podcamp Boston

It’s been a week since the landmark PodCamp Boston took place at Bunker Hill, and I’m still flying high.

The event far surpassed the expectations of even our organizing team. We were hoping for 200 participants. We wound up with some 250-300. We were hoping for two full days of sessions. We wound up with that, plus a reception hosted by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center on Friday night and a takeover of a North End Irish Pub for four hours on Saturday night. We had a full range of presentations with dozens of dynamic speakers, and we had two podsafe bands. New connections, friendships, and partnerships were made. and the passion for podcasting and new media was on display throughout.

These are some of the memories that I’ll take from PodCamp:

* Listening to Chris Lydon. The former Berkman fellow and current host of Open Source made history with Dave Winer back in 2003 by recording the very first podcast. We heard snippets from that conversation during Berkman Center’s reception, and we also heard personally from present-day Chris (listen to the audio presentation). He wrapped up his remarks thusly:

“Let’s go for it. To have the technology that makes it cheap and easy and democratic and global for people to speak in their own voice — this is a tremendous breakthrough, I think. And so I’m just thrilled to be here, to see that I an idea I was there to witness bearing fruit — and just to say, ‘Let’s go for it at the highest’ — this is truly a transformative piece of technology, and it’s not about the tricks. It’s not about the commerce. It’s about people speaking in their own voice. ‘Follow the gleam in your own mind, from within!’”

* Dinner with Mitch Joel. Mitch, who is president of Twist Image and host of the Six Pixels of Separation podcast, is good friend and a digital marketing visionary who drove down from Montreal to be part of PodCamp. After the Berkman reception on Friday, we took some time to chat over a meal in Harvard Square. Mitch is a sought-after speaker in Canada, and he had some excellent advice for me on how to take my podcast and new-media work forward. I’m grateful, Mitch.

* The road-trippers. I was blown away by the number of PodCampers who, like Mitch, made the trip to Boston from way, way out of town. Among those that I spent time with: Leesa Barnes and Uncle Seth from Toronto, Michael Bailey from Kansas City, Tom Morris from London, Vic Podcaster from Silicon Valley, Laura Allen from New York City, Eric Olson from Chicago, MaryHelen Votral from Philadelphia, and Justin Kownacki from Pittsburgh. By my reasoning, they helped make PodCamp a national and international conference!

* The “newbies”. PodCamp was meant to bring together not only the people that are already podcasting, but also those who are just starting to learn about the new-media space. Zakiya Alake, whom I spoke with on Saturday, was one of those curious newcomers. She’s working on a citizen journalism project that will be launched next month in the Boston area, and she came to PodCamp to find out more about podcasting. She has a Swahili first name as well (meaning “intelligent”), which brought a smile to my face. We’ll be naming our son, who’s due to be born one month from today, Amani, which is Swahili for “peace.”

* The sessions. I tried to balance my time at PodCamp between sessions and one-on-one conversations. Two of the best presentations I attended were from Mitch and C.C. Chapman, who spoke about “building your personal brand,” and Leesa, who reminded us of the importance of planning your podcast.

* Cementing the online connections. As much as I enjoy the online connections I’ve made through blogging and podcasting, there is still no substitute for face-to-face interaction. And much like with the “geek dinner” that I attended in New York City in June, PodCamp helped make more of those in-person meetings possible. I had been corresponding with Leesa, Michael, and Ted Demopoulos for a while, but it simply doesn’t get any cooler than sharing a conversation with them over beer or music. Thanks, guys.

* The music. I’m a man with limited musical talents, and my days of playing the piano and trumpet having long sinced passed me by. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the performance from Uncle Seth at PodCamp on Saturday afternoon, or the after hours “jamn session” in Room 813 of the Holiday Inn Express later that night. Uncle Seth’s Jay Moonah even gave a me a crack at one of his harmonicas.

* The passion. Remember CQ + PQ > IQ? PodCamp was all about bringing together creative and passionate people and seeing what happens when they work together. The results have been astounding. Check out some of our collective work here, here, and here.

* Budget? We don’t need no stinkin’ budget! PodCamp happened because a couple of guys — Christopher Penn and Chris Brogan — had a vision, and then because scores of others believed in that vision. We used a wiki, a blog, and our participants to spread the word. We raised the money we needed for the event by asking for it … and then asking again.

* The stories. All of the participants had their unique stories. I was privileged to hear some of them. John Havens writes about podcasting, but he also organizes a monthly meetup of fathers called “Pop Culture.” Guido Stein enjoys knitting. Andrea Mercado gets to blog conferences for a library association. Francesca Rheannon interviews writers. Courtney Rau is evangelizing new media in her school district, and Phil Lupsiewicz is doing the same for the Lowell National Historical Park. They are all great podcasters — or they will be very soon.

We’re hoping to hold PodCamp Boston 2 in the late spring or early summer of 2007. I can’t wait.

Technorati tags: , .

Share This