In this interview, Sally Koering Zimney and Elzie discuss how podcasts serve as powerful networking and relationship‑building tools for speakers. Sally explains that she uses her podcast to approach conference speakers, inviting them to share their speaking journeys, which creates direct connections and opens doors to future speaking engagements. Elzie adds that former guests often send him books, turning the podcast into a source of curated knowledge. Both highlight the “surprise benefits” of podcasting, such as gaining access to guest‑provided resources and treating the podcast audience as a speaking engagement—hundreds of listeners equate to a live audience that hears only the host’s voice. They also stress that podcasts, alongside other free platforms like TikTok and social media, are “free stages” that speakers should step onto daily to expand their reach and visibility.
Chapters
I use the podcast as a specific way to network. And when I'm at a conference and I absolutely loved a speaker, I will go up to them and say, that was amazing. I'd love for you to come on my show and talk about your speaking journey. And now I have a connection to somebody who has spoken at a conference that I would really like to speak at. And then now I'm one step closer to those relationships. So it is such a relationship building, relationship driven experience, whether you want it to be a, they're a focus group for you, a tiny little, you know, deep dive into what's going on with your audience. You're using it to intentionally connect with people. I just think it's, there's a lot of surprise benefits. To it that make it worth the technological challenge and the time challenge that you've talked about.
Yeah, absolutely. And you guys can't see it, but behind me is a bookshelf and I have a whole half of a row that's just from former guests that have sent me their books. And in those said books are all sorts of great information and knowledge and learning that I got. Just because they were a guest on my show.
Add that to the list of like beautiful things that come out of this experience that nobody, that's not necessarily why you're gonna get into it, but that's one of the major benefits that you will experience.
And Sally, the other thing that I always tell people is, especially for this audience, cuz you guys are speakers, you know, if you imagine that each one of your listeners It's, it's, it's just the same thing as a speaking engagement, right? So if you have 100 people that are listening every episode, that's 400 people a month that you're speaking to. And better, you're the only voice that they hear for 30 minutes or however long your podcast is. So that is, I don't know the number for, for you, but that is extremely valuable. It's just a matter of how you leverage it and what you do with that.
It's the, the free stages that we have access to that absolutely should absolutely be stepping onto every day, whether it's social media or your podcast or you're, you know, going live on TikTok now. It's like the new crazy thing, right? It's free stages are there waiting for you, but you have to, you've got to do it and step out of there.
