Podcast Movement Opens First-Ever Public Voting and Reveals Inaugural Selection Committee for 2026 Conference Sessions
Podcast Movement, the flagship event for global podcast creators, publishers, advertisers, and industry leaders, announced today that public voting is now open until July 21st for speaker submissions for Podcast Movement 2026, taking place September 17–18 at Terminal 5 in New York City. The organization also announced the inaugural selection committee that will be responsible for reviewing the submissions and building half of the on stage programming.
This year, Podcast Movement received more than 750 session submissions from over 500 unique speakers representing creators, publishers, platforms, brands, agencies, and technology companies from around the world.
Beginning today, the podcasting community can help shape this year’s conference by voting for the sessions they most want to see on stage. Individuals can vote for as many sessions as they’d like to see on stage at Podcast Movement, but may only vote for each proposed session once.
Transparency in program selection is a key tenant of this next era of not only Podcast Movement but of all events that ask for our attention, participation, and patronage.
Half of the 2026 agenda will be determined by community vote. Every eligible submission is available for public review and the highest-ranked sessions will make up 50% of the final conference schedule.
The remaining half will be selected by a public committee using a published evaluation rubric designed to prioritize content quality while building a program that reflects the breadth of today’s podcasting industry.
The committee includes:
- Alice Florence Orr, Podcast Review
- Ami Thakkar Ravi, The Podcast Academy / The Ambies
- Anne Baird, Audio Fiction Conference
- Demetrius Bagley, The Black Podcast Awards
- Fatima Zaidi, Quill Podcast Awards
- James Cridland, Podnews
- Lauren Passell, International Women’s Podcast Awards
- Peter Lewis, SXSW
To cast your vote for your favorite Podcast Movement sessions:
- Visit https://podcastmovement.fider.io/
- Enter the speaker or session name you’d like to vote for in the search bar
- Select the session to view in a new page
- Click ‘Vote for this Idea’
“The event industry is overdue for an update. In the six years I’ve spent building Sounds Profitable, I’ve had the opportunity to work with companies across every corner of podcasting, and one thing has become incredibly clear: our industry thrives when the best ideas, not the biggest budgets, get the spotlight. Too often I see conference stages reward visibility over value, and sponsorship over substance,” said Bryan Barletta, President of Podcast Movement and Partner at Sounds Profitable.
“That’s what inspired us to change our approach to Podcast Movement this year. We’re putting meaningful decisions in the hands of the community while making the rest of the process transparent, because attendees deserve to know how a conference agenda is built. Great ideas can come from anywhere, and they deserve a fair opportunity to earn their place on stage.”
To vote for your favorite sessions, please visit https://podcastmovement.fider.io/. Voting will close July 21, 2026 at 11:59pm ET.
To secure your ticket for Podcast Movement, please click here.
About Podcast Movement
Podcast Movement began in 2014, when four podcasters and entrepreneurs had an idea. With a Kickstarter campaign and a positive attitude, they set out to create a vibrant event “for podcasters, by podcasters.” In the years since, PM has grown with the community's support to become the ultimate annual destination for diverse speakers, education, networking, and groovy parties.
This is a press release which we link to from Podnews, our daily newsletter about podcasting and on-demand. We may make small edits for editorial reasons.