For a thin guy, I sure cast a giant shadow.

Even though I’m always transparent about the collaborative nature of the projects I’m involved in — Canadian Podcast Buffet, Podcasters Across Borders and Just One More Book to name a few — my collaborators including Bob Goyetche and his wife Cat, and my wife, my own wife, Andrea, always seem to be afterthoughts, if thoughts at all, in the eyes of others.

This is not a theory. This is a fact.

Let me offer some examples.

Example One: Comments and questions to the Canadian Podcast Buffet are often sent directly to me. That’s not all. Occasionally the contributor will directly address me alone. I also recall one instance in which Bob introduced himself to someone who was pleased to meet Bob and said something to the effect of “Oh. You’re Mark Blevis’ assistant”. Bob uses a different phrase to describe himself in these instances.

Example Two: Andrea and I have enjoyed a lot of press coverage about our children’s book podcast. While it’s not uncommon for journalists to mistake the odd fact, it’s consistent that the error misappropriates credit to me. And, for all of Andrea’s hours of research for our interviews (2-4 hours PER interview), scheduling and general promotion, our guests and listeners always attribute the success of the interviews to — you guessed it — me. Andrea has a collection of run-on phases to describe me in these instances.

I never chase credit. I never claim credit for things I don’t do. I deflect credit where it is not due. I’m a magnet. Somehow, I just attract credit.

Have you been Blevised?

By the way… Andrea named this post. Really!

Original photo by Mark Blevis Bruce Murray

I have been participating in a dialog on Chris Brogan’s site (Thoughts for Future PodCamps). As part of the conversation, Joel Mark Witt says of PodCamp Ottawa, “I think it is important not to have Podcamps become glorified ‘teetups’ ‘tweetups’. Not saying that yours did - just worried that they will become too informal“.

Joel’s point is very well taken and I thought I’d use this opportunity to explain a bit about PodCamp Ottawa and Zero to Podcasting since they have both attracted the attention of the PodCamp community. That thought process has led me to build on thoughts of others (Chris Brogan, Chris Penn, Whitney Hoffman, Sara Streeter, Tommy Vallier, Bob Goyetche, Andrea Ross, etc…) to share my own thoughts on the future of PodCamp.

Aside from having scheduled specific discussion topics for the day, PodCamp Ottawa was admittedly informal (we sat and lay on pillows on the carpet and did away with computers and projectors). In many respects that was the beauty of the event. The environment facilitated an open discussion where everyone (three-year veterans and those who have never spoken into a microphone) felt welcome and valued. The resulting discussion left everyone in the room thinking very differently about new and social media. There was a bi-directional mentorship that advanced the newcomers and re-energized and re-focused the veterans.

As a result of the impact of the PodCamp Ottawa discussions, several of the participants conceived and mapped out Zero to Podcasting. It was a seed-to-forest workshop that aimed at striking a balance between sitting on the carpet and sitting in a lecture hall. While we did well, I think there is a lot that we could have done better while still respecting the web streaming equipment that cut the room in half (not all conferences will have this problem).

We have received a lot of feedback on the Z2P workshop. The feedback that struck me the most was told to me by several people: where most sessions and workshops explain what to do, Z2P explained and actually demonstrated how to do things and why to do them. The discussion resulted in the exploration of options and the facilitators tracked the key points and relevant URLs on a virtual whiteboard that will be organized and made available for the community in the coming days (follow the Canadian Podcast Buffet and the CPB Wiki).

This feedback has made me realize that as conference participants (speakers/facilitators and audience) we need to look beyond ‘the event itself’ and start thinking about the goals and approaches of the individual sessions.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that the future strength of PodCamp is in three verticals… vertically-focused events, structured vertical tracks, and embedded mentorship programs that build on the strengths of (and levels) both ends of vertical relationships.

Jules and Eisha (pron. I-sha) interviewed and featured me on their amazing blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. And, as though the interview wasn’t enough, they said some amazingly nice things about me. Last week the light shone on my partner and Just One More Book! co-host, Andrea Ross.

7imp, as it is known, is a great blog about children’s books and regularly features interviews with members of the children’s book community. It is quite an honour that Andrea and I were included.

The interviews Andrea and I did unearth things you may not have known about us so be sure that you drop in for the story behind the story.

Being married to me has meant that Andrea Ross’ status in the Podcasting community has been overshadowed by my own. That’s a huge loss for the community because Andrea has done amazing things that have either gone unnoticed, or have been attributed to me.

Prior to developing the concept for Just One More Book!! — a Podcast about the children’s books we love and why we love them, recorded in our favourite coffee shop — Andrea was not interested in being a Podcaster. She attended Podcasters Across Borders and was impressed by the passion that filled the room and the genuine sense of community that rang clear that weekend. Less than a month later she had a concept for Just One More Book. We launched a few days later.

What happened over the next short while was impressive. Andrea immersed herself in the show and the online “Kidlit” community. She figured out, on her own, how to use the tools of Web 2.0 to become part of the community, promoting Just One More Book and creating her own, engaged, community. She even began IM’ing.

By November 2006 Andrea had garnered up significant media attention in the show. That same month, the publishing community began to take notice. A major UK periodical for librarians ran a feature on Just One More Book that month. Two months later, Just One More Book was featured in a major North American periodical for librarians (a second mention in that magazine followed in the February issue). At the end of January, interest in the Podcast tripled — overnight.

On top of everything else, Andrea is responsible for making the interviews happen. She finds the guests, schedules them, researches their contribution to the children’s literature community and preps me for the interview.

Just One More Book is celebrating its 100th episode, today, seven months after its launch on July 15, 2006.

About a month ago, Andrea (my wife and co-host of the Just One More Book Podcast) was invited to write an essay for a website called PaperTigers.org — the centrepiece of a strong community that is based on the love of books from, and about, the Pacific Rim and South Asia. I have referred to this great opportunity as Andrea’s first assignment piece.

Earlier today, Paper Tigers published Andrea’s essay, Canadian Armchair Explorations in Homegrown Asian-themed Children’s Literature.

Congratulations, Andrea! It’s a great piece.