Empowered Podcasting CMO on Turning Followers into a Year‑Round Community (How EPC3 Makes Belonging Stick)

Hacks and Hobbies with Junaid Ahmed · Jul 23, 2026 · 42m

5 key takeaways:

Community ≠ audience: community is recurring, reciprocal, and built through shared experiences, not metrics.

The magic happens in the hallways: stages teach, corridors create opportunities (collabs, podcasts, books).

Design with belonging in mind: workshops, interactive journals, visible staff, and pre-event touchpoints turn attendees into contributors.

Make introverts powerful connectors: be interested, not interesting — ask great questions and invite people in.

Start local, know your "who": test pop-ups and meetups before scaling to travel-heavy conferences.

Timestamps…