It is tough times right now across all media and creative spheres, but there are always opportunities to put yourself in front of the right audience.

Recently Oli Goeldner and some fellow University of Newcastle students completed a group assignment for a Digital Media Engagement unit. The organisation they selected was The Daily Aus (TDA), and ways in which they thought it could expand its reach.

TDA, if you aren’t across it, is aimed at Australians aged 18-35, providing social-first, short and straightforward news and information. It reaches around 2.5 million Australians per month.

When the assignment was done, Oli shared some details about the assignment to LinkedIn and tagged TDA into it.

What happened next is excellent network building on both sides.

Oli was invited into TDA’s office to present that group assignment to their whole team.

Win, win.

In the early days of podcasting in 2019 I attended a session facilitated by Kellie Riordan, back when she was with the ABC managing the Audio Studios. Kellie created Deadset Studios not long afterwards and their PodPoll survey results of listening trends are a valuable resource for the industry.

The ABC had recently put forward their very first open invitation to creators to pitch a podcast idea that the ABC might then take up to produce. They’d estimated they could get 300 applicants.

They got 1500.

You can see why this has so rarely happened since.

This week I happened across an article in IF Magazine, a publication for screen-content professionals in Australia and New Zealand.

On May 28, at the Ace Hotel in Sydney (see above) writer and director Hannah Lehmann has created a free event, Pilot Season, where unproduced TV pilots are read live by professional actors in front of an audience.

Those who have created scripted podcasts and voice actors should be getting in touch. You don’t know who will be in the audience, listening.

Hannah says in the article:

“There is a huge screenwriting community in Sydney, but no community event that serves them.”

The aim of Pilot Season is to build that and bring together the wider industries (like podcasting) to hear their peers’ work and connect.

A great concept and another place. left of centre, that might just be a door opening for someone.

Jen Seyderhelm is writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.

Main image – Oli Goeldner (front) with the TDA team, from LinkedIn.