The Australian podcasting conference OzPod returns to ABC Ultimo in Sydney on Friday September 8, and with it an international collection of some of the most innovative names in the on-demand audio entertainment space.

Hosted by TV and radio personality Osher Günsberg, the not-for-profit event is designed as a platform for the Australian industry — and the communities that grow around it — to connect and share with each other, or learn the ropes.

"OzPod 2017 is a full day of curated panels, presentations and workshops" explains Kellie Riordan, Head of ABC Audio Studios. "It's an industry-wide event for journalists, producers, presenters, comedians, writers, broadcasters and those wanting to start out in podcasting".

While the ABC are playing host to the event, Riordan wants to stress OzPod is open to all.

"It's not just about what we're doing it's about what the whole industry is doing. We want to support podcast makers with skills and information. We also want to build the industry across the board because we know the stronger the industry, the better it'll be for audiences everywhere", she said.

Podcasts have been around for over a decade, but it was the breakout hit Serial, back in 2014, that really pushed the medium into the spotlight. A recent audience survey by Edison Research shows 29 per cent of Australians have listened to a podcast, and 17 per cent, have listened to one in the last month. Listeners tend to consume 5.22 hours of podcasts per week.

More than just a new way to distribute radio, the format has developed its own styles and practices based around its on-demand nature, including more intimate and conversational tone built around smaller, more specialised audiences.

Keynote speaker Jenn White, host and producer of the hit US series Making Oprah, says podcasts are a natural fit for narrative content that might not fly in broadcast. "I think podcasts provide a lot of space for experimentation when it comes to storytelling. It also gives you the opportunity to reach audiences that you won't reach with a terrestrial signal", she says.

"Launching [Making Oprah] as a podcast definitely expanded the reach of the project far beyond our regular radio audience. I think it was also more attractive to funders because there was so much audience we could potentially reach."

ABC's Rachel Brown always envisioned her series Trace, which investigates the murder of Melbourne mother Maria James, as a podcast. "I couldn't imagine listening to this kind of show every Tuesday at 5pm, this needed to be a show you could listen to in your own time", she says.

Brown was blown away by the audience's response to her show.

"We just saw a phenomenal reaction, people writing in with new leads or ideas... People were so engaged from day one, that Trace was evolving as it went to air."

Brown will be on a panel discussing the ethics of true crime podcasts. "I'd watched other true crime podcasts veer into dangerous territory, treating crimes like a spectator sport", she says. "That's not what I wanted Trace to be. I wanted to strike a balance of it being a really forensic investigation while being respectful to the people involved. And I think there's a way to have both"

Sharon Taylor of Omny Studio — a technology company that helps turn radio into podcasts — thinks that while radio broadcasters in Australia have been quick to embracing podcasting, there is still room for growth in the market.

"When I look at independent podcast companies like Gimlet and Panoply from the states, we don't really see anything like that here", she says.

"There are so many gaps, especially in the Australian market. This is where we have a benefit over the states, we can look at what they're doing, what's getting traction." Taylor points to two US daily news podcasts, the New York Times' The Daily and NPR's Up First, as examples on shows we could be making.

"There's a huge gap in the Australian market for a major news network to do something like that."

The full program of speakers also includes Benjamin Riley of Queers, Siobhan McHugh of Phoebe's Fall, actor and broadcaster Charlie Clausen, among others.