Entries Tagged as 'podcampboston'

podcamp boston september 25-26, 2010

The one that started it all, Podcamp Boston, will celebrate its fifth anniversary this Saturday and Sunday, September 25 & 26, 2010 at the Microsoft N.E.R.D. Center (yes, you read that right).

That’s the good news. The bad news is it looks to be sold out and there is a wait list for tickets. So I guess blog posts like these for their event don’t seem so necessary anymore.

Well, good luck to all involved anyway.

podcamp boston 5 set for September 25 & 26, 2010

I got the ping tonight that Podcamp Boston (the one that started them all) is now written in ink (as opposed to penciled in) for September 25 & 26th at the Microsoft New England Research and Development in Cambridge, MA.

In case you were wondering about what to expect, here is their missive:

Are you ready for the future?

Are you new to new media like blogging, podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, and wondering where to get started?

Are you a veteran of all things 2.0 and wondering what to learn next to propel you into future success?

PodCamp Boston, now in its 5th year, aims to help you answer these questions and many more. On September 25-26, 2010 at the facility of Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, PodCamp Boston will bring together the best and the brightest – including you – for two days of learning, sharing, and growing your social media skills.

It goes on from there but you get the picture. If you are in the area, I’d consider checking it out.

free e-books on social media

chris_brogan

I don’t know Chris Brogan that well having met only briefly a couple of times (and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember me…lucky devil) but there is no doubt about his commitment to social media and its community.

To that end he has published a list of free internet publications (e-books) regarding social media. I know that in the voice over, marketing and advertising worlds (which, as we always note, collide here at voxmarketising) there are still more than a few souls who feel left by the side of the road on the social media speed racer.

Most of them will never even see this blog as they think blog is something that’s cured with a shot of penicillin.

And maybe it is.

But if you can’t get down to the free clinic this weekend, click on a few of these links then tell us which ones you felt were most helpful to you and why.

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fiscal reality for podcamps

podcamp_boston_3_audioconnell.com

Last year, as I made mention in this space, I attended Podcamp Boston 2. There was an expected attendance of 1,000 at the home of the original Podcamp (which really interested me) but many fewer than that showed up (including some no-show presenters). I spent both time and money to attend the event and came away generally disappointed from the educational and interpersonal experiences I had. Looking back now, I wish I had spent that money elsewhere on my business. Ouch.

Compare that to my experience at the first Podcamp Toronto, which was a tremendous event for me professionally and personally and another impetus for me making the Boston trip. With the birth of my son coinciding with Podcamp Toronto 2 this year, I wasn’t able to attend but was still a sponsor, so committed was I to that event.

Now, Brogan and Penn, two of the founders of the original Podcamp event have announced that Podcamp Boston 3 will charge $50 a head. While this changes part of Podcamp’s original manifesto and will likely upset somebody (big deal, even the United States Constitution has been amended) I think it’s the right call. Podcamp is growing up and I think it needs to.

A free event asks no commitment from prospective participants, so who cares if on Saturday morning, an attendee decides to sleep in and not go to Podcamp. But multiple that a few hundred times and you’ve got fewer fannies in the seats than you had promised your paid sponsors. That’s a serious business problem.

For Podcamps to truly succeed they have to attract businesses as part of their audience, it’s a financial imperative. Businesses who attend will pay to do so and businesses who go further in their commitment to Podcamps by sponsoring them want a fairly concrete audience commitment. The free model, as it ages, offers more quicksand than concrete.

A fee more strongly encourages commitment without sacrificing quality or content. Producers of Podcamp Boston 3 aren’t making any money off the fee as its plowed right back into the event. It’s a good business decision that will truly test if Podcamps have staying power and real impact on both social media and business.

I want both the idea and actual Podcamps everywhere to succeed. Having real investors in each Podcamp bodes a lot better for its future than relying on pie-in the sky hopes and walk up traffic. Charging a small fee for Podcamps is a smart move.

Thanks for reading.

If you haven’t already, we’d be honored if you subscribe to voxmarketising – the audio’connell blog and podcast by clicking the “subscribe” button on this blog.

If you really like this post (of course we hope you do), please feel free to bookmark and or promote it by clicking the buttons below on your preferred services.

live from podcamp boston 2 (final thoughts)

Peter O’Connell and Len Edgerly at Podcamp Boston2 photo by bryan person

Podcamp Boston 2 has come and gone and it was a good experience

It was also an imperfect conference.

My greatest and most satisfying take away was that Podcamps continue to be an amazing place to meet, network and become friends with some very talented people and at least “get to know”/be introduced to some others. For that single reason (although there are others) everyone should attend a Podcamp in their area. It’s a great experience.

Just one quick example. Through a Sunday session and later in a hallway meeting and at lunch, I met Adam Weiss . (That’s a picture from the meeting and I really did enjoy it much more than the photo would indicate…another reason I should stay behind a microphone). He’s one of the sharpest audio talents I have yet to meet in Podcasting. He’s also one of the most generous with his insights. There were many meetings like this (and some prospective client meetings too) that were simply invaluable.

The educational sessions were hit and miss. When they hit, it was out of the park. Let me explain.

As with anything as informal as an “unconference” there are going to program issues. It’s going to happen and organizers really can’t do too much about it except learn from it (and make no mistake, the Podcamp Boston committee are sharp people, they know how to adjust and I am sure they will).

There were a few challenges in this Podcamp edition:

1. Program content is determined primarily through attendees volunteering to make a presentation (as it is with ALL Podcamps). Organizers can try and determine the value of the presentation and the presenter’s professionalism but it’s a crap shoot. Part of the problem was lousy session titles, one can’t really figure out what the session is about from a vague title. Sometimes, the presentations offered little value, in my opinion, and sometimes they were really great. But the omissions stood out and felt like time lost.

2. Those in attendance were (as might be expected) at various stages of their blogging and podcasting life so programming had to strike a delicate content balance between rank amateur and professional. The format through which the sessions were laid out was great. Programming was broken down by segments and that was good. But for me there wasn’t as much “meat” as I had hoped for. In Toronto (the first of my Podcamp experiences) I felt there was more valuable content in the presentations but that could be a factor of where I was in my blogging and podcasting life. For others, the content may have struck an amazing chord.

3. Initial attendance numbers (not final to be sure) seemed higher then the first Podcamp Boston, according to those on the committee that I spoke to but many people who committed to coming didn’t show up, including some presenters (1,200 was a number thrown about prior to the event). The organizers noted this in their wrap up meeting and will offer up the option to other Podcamp organizers (the Boston crew owns the Podcamp brand) to charge a small attendance fee. It’s thought such a fee will ensure a higher attendance if people have “something” to lose by not showing up. I think they may be right.

A project like this is an enormous task and my comments are not meant in anyway to take away from the great efforts of the Podcamp Boston 2 team. But following their sophomore effort, I think they can really learn some valuable programming lessons they will help Podcamp Boston 3 ensure a fuller experience for all attendees.

live from podcamp boston 2 (update #2)

podcamp boston 2007

The Saturday afternoon presentations ratcheted up the learning level. CC Chapman and Mitch Joel presented a very content heavy presentation on the “Tools of the social media trade”. Ideas like using Google Alerts for more than just your key words to track your marketplace….think about your target markets and consider their keywords (sometimes that geographic, sometimes its industry specific etc). When working with itunes for podcasting, make sure you focus on sub categories for your podcast to have a chance to stand out from the crowd on itunes (fairly important!). Lots of other stuff too but check the Podcamp Boston wiki for some video or audio of this or any other sessions.

Podcamp Boston organizer and Financial Aid Podcast honcho Chris Penn did a really high energy presentation on to market with New Media. One quick idea which I liked was including your podcast show notes in the lyric tab of itunes…data, data, data.

Grabbed a quick but much needed nap back at the hotel and on to the Podcamp Party over at the very nice Seaport Hotel which I met a bunch of very nice people including CC Chapman who’s starting a new company, Louise Rijk of Advanced Media Productions, musician Graham English and Robert Mendelson of Select Blinds Canada who is just starting out in podcasting but has a “radio history” so we shared those great stories.

Snuck down to the bar to grab a quick dinner and watched some of the World Series during the 3 inning of game 3 where Boston started to own Colorado…the place was erupting! Great fun.

There was supposed to be an informal marketing meeting back at one of the hotels at 9 PM but by 10 PM they still hadn’t put it together and it was getting late so I just headed home.

Starts all again tomorrow!