Videos

Join Google Podcasts creator Program Project Manager Alexandra Blair, as she answers all of your questions about the 2022 Google Podcasts creator program, the application process, and eligibility.

The second of two Info Session Webinars. Recorded April 15th, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

Alexandra Blair [00:00:08] Hello, everyone, and thanks to our DJ, Toni Carlson. Always with the best music. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much. Love to see everyone tuning in from all over the world. Thank you guys so much for joining us today for this info-session webinar about the Google Podcasts creator program application for 2022. For accessibility reasons, I just want to introduce myself. My name is Alexandra Blair. I'm the project manager of the Google Podcast Creator program, and I will introduce myself more formally in a second. But for now, I'll say that I am a 30 year old white woman sitting on a couch surrounded by some magazines on my reading rail and my artwork, and some things I hope look aesthetically pleasing to everyone. We are going to be using the live closed-captioning feature today, so that is something that you're interested in using, you can use that feature on Zoom. I'll be attempting my best to violate my nature and speak as slowly as possible so that the captioning can pick up what I'm saying accurately. But we'll also be hosting this webinar with closed captioning on the video and a transcription that will be screen reader friendly and that will go up to our website after the webinar is over. So if you are someone who will benefit from that and you have signed up for this webinar, you will get an email from us once that's up on our website, so you can check it out in that way. So thanks again for joining today. It's really exciting to see everyone tuning in from all over the world. I love hearing where everyone's from. I'm in Houston, Texas. Hello. If you haven't introduced yourself or said hello yet, please do so in the chat. Otherwise, we have a lot of questions to get through today. So I want to get us started. As I mentioned again, my name is Alexandra Blair. I am the project manager of the Google Podcasts creator program. So today you're going to be hearing from and seeing video from me. And I'm really excited about this, excited to answer all your questions so that you guys can get your applications in before the deadline. But in the chat are my colleagues, Stephanie Kuo, the Director of Training at PRX, she's going to be answering questions, and Toni Carlson is the Manager of Training at PRX. If you have questions, please, please, please use the Q&A function of Zoom. We will not be able to keep track of questions and things that get lost in the chat, unfortunately, just because there's so much chat that comes through. Please use the Q&A function. Stephanie and Toni are going to be answering your questions in the Q&A feature, and then we'll be answering a lot of them live. Some of them will be typed out, and if your question has already been asked and answered, we're going to be marking that as answered or dismissing that. So please use the Q&A function. I am really excited to get started.

Alexandra Blair [00:02:51] Great. So today's webinar, an overview of the program and eligibility requirements is up first. We're going to talk about the program. We're going to talk a little bit about the curriculum. We got some great questions at last week's webinar about what exactly the curriculum is and what kind of mentors and guest speakers we have, so we're going to talk a little bit about that. We are going to be asking a lot of the pre-submitted questions and frequently asked questions that we've been getting. And then whatever time we have left will all be a live Q&A with the questions that you ideally put in the Q&A feature of Zoom. I think we're ready to go to the next slide. So what is the Google Podcasts creator program? Chances are, if you are at this info session webinar, you are familiar with the Google Podcasts creator program. But to reiterate, the Google Podcasts creator program is a free, multi-week podcast accelerator program that provides indie podcasters from around the world with creative development, audience growth, business strategies. All kinds of tools and resources and mentorship that their podcast and that they, as creators, need to level up. From June through December of this year, 2022, PRX is going to select and lead six teams through a rigorous training. It's a curriculum that starts with an in-person intensive. It's got 16 weeks of active training and mentorship. Then there's about a four week break where you'll just be meeting with mentors and processing what you've learned. And then there will be a final, ideally in-person, showcase celebrating all of the work and a culmination of those efforts.

Alexandra Blair [00:04:31] What are we looking for? So if you have seen the application page, you've probably seen the things that we're looking for here, and that is applicants that have already been producing media and podcasts for at least three years. This is a very common question we've been getting, so I'll answer it right up front. Three years is not a hard and fast requirement. If your podcast has existed for two seasons and two years, apply, we want to hear from you. If you feel your concept is strong and you have proven experience podcasting, we want to hear from you. We are also looking for people who have some kind of success and or enthusiasm with their current or past podcast projects, either through audience growth, really good concepts and ideas, maybe you've branched out in a few different ways or you have a successful crowdfunding campaign or a really successful live event series. Maybe you have some institutional or branded partnerships. We want to hear from you if you're experiencing some level of success and enthusiasm, but you just don't know how to capitalize on it and really take yourself to the next level. We are definitely looking for people who are interested in making their podcast sustainable through teamwork, openness to iteration and change, most of our teams go through pretty dramatic pivots and changes in their concepts and offerings. We are looking for people who are interested in pursuing revenue growth and audience growth and business development through their podcast. [Here's a] second slide of what we're looking for. We're looking for people who are willing to pause production during the program. We have a question on this later, so I will put a pin in that for now. And we are looking for teams that already have baseline technical and editorial skills. We will not be teaching sound editing or technical skills. We are assuming that if you apply, you already have those skills. Of course, we will be able to support you if you're looking to develop the skills you already have in a way that better supports your vision. That is something we can do. But teaching teams audio editing from scratch is not part of this program's curriculum. And then finally, we are looking for teams and creators and podcasts that represent a range of geographies, backgrounds, views, voices and styles. We love having really, really diverse and unique cohorts so that people can really cross-pollinate and get to know each other and help each other be better.

Alexandra Blair [00:06:59] So what makes a strong application with those things in mind. A strong concept, number one. You have to have a good idea that's really exciting to us. We are looking for creators and teams with audio experience, so senior experience is going to make your application stand out. Hearing your passion. There's a question specifically on the application where you are able to submit any type of media file: text, PowerPoint, audio, video, where we get to hear your passion. Really letting us hear how excited you are about your concept is going to help your application stand out. We are looking for someone who has a clear sense of needs from the program. What do you need from us? If we know your pain points and your barriers, we are going to honestly... really, your application is going to stand out and we'll look at why in just a second here. We are looking for people who are really excited about their project, that goes back to that passion piece. People who have a strong and clear vision for their project with some kind of surprising or unexpected concept, twist, something unique that we haven't heard before that doesn't exist in the world yet. So that is what can really make a strong application for the Google Podcasts creator program.

Alexandra Blair [00:08:12] Now, we got some questions last week along these lines, and I wanted to address these today. So what are you going to learn from this training? Well, this training has many different pieces. It starts with creative development. Now I can already hear a lot of people saying, and this is probably true: "my idea is already great. I already have the best idea." That's probably true. But as it turns out, most people who participate in our trainings emerge with this sense of, "I never would have expected blank," and some kind of pivot from the training. Most teams that we hear from have gone through the training feel like they made some big changes they would never have made previously, some even changing the entire podcast and the name and the concept. So we are definitely doing some creative development in the trainings. We are also going to help you think about and define what your niche is and what your audience needs. So at PRX we teach audience-first podcasting and audience-designed podcasting. So we use a proprietary design-thinking curriculum that is really exciting, and most people take that with them, not just to other podcast projects, but on to other creative and professional projects for many years down the line, and we hear a lot of that. There's also a lot of work in our curriculum about process. So we talk about workflow. We do an auditing of your workflow and then we'll do an idealized version of your workflow. We'll help you identify your team's pain points and leverage points in your own team's resources. We'll also help you learn how to prototype new ideas with reduced cost and risk. And we will talk about some success metrics and goal setting so that your team isn't trying to achieve some other team's goals so that your team really has a clear idea of what their goals are and are all working towards the same thing. This training, as well, will have new and improved, both new and improved, sections on business development. So we'll have everything from business planning, talking about podcast optionality, as we did in the Podcasting as the Sum of its Parts webinar which I'll drop a link in for you somewhere. We talked a little bit about podcast optionality and what that means right here. We'll also be talking about viability and sustainability, including a viability and sustainability fair, sort of like a Scholastic book fair, for those of us who experienced that as kids, where you get to meet and talk to a bunch of people who have been successful in many different ways in the podcasting industry and the audio space. And we're going to be talking to some data pros about how to leverage your data to tell the story of your podcast to potential partners or funding sources. We'll also be talking about audience growth and developing some audience growth strategies. We'll talk generally about marketing for audio, again, about that podcast optionality piece, which is all of the things that can fall under the brand umbrella of your show and you as a creator that can feed your show with money and with attention and audience growth. We'll also be talking about leveraging those pain and gain points on your team so that you can meet your audience where they are, rather than leaving this sort of paper trail of failures. You're going to actually be looking for where your audience is and then running to meet them there.

Alexandra Blair [00:11:52] What else will we learn from this training? I think a really important note is that this training curriculum will adapt to fit the specific pain points of the creators we choose to participate in the training. We are going to serve every pain point you guys outline within our ability in your application. So in that question, in the application, I would encourage all of you, be honest with us. When we're asking what your pain points are, we really want to know because we are developing curriculum in real time to support your pain points and to help you guys learn how to manage those. So definitely be honest.

Alexandra Blair [00:12:30] We also had this question last time: who are our mentors? Who are the people that work with the program in a guest speaker capacity and mentor capacity? And really, the mentors are a diverse group of international thought leaders; genuinely, truly international. We'll look at some of their faces in a minute here. But people working in many different corners of the audio space. People working in production, people working in marketing, people who work at networks and studios that you've definitely heard of, probably something you haven't that you'll get excited about along the way. We're going to talk to people who are hosts of podcasts, who write podcasts, who design podcasts and many more types of professionals. So we have a broad range of mentors that come in to guest speak, and also to do direct one on one mentorship with our program participants. This group of individuals has committed to actually mentoring independent podcasters and connecting those podcasters with resources or people from their own networks. They represent a really wide range of geographies, backgrounds, views, voices and styles, which is what we look for in every part of our program; guest speakers, mentors, but also in our participants. So these are just a few faces, a handful. You can see the full list of mentors and alumni online, I'll drop the link to that right now, on our program page. We have a lot, this is just a starting point as well, we've added a lot more. And again, if you are honest in your application, we can serve you with mentors. If we don't have someone on this list that you want to see on here, guess what? If we don't know them, we know somebody who does know them, and we will find ways to connect you with people that are actually going to serve you and help your show get better. That's a huge priority for us. So again, definitely be honest at those points in the application where we ask what it is you need, just be totally honest with us so that we can serve you.

Alexandra Blair [00:14:22] In terms of guest speakers and workshops, here's just a few examples of guest speakers and workshops that we've had in recent memory. So this one is really awesome, I love this. Lauren Silverman from Gimlet, I just dropped a link in the chat, led this webinar: How to Make a Kickass Podcast without Burning Out, where she walks us through a document that she uses every day at Gimlet to create a core sort of control panel for all of her shows. So definitely the "without burnout," yes, is a really amazing part of it. So Lauren was an awesome guest speaker we had last year at the Google Podcasts creator program. We also have Jocelyn Gonzalez, PRX's very own join us, one of the more, just, well loved, we have Jocelyn come back for every cohort because she is truly brilliant and she helps you think about how to engage your audience with sound design and how to make a sound mood board for your show that can actually kind of help your team get aligned about what it should sound like and what every episode should be like. And the sound mood board, actually, we've had a number of people who participated in our programs who are full on fundraising or getting institutional support for their show, just based on the sound mood board. So this has been a really transformational webinar that we hosted as well. Some individuals from the Vox Media team actually joined us last cohort to do a guest webinar about how to think about podcast analytics, and that was really cool watching them dove into the data dashboards and tell us different ways that they would leverage that data. That's kind of a microcosm, a small way to think about how we'll be talking about your data in this program and teaching you to kind of leverage that data. And then we had a series of panels over the fall. So these weren't directly for the cohorts, but these are the types of conversations and things that we're going to be talking about in this new round. How to Make your Podcast More Than the Sum of its Parts... I've dropped this link a few times, I'm gonna drop it again. This is really about podcast optionality, about a really awesome group of creators. That's Sarah Azoubel, and Bia Guimarães of 37 Graus, and we have Dan Sacks of Noodle Loaf and Katy Osuna of Copper & Heat. They all joined us to talk about all of the different things they do that aren't podcasting that bring in money and bring in attention and bring in partnerships to them as creators and to their brand. So that's a really cool panel. We're going to be talking a lot about podcast optionality. We also had a panel this fall about how to make a successful podcast pitch. So joining us for that panel was Justine Lang, of Pushkin. We had Lauren Silverman, a perennial favorite from Gimlet. We had Cristian Jatar of Sonoro Media, and we also had our very own Jason Saldanha, the chief of business development at PRX, join us to talk about what makes a good podcast pitch, and these are people who receive podcast pitches every day at these organizations. So this is the type of thing that you're going to have available to you during the program. And then finally, another webinar we had this fall is How to Navigate the World of Podcast Festivals. This one was really cool. We had Dan Franks of Podcast Movement, which just recently happened, and Jess Kupferman from ShePodcasts. We had Emily Kennedy and Maya Goldberg-Safir from Third Coast, and we also had Josephine Karianjahi of Africa Podfest join us for this. So they talked about kind of what podcasters can hope to get from podcasts festivals, how to find your tribe at a podcast festival, and all kinds of really, really good tips about podcast festivals. So these links and everything, pretty much everything we've ever done exists on our website, and I'll send a link to that right now where you can go see all of these webinars. We actually even have more than this. And these are just the free and open resources that we provide to anyone who's interested in the program. So imagine how cool all of the kind of closed door guest speakers and workshops are going to be happening in the program. So definitely apply! Hopefully, if you're here, you're still thinking of applying.

Alexandra Blair [00:18:44] So we're going to turn to the submitted questions, we received hundreds of questions through our early submission form. So I'm going to go through some of the most commonly asked questions. As Steph says, please put your questions in the Q&A. If you noticed that your question gets dismissed, we're probably not ignoring you, it's probably in the slides. So definitely put those in the Q&A and we'll get to your questions. First question, can someone from a non-podcasting background still apply for the program? Can you have been podcasting for under three years? Is there a minimum amount of published episodes of my podcast? We've gotten a lot of questions along these lines. The answer is that this training is specifically geared towards supporting and advancing the work of individuals who are currently making audio projects. So if you are not currently making an audio project or if your project is still in the idea phase, this training just is not going to be that helpful for you. In the past, we offered trainings for people who were still in the idea phase. But [for] this one, we're not going to be prioritizing those applications because you're really going to be feeling behind with a lot of the work that we're doing, and that's definitely not what we want for you. And it really won't be helpful. So what we're looking for is individuals who are already have a podcast that they are currently producing. There is no minimum number of podcasts you've produce to apply, and three years of experience is not a hard and fast rule, that is a rough estimate. So if you feel you are experienced, let's all together challenge that imposter syndrome. If you think, "Yeah, I do have experience podcasting," I would love for you guys to apply. Please apply, we'd like to hear from you. If you have never made a podcast before, or if your podcast is still in the idea phase, definitely not the right training for you. If you've been making radio or audio pieces for five years, but this is your first podcast, maybe. If you're in the maybe category, definitely apply. If you've never made a podcast before, not for you.

Alexandra Blair [00:20:52] The next question, we've gotten a lot along these lines. Is it mandatory to stop production of the podcast during the month of June to December? Can we clarify that requirement? Yes. So, no one is going to be disqualified from this application on the basis of not being able to pause production. However, we strongly, strongly encourage this from our team, and our team will actually help you develop messaging and branding and marketing that you can put out around that time or help you develop, you know, sort of messaging that you can give to your partners or funders to try to pause production. And the reason for that is that shows that are able to pause production typically demonstrate better results in pretty much every way. So they're able to get more from the trainings. They're able to give more to their cohort members, to their peers. They're able to internalize and reflect and actually make the changes. We've seen that the few podcasts we've worked with that were not able to stop production are routinely kind of feeling frazzled and behind and overwhelmed. I want to reiterate that the curriculum for this program is pretty rigorous, and so we do ask and really, really push for our teams to be able to pause production. And that is partially why we offer some funding to offset those cost as well. This curriculum is intensive, and it will require a significant time investment.

Alexandra Blair [00:22:25] So, where will the in-person training take place? How long will it be? Can we attend that virtually? What about COVID? Is the training conducted virtually? We've Gotten a lot of questions along these lines. The first week of the training at this point is the only piece of the training that will definitely occur in-person. We have an in-person intensive scheduled to take place in San Francisco. This in-person week is going to be in late June, early July. A specific date and location is going to be provided to those who are accepted. We are definitely going to prefer in-person attendance. However, we understand that there's a global situation happening right now. We understand that we are working with international cohorts, so we are going to work with the selected teams to make sure that everyone who's chosen can and will be able to participate in whatever capacity is safe and possible. And we are going to adapt and adhere to whatever COVID protocols may be happening regionally in San Francisco or at our host organization or from our own organization, we just can't at this time anticipate what those are going to be. So as we get closer to the date, we will be messaging with teams who are chosen. No teams will be disqualified if they can't travel or if for some reason they're not able to make it. We're going to work with you or we're going to figure it out.

Alexandra Blair [00:23:45] Another related question: What if I require a visa to participate in the in-person training or if you're attending from overseas? What if I can't attend in San Francisco? Is PRX going to help me write letters of support for an expedited visa? We have definitely done this before, so we are going to notify all selected teams as early as possible. It will really depend on the amount of applications that we receive, hopefully a lot, hopefully we will notify you all by the end of May, the beginning of June. But, we will aid the visa application process to the fullest of our ability. So we have definitely done this for teams in the past and made it happen for many international teams before. All costs related to the visa process are gonna be covered by us. So, you know, if you're not able to attend, we may still be able to accommodate you. So I would recommend applying and just find a space to note that in your application, but definitely do not let anxieties about the visa get in the way of applying. Apply, and we'll work with you and we'll figure it out together.

Alexandra Blair [00:24:48] Is this program doable for people who have full time jobs? How many hours per week is this training taking place and what is the schedule of the program? So, definitely everyone, for the most part, who's ever participated in this program has had other jobs and other things that they do, so I think it is very doable for people who have full time jobs. In terms of the hours per week and the schedule of the training, we went over the curriculum a little bit earlier. But this is an intensive training with a rigorous curriculum, and the hours per week will really depend on you and your podcast teams' needs and how much effort you put into the program. I would say the teams can expect to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week during the program, doing some combination of the following: so in the past, we've had weekly online sessions based on the availabilities of the participating teams. At some point during the week, typically, bi weekly, you'll be meeting with your program mentors and industry professionals who we may be connecting you with to help your podcast develop. You'll be completing some assignments, and those assignments are never going to be busy work, it's always actual working time that you'll spend with your team, actually expanding your thinking and developing your workflow and developing your business strategies. So those are going to feel probably more like things that you've had on your to-do list for some time, but can't ever find the time for, like writing a business plan or a mission statement, or developing a formal marketing strategy or developing a job listing for a marketing person so you don't have to develop your own marketing strategy. We are also actually going to ask you to produce some new audio during the training, so there will be some of that. And then a huge part of our trainings, and what makes our training special, is that our cohorts really get to know one another and give each other candid feedback all throughout the entire training. So we will be asking you to give feedback to other teams and you will be receiving feedback from other teams. So typically we say you're going to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week. People who are really excited about the program and interested in the program, which has been everyone who's participated before, for the most part, typically spend up to 20 hours a week doing this work. This is partly why we actually ask people to pause production as well, because as anyone who has experience with podcasting knows, you're probably spending a lot, a lot of time working on your podcasts in addition to your full time job. So being able to reroute some of that time to these podcasts-developing assignments and curriculum and meetings is going to make your life a lot easier.

Alexandra Blair [00:27:29] We got this really good question last week, and I wanted to read the exact text of the question. "The global outreach of this program brings to mind the adage: if you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. How will you tailor business and growth strategies to specific creator markets?" And this is a great question, because this is an adage that we talk about a lot in our trainings and this actually gets to the universal piece of our podcast trainings, which is this kind of revolutionary but very well known idea: if you're making something for everyone, you're actually not making something for anyone. So, our mentors, guest speakers and alumni, our cohort with broad geographical reach and our curriculum will be adapting to the unique concerns, regions and pain points of the creators chosen to participate. So we are able to connect you with mentors and professionals and audio industry folks from all over the world. So we're definitely going to be able to find people who speak to and reach your region. And if you are honest in the application, we are definitely going to be able to address your pain points. The the meaningful principles around creating audience driven podcasts are universal, meaning this statement: you can't make something for everyone. That is the universal tenet that applies to any market. But this program, because it is so international, is designed with emerging podcast ecosystems in mind, and it's backed by quantitative and qualitative data around those ecosystems. So we do have some data for some ecosystems that are emerging in particular in Latin America or in certain places in Europe, we have a lot of really good data. We also practiced what we preached and we reached out to a lot of mid-career podcasters. And we actually interviewed them and did an entire empathy interview process and a user interview process where we asked, "What are your biggest pain points?" And we heard the same things over and over again for people working in really diverse geographical regions. So the answer is we are definitely going to adapt to your needs in the beginning, but also throughout the way. If we get to week 10 and you're like, "I still haven't heard anything that solves this problem for me," we're going to adapt to that. We are going to support you in that way. But also we've done a lot of the work on the backend before by asking about these things in the application and also by interviewing alumni of this program and other mid-career podcasters to see what their actual pain points are across the world.

Alexandra Blair [00:30:05] Great. I have previously applied, can I apply again? Are GPcp accelerator alumni eligible to apply? Can I get feedback on my previous application? So yes, yes and no. Yes, this program is going to be very fundamentally different from the first two rounds of the Google Podcasts creator program, and it is geared towards mid-career podcasters. So people who participated in PRX accelerators before are definitely still eligible to apply. At this time, we are not able to give feedback on individual applications just for the sheer volume. For this program alone, we've received over 1400 applications and we are a team of three, on this call, exactly. So we are not able to provide individualized feedback on individual applications. If you've applied before, you can definitely apply again. I would say, shop your previous applications around to friends and peers that you know, working in this industry, and get some feedback from them and then maybe go from there.

Alexandra Blair [00:31:12] The next question: how and when will applicants be notified if they are selected into the program? So all applicants will be notified by email at the very latest in early June. And that's that.

Alexandra Blair [00:31:31] Great. So use those Q&A functions, I'm going to be in here looking at this. Here we go. Do you people have to apply as individuals or can you apply with an organization? So the question about that and the team, you can submit with just one person's name on the application, we want to have one primary point of contact for your team. If you put the other person's contact info in there, you know, that's OK. As soon as your application potentially advances to the next stage, we're going to be in touch with you and your teammates. As we have discussed on the previous webinar, we actually are only able to accommodate two members of each team in our trainings for size reasons. So if your team is larger than two people, we are not able to accommodate more than two. You'll have to pick two people to participate in the training. There will be some events, like the webinars that I posted, for example, where you will be able to invite other members of your team and we will let you know about those in advance. But participation in the week-long intensive and in the week-to-week curriculum is only going to be possible for two people from your team.

Alexandra Blair [00:32:46] [Attendee] asks: if we are a team of two, could we really only have that one person's name on the application? Yes, just have a primary point of contact. The moment we advanced your application to the next level, we will incorporate that other person and involve them. It just really helps us to have one primary point of contact for the application.

Alexandra Blair [00:33:04] An anonymous attendee asks: if my podcast is one year old, but we've been conceptualizing it for a couple of years, do you think it's still worth applying? Or should we wait? I think that if you feel strong about the concept of your podcast, you should definitely apply. Go for it.

Alexandra Blair [00:33:28] We have a question about the criteria that will be taken into consideration when assessing applications and that I have definitely already answered in the beginning of this presentation. If you missed the beginning of the presentation, the presentation will be available on our website and it will have closed captions and a screen reader friendly transcript. We'll be emailing that page once it goes live to everyone who's attended the webinars.

Alexandra Blair [00:33:57] I see a question asking: last session, you said it's OK to submit a podcast that's going to launch soon, now it seems like it has to be out there. How do you define the ideation stage and whether or not that may suit this program? I'm in production mode. I've been doing audio project for a few years now, but I haven't launched the project yet. So if you have been creating audio projects for a few years, you are experienced enough to apply to the project. It's OK if the project hasn't formally launched yet. If you've never made a podcast before and you just have an idea, this not the right training for you. This probably isn't going to be the right training for someone who just has an idea as well. If you feel really strongly about your concept, definitely apply. But we are looking for, ideally, mid-career podcasters, people who have been making podcasts that are out in the world for some time, who have experience, who have some good buzz going on, they've got, like, great press, or maybe they have a really excited audience, or they have a robust crowdfunding campaign, but they just can't figure out how to turn the exciting things they're seeing into a business, and that's really what this program is for. So if you feel like that, conceptually, is going to benefit you, I encourage you to apply. That is why we are freezing our asks the way that we are.

Alexandra Blair [00:35:18] I have an interesting question. If you are affiliated with an organization and get selected, is it possible to have the funds sent to that organization or does the money need to go to individuals? I don't know that we have a clear cut answer for that. I can't foresee a problem with institutional or organizational development. We've had several other podcasts before that have been projects associated with 501(c)(3)s or with institutions like museums or news outlets, and we have worked with them before, so definitely still apply.

Alexandra Blair [00:35:51] [Attendee] asks: if we are working on a brand new podcast that has yet to launch, can we submit this new project as opposed to one of our preexisting podcasts? Yes, you can do that if you have experience working in podcasting and audio, you definitely can. Again, I think that the curriculum is better suited for a podcast that already exists in the world, so you might get more out of the training if you're applying with an existing podcast.

Alexandra Blair [00:36:20] [Attendee] asks: do you focus more strongly on teams or can you be a solo creator? Definitely. We've worked with solo creators before. You are more than welcome to apply. We are happy to have you, so you do not have to have a team of two to apply and to participate. If you are a solo creator, good for you, and we are happy to work with you.

Alexandra Blair [00:36:41] I have this question in here about what does success look like for you? What do I hope the podcasts do as a result of the program they go through? It's a great question. I think one of the most exciting things that I see when podcasts emerge is that they have a lot more confidence about their concept. Most of the creators who go through the program emerge with an ironclad concept, just with the concept they feel so proud of and so excited about it. Usually, all that is required is just some very slight changing in how they're thinking about their show and how they're serving their audience. I think if teams emerge from the program with a stronger idea of who their audience is, that's also a win. For this training in specific, I think that we are hoping that teams will emerge with a stronger sense of how their podcasts can be sustainable financially and in terms of resources like time, in the long run. So teams with a plan, an actual kind of business plan and an audience growth strategy, that's going to be success for us. Ultimately, I love seeing our teams smiling faces in our year-end rap videos that we do where they talk about what they learned. Those exist on our website and on our social media, so you can check those out to see what teams have said from previous involvement in the program.

Alexandra Blair [00:38:02] [Attendee] asks about the question, which I mentioned before, that is about detailing your ultimate vision for your podcast. It is a media file question on the application, so it allows for any medium at all, words, video, audio, presentations, et cetera. He wants to know: if its text is there a character limit? Is it audio or video? Is there a time limit? There is not one, and I reveal that with the hope that you will use that responsibly. Again, we are a very small team and we look through each and every one of these applications, so if it's a 20 minute video, probably not going to be able to listen to a 20 minute video, to be totally honest. If it is a 30 page document, that's a controversial submission, but we'll do our best to review the answers to those questions for people who submit them. So use that information responsibly, please.

Alexandra Blair [00:39:06] [Attendee] asks: I have been podcasting for three years. What is the expectation that you mentioned when you're looking for prior audio experience? Are you saying prior to the podcast? No, that is not what we mean. We are looking for people who have experience podcasting period. If you've been podcasting this podcast for three years, good for you, and yes, you are definitely eligible to apply.

Alexandra Blair [00:39:31] Anonymous asks about stages of application. We'll be messaging that to people who've applied once the application period closes. There will be a few stages of review on our team's part, and there will probably be an interview portion where we'll talk to some number of finalists and get to know you a little better.

Alexandra Blair [00:39:52] Do we need a team to participate in the program? No.

Alexandra Blair [00:39:55] An anonymous attendee asks: if my podcast does not have a huge amount of downloads, can I apply? Yes, absolutely. You do not need to have a huge amount of downloads. Your podcast does not need to be something everybody knows about in order to apply. Definitely apply, we are excited. There is a portion of the training where we look at your data and we will teach you how to find really exciting pieces of your data that you can reference that aren't just downloads. In fact, there is a whole module of our training about why downloads are dead and download is not a good metric of success. So don't worry, if you don't have a lot of downloads, definitely still apply.

Alexandra Blair [00:40:34] I've seen a couple of questions in this and other trainings about people of certain ages. We've definitely had people of all ages and all demographics in our trainings. Please apply, regardless of your age, that is not a thing that we consider when we are looking at the applications.

Alexandra Blair [00:40:56] [Attendee] asks: would we spend time preparing our future shows during this, or would that be outside of class? Curious, then, after a long pause, when people tend to launch their show, so would they had prepared the show during the training? So this is in part why we are emphasizing and prioritizing applications of people who are already working on a show. This curriculum is, not at this point, suited for someone who is launching a show. We have definitely had programs that do that in the past, so if your application gets submitted and that's where you're at, we will meet you there, it might be extra work for you to catch up, and as I have said before, you might be feeling a little bit behind. So we are definitely prioritizing people who actually have podcasts in the works.

Alexandra Blair [00:41:40] Let's see, [Attendee] asks: if we have several podcasts, including a traveling podcast for which we paused production during COVID, would that meet the requirements even though it doesn't display consistent episodes? Yes, definitely submit. We've had a number of questions like this, where COVID has significantly impacted someone's ability to produce or where global events have really changed the scope of someone's podcast. Definitely, definitely does not disqualify you. And the messy question is, OK, [Attendee], don't worry about it. Definitely apply. If you have experience podcasting and you want help with your podcasts and you need to figure out how to level it up, we are here to help you, and we would love to receive your application and review it.

Alexandra Blair [00:42:29] [Attendee] asks: I have had a YouTube channel for three years. I am translating that three year content into a podcast because it is not time sensitive and then developing a new concept for a new podcast. I have a production team. I don't do my own editing. Am I going to be at a disadvantage? I don't think so. That sounds great. Part of our training that we're going to be talking about is video strategy, so you're going to be ahead of the curve there. Also, the process of translating evergreen content into a podcast is, many would say, putting you at an advantage because you are not doing a ton of that really heavy, timely, journalism-style, lifting. So definitely you can apply. I would recommend that. Sounds like you have an interesting project.

Alexandra Blair [00:43:14] [Attendee] asks a similar question: we have a podcast that's been on air on YouTube for almost two years, but it doesn't exist as a podcast yet. Is that OK? Yes, definitely still apply. We are going to be talking specifically about video, video strategies, and we are considering video podcasts, which is sort of an oxymoronic term, but we are considering video podcasts to be a podcasts.

Alexandra Blair [00:43:44] [Attendee] asks: I have made over 30 podcast productions in the past five years. I started my own podcast production company last fall. With this new company, I'm about to start a new podcast totaling 10 episodes. Can I apply with this podcast? Yes, I think I've covered this a few times. You can definitely apply. I think you will find the program more helpful if you apply with the podcast that already exists because there are parts of the curriculum where you talk about your current audience and things like that. You definitely could use a stand in, one of your 30 podcast productions, for those pieces and then translate what you've learned. So if you think that you would still benefit from this curriculum, definitely apply. We'd love to hear from you.

Alexandra Blair [00:44:31] I see one in the chat. Definitely put questions, if you can, in the Q&A, but about hours of availability for the week in San Francisco. So these days, the hours and availability will kind of depend on the cohort's availability, so everyone who's chosen and whether they're available. But typically what we do is we have a full kind of business day gathering with a lot of design work and really interesting concepts that we bring up right away. You're going to get to know your cohort members. We typically do some kind of creative review, which is where you actually get to present your podcast concept to your peers and you get feedback not just from your peers, but also from industry professionals that we invite to give you feedback in that first week even. So I would say that you can plan for those business days to be full and then usually we have some fun stuff that we do too. I think one of our previous Google cohorts went to a game at a Red Sox game at Fenway Park where, you know, having at least some kind of reception dinner and drinks, so there's a lot of fun stuff that happens during that week, too. And you're definitely going to get to know your cohort members. A lot of our cohorts are still in touch, and they still reach out to their peers to ask them for help or for questions or for pod swaps. So that is a really important time that we try not to pack with just work, work, work. It's really about team building and getting to know your cohort because they're going to have your back for the next few years, especially as you become an alumni of this program and we start engaging you to give talks and sessions and guest speak for us too. So that's a really fun week, and we are really excited and optimistic about doing that in person in San Francisco this year.

Alexandra Blair [00:46:13] Why are only 6 teams selected? That is the terms of the grant that we are working with here, and we definitely need to keep our cohorts somewhat small because we like to give really in depth, really personalized one on one mentorship to each of the teams. So we try to keep them as small as possible, especially once we get to virtual training. I guess in person it's just as hard, but it can be really hard for two facilitators to be teaching a group of 20 people because then it feels like we're not really able to give you that personalized mentorship and attention that you guys really deserve. And that is the keystone of this program.

Alexandra Blair [00:46:55] [Attendee] asks: we've been doing a podcast for three years. One year of our contract is on another platform. Is that going to affect us? No, that shouldn't be a problem. Anyone with concerns like that, definitely voice them in your application. We've worked with teams in weirder situations than you, probably. So hit us with it and we'll figure it out together.

Alexandra Blair [00:47:13] Sebastian asks: if my goal is to be a Spotify exclusive podcast, can I achieve that with this program? So I don't know if you'll be able to achieve that with this program, but we will definitely be able to support that goal in this program. So a big part of the program is setting those success metrics right up front in the program. And what we actually do is we are going to learn what your goals are and then we're going to work to develop all of our curriculum and all of our mentorship and assign you with mentors and professionals who are going to support those goals, whether it's at Spotify or other Spotify-exclusive creators or, you know, other team members that you don't have yet that are going to kind of help support that goal. So whatever your goals are, we're going to serve them. We've had people who entered the program hoping to become and stay a 501(c)(3) or to get institutional support from, you know, a grant-funded organization. There's a lot of different goals that we are able to support, and part of that is through our robust network of mentors and guest speakers. So all of those goals are part of the program.

Alexandra Blair [00:48:21] Let's see: does the podcast have to be in English? No, no, it doesn't. I can't believe I haven't said that already, because that's a question we get a lot. No, your podcast does not have to be in English. We do have a limited capacity as a team to support training in other languages. We are currently working on translation and transcription and we're doing our best, but at this point, we are requiring proficiency and fluency in English to participate in the training. So your team members are going to need to be fluent in English to participate in the training. There is space on the application for you to indicate your team's fluency or proficiency in other languages, so please feel free to do that because that information really helps us know where we should allocate our resources for translation and transcription, and we are really trying to do our best with that. So definitely, if your podcast is not in English, there are going to be some moments where you're going to have to translate, sometimes live, sometimes in, you know, if you're going to play as an audio sample, we're going to need a transcription of some kind so that we can follow along as well. But we have definitely had teams that have participated and done all of the work of the program in another language. That's totally fine as long as you can translate that work to us, that's awesome, but we love to see you doing that work in a way that feels authentic to you, and I will support that in any way or time that I can.

Alexandra Blair [00:49:55] I have a question from [Attendee]: how do we handle content dealing with uncomfortable topics or potentially using adult language or adult content? We have definitely worked with teams along these lines before, so that does not disqualify you. Go ahead and apply. We work with all kinds of teams. You can look at our alumni page definitely in this accelerator and in other accelerators right now, we just wrapped one in Africa that deals with health and women's issues on the African continent, so we have definitely had our fair share of quote unquote "adult content" and adult language in our podcast. That's not just voting at all. In fact, your podcast can be any format, any topics we'd love to hear from you, please apply.

Alexandra Blair [00:50:40] I see this question in the chat that says: if I've applied, should I use that same application or start over? If you've applied in a previous year, I think you are going to want to start over for sure, just because this application and program is very, very different than previous applications and programs. So we're going to be asking different things. You might reuse some of that same content. I'd recommend if you didn't get selected before to kind of float that by a couple of friends or peers that work in the industry and get feedback from them about how you might strengthen it.

Alexandra Blair [00:51:17] [Attendee] asks: I'm trying to make season three of my podcast in another language, I'm just not sure how. Is that something I can work through in this program? Yes. In fact, one of my favorite alumni, if I'm allowed to say so, is a team that, you know, was really wanting to create a bilingual podcast. They went through the entire training, and when we got to the process piece, they realized, by auditing their workflow, that they were actually making two separate monolingual podcasts. They were making one in Spanish and one in English, and their goal was to make something bilingual. So we actually helped them work through how they could create a workflow that would support a bilingual podcast. So, yes, that's definitely something we could work through in the training.

Alexandra Blair [00:52:01] When is the next time we'll have this program? That's a great question. And I don't exactly have a public answer for you yet. So definitely apply, for now, this is the one iteration of this program that will exist, and it's definitely the one iteration of this program that will exist this year, runs from June through December, so definitely apply.

Alexandra Blair [00:52:24] [Attendee] asks if we have a link to the alumni page? Yes, I do, and I will drop that in the chat for you. Great. There we go.

Alexandra Blair [00:52:37] OK, well, thank you guys so much, it looks like we're just about coming up on time, any last minute questions I may be able to type in answer to or link to in the chat, but we answered a lot. We also have the previous info session that you can visit here. I just dropped the link in the chat. And we will be again transcribing and closed captioning this session and emailing a link to this session once it goes up on the website. For everyone who registered for the webinar, I believe. And so you'll be able to get that if you guys are here. Check our website and, or we'll send you an email. I'm so glad. Thanks. You're so welcome, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. We try to answer all your questions, hopefully we did. Mwah, thanks everybody, thanks for tuning in. Thank you!

Join Google Podcasts creator Program Project Manager Alexandra Blair, as she answers all of your questions about the 2022 Google Podcasts creator program, the application process, and eligibility.

The first of two Info Session Webinars. Recorded April 8th, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

Alexandra Blair [00:00:15] Hi, everybody. I love to see everyone tuning in from all over the world, thank you so much for joining us today for this informational webinar about the Google Podcasts creator program Application for 2022. For accessibility reasons, I just want to introduce myself to everyone. My name is Alexandra Blair. I am the project manager and I'll introduce myself more formally in a second. But for now, I'll say that I am a 30 year old white woman sitting on my couch surrounded by artfully oriented things that I hope look aesthetically pleasing to you all. We are trying out the live, closed captioning feature today, so if that is something that you are interested in, you can use that feature on Zoom and I will be attempting my best to belie my nature and talk a little slowly so that closed captioning can pick up what I'm saying pretty accurately. But we are also going to be hosting this webinar with closed captioning and a transcription onto our website after the webinar is over. So anyone who would benefit from that, who have signed up for this webinar, will get an email and that will go to our website afterwards. Thank you guys again for joining us today. It's really exciting to see people from all over the world. I love hearing where you're from. If you haven't introduced yourself or said hello, where you're tuning in from, we feel free to do that in the chat. Otherwise, we have a lot of questions to get through today, so I want to get us started.

Alexandra Blair [00:01:47] As I mentioned, my name is Alexandra Blair. I am the Google Podcasts creator program Project Manager. So today you're only going to be hearing from and seeing video from me and I will be talking about this program. I am very excited about this and very excited to answer all your questions so that you guys get your applications in before the deadline. In the chat, though, are my colleagues, Stephanie Kuo, Director of Training at PRX, she's going to be answering questions and Toni Carlson is the Manager of Training at PRX. If you have any questions, please use Q&A function of Zoom. We will not be able to keep track of and organize your questions, are going to get lost in the chat, so please feel free to put those in the Q&A function. We've also already been receiving a lot of your questions through our question form, and so we are going to answer, first and primarily the most commonly asked questions. But my colleagues will be in there kind of going over anything that you might put up that they can answer.

Alexandra Blair [00:02:47] So today we're going to do an overview of the program itself just so that we're all on the same page and talk about eligibility requirements. And then we're going to answer very frequently asked questions, questions we're getting via email questions we're getting via the pre-submitted app, probably questions that are already in the Q&A right now. And then we're going to be using whatever time we have left over at the end to do live Q&A and answer any questions we might not have gotten to. Again, if you put your questions in the Q&A function, my colleagues are going to be answering those as we go to. So I may not answer out loud, but it will definitely be answered if it's a question that we can provide you and answer for.

Alexandra Blair [00:03:23] Cool, so to just kind of give us all an overview the Google Podcasts creator program is a free and in fact not just free, you'll see we actually give money to the participants, but it is a free, multi-week podcast accelerator program that provides independent podcasters from around the world with creative development and business strategies and audience growth strategies, lots of different resources, mentorship, connections and funding that will help them level up their podcasts and themselves as podcasters. The accelerator itself is a series of classes, workshops, guest speakers joining us, and presentations that span from June through December of 2022. So PRX is going to select and lead six teams through this curriculum. The curriculum itself is pretty rigorous but very transformational, which is what we have seen in the past two cycles of the Google Podcasts creator program. We talked a little bit about that at our previous webinar, Three Years and Counting: Looking Back on the Google Podcasts creator program. That is also available on our website, transcripted and captioned, If you want to go back and learn about kind of what we learned and how we got inspired for this new round that is really, really devoted to and a mid-career podcaster. So the training itself is 16 weeks of training and mentorship, and we have four weeks kind of independent processing time where our teams will work to incorporate some of the things that they've learned. And then we have a final, probably in-person, showcase celebration and depending on the state of the world and things at the time, where we will celebrate their progress and turn them out like, you know, baby birds that have grown into full-sized birds that can fly away in podcasting, if you follow my metaphor.

Alexandra Blair [00:05:25] So what is it that we are looking for? What we are looking for with this accelerator, and as I mentioned, we had previously kind of discussed our logic and our reasoning and all of the data behind this new focus in our previous webinar: Three Years and Counting. You can find that on our website. Someone can also drop that link in the chat for us. And but we are really focused on what we are calling a "mid-career podcaster" with this accelerator. So we are looking for applicants that are already producing media and or podcasts. In some of our application...you may have seen this this phrase, "three years", three years is not a hard and fast number, we're not looking for someone who has been podcasting for three years, necessarily. What we're really looking for is someone who has been podcasting, who has stuff that lives out in the world, they're looking to level up. Our other accelerators were geared towards an entry level podcaster. This one is not, and it is just not going to benefit people who don't have a podcast that exists out in the world. This really is for creators who are looking to to take their current projects and level those up into businesses that they might then be a part of. So I'll say right up front, if you're confused about the three years figure, that's OK, there's no requirement of a number of seasons or a number of episodes your podcast should have. We are looking for people who already have podcasts that they're putting out in the world, and if you think that that might apply to you, I encourage you to apply. Even if you've only been podcasting for, say, two years, I encourage you to apply. We are just looking to serve those mid-career podcasters. We are also looking for podcasters who have some success, they've got maybe just a really excited, but small piece of audience, maybe they're just getting really good press. We're looking for someone who's really enthusiastic with their current projects or maybe a past project that now they're looking to kind of move into something else. We are looking for people who are excited about this conceptually rigorous curriculum and access to all kinds of industry leaders, and, you know, kind of exciting new modes of thought. And we are looking for people who are actively trying to diversify what their podcast is, so much beyond just making a podcast do, making a really diverse set of offerings, revenue generating streams, attention and interest streams, partnerships, etc. We're going to get into that a little bit later. And then finally, we are looking at people, obviously who are looking to make their podcast sustainable through teamwork and leveraging their pain and gain points. Also, openness to iteration, like are you really open for your podcast to change, maybe dramatically, in order to serve your goals? And then, of course, people are going to follow through and pursue revenue and audience growth strategies that we go over here.

Alexandra Blair [00:08:23] So we are also looking for in terms of concrete specifics. We want people who are willing to pause production during the program. We'll dive into that a little more later, it is not necessarily a requirement to participate in the program. We understand that, especially for accessibility reasons, but for revenue-generating reasons, people have contracts and they have things that they need to fulfill. But we have seen that teams who are able to pause production really get a lot more out of the program and are able to give a lot more to their cohort members who are in the program with them. We're also looking for teams with baseline technical and editorial skills. So again, we are not looking for podcasters who are in the early stages, who aren't, you know, we're not going to be teaching you how to edit your podcast or, you know, how to write your podcast. And we are looking for a range of geographies, backgrounds, views, voices and styles. One of the most exciting things about the Google Podcasts creator program is just what a mixed bag each cohort is. We really have a very diverse set of alumni who come from all over the world, all kinds of backgrounds. Again, these views and voices and style, nothing is ineligible for this program in those directions, and we're going to cover that in a moment here.

Alexandra Blair [00:09:38] But first, I just want to talk about what makes a strong application. So what really makes a strong application is a strong concept, that's going to be the biggest thing, of course, your idea. We want to be excited about your idea. We want you to be excited about your idea, and we want to believe that there's a niche or some really exciting way that your show stands out from what's happening in the market it exists in today. That's going to be different for podcasters across the world. We're looking for creators and teams with audio experience, experience, specifically, making audio projects. We are looking for passionate creators and passionate teams who are really excited about what they're doing and have a clear sense of their need. We would love to hear from you and your application, theres a spot where you can tell us exactly what you need from this program. And to some extent we developed our curriculum and we know, you know what we're experts in and what we can teach you, but all of the guest speakers and all of the mentors we connect you with depend on the needs that your specific cohort has. So if we have six teams join us, and six of those teams need something, we're going to find a way to provide that for you and to engage with experts who can help you if we don't already have those experts on our team or in our sphere. We want to get a clear idea of your pain points and your barriers as a mid-career podcaster, as someone who's already putting their podcasts out in the world. And again, we want to hear this vision you have for your project, especially if it kind of exceeds just the podcasts. You have this grand idea for your podcast to become a brand that exceeds just the show, we want to hear about that. And that kind of relates to that excitement and what is surprising or unexpected. We want to be delighted by your show and feel really excited and invested ourselves, that's part of the fun of the program is that we get to get really invested and really help you guys out in not just the accelerators, but the long term, through mentorship and sustained support.

Alexandra Blair [00:11:34] So at this point, I want to go ahead and move on, we're going to ask some, we're going to answer some of the submitted questions. These are questions we've been getting via email via the form, via Submittable. Lots and lots of questions, probably some in the Q&A chat right now. If you have questions, please put them in the Q&A chat. I'm going to reiterate that, my colleagues will be answering those questions, typing the answers to those questions. I will probably be answering a lot of those questions live just because you're getting a lot of the same questions. If you're not sure if you should ask a question, ask it anyway. The fact that there's confusion around something really gives us helpful feedback and shows us where we can improve our messaging and be a little clearer. So please use the Q&A feature instead of raising your hand. We're not going to be unmutuing anyone, we're just going to be answering a Q&A question.

Alexandra Blair [00:12:21] So let's get to our first set of questions, which are things like this? Can Africa-based podcasts apply? If my podcast is made in Brazil, is it eligible for the program? If people from Spain apply? Is this open to podcasters around the world? We've been getting a lot of questions like this, and I want to reiterate right up top: yes. The Google Podcasts creator program is an international accelerator. We are so excited and we love this program for this reason, it is open to podcasters worldwide and it is open to podcasts that exist in languages other than English. So it is great, oK, awesome, we are excited to receive your application even if your podcast does not exist in English. I will say because of the nature of the accelerator and because of our team's limitations around language, it's likely that you will need to help and work with us and we can work with you and develop this over time, but we're probably going to need some kind of transcripting or translation of certain pieces to understand. The only requirement is, at this point, that your team is proficient in English to participate in the training. However, as indicated by our application, we are working on our translation efforts and what we can do around that. So if you are feeling like you should still apply and you can put together the application and get through that process, I would encourage that you do that. We are really excited to receive applications from all over the world. We already have been and that has been very awesome to see.

Alexandra Blair [00:13:57] Next up, this series of questions about the in-person training, how long the in-person intensive part of the program is, how many days we will meet in-person. Also, are the sessions going to be virtual? Yes,I will answer all of this. So the first week, and it will be five or six days of the training, is an in-person intensive. It will take place in San Francisco, and this will happen at the end of June, beginning of July. So this in-person week is really going to be, specifics are going to be provided to the people who are selected, but this is a good piece of information to know. The remainder of the training will be conducted virtually. Depending on the situation of the world, we may do an in-person celebration at the end that would take place in December. Location, dates, everything TBD. We're going to have to see and we're going to have to play it by ear. But for now, we are planning to have an in-person, week-long intensive in San Francisco at the end of June and July. In the past, the program has taken place entirely virtually. And how that has looked is that we will have weekly meetings with teams that take place at a time and day that works for the greatest number of participants in the cohort. So we work with whoever is selected to find a time of day for our regular class meetings, that works for everyone. So we won't know any of that until we know the participants, but you can bank on a weekly meeting and then a series of offerings that are auxiliary to that meeting at our meetings with mentors that can be scheduled at your own pace, meetings with our team that can be settled at your own pace, and all of that takes place virtually.

Alexandra Blair [00:15:44] Next question we're receiving a lot of is: is it mandatory to stop production of the podcast for all of those months? Can we clarify that requirement? Yes, I could definitely clarify that requirement for you. So no one is going to be disqualified on the basis of not being able to pause production. We really understand that this is a mid-career podcaster's livelihood and we are not looking to interrupt that. So I want to say upfront and reiterate again, no one is going to be disqualified on the basis of not being able to pause their production. However, in the past we have noticed a gap between teams that are able to pause production to focus on the training and teams that have tried to do both at the same time. In particular, if everyone on your team has a full time job is also trying to sustain a podcast and then is also trying to participate in the program, we have seen that attendance, participation and to be honest, takeaways and processing really do suffer from trying to do so much. At the same time, as I've said, you're mid-career podcasters, you know your limits, you know them a lot better than me and you know exactly what it takes from you to produce your show. So do not let this be a reason you don't submit an application, be honest with us. No one will be disqualified for saying no, and we can get to know you better during the final pieces of the application process and try to understand. So again, no one will be disqualified on this basis, but we really do want people to pause and focus, it really, really does improve. So if there's any way, and our team will work with you to develop marketing messaging or to work with your funders or get institutional support. And this is a big part of the reason why we actually provide a pretty generous amount of production funding that teams can use to offset the cost of participating in this.

Alexandra Blair [00:17:40] Another question we are getting a lot is, "Yes, I know, OK, that I'm going to start production, but am I allowed to appear elsewhere, particularly on social media, and I allowed to talk about process and progress?" Yes, of course. We love hearing and seeing our cohort members talking about the program on social media. I want to reiterate again that our team can help you draft messaging, we actually have people who work on the training team for are experienced in marketing who have, I know, personally, volunteered to help teams draft this kind of messaging where you can talk to your audience and tell them why and what you're doing. In fact, there's all kinds of creative ways you might be able to engage with your audience by doing Patreon or exclusive lives or any other kind of, you know, Substack or messaging that you're interested in. But the answer is yes. We're not asking you to take a break from your life as a podcaster or to make your podcast go on hiatus, necessarily. We just find that people who are worried about and working on, for example, a weekly production, that's going to really got in the way of your ability to participate to your fullest and get the most out of the program. Again, it's not so much a concern for us that you're not participating, that's part of it, but we actually have just seen that people are not able to kind of digest and really process what we're teaching if they're not taking the time.

Alexandra Blair [00:19:02] Another question we're getting a lot of: "Can someone from a non podcasting background still apply for this program?" And we've gotten this question: "Can you be podcasting for under three years? Is there a minimum number of published episodes?" I touched on this earlier. I'm going to touch on it again. But, this training is specifically geared towards supporting and advancing mid-career podcasters. Now, I understand personally the imposter syndrome around the phrase "mid-career," and also the confusion, it is a very ambiguous term. So what we are looking for is someone who has worked in audio, has experience in audio, is interested in audio and are currently am making audio project. That is the bar for what we're looking for here. So we are looking for individuals who are already producing a podcast. The podcast doesn't have to be running right this minute, the season could have ended, you know, six months ago. But we are looking for people who have podcast products out in the world, and this bar that I mentioned is really... I'm putting this out there to benefit you guys, because the training is not going to benefit a beginner nearly as much as it's going to benefit someone who has already been working in this space for some time. So there's no minimum number of podcast episodes that are required to apply like, say, you have put out maybe two series and that happened over the course of four years and there is, 16, you know, episodes out in the world.. Totally, you know, I would encourage you to apply anyway. If you feel you are somewhat experienced in audio production and podcasting, you should apply. And that's OK if someone else is doing your ProTools or your, you know, your work on the back end, that's OK. You should still feel empowered to apply. I see in the chat, someone says, "This takes me out." I totally understand. We talked about why we are pivoting to focus on mid-career podcasters in our previous webinar. Again, that's available on our website, it's called Three Years and Counting, there are links to that in the chat, and we talk specifically about the gap we're seeing for people who are mid-career podcasters, particularly internationally, people who have been working for a long time on podcasts, and there are a lot of companies coming in to acquire international podcasters in kind of exploitative ways, to be quite honest. And what we're trying to do is we're trying to help international podcasters have the outcomes that they really want, rather than just getting sucked up by these big companies. So we're looking to help you guys develop your own audience growth and business development strategies not just have to kind of take the first deal that comes your way and we want to help you guys strategize about your podcast and your brand as a business.

Alexandra Blair [00:21:51] Next question: "Is this program doable for people who have full time job? How many hours per week? What is the schedule of the program?" So this is admittedly an intensive training program. Our curriculum is quite rigorous and the hours per week are really going to depend on your podcast teams' needs. We would estimate a minimum of 10 hours a week during this specific program. So previously, that estimate has been a little higher. We are working actively to make our programs as accessible as possible, and in some ways we have adapted the format of our curriculum to be something of a choose-your-own-adventure. So if your team wants to do extra work, wants extra meetings, wants more mentorship, that is always going to be available to you. I would estimate that your team will spend a minimum of 10 hours a week doing some combination of the following, and this will give you an idea of the format of the curriculum as it has appeared in past iterations of the program, and as it will appear in this iteration of the program. So we do have weekly online sessions, and as I had mentioned earlier, those online sessions will reflect the availability of the participants. So if all of the participants are available midday Thursday, those sessions are likely to take place in the day on Thursday. In the past, those sessions have been a few hours of collaborative work, of guest speaking, of activities and lectures and ideas presented by our team, presented by PRX, and also presented by a carousel, of very, very talented industry experts and professionals from some of the audio industry's leading companies, and thought leaders, to be quite honest. That is the keystone of our accelerator model, especially for the mid-career podcasters; that networking and development is going to be crucial. We also will have meetings that are scheduled at, again, choose your own pace, meeting with your program mentors and industry professionals, so we have, our team is available as mentors to everyone who participates in the program, and in the past we've had something like a bi-monthly, twice per month, check-in with every one of the teams. Some of the teams chose to meet with me every week. Love that and fully make myself available for that. So we definitely want to again choose-your-own-adventure. But that will be part of what's happening there. So if you have a mentor meeting once per month, that's part of your workload. Completing assignments: we do have assignments, and again, those assignments are not so much busy work, really what those assignments are, are like transformative new ways to think about your workflow or your audience growth or your marketing or your business strategy. So those assignments are going to be like: draft a business plan or draft a business mission statement. And we're going to have an expert come in and review that with you and critique that. So those assignments really are going to feel like work you're probably already doing or work that probably already exists on a to-do list somewhere for your podcast; developing a pitch deck, etc. So those assignments are really designed to actually be immediately helpful to you and your team and again, are probably things that are already existing on your podcast to-do list. We also are going to be having you, of course, produce some audio, that happens over the course of the curriculum. And then there's a good portion of the cohort and of our process that is about giving feedback to the other teams and being present to the other teams. We at PRX say that feedback is a gift, and most of our participants have said that the most helpful part of our training was just having a group of peers collected in one spot that could give them feedback for exactly what they were doing and what they were doing in real time and how they were iterating in real time. It's actually quite hard to get feedback in the real world for your show, as many of new podcasters know. You know, most of the feedback you get is the reviews, and it can be hard to track people down. So that's also a big part of the training. So in some of all of that mass of words that I just said, I will reiterate that we are fully aware that this is a rigorous and intensive training. It is designed that way. We will work with your teams at every step of the way to make sure that the training is accessible to you and that you are able to participate fully. And we will respect and regard your needs as professionals working full time jobs, probably, and also working in the podcast space, however intensively. So that is a lot of text and not the easiest answer, but gives you guys a full idea of the program and the requirements.

Alexandra Blair [00:26:50] Great, another question, we're getting a lot and I've seen a couple of these in the chat: are programs on blank topic allowed to apply? Are programs of this format allowed to apply? The answer is Yes. So we are accepting any and all formats and style, covering any topic for this accelerator. I will say upfront, that PRX really values diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in everything that we do. So we naturally prioritize and support teams that show that they are furthering these goals through representation, community engagement, and content. But yes, if you have a chat-cast that is about sports, you're still eligible to apply. I saw a question, if your program is about mental health or if your program is about wellness. Yes. Any topic, any format is allowed to apply. We are excited to receive your application and to hear from you. I also see a question in the chat, which do not take that as a cue to put things in the chat, definitely put it in the Q&A. But, [theres a question] about sharing the recording later, so I want to reiterate that for you. The recording will be shared later. It will be transcripted and closed captions. A link to that will go out to everyone who registered for this webinar and it will go out to our website. We're also having another webinar just along these lines, so you can feel free to submit questions. These questions are very common ones that we keep receiving. You can feel free to submit questions and come back and hang out with me again next Friday, and we'll be answering even more of your questions. Great.

Alexandra Blair [00:28:17] Another common question: "I've previously applied, can I apply again? If I've been in a previous PRX accelerator am I eligible to apply? Can I get feedback on my previous application? So there's a few answers for you here. "I previously applied. Can I apply again?" Yes, definitely. We'd love to hear from you. We especially love to hear that you've made progress or that you've created something new and exciting, or that you have advanced and iterated your idea over time. So definitely, definitely apply it again. "Are alumni from other PRX accelerators eligible to apply?" The answer is yes, they are. And in terms of getting feedback on your previous application, at this time, we are not able to give individual feedback. We just have such an overwhelming number of interest and applications that have come in. The Google Podcasts creator program alone, has received over 13000 applications. So we definitely can't give feedback on individual applications. So unfortunately, that is not going to be possible, but you definitely can apply, take a critical eye to your own application from previous years and kind of try to express to us how you grown or iterated or changed over time. And we would love to hear that.

Alexandra Blair [00:29:57] Great. So how and when will applicants be notified if they're selected into the program? So selected participants will be notified by email in early June. And that is what we've got for you so far. We'll have a stronger idea of the timeline as we go through the process and will be over communicating, I'm sure, via email, once you submit your application and we'll be letting you know as soon as those deadlines are formalized and teams will know in early June whether or not they're going to be participating.

Alexandra Blair [00:30:33] Great. So use that Q&A future, I see we have a lot of questions. My colleagues in the chat are answering those and surfacing those to me. I'm going to answer some that I've seen come up a few times, and in particular, I see this one from someone who works on a branded podcast for a nonprofit. And so their question is, "We are a nonprofit and don't run advertisement, we don't make money from our show we're funded entirely by donation. Can we still apply for the creator program? Is it going to be relevant to us?" And the answer is: yes. We have definitely worked with a number of podcasts who have been nonprofits and who have been donation funded and who have been institution funded and private institutions. We have had several of those in the past two cohorts alone. So this program is definitely still going to feel relevant for you when we talk about business strategies, business growth and monetization. We definitely are also including institutional funding and donations funding in those topics. So, yes, I would say that this program is definitely still going to feel relevant and helpful to you.

Alexandra Blair [00:31:42] "Are there any specifications or recommendations for who should attend from the podcast production team? So do both of the team members need to be working on the podcast? I'm working on the show alone, but in order to develop a sound, I'm now working with musician could be both apply as a team, even if we had started working together yet?" So this question gets to the fact that many podcast teams have more than two people, but unfortunately, because of just restraints around budget and facilitating and logistics, we are only able to accept two team members, for each team, into the accelerator, so if your team is chosen and you have a team of four, you're going to need to pick basically two team members. And what we typically recommend is that you pick two team members whose work relates to what we're talking about and are different, right? So maybe not necessarily to hosts, maybe one host and one sound engineer, for example. So in response to this question, yes, I think it would be totally fine if you are a team of one, if you are just starting to work with an editor or maybe a researcher or maybe a writer or maybe a social media manager, it would totally be OK for you to apply and bring that person along with you.

Alexandra Blair [00:33:02] I also want to point out that we will have a number of sessions and guest speakers and breakouts and all kinds of activities that we do, including presentation that will be open to the public and then many that are open to the public at large. So these more public, and I'm making air quotes with my fingers, there's like a semipublic version of some of our events where you are able to bring other team members. For example, if we do a breakout session around marketing or around audio design, or if we're doing a presentation in which you and your cohort members are pitching your podcasts to a panel of industry experts, your entire team is going to be able to attend those events and there will be space for them there. We are only able to accommodate two in the weekly meetings and in our in-person intensive. So that's really where it's going to count and who from your team you decide to kind of send.

Alexandra Blair [00:34:02] I see another question that says "Hello. I read on the website's FAQ that limited series are not eligible. We work on seasonal material that comes out once a year. Does this kind of material apply?" Yes, that kind of material definitely is material we want to work with. When we say limited series, it's more so like if you put out a podcast and the podcast is done now, and it came out with three episodes. That's more of what we're talking about when we're talking about a limited series, anything seasonal or serial is definitely part of, you know, what is acceptable and what we're looking for. And again, if you have questions and you're thinking like, "Well, I put out three limited series and I've been doing this for five years," I think that's still make you eligible to apply. And when in doubt, I would say, definitely apply. I'm seeing a lot of that type of question.

Alexandra Blair [00:34:57] So. I see another couple of questions that are about explaining what stands out for podcasts on the program. I'm going to reiterate that from kind of one of those earlier slides that we had looked at and kind of read off that slide. But basically, we're looking for really strong concepts, really passionate, excited creators, people who are excited to learn from what the program has to offer and then take what that program is offering and really incorporate it. So we're looking to hear your excitement and the application can feel very academic, stoic and anything you can do to resist that... We work with Submittable, it is an accessible program and it is one of the tools that we have available to us, although it is not a perfect tool and in an ideal world, we would have a more fantastical solution. But anything you can do to show your passion and show your excitement is going to make your application stand out. I think another thing that really makes an application stand out is a unique idea. In particular, right now, we've got more podcasts than ever before, and we love to hear those unique ideas. The ideas that are really serving niches that we never even thought of, needs that we never even thought of, and communities that don't typically receive service or attention. We're definitely looking for that.

Alexandra Blair [00:36:19] I'm seeing some questions that are around topics, and I want to reiterate that again. So I specifically answering this one: "My podcast focuses on teaching a language, does that work? Doesn't need to be storytelling? Does it need to be interview based? No, it doesn't need to be anything. The podcast that you're submitting for the creator program can be any format, any topic, any language. It is that broad, and that's part of what's so exciting about this program. So anyone who's wondering if their topic or format is eligible, yes, it's eligible.

Alexandra Blair [00:37:00] A couple quick ones I can knock out is: "how long is that program overall?" I will answer that for you. The program does run from late June, the last week of June, through the first week of December and again its 16 weeks of curriculum, and then there's like four weeks where you're going to be able to kind of process on your own, there's no classes in those four weeks and then we'll gather again on the 20th week and kind of celebrate and look at the progress and the final deliverables of the program. So yes, June through December. But the predominant, like the rest of the work, will be accomplished by November, work as far as the course is concerned, you know, a podcaster's work is never done.

Alexandra Blair [00:37:40] I also see this question, this is an easy one to answer: "Are you responsible for travel and lodging for the first week? PRX will be covering all related travel, lodging expenses, Ubers to the airport. You will not be responsible for travel and lodging in that first week, that's on us.

Alexandra Blair [00:38:03] An interesting question: "do we have to continue the current or recent podcast, or are you OK with us, you know, we just exited a project and we're working on a new project." I would encourage you to apply. Again, when we're talking about mid-career podcasters, we're not necessarily saying someone who's worked on the same podcast for three years. We're just looking for people who are working in the audio industry who are going to take what we've learned and use that to kind of move along in the audio industry. So it's OK if you end up, I mean, some of our alumni end up saying, "I actually hate podcasting, I'm going to work in a totally different capacity in the audio industry or I'm going to teach podcasting, because I actually don't want to do what I've been doing." Great. Some people emerge from the program with an entirely different show than they applied with, and those are all awesome outcomes, we love when teams are open to change. So definitely, if you're open to change, that's definitely going to be exciting for us and not at all a detriment to your application.

Alexandra Blair [00:39:03] I see a question in the chat just about missing the webinar. I want to reiterate again, and I'll just keep saying this throughout, but this webinar will be, is being recorded and will be transcribed and closed-captioned and posted to our website. If you subscribed or registered, if you subscribe to our email list or if you registered for this webinar via Zoom specifically, you will get a link to it and you can find it on our website. So don't worry about that, all the information will be available. We are also doing this webinar again, a version of it, next week to answer more questions. So we'll definitely get there.

Alexandra Blair [00:39:44] "What level of technical proficiency in terms of audio adjustment, sound design, et cetera, is required?" We do not have any kind of requirement around technical proficiency. There is no test. In fact, most of what we are doing is not going to be about sound editing. We do have resources for that available for people who need it throughout the trainings, and we do provide those, but most of our training assumes a sort of baseline technical skill. Now that word, it's pretty vague, 'baseline," what does it mean? It just means, do you, so far, kind of posses a proficient technical skill, a technical skill that is at the level that you are currently producing a podcast. So maybe you don't have a Pro Tools wizard on your team or Descript wizard on your team who can make the coolest podcast. Maybe you are not technically proficient enough to be making the podcast that exists in your head. That's that's OK. That's awesome. We can help you get there, but we will not be teaching anyone how to use editing technology from the ground up. Again, we do have resources available a lot on our website for people who are just starting out in terms of their podcasting career. So, you know, if you don't know what a cardioid mike is or what a shotgun is or what a pop screen is, we have resources for you that are available, but this program is probably not right for you if you don't have some, again, baseline technical proficiency. I want to reiterate one last time, that doesn't mean that if you're in your mind of wanting to work with a sound designer or not fully happy with your show, that you can't apply, that's the type of progress we that how we can engage with and work with.

Alexandra Blair [00:41:28] Another question I'm seeing in regards to the podcast sample, "do you recommend sending in a trailer or a real sample of an existing episode?" So for that audio sample, you can do whatever you want. It doesn't actually even need to be a trailer or a sample of an episode. It could just be a clip of a really moving moment that happened on your show, for example, or something really hilarious that gets to the core of what your podcast is. We ask, and we specifically word that kind of as an "audio sample" for that reason. We've had teams kind of send in something more like a mood board, where we just get a feeling about their show. Whatever you think is going to help your show stand out or kind of honor your vision for the show or give us the clearest idea of why your show is special that's what I want you to submit, and we actually even have a space under the audio sample where you can provide a description to us of what we're looking for. So you can write a fun little manifesto under there about why what we're hearing is the best possible representation of your show, and that would be really awesome.

Alexandra Blair [00:42:32] "Is mandatory for all members of a team to attend the in-person week at the start?" Traditionally, that has been mandatory. We are definitely going to work with teams who have accessibility concerns or availability concerns. We are going to work with you. Our intention and our passion and our preference, is that people attend that in person week at the start, yes.

Alexandra Blair [00:43:00] [Attendee] asks in the chat, in the Q&A: "I have one more question, is there a list of podcast alumni somewhere?" Yes, there is a list of podcast alumni on our website and somebody can put that link in the chat, for me, one of my lovely colleagues, Toni and Stephanie, who are really doing amazing work answering and surfacing all your questions and dropping links. Yes, you can check out the Google Podcasts creator program website, and it has all that information on there.

Alexandra Blair [00:43:33] I see: "I have been working on radio for a decade, and while I have created various recorded shows and episodes, I haven't made a podcast in the traditional sense. Can I apply for the program?" Yes. I think if you have made audio projects, if you've working on audio and you're thinking about audio, that is definitely something that would make you eligible for the program. Definitely working on radio is, I would say, a lateral move from podcasting. So yes, I would recommend that you definitely apply for the program.

Alexandra Blair [00:44:11] I see a couple of questions about the link to the application. So if you click on the link that was just dropped in the chat right now, training.prx.org/google-podcasts-creator program, it's in the chat. There is a link to the application page on Sumittable on our website and lovely Toni just dropped a link in the chat to the Submittalbe page with the PRX-specific application. So that's definitely the application we need from you. In the application, we have a couple of notes about accessibility. We also have a plain text version of the application in a Google doc that you can work on. So I've been getting some share requests from some of you. I cannot make you an editor on that document, but I will share a read only copy, linked right there and on the Submittable page. You can make a copy by going to file make a copy in the Google Doc and then you and your team can work on that application offline and actually be kind of collaboratively working because the Submittable, I think Submittable has a new feature where you can work collaboratively as well, but that's very, very brand new. Maybe in the past week. So I am not personally sure how to accomplish that, and I can't speak to that.

Alexandra Blair [00:45:26] I have a question: "if I understand correctly, if it's a team of three, for instance, only two would be able to come to that in-person portion of the training, but the third would participate in other virtual events?" So to clarify, only two team members will participate in the in-person portion of the training for sure, and only two team members will participate in the accelerator, in all of the classes. There will be events along the way, sporadically, where we may be able to host more members of your team. But for all intents and purposes, two members of your team will be able to participate in all of the accelerator and auxiliary sessions.

Alexandra Blair [00:46:08] I see a question in here, another from [Attendee], great question, thank you. "If our new project has not been launched yet, but we have past projects, should we apply with the new or the past? There is actually a section in the application I'm proud of and excited to read that is about previous projects. So apply with the new projects that you're going to be working on that we would be working on together. Get us all excited about that project. And then at the end of the application, there is a question that asks: "Have you worked on any other projects that you are really proud of and you want to share with us? Have you worked on any other podcasts that you're proud of and want to share with us?" Those are two separate questions on the application, so you can feel free to fill that out and get us all excited about your past work as well.

Alexandra Blair [00:47:03] "I'm bringing someone on who owns an editing company. She just informed me she's getting a new full time job. I am the host, creator and current editor, so if she can't come with me, could I bring a different editor?" Yes, you definitely could. I think I answered a similar question earlier. It's totally OK, if your view changes a little bit between now and then, we will work with you to figure it out. But it's OK if you're just starting a relationship with someone and you bring them in. In fact, I think that's going to be really beneficial for you to develop a shared language and understanding right at the beginning of your relationship with the new editor. Excuse me, I should have muted.

Alexandra Blair [00:47:43] I see a question in the chat, which, I'm being a bad host by answering questions from the chat, if you have questions, put them in the Q&A, but this question says: "For the six teams you select, will you be selecting teams from six different regions?" So we are not going to be necessarily, disqualifying anyone if they come from this region or that region just to get six different regions, we are going to be selecting the six strongest podcast applications and projects that we are really excited to work with, so they will ideally hopefully represent, and as we have said, we've really prioritized representing a diverse range of backgrounds and geographic locations and views. And so the cohort will definitely reflect that.

Alexandra Blair [00:48:30] Lots of other questions about topic and format, I want to reiterate again, the topic and format, definitely, we're open to anything.

Alexandra Blair [00:48:44] I'm seeing a couple of really interesting questions about video podcasts. So, yes, if you have a video podcast, definitely apply. Provide an audio sample where we asked for an audio sample, but there is a piece of the application, the very last question, that's about, hearing your passion, hearing your vision for the podcast, and that is a spot where we accept any media file, so you can provide a PowerPoint, you can provide a document, a plain text document that just has words in it, you can upload a cell phone video of you talking about your project. You could upload a clip of your video content. We definitely are accepting video podcasts. And we are encouraging you to apply. So just provide the relevant links. We have a lot of space on the application for you to kind of show off your your video projects.

Alexandra Blair [00:49:34] I love this question from [Attendee] that says, "What result can we expect from the program?' Great question. Let me tell you. "How will this improve our podcast?" So basically what we had noticed after the end of the first three years of the Google Podcasts creator program, and you can see this on our webinar that we have posted on our website: Three Years and Counting: Inside the Google Podcasts creator program. We talked about this phenomenon we were seeing where people graduated from the program, they had a really ironclad concept, they had a strong audience that was being developed because their concept was so strong with their audience and they were seeing a good amount of press, maybe, and excitement from their audience. But they weren't really sure how to make a business out of it. And this is like a main theme among definitely this program's alumni, but among mid-career podcasters, the world over, we are hearing this a lot. People are not sure how to actually make a business of what they're doing, even as they're seeing good press or really good audience or really exciting things happening in their life, they don't know how to capitalize it. So this program is specifically designed to help mid-career podcasters, i'm putting air quotes around the word "mid-career" because we are looking for people who are already producing podcasts, and that's what we mean by "mid-career." But we are looking to help them find new ways to leverage the wins that they're already seeing and to develop their business and their audience. And that is specifically what this program is about. So there will be conceptual development happening, which is a throughline of all of our accelerators. You will emerge from this program with a much stronger idea of your concept and a stronger relationship to your concept, and you will know exactly why your concept needs to exist as it is. We find that with the mid-career podcaster, most podcasters are doing this work intuitively already, so most people making podcasts for some time have an idea of the need that they're filling in their audience's lives, which is part of what we teach. But this specifically will focus on business development, making business plans, looking at the different ways that podcasters have successfully, particularly independent podcasters, have successfully diversified their brand and their podcasts and their own offerings in authentic ways that honor their pain point and honor their leverage point. But we are going to be looking at and hearing from and learning from podcasters who've done it before, who have kind of branched out into different directions and supplemented their simple, audio-only podcasts with, let's say, live events or trainings or co-branded productions or books, etc. Lots of different ways that this can look. We're also going to be learning about audience growth strategies, how you can tap into and leverage your audience's unique passion for your show, because we find that most people have been podcasting for some time, have those dedicated audience members who listen to all 700 episodes of your show in one week. Those really are the sort of audience growth inroads that we're going to be helping you develop and build over time. So, people who emerge from this program will emerge with an ironclad concept, business development strategies, audience growth strategies, also a cohort of really impressive and awesome mid-career podcasters who are hustling your hustle the world over who are doing what you're doing, who you're going to be able to rely on for feedback. You also emerge with connections to a network of very talented industry thought leaders who are going to be making themselves available for you throughout the program and direct mentorship from our team of experts as well.

Alexandra Blair [00:53:16] So I think that we are just about on time. And I know that we haven't gotten to nearly half of the questions, I want to encourage anyone who's question wasn't answered to submit their question via the early submit form. Toni, would you mind terribly dropping that in the chat, please, if you have it on hand? If you haven't had your question answered here today, drop it in this box. We are going to be continuing to answer questions throughout the coming weeks, and we want to make sure that everyone feels confident about submitting their podcasts and submitting their application. We are going to be having a webinar just like this one next Friday, one week in the future. And I will be answering your question then. So if your question didn't get answered today, it will get answered next week, let's hope. We're going to be making an effort to not answer the same questions. So if those questions come up next week, I will probably be referring people back to this week. Again, both this webinar, that webinar. And webinar I mentioned earlier: Three Years and Counting about our experience running the Google Podcasts creator program, are all available on our website. They are transcripted and they are closed-captioned. If you signed up for it this webinar today, you'll be getting a link to that page on our website in your inbox later next week. And otherwise, you can find that at training.prx.org. Thank you guys so much. I'm so glad I'm seeing some people saying we clarified some things that was the goal, so it's good to hear from you guys. If you have more questions, please submit those in that form and/or register for next week's webinar so that you get it right to your email inbox.

Alexandra Blair [00:54:55] I'm going to read out Stephanie's encouragement here. "We want you to apply!" We definitely do. We're not trying to scare you away. If this program sounds like it could be useful for you, apply, that is the bottom line here. We are a holistic reviewing committee. We are definitely going to be making our decisions based on several factors. So if this program sounds like it would be helpful to you, we want to hear from you, even if it seems like maybe it wouldn't apply to you in some direction, let us know, we are going to be working with everyone we're excited to work with and moving mountains to do so.

Alexandra Blair [00:55:26] So please apply. Yeah, I'm so excited. Thank you, guys. I really appreciate it. Thank you for tuning in. And we'll hopefully we'll see you next week.

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