The Villages Experience: PodFest & Restaurant Reviews for Seniors

The Villages Experience: PodFest 2026 & Restaurant Reviews for Seniors

PodFest 2026 Review & Future Podcast Plans

Mike Roth welcomes listeners to season seven of 'Open Forum in The Villages, Florida' and shares a detailed review of PodFest 2026, highlighting experiences, challenges, and key takeaways. He discusses various features of the conference, including its VIP status benefits, the proliferation of sessions, and the exhibit hall turnout. Special mention is given to Mark Katz's business strategies and the innovative use of headsets in seminars. Mike also provides updates on upcoming changes for season eight, including the podcast's renaming and new episode topics covering AI, medical advancements, and other areas of senior interest. He ends by encouraging listener engagement and support while teasing future content.

00:00 Welcome to Season Seven
00:31 PodFest 2026 Review
02:32 Exhibit Hall Insights
05:53 Comedy and Personal Stories
09:05 Upcoming Changes and Season Eight Preview
09:22 Alzheimer's Disease Discussion with Dr. Curtis
10:58 Future Topics and AI Course
15:00 Fan Mail and Listener Interaction
18:38 Final Thoughts and Supporter Shoutouts

Season 8 Introduction

Transcript

The Villages Experience: PodFest & Restaurant Reviews for Seniors

 [00:00:06] Paula: Welcome to Season seven of Open Forum in The Villages of Florida. In this show, we talk to leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live in and around The Villages. We also talk to people who have information vital to seniors. You will get perspectives of what is happening in The Villages, Florida area.

We are a listener supported podcast.

[00:00:27] Mike Roth: This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. I'm here today with a review and a report about what happened at PodFest 2026. This year I decided to go. For four days. I was there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and about half a Sunday, maybe three and a half days. It was an interesting and, fun event.

 This year as I've done in past years, I upgraded to a VIP status for which I report. I got very little beyond two very good lunches and, two very good speakers that they brought in.

At POD this year, there were more than 2,500 attendees and we were in a different section of the Renaissance SeaWorld Hotel. Frankly, I didn't think it was as good a section as we were in last year. It seemed also that there were fewer actual sessions the organizers used. An app called Hoover, w H O A as the main app for the event.

I found that to be an absolutely terrible application for a conference with multiple sessions in multiple rooms at different times. It seemed like the event. App was designed to make sure that it was difficult to get in the right room at the right time to see the session that you wanted to see, which is where I found myself most of the time, although I had spent.

Probably two hours one day going through it, trying to pick out the sessions I wanted to go to. I came up with a conclusion that I would have to be in three places at the same time most of the time to see the sessions I wanted to see, and I'd have blank hours where there was nothing that was worthwhile.

I did spend a, a considerable amount of time listening to a fellow named Mark Katz, who was a strategic coach, and he had some extremely interesting ideas about how to run a business and improve the business. At PodFest this year, the exhibit hall was, remarkably thin.

And that happened probably for two reasons. First, they had a affiliate convention of Christian podcasters on Thursday and Friday, and those people took roughly 25% of the exhibit hall. I frankly didn't have very much interest in what they had to say, in the exhibit hall, and we weren't allowed to go into their sessions.

So that was another whole I issue. There was also a curious, group of dentists, podcasters who were at the thing. Again, those sessions weren't open to us. The first major problem I had was what? And I wanna thank Buzzsprout for providing a creator ticket, to me at no cost that was worth $300. I did upgrade that to the VIP, which cost me another $325. And, in the exhibit hall, back to the exhibit hall, there was some noticeable absences compared to the prior years that I've gone there, Riverside.

 The podcast, syndicator creator software was not there. I would've really loved to talk to Riverside fm. Sure the microphone and, people were not there. They were always very interested, interesting, and loved to see their new products Rode another microphone provider was not there, which made it very difficult to recommend microphones based on what I saw and heard.

Descript, the maker of the software that I use for this podcast, they were not there

In the exhibit hall itself, they had two areas set aside for seminars. Now, this year, they did something extremely intelligent. They had headsets for each one of the attendees in those seminars, so you could clearly and easily hear what the speakers were saying. That was a dramatic improvement.

 One was for beginners and the other one was for assorted programs. One of the most interesting programs I attended was. A program on podcast networks. That's where a network organizer puts together a number of podcasts on a particular subject area, let's say horses.

And they have the equestrian, podcasts network. And that network sales adds on all of the podcasts in its network, which is , very good for the podcast creator. because , the sales of advertising is done by, this third party, the network.

 Some of the networks, acquire the rights for your podcast while you're part of their network. Some allow you to put in. Your own host read ads, while others are very restrictive and take full control of your podcast. You're just the creator, editor of the podcast. They're the owners.

I haven't taken the time yet to talk to the podcast networks. But over the next year, I'm sure that I'll be spending some time with them to try to figure out exactly, how good they are.

This year, in addition to the beginner's track, the AI track. They added a new comedy track and there were sessions on, standup comedy and improv comedy, for podcasters. I thought that was, good. And, for my grandson. Evan, I'm going to recite for you the. A couple of the jokes that I used in my standup set on Saturday night, which actually were killer as they would say in comedy.

I opened by saying, I live in The Villages, which is a drinking community with a golf and pickleball problem.

And then I went to. I talking about how I drive a Mercedes and I pulled into one of the local parking lots at a shopping center. And as I was getting out of my Mercedes, a couple of golf tees fell outta my pocket. And a woman who was getting, out of her car next to me noticed that these tees fell on the ground.

She turned around, picked them up and handed to me the tees and said, by the way, sir, what are these? And I said, oh, they hold my balls when I'm driving. And she looked at me, looked at the Mercedes and said, Mercedes, they think of everything that got a big laugh. And then there was the story of the very pious gentleman who lived in San Francisco and he went to, church every day.

And when he was lying on his deathbed, God came to see him and God said, you've been so pious during your entire life. Never committed a sin. I'm going to grant you one wish before you go. And so the man thought for a moment and said, God, even though I live in San Francisco, I'd like to drive all the way to Hawaii. And God stood back and. Rubbed his, eyebrows and said, that's going to be a very long distance and there's no land between here and Hawaii, so why don't you think of something else? Next he said God, when I was 22, I got married and my new wife and I went out to a wonderful dinner and then made love all night long until the sun came up.

. And then God said, how many lanes did you want on that highway?

Perhaps for me, the biggest problem of the convention was the fact that, because I booked a little bit late, I couldn't get into hotel where the convention was, and I had to drive about two or three miles to get to the hotel where the convention was from, where I was staying.

And therefore I didn't stay for any of the late night parties. But by that time I was tired anyway. And at this year's convention their idea of a VIP suite wasn't a suite, but a section of hallway that was courted off by a set of curtains. Had some easy chairs in there. There was supposedly having food in there, but I never found any of it.

They had coffee and soft drinks and tables. A couple of, giveaways like. Notebooks and t-shirts. The convention was

good for a lot of people. I know I met a lot of other podcasters, some of whom I'm going to have in my, on my show. Now, we're gonna take a short break and listen to Dr. Curtis, and when I come back, we're gonna talk about some of the things that I'm gonna be doing differently for the. 2026, season eight.

Coming in a few weeks.

This is Mike Roth and Dr. Craig Curtis. We're talking about Alzheimer's disease. What is the diagnostic process to split the difference between someone who has Alzheimer's and someone who has a different form of dementia? 

[00:09:34] Dr./ Craig Curtis: That's a great question, Mike. So Alzheimer's disease in the past was a clinical diagnosis.

. And we would talk to the patient and the family and they would tell us about this progressive memory loss and maybe other symptoms that have , been occurring over the past three to five years. And we would simply test their memory and maybe wait another year or two and retest their memory to look for decline.

Mm-hmm. Nowadays. It's completely different. As a matter of fact, now our diagnostic process involves actually looking for amyloid in the brain, which we now know causes Alzheimer's disease. How do you see amyloid in the brain? We can see amyloid in the brain using PET scans. Which is the most common way.

And now we're working on using blood tests, which are going to be coming out in the next few years. In fact, there's already one blood test that is FDA cleared to detect amyloid in the blood, which is reflecting amyloid in the brain. 

[00:10:34] Mike Roth: And that would be the differential between another type of dementia and.

Alzheimer's. Yes, sir. 

[00:10:40] Warren: With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate the village's community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, craigcurtismd.comm, or call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 to attend a free seminar.

[00:10:57] Mike Roth: Thank you, Dr. Curtis. So one of the things we're going to be doing for season eight is we're gonna be renaming the podcast. Yes. Open Forum in The Villages. Florida has been the name almost from day one. We are going to be changing the name to make it all inclusive. If you've listened to the podcast for any period of time, you've noticed that most of the subjects are subjects that are of general interest to.

People over 55 years of age seniors, and I'm gonna continue serving that particular niche audience. We have a substantial listenership here in The Villages, and I will continue to serve them by providing stories and interviews with people who are here. But I'm going to include more stories and interviews from people in other parts of the country that have.

Great stories of interest to all seniors I know. Sometime in 2026 we're going to be doing a interview, and we're gonna be discussing the benefits and potential risks of stem cell therapy. A very promising way to avoid things like, knee replacement or hip replacement surgery. We're also gonna be talking about the value of hyperbaric chambers with a new vendor in The Villages that is offering that service at a much reduced price.

We're going to be talking also to more people in the ways that AI can be used by seniors. I'll give you, an example. If you were working on a technical computer problem, wouldn't it be good to have a highly skilled technical expert, leaning over your left shoulder and telling you what to do to solve your problem.

And that's exactly what AI can do. This spring I'm going to be again, offering my AI course, which is a hands-on course for seniors on how to use 10 

Different ais offered through The Villages Enrichment Academy.

.

[00:13:07] Mike Roth: The course has sold out. Each time I've offered it, we've limited it to 25 people in the classroom because it is a hands-on course.

People bring their own computers, their own laptops their own tablets. A few people try to do it on their phones, which is probably a mistake, but there's so much happening in, in the world of AI. When I started this course, there were 168. ais today there are over 70,000. One of the ais that I've used is one called is S-O-N-G-E-R Co. And that one allows you to create your own song from a limited number of prompts. It could be an instrumental or a vocal. I've created songs for the Mercedes Club for the Improvisational Theater Club, and, it really creates a catchy melody with no musical talent on my part.

Required. The songs are fully licensed to you as the owner of the song, and the vendor gets no. Revenue if your song becomes a popular hit or generates other revenue. But that's going to be in a future episode and I'm gonna de dedicate that episode to song going. We're actually going to create a couple of songs during the episode so you can hear how good it is.

Later this year, we're going to have more episodes from the medical community. We're looking at several different traditional medicine people to be on the show. I can't announce any names now, but we will be addressing things like cancer and other serious illnesses, strokes that affect people over 55 years of age.

Now one of the features in the show that not many people have taken advantage of, and I did wanna mention this is a feature we have called fan mail. If you use the Buzzsprout, website, which is where you wind up when you go to OpenForuminTheVillagesFlorida.com, at the top, there's a place where it says fan mail.

If you send a text message to me in fan mail, I will read it. Unfortunately, it doesn't require you to give your name, your email address, or phone number. If you would like to be answered by email, you need to provide your email address.

If the answer to your question is already in the episode that you're talking about, I probably won't respond. There was one listener who wanted to know when in the episode about GLP one drugs, what Dr. G's telephone number was. Very clearly in the last five minutes of the episode, Dr. G's telephone number was there. So that one didn't get a response. But if you want a response, put your name, your email address and or phone number. I will respond to those messages. I do read them. And that is a integral feature in the podcast. It's up at the top left side of the screen when you get to the Open Forum in The Villages website.

Speaking of websites, sometime in the next season, we're going to be creating a second website for the podcast. That one is really for SEO purposes. The correct transcript will be on that site. Okay. We are also going to be changing the transcripts that are out on YouTube, so YouTube may have. Two versions or three versions of the show, and I would strongly recommend if you want to hear the edited version, listen to the buzzsprout version.

We may be releasing on the YouTube channel unedited versions, which will be a lot longer, and may contain other material, which I thought wasn't germane and we took it out of the show. So those are some of the changes, that are happening if you stay tuned every week. Pretty soon you'll hear what the new name of the podcast is gonna be.

Not ready to announce it yet, but we are working on it. That's one of the good ideas out of PodFest this year. Next year, if you're listening and you wanna go to PodFest, it is the, second weekend in January. It's going to be at the same hotel and they do, sell tickets to that convention based on airplane, tickets, ticketing.

So the longer in advance you buy your ticket, the lower the price. And you may save a hundred dollars by buying it next week, as opposed to waiting until, November of 2026 to buy the ticket. If you're a new podcaster, I strongly endorse the con the convention. If you're , very experienced, podcaster may not be worthwhile.

One of the features of the convention that's going to be dramatically improved is something they called meetups. That's where, they had about 10 tables in the hotel lobby where you could meet with other people who had the same interests as you as a podcaster. And those tables were, moderately attended.

 The biggest problem this year was that there was no. Tent card on the table to tell you as you're walking by which group this was. So it was difficult to find the groups that I wanted to find.

I think that we've taken enough time to tell you a little bit about what's going on and, I hope you enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to talking to you. On future episodes. If you have ideas for future episodes, contact me at mike@rothvoice.com, or you can send me a text message at 5 1 3 6 4 6 6 5 2 3.

Listeners, I'm thrilled to share with you this podcast, which is my passion project, to bring knowledge, inspiration, and things you need to know about The Villages and the people living here. Be sure to hit the follow button to get the newest episode each week, or you can hit the purple supporter box.

Even a small donation of three to $10 a month makes a big difference. And you can cancel your subscription at any time. Your support means the world to us. Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep those headphones on. Thanks for listening

[00:19:46] Paula: Remember, our next episode will be released next Friday at 9:00 AM Should you wanna become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mike@rothvoice.com.

This is a shout out for supporters. Tweet Coleman, Ed Williams, Duane Roemmich, Paul Sorgen, and Dr. Craig Curtis at K 2 in The Villages. We will be hearing more from Dr. Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mike@rothvoice.com. The way our show grows is with your help.

Text your friends about this show. If you enjoyed listening or just tell your friends . We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Roth Voice 2025, all rights reserved.