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Producer Abbie Gipson told me she was “ready to jump in and learn,” focusing on developing her skills as a producer and discovering how audio might fit into her professional life. She studies Russian and is interested in multilingual podcasting, but was excited for the wide variety of breakout sessions we would attend at the conference. “The Art of Noise: A History of Experimental Radio” and “Writing for the Ear to See” were offered alongside “Podcasting Without a Net(work)” and “Beyond the Recording Booth: Partnering with Storytellers Across Mediums.” These and a dozen other diverse sessions were presented by award-winning audio professionals, many of whom helped produce podcasts we love.

Emily Miles attended the conference with ASR last year, and she said she was once again ready to have her mind opened a little. The wealth of information and ideas at the conference excited her, and she was ready to talk about her work and the things she liked — and this would be the perfect venue.

Producer Rick Brewer was most excited about meeting like-minded people. He feels ASR is a great community, but it’s small, and he was ready to be inspired by this introduction to the global audio community. He said listening to podcasts is inspiring, but to hear the work and the process that goes into those podcasts is a different experience. “Where do you get your story ideas? Where do you get your inspiration from?” He said he knows there’s no single answer to these questions, but being inspired by as many answers as possible was his goal.

As for me, I related to all of these goals in one way or another. Like Abbie, I was interested in simply learning and developing professionally. Like Emily, I was hoping to expand my worldview and maybe discover new ways of thinking about the stories I love. And like Rick, I was excited to meet people who could help me be more creative.

For a student, it can be intimidating to attend an enormous conference filled with professionals with so much experience. At Third Coast however, it seemed like our goals were shared by almost everyone else. They were there to learn and speak on the same level – as students, just like us.

Walker and Fowler’s session revolved around the lessons they learned and choices they made while reporting and producing Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo, a serialized investigation into the disappearance and death of a young indigenous Canadian girl.

Before the Missing and Murdered podcast launched, Walker had been told over and over that stories about Canada’s indigenous women didn’t matter. At one point, an editor stopped her in the middle of a pitch to ask if it was “another sad Indian story.”

Walker and Fowler, along with the rest of their team, knew Cleo’s story meant far more than that. They knew Finding Cleo had to be more than a whodunit. It had to provide for a global audience a history lesson about the experience of Canada’s indigenous population under the country’s colonial government.

In reporting the story, the team worked not to take Cleo’s siblings’ story but to amplify their voices and actions, exhibiting radical transparency throughout. With this approach, the CBC team tried to build empathy in the listener, to help people identify with Cleo’s family without exploiting them in the process.

They presented a perspective I had not yet heard from true crime reporters. The story was not about a horrible perpetrator or a sad victim. It was about a whole, complicated culture through the eyes of one family.

At the end of the session, a member of the audience raised her hand. She took the microphone and asked if people of differing backgrounds and privilege can ever truly empathize with each other. She asked if Walker and Fowler thought their work could affect people.

“God, we have to try,” Fowler said. “We have to try, I think.”

As teachers across Canada incorporate the podcast into their lesson plans and people around the world listen, all their trying appears to be paying off. And I can say with certainty that it has changed me.

I understand why people might think emailing people to chat on the phone is a waste of energy because, you know, its email. People have a lot on their plates. But to my surprise, most of my emails were returned and resulted in several 20- to 30-minute phone conversations.

When it came time to network at Third Coast, I was shocked by how many people I recognized and the number of ice breakers I had in my back pocket to strike up conversations. I never realized that my curiosity had become a great way to connect and learn from others. It was also so much fun to learn from some of the best in the business. It made me realize that the reality of being a part of the industry as a full-time producer is achievable. This experience has given me more confidence about networking. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and was fueled by my curiosity.

If you’re going to a conference, be curious, pay attention to what’s going on in the field, and don’t be afraid to politely ask someone, “So, who are you?” It’s a conference. People are expecting that kind of a question.

As we waited for the talk to begin, I realized how much I had learned over the past two days. I felt energized to return to Bloomington and start trying to turn the inspiration I felt into real work. I was also much less nervous than I had been on Friday morning. At the start, I was terrified of trying to network with people, but by the end of the conference I felt at least semi-confident in striking up conversations with strangers.

Every session I attended at Third Coast gave me a new perspective through which to view audio, whether that be in terms of writing, sound design or research. But the final session, a presentation by Kaitlin Prest, was special because it reminded me why I love radio and of how special it is to be able to share a space with so many people passionate about the same thing.

In her talk, Prest, producer of podcast The Heart, shared with us her favorite things. These included a film called Happy Together, intersectional feminism and a quote from Janet Malcolm. I have been following Prest’s work for a long time, and it was fascinating to hear how she transforms the things that are dear to her into audio that then becomes dear to listeners. Prest is someone who tries to infuse thoughtfulness and intimacy into everything she does, while also pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable for the airwaves.

Prest’s final favorite thing was a cab ride. She got into the taxi exhausted from work and not looking to start a conversation. But when the driver asked about her work and she told him she worked in radio, he said, “No one listens to me. People listen to you.” Her perfect end to the conference was a reminder of the responsibility and privilege we have as journalists. We have an amazing job, and even when it’s difficult, we should remember that.