​Building an engaged community, sprouted through your podcast is one of the goals many shows try to achieve. It takes a lot of time, consistency and effort to create the right added value and right vibes to make something like this bloom. In this session we'll dive into the core elements of that.

​Guest Thomas Smolders is one half of the duo behind the successful podcast Computer Club. A weekly show about technology. With over 330 episodes and lots of initiatives, they have now successfully grown an engaged community. They host meetup events, live recording with audience, geeky tech get together to try new gear and such. You can join them as a "friend of the show - some kind of Patreon", they sell out merch, run a Mastodon channel and much more. They also brought back to live an oldschool community platform: the forum. And it turns out the fans LOVE IT.

​Just creating these platforms and hoping for success is not enough. So what are the factors that play a role in building an engaged community? And how can you apply them to your show? We'll dive into it in this session.

​About Thomas

​Thomas Smolders (LinkedIn) is the co-founder of Hartstikke, the agency he runs with Simon Pertz. They're specialized in branding, website and communication. Working mostly with companies in tech, media, entertainment and education.

​He is a frequent guest on various (classic and new) media as an expert to talk on trends and evolutions in the tech world. With his experience in journalism, marketing business and organizing events, he is a dream guest to talk about using the right online tools and approaches to grow a strong community.

​As a passion project Thomas (Smollie) started the Computer Club podcast with Frederik (Freddy) De Bosschere way back in 2018. The show is a reference point when you think of all things technology in Belgium. Check out their website to get a glimpse of what they do. And if you speak Dutch: give it a listen! Spotify - Apple Podcasts.

​What you'll get out of this:

• ​Insights on what it takes to build an engaged community around your podcast

• ​Why tailoring your approach to your audience is so crucial

• ​​Tips on choosing the tools that could work for you and how to get valuable input from your audience

• ​​Some things that are hit or miss when it comes to community building and marketing it

• ​​Inspiration to apply to your own podcast!

• ​​A chance to ask Thomas questions in chat

​Practical

• ​This event is in English. You'll receive the URL to join the Riverside session by mail! Neither of those require you to install an app on your computer, you can join in browser. If you want to join on phone or tablet, download the Riverside app. No sign-up in the app needed!
  
  

• ​As an audience member you can ask questions in chat which we'll address - as best as we can - during and at the end of the session.
  
  

• ​Good to know: to attend this live event, you don't need to turn on your webcam or microphone (yay!)
  
  

​About the host

​This session is hosted by Niels De Keukelaere (LinkedIn) from Wajoo.studio. We're a podcast production company. Think edits, audiobranding, hosting, mixing, content coaching, marketing, multicam video edits, voice over, events and more.

​Curious for more events? Check wajoo.studio/events!
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​Questions? online@wajoo.studio