Comments on: Some Notes from Podcamp

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:07:18 +0000

Thom, overall I thought you did an excellent job putting on this conference. I know that podcamps are more informal, as you described. With the number of actual podcasters who attended, I highly doubt that we could pull off a true podcamp experience. My guess is that 90% of the people would show up, not have a clue about what to do, and then eventually leave. I think you chose right in scheduling it more like a conference. People put a lot more work into their presentations this way too, so there is more value.

The podcamp did have shorter sessions and allow time to interact, so in that sense it was different from a normal conference. I liked that.

If you’re looking for a title next year, maybe using the term “digital media” in it would broaden the scope.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to present. I had a lot of fun.

By: Thom Allen

Thom Allen — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:25:44 +0000

You are correct in the definition of a “camp” or “unconference”. And that was the original intent I wanted for our PodCamp. However, when it came right down to it, the amount of people that wanted or would share was small. So to be fair to the definition, we should have chosen a different name.

PodCamps around the globe have moved to an almost completely pre-planned event. You must have a really strong community, not only people with knowledge, but also people willing to attend with no schedule.

Next year we won’t use the word PodCamp. Expanding in several areas, not solely focusing on Podcasting, requires we change the name. More on that later.

The one part of the day I really dropped the ball on was the breakout. What I had originally intended to have happen was hampered by the fact the people who were going to lead the break sessions left. And I simply didn’t have a plan B. I apologize for the break there, it wasn’t really intended to be like that.

Glad you enjoyed yourself, you did a great job presenting. Thank you.

By: Lizzie

Lizzie — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:09:04 +0000

I second the notion to write a book! I’m doing just that, in a bid not to boost my ego but to boost my business. Sophfronia Scott maintains a published book is the near equivalent of a business card today — so I think my book will be a platform to help me grow my business (and get up to that $250 an hour rate! I’m still in the high double digits at the moment). Her book is “Doing Business By the Book” and is packed with great tips, as well as the “how-tos” of writing a business book. She covers organizing the book, tips for writing, publicity and where and how to sell the book. She even has many ideas for using the book as the launching pad or platform, like I said above, to expand your business — that’s incredibly useful. If you want, you can even have a free consultation.

Happy writing!