Need Podcast Coaching? Have You Tried Dave Jackson? He's Three Stalls Down

I was minding my own business, about ten minutes into a podcast I listen to every week, when the host said my name out loud and told his audience to go and listen to my show.

Nobody asked him to. There was no deal, no swap, no "I'll do yours if you do mine."

Which is incredible, given that, on paper, the man is my competition.

This episode is about the one group of listeners the ideal listener exercise specifically tells you to ignore — and why they're the only people in your audience who arrive with an audience of their own.

There's a bit in here I don't soften, and it's aimed squarely at me as much as at you.

In this episode:

— The three approved British responses to being complimented in public

— Why a man with 1,000 episodes and a Hall of Fame induction owes you nothing, and said it anyway

— The Saturday morning cheese market, and why Trevor sends people to Maureen

— Same counter, different cheese: the reason "but they might not come back" is the wrong worry

— Bev, the Martins, and two allotment podcasts that have never spoken

— Why the promo swap is a hostage exchange, and what to do instead

— The column that isn't on anybody's connection spreadsheet

Mentioned in this episode

Dave Jackson — Attention vs. Connection, School of Podcasting (14 September 2026): https://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/connection-attention

School of Podcasting: https://www.schoolofpodcasting.com

Ask the Podcast Coach — Dave Jackson and Jim Collison, Saturday mornings: https://www.askthepodcastcoach.com

Podnews Weekly Review — James Cridland and Sam Sethi, every Friday: https://weekly.podnews.net

In & Around Podcasting — Rob Walch and Elsie Escobar (the "Rob and Elsie" I apologise to about seven minutes in): https://podnews.net/podcast/ic1o5

Building The Brand with James Burtt — two Ts, which I did not manage on air: https://podnews.net/podcast/i11l3c

David Hooper's Big Podcast: https://www.bigpodcast.com

Mark at Podcast Branding: https://podcastbranding.co

Switchy — Dave Jackson's affiliate link, not ours: https://www.supportthisshow.com/switchy

That's Dave's affiliate link, not mine. If you buy through it he gets the commission, which is entirely the point — it's the fastest thank-you I could think of. I've had it about five minutes, so treat this as a thing I bought, not a thing I'm recommending.

Want in on the Podmastery Community? The waiting list is open — come and be in a room with other indie podcasters being genuinely useful to each other: podmastery.co/podcasting-community

Stuck on something specific? Come and get your next podcasting challenge solved one-to-one with me at podmastery.co

Podmastery: Podcasting Insights is my podcast for people who've actually had a go at this and are a bit sick of being told they're doing it wrong by people who've never properly done it at all. I'm Neal Veglio, THE Podmaster. LOLZ