09/04/2024
Below is everything we have to share with you as we get ready for the 2024 Iowa Podcast Awards on Sunday, September 15th!
First off, two quick things:
*Thank You:* Thank you to everyone who has submitted, posted, shared, and supported this first-time event. We're thrilled that so many of you have given this exciting new venture a chance - we knew you were out there and we're so happy we found you!. Our hope is to use this as an opportunity to bring this community of creators together so we can learn from and lift each other up, and also we can help others find your projects as well! We have humble expectations for this first year, but we plan on having a great event that, with your support, will grow even bigger in the years to come!
*We Need Your Help:* With that in mind, we need your help to make this event a success for both this year and for years to come. The main thing we need is for you to COME! We want to fill this theater with people who love podcasting, and showing that this event can draw a big crowd is the best way for us to garner support to make it even bigger and better next year. If your show is nominated, use your code to get free tickets and come! Bring your friends and family to support you!
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Alright, here are some more logistics and answers you may be looking for:
*Quick Summary of Deadlines:*
- 30-Second Challenge: Submissions are now open and will close on Friday, September 13th. More Below.
- Free Ticket Code for Nominees expires at 11:59pm on Sunday, September 8th.
- Ticket Prices Go Up from $35 to $45 at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 10th.
- People's Choice Award Voting Closes at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 10th.
- T-Shirt Pre-Orders Close at 11:59pm on Sunday, September 8th. Orders Received by Thursday the 5th will be prioritized.
*Morning Event:* The day will begin at 8:30am at NewBo City Market. Roasters will have delicious beverages and food available for purchase and this is a great chance to meet other Iowa podcasters and chat. At 9am, we'll have our first live podcast of the day: The Confused Breakfast Podcast. This show won the Podcast of the Year award at the Iowa Music Awards in 2022 (the precursor to the Iowa Podcast Awards). They'll keep us laughing and engaged while we continue to network and fuel up for the day! Their live show will go until roughly 9:45am.
*Check-in:* Beginning at 8:30am, we will have a check-in table at NewBo City Market. This is where you can pick up your tickets, which you will need to access the live shows, workshops, and the award show in the evening. If you pre-ordered a 2024 IPA shirt, you can pick this up there as well. This table will be staffed until late afternoon, at which time we will move it to the Olympic Theater to prepare for check-in for the Award Show. If you are unable to attend during the day, you can check-in at the Award Show.
*Live Shows and Workshops:* Beginning at 10am, we will have two different locations where you can catch live podcasts and workshops throughout the day. This is a low-key by-the-community, for-the-community initiative for us all to learn and grow from each other! You can catch the most up-to-date schedule of live shows and workshops at www.IowaPodcastAwards.com/schedule. We are still working on finalizing a couple of additional workshops that will be presented.
- One Note: Due to some issues with one of our locations, we are in the process of potentially moving venues for the live shows and workshops. They will still be in the NewBo neighborhood and we will share updates on this as soon as we have official confirmation!
*The 30-Second Challenge:* One of the workshops we're excited to share is the 30-Second Challenge. This fun panel-based experience is inspired by the classic 30-Second Challenge at Podcast Movement. You can submit your show for consideration now at www.IowaPodcastAwards.com/30challenge. At the workshop, a panel of experienced podcasters and producers will listen to the first 30 seconds of submitted podcasts and provide immediate, honest, constructive, and positive feedback to help the show become the best it can be! Submissions are open now and will close on Friday, September 13th.
*Food, Shopping, and Other Options:* If you'd like a break from live shows and workshops, we invite you to network with other attendees while supporting local and exploring the NewBo neighborhood! We are working on creating a virtual map that will have various food and shopping options for you in the neighborhood as well as directing you towards our various IPA event locations throughout the day.
*Single Tickets for Live Shows and Workshops:* We've had some requests to sell single tickets for people who may want to attend a live podcast or workshop, but who might not be interested in attending the full award show in the evening. While we would LOVE for and encourage everyone to attend the award show, even if it's to support their friends, family, or local podcasting community, we understand this isn't an option for everyone. So we will be selling tickets JUST for those who want to attend live podcasts and workshops. We will only be selling these day-of at the event at the check-in table at NewBo City Market for $15. You can then use your ticket to attend any and all of the live podcasts or workshops that day.
*Ticket Prices:* Since we announced the event, we have always communicated that the $35 ticket price, which includes full access to the live podcasts, workshops, and award show was a discounted early-bird ticket price and that the price would increase as we got closer to the event. However, we've also heard you - everything is expensive these days and we want to try and make this first-year event as accessible as possible. With that in mind, we will keep the price discounted to $35 until 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 10th, at which point the price will rise to $45. The price will remain at $45 until the day of the awards, at which time ticket prices will increase to an even $50. We hope this will encourage as many of you as possible to pre-order your tickets through the Iowa Podcast Awards website within the next week - knowing that you're coming will help us plan the event!
*Complimentary Tickets:* As a reminder, if your show received an official nomination for a Show or Talent Recognition Award, you received a discount code for two free tickets to the 2024 Iowa Podcast Awards. We emailed your code to the email address who submitted your show for consideration through the Iowa Podcast Awards website. Your code is good until 11:59pm on Sunday, September 8th (that's THIS Sunday), so you MUST redeem your free tickets by then! If you feel you did not receive a code but should have, please reply to this email and we'll get back to you ASAP.
*The Award Show:* The 2024 Iowa Podcast Award Show will take place in the evening on Sunday, September 15th at The Olympic Theater in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Doors open at 7pm for a cocktail hour of networking and mingling. If you have already checked-in earlier in the day, a simple flash of your tickets will get you in quickly. Those who have not checked-in or who will be purchasing tickets at the door will move through a simple check-in process. The fantastic Olympic Theater staff will be serving at the bar and our photography team will be happy to take your picture in front of our official Iowa Podcast Awards step and repeat. The Award Show will begin at roughly 8pm and end around 10pm.
*Dress:* While this is not a black-tie event, we do invite you to dress up to celebrate the occasion! We invite you to dress at a level of formal that feels right for you and encourage you to elevate your wardrobe for the event. For example, jackets, ties, dresses, and suits would certainly be welcome, but sweatpants or pajamas might not fit the vibe.
*Awards:* We're still building out the show itself, but you can expect that the vast majority of the show will be comprised of the presentation of the awards. The awards will be presented without particular order, though the larger awards such as People's Choice and Podcast of the Year will be given out at the end of the night. We will have a wide variety of award presenters who will share a small speech, list off the nominees for the award, and then share the winner of the award. If you are selected as a winner, you will be invited up to give a brief acceptance speech. Please limit the number of people coming up to accept the award to no more than four people and acceptance speeches should be kept to one minute or less (a timer will be provided).
*People's Choice Award Voting:* Every show that was submitted for an award this year was also entered into consideration for the People's Choice Award, and THOUSANDS of fans have been voting through the Iowa Podcast Awards website! We're excited to see how this has been a fun vehicle for so many of you to engage your audiences, which hopefully has been beneficial for your shows! Public fan voting is open until 11:59pm (or midnight) on Tuesday, September 10th, so you have one week to do your final push for votes! We will reveal the top 10 fan-voted shows at the Award Show on September 15th.
*T-Shirt Pre-Order:* If you want an official Iowa Podcast Awards T-Shirt featuring the 2024 submitted shows, you MUST PRE-ORDER ASAP (orders received by Thursday the 5th will be prioritized) and absolutely no later than 11:59pm on Sunday, September 8th. We will do our best to have all pre-orders fulfilled and available for pickup on Sunday, September 15th, but the only way to guarantee that a shirt will be available for you on the day of the awards is by PRE-ORDERING ASAP.
FINALLY, we'd like to take a moment to thank the sponsors who have supported us before this event was even real because they believed in what could be. Our thanks to Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust, The Corridor Business Journal, and Vault Coworking, with additional thanks to CSPS Hall, The Olympic Theater, and NewBo City Market.
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OKAY! That should be everything for now. Please consider grabbing your tickets sooner rather than later so we can plan for you, and keep an eye on the Iowa Podcast Awards website for the most up-to-date information and updates as we get closer to the big event!
