Here are a handful of my takeaways from the event.

PodCamp isn’t just about podcasting.
If you’ve attended a PodCamp or two yourself since the first installment of the unconference back in September 2006, then I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Though a number of sessions at the event typically do cover podcasting topics (how to start a podcast, how to try and monetize it, advanced production values, etc.), there are countless others that don’t. Discussions on social networking, social media marketing, storytelling, delivering good presentations, digital identity, and exploring the latest Web 2.0 tools are very much a part of PodCamp, too.

PodCamp is billed as the “new-media unconference” these days, which makes me wonder: Might PodCamp need a new name?

There’s plenty of value outside the sessions.

Most conferences or unconferences go like this for me: I attend a handful of formal sessions in “education mode” — and then spend the rest of the time hanging out in the hallways speaking with friends and colleagues old and new. PodCamp Boston 2 was no exception.

I won’t soon forget my conversations with Scott Monty, who is the first fellow social-media guy I met because of Twitter and is also quite adept at selecting good Irish pubs that will properly feed a dozen geeks; Anna Farmery and Heather Gorringe, who were visiting from the UK; Paull Young, Constantin Basturea, and Christin Eubanks from Converseon; Mark Blevis, who’s throwing a PodCamp of his own in Ottawa later this month; Mika Pyyhkala and Deb Block-Schwenk, my lunchmates on Saturday; Mitch Joel, Beth Kanter; Kathryn Jones; and fellow Red Sox fans Sarah Wurrey, Doug Haslam, and Joe Cascio, with whom I took in part of Game 3 of the World Series from one of the local dives on Saturday night.

David Maister is one funny dude.

He’s also known as one of the best in the world in consulting and writing about management of professional services firms — and he’s a blogger and a podcaster. David’s insights during a session on Sunday morning were, quite simply, sensational. I especially liked this line:

Shut up talking about you. You don’t get any of my business by talking about you.”

Managing your online reputation can be tricky business.
There was plenty of good discussion around who you are and how you’re perceived online in a “Job Search 2.0″ discussion led by MaryHelen Votral and Ben Gregg and “Digital Natives” of CM Access (full disclosure: a former employer and former client) and a session on “digital natives” from Michael Denton and the aforementioned Paull Young and Christin Eubanks.

The key question: How much of your personal self should you reveal online and how does all of your blogging, podcasting, social networking, etc. play to job recruiters?

You can here my take as part of a conversation Paull had with Anna Farmery and me in a live-from-PodCamp episode of the Forward Podcast.

PodCamps won’t always be free.
I won’t pretend that I did nearly as much work in helping to organize this year’s PodCamp Boston as I did for the inaugural event (funny what having a baby does to your free time), but there certainly were several other hard-working people who did. Collectively — and in some cases individually — the social media enthusiasts that PodCamp co-founder Christopher Penn names volunteered hundreds of hours of their time to put on a free conference for more than 1,300 registered attendees. One not-so-small detail: Only about 650 of them — not even half — actually made it to PodCamp.

A reasonable no-show rate for free events is to be expected, but when a conference becomes as big as PodCamp Boston has, the result is too much wasted hard work by the organizers to accommodate hundreds of would-be attendees who ultimately decide they have somewhere else to be.

With that in mind, I have no objection to Chris and his fellow co-founder Chris Brogan giving PodCamp organizers the option to charge a nominal registration fee for future unconferences. The result should be a more manageable attendee list and a more accurate representation of just how many participants to plan for.

PodCampers like to party.

’nuff said.

Technorati Tags: PodCamp, PodCampBoston, PCB2

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Here’s how you can find and follow me over the next three days:

Friday night:
* I’ll be joining in the Tequila Rain festivities from 7:00-10:00pm.

* At 9:00, I’ll be hosting a live BlogTalkRadio show with the organizers of PodCamp Perth (Australia), direct from Tequila Rain (or just outside it). Listen here: PodCamp Boston/PodCamp Perth kickoff.

Saturday morning:
* I’ll be meeting and greeting you at Social Media Breakfast 3 from 7:30-8:30am, from the Starbucks Cafe at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, adjacent to the Boston Convention and Expo Center (BCEC). No RSVP is required. Just join us!

Saturday afternoon:
* Join Doug Haslam and me for our PodCamp presentation: “Following and Joining Online Conversations,” from 4:00-5:00pm in Room 203

Saturday night:
* From 7:00-9:00, find me at the Boston Seaport Hotel for the official PodCamp Boston party.
* After the party, I’ll be headed somewhere with other PodCampers to watch Game 3 of the World Series (the Red Sox are only two wins away from the title!).

The rest of the time:
* I’ll be bouncing around the unconference proper at the Boston Convention and Expo Center (BCEC) –  taking part in sessions, making media, and joining in interesting conversations wherever I can.

Follow my Tweets and audio Twittergrams:
* I’ll be Twittering my thoughts and inspirations from PodCamp (and the World Series) all weekend long. My messages are here: Bryper’s Twitter messages.
* Also, your direct Twitter messages will reach my phone.

Call me:
* The BCEC is a big place, and we could be 1,000 people strong. If you can’t find me, just call: +1 (781) 413-5846

Which guy am I?
In the photo above, I’m the goofy guy on the right. Look for me to be wearing an organizer’s T-shirt, too. But if you want to say hello to the other two guys in that picture, you can do that. Both Scott Monty and Paull Young are coming to PodCamp as well.

Hope to see you this weekend!

Technorati Tags: PodCamp Boston, PodCamp, POD, PCB2

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Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche have posted my “Managing Your Social Media” presentation from Podcasters Across Borders 2007 as part of their Canadian Podcast Buffet feed.

Thanks to all of the PAB2007 Sponsors: Rogic Podcast Conglomerate, Third Storey Productions, TD Canada Trust, Thornley Fallis, StartCooking.com, Marion McDonald, Don Edwards, Freddie Litwiniuk, Bill Deys and Christopher Penn

Technorati Tags: PAB 2007

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I’ll be departing for Podcasters Across Borders 2007 about nine hours from now. Above is one of the slides — all about the importance of trusting your network — from the presentation I’ll be giving: “Managing Your Social Media.”

Want another sneak peek? Here’s a slide from a marketing presentation that Christopher Penn and Mitch Joel will be delivering.

See you in Kingston.

Technorati Tags: PAB2007, managing your social media, Christopher Penn, Mitch Joel

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Business communicator Shel Holtz — oh, by the way, the twice-weekly For Immediate Release podcast he co-hosts with Neville Hobson reaches milestone episode 250 tomorrow — has already called 2007 the year of the widget.

Think Shel might be onto something?

Well, on Wednesday, July 11, WidgetCon 2007, a conference devoted entirely to widget marketing, will take place in New York City. With widgets already reaching a staggering 81 million Internet users in North America alone, according to a recent comScore study, there’s simply no way any good marketer shouldn’t be learning everything he or she can about how to market with widgets.

WidgetCon 2007 looks like the place to do just that.

The full-day event is by invite only, but you can request an invitation through the — yes, you guessed it — widget below.

Hat tip: Greg Verdino

Technorati Tags: WidgetCon 2007, widgets, widget marketing, Greg Verdino, Shel Holtz, comScore

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Canadians Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche and the Rogic Podcast Conglomerate have put together what promises to be an outstanding lineup of speakers for an event that brings together passionate podcasters from both sides of the 49th parallel — and from around the world.

‘Managing Your Social Media’

Here’s an abstract of the “Managing Your Social Media” presentation/discussion that I’ll be leading on Saturday, June 23, from 3:10-3:40pm:

We podcasters aren’t one-dimensional social media types. We also read and write blogs, participate in social networks, follow hundreds of RSS feeds, contribute to wikis, and send Twitter messages. In short, we have an insatiable need to keep up with and to share the latest and greatest online content.

But how do we manage this never-ending flood of information while also staying both productive and sane? This presentation will offer you a road map.

See you at PAB?

Technorati Tags: PAB2007, Podcasters Across Borders, Mark Blevis, Bob Goyetche, Kingston

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Hosted by Bryan Person. Recorded from historic Boston, Massachusetts, USA and published for Tuesday, April 3, 2007.

Hosted by Bryan Person. Recorded from historic Boston, Massachusetts, USA and published for Tuesday, April 3, 2007.

Subscribe to the New Comm Road podcast. It’s free, and it ensures you won’t miss a single episode! Click on the iTunes image above, or paste this feed into iTunes or your podcatching software of choice: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewCommRoad

IN TODAY’S SHOW:

* New Comm Road Citation to Bryper

* Mitch Joel promo – Foreword Thinking Podcast

* Kathryn Jones audio comment – ?? (Question) of the Week – Inspiration and Indie Tunes video podcast – IfNotNow.Net.

* PodCamp NYC promo – April 6-7, 2007 at the New Yorker Hotel.

* PodCruise Miami promo – December 7-10, 2007

* Report on social networks for ethnic groups from Brett Atwood’s PR 475 students at Washington State University.

* Audio comment from Eden Spoken, from Bargainista.Blogspot.com/

* Interview with Eli Singer and Andrea Lekushoff about the social media book launch for The Strategy Paradox, by Michael Raynor. Event held in Boston on Tuesday, March 27.

* Audio comment from Michael Seaton, from Scotiabank, The Money Clip, and The Client Side.

NEW COMM ROAD MAP:

* From Christopher Penn, recapping Bum Rush the Charts.

TOOLS OF YOUR TRADE:

* From David Levy, from TheThingIs.typepad.com

Music:
+ From GarageBand.com: Still Holding On, by Rantings of Eva

* This show can also be found on Blubrry.

YOUR FEEDBACK:

• Leave your text and audio comments below this post
• Send us audio files or text e-mails to comments-AT-NewCommRoad.com
• Call us on our comment line: (206) 202-3996

Technorati Tags: Historic Boston, Foreword Thinking, Mitch Joel, Kathryn Jones, Question of the Week, PodCamp NYC, PodCruise Miami, Eden Spodek, Bargainista, Eli Singer, The Cundari Group, Andrea Lekushoff, Deloitte, Strategy Paradox, Michael Raynor, Michael Seaton, Scotiabank, The Money Clip, The Client Side, Christopher Penn, Financial Aid Podcast, Bum Rush the Charts, David Levy

LISTEN:

Running time: 00:51:56

Direct download this episode, or listen using the player above!

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It’s taken a few days, but I have emerged from the depths of what Bob Goyetche calls “post-PodCamp letdown mode.” Time to look back.

Last weekend’s visit to Toronto for PodCamp Toronto was, quite simply, outstanding. Plenty of teaching, sharing, and learning, just like PodCamp Boston. I caught up with old friends, like Jay Moonah — in fact, we also led a presentation together on Second Life — Mitch Joel, Christopher Penn, Chris Brogan, John Wall, Leesa Barnes, Michael Bailey, Mark Blevis, and Bob Goyetche; met face-to-face for the very first time with so many others that I had gotten to know online in the past several months, including Terry Fallis, Donna Papacosta, Michael Seaton, Luke Armour, Chris Clarke, Michelle Tampoya, David Jones, and Ed Lee; and met several new people with whom I look forward to sharing the social media space in the months and years to come, like Eden Spodek, Vergel Evans, Sulemaan Ahmed, and Sonya Buyting.

Here are my most top takeaways from the event:

• From Mitch Joel’s presentation on personal branding: Your “elevator pitch” gives you 30 seconds to start a meaningful relationship.
• From Julien’s Smith talk on podcasting and search engine optimization (SEO): Google doesn’t care about audio; it cares about text. If your podcast isn’t housed on a blog, you’re killing your chances of ranking highly in Google’s search results.
• From several of Christopher Penn’s presentations: 1) the new-media tools for marketing your podcast and building your audience are absolutely at your fingertips 2) Don’t ignore MySpace.
• There is good money to be made as a consultant/speaker/trainer if you know how to teach new media to business.
• It’s not all about the money. We didn’t travel to Toronto from Boston, Cleveland, Montreal, Ottawa, and Philadelphia just to make a quick buck. We believed in the power of connecting with our community and in finding others to join us.
• The staff members at the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University were truly a collection of all-stars. Thanks to their efforts, we had a live video stream of every session. All of the presentations have also been archived on the PodCamp wiki.
• Toronto-area students were very much part of the event. Three that I met were Omar Ha-Redeye, from Gary Schlee’s Corporate Communications and PR program at Centennial College; Cathy Kurzbock, who is preparing a seminar on social media for her classmates at Seneca College; and Nicholas Montgomery, a 12-year-old who is getting ready to start his own podcast.
• Never underestimate the “social” in social media. The crowd from PodCamp Toronto knew how to party. We don’t all live in our mothers’ basements.

Technorati Tags: PodCampToronto2007, PodCampToronto, PodCamp

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We’re both taking part in PodCamp Toronto, being held at the Rogers Communications Centre Ryerson Universit in downtown Toronto on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday morning from 11:30-12:00, Jay Moonah and I will give a presentation called “It Isn’t Just a Video Game: Second Life for Events.” Our talk is just one on a jam-packed two-day schedule that will include sessions on everything from starting a podcast to using a podcast to build your personal brand.

If you’re going to be in the Toronto area this weekend, come and join us at Ryerson, or at the social gatherings on Friday and Saturday nights.

I’m this guy:

Updates from the actual event may be brief, as I’ll be traveling without a laptop; however, you can count on a full recap when I return.

Technorati Tags: PodCampToronto2007, PodCampToronto, PodCamp

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The tickets have been booked, so it’s official: I’m headed north of the border late next month for PodCamp Toronto.

I’ve been looking forward to this trip ever since the unconference was announced last fall by Leesa Barnes and her esteemed organizing posse: Mitch Joel, Jay Moonah, Brent Morris, and Julien Smith.

I seemed to have developed a certain affinity for the Torontonians in the online space over the past several months, starting with David Jones and Terry Fallis from the Inside PR podcast and blogger maestro Ed Lee last summer and continuing through to more recent connections with the likes of Michael O’Connor Clarke and, just last weekend, Sean Moffit. They seem to like me, too, because my New Comm Road podcast is even more popular in Canada than it is in my own country!

If you’re a podcaster, new-media enthusiast, or even curious about the world of social media, Toronto will be the center of the universe on February 24-25. So what are you waiting for? Head over to the PodCamp Toronto wiki now and add your name to the already impressive attendee list.

And while you’re at it, take a few moments to admire this partial collection of the Faces of Toronto:

Ed Lee	David Jones	Jay Moonah	Michelle Tampoya
Leesa Barnes	Maggie Fox	Michael O’CC	Joe Thornley

Technorati Tags: PodCampToronto, Toronto, Faces of Toronto, Leesa Barnes, Mitch Joel, Brent Morris, Jay Moonah, Ed Lee, Inside PR, David Jones, Terry Fallis, Michelle Tampoya, Sean Moffitt, Michael O’Connor Clarke, Maggie Fox, Joe Thornley, Julien Smith

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