that people love to enjoy learning from , and I do love teaching so much . And it was just really nice , it was really validating for me to have someone say , like you just have the best rep , like like your reputation is stellar and it's awesome . So it's not something I expected to hear .

So that part is kind of the unintentional part . Oh yeah , that's been a goal of mine for a long time is to treat people with respect , be honest always and tell you like it is and be very practical and relatable and it was just really nice . So that's a wrap on Podcast Movement 2025 . I was saying , like I don't know if I'm gonna go to 26 , but 26 is in New York , y'all it's in NYC .

Like I think we gotta go . We gotta go because it's in New York , right . And then Kit Studios like they're opening up offices in New York . Like I think I see some , some synergies that can happen .

So stay tuned , stay tuned for more . But that's a wrap on Podcast Movement 2025 . Make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you are listening and watching to this and , as always , remember , keep it up . We all have to start somewhere .

You .