Niagara-on-the-Lake is not the first place I’d think of to host a social media event.  John Meadows, Keith Burtis and Bill Deys on the other hand, knew something about the location and timing.  The three of them collaborated to organize the first of what could be many summer-based events in that region.  While partners and families weren’t part of the geeky program of the weekend, the organizers made several efforts to include the social media widows and orphans during meals and a tour of Inniskillin on the Sunday morning.  It was great to move beyond the fishbowl and meet the people behind the scenes — a lot of very nice and patient partners and children.

NOTL2008, as it is known, was a gathering of about 30 people at the Prince of Wales Hotel in downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake.  It was a small and engaged group despite the over-the-top posh room the event was held in.  While the room was a concern of mine from the beginning of the day, the sessions were extremely interesting and the layout of the room quickly vanished as I focussed on the conversation.  My favourite session was Sean McGaughey’s talk called I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like in which he discussed podcasting, friends and community, relating real life now to real life then.

There were a lot of conversations during the weekend about the kind of event that had been originally considered — a BBQ with a few speakers which apparently had to be changed when the venue discovered it was double-booked.   Then there was talk about what the event could be including something a little more cozy like an actual gathering at a campground.  Despite all of that talk of what could have been and what could be, NOTL2008 was many things that other events haven’t been and sported a more cozy spirit which included all-you-can eat homemade chocolate chip cookies (thanks, Keith’s mom!).

It was particularly nice to see people who have largely taken a support role at other events move into a more visible role by organizing this event.  I hadn’t considered that August was a good time to meet.  I had actually dismissed the idea and discovered that it was a great time to regroup and gear up for what has historically been viewed as the coming of a new season of social media production.

The Canadian Podcast Buffet website is experiencing some problems today. We have determined the source of the problem and we expect things to be back to normal later today.

Thanks to Bill Deys for being the first reponder with a solution to get the latest episode. For your convenience, I’ve added it to this post.

 

 CPB episode 81: Win A Behringer B1 Mic Bring Da King And A Deeper Look At Portable Recorders: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you’ve been in audio for a while, chances are you have a lot of stories about lost audio. I have a few. Perhaps one of the most painful, certainly the most current, is the phantom recording I did last evening from the back seat of a taxi I was sharing with Bill Deys, Neil Gorman and Bob Goyetche.

The brilliance of the recording was that it captured a fight that took place between CC Chapman and our Russian cab driver as we were preparing to leave. CC’s directions were a bit confusing and the cabbie was a very direct communicator. The argument that ensued between them was both hilarious and stressful. It was tough to fight the laughter knowing that I had my trusty Zoom H2 recorder capturing the exchange - for Bill (who was in the front seat) more than me.

I plugged my H2 in to my laptop a few minutes ago and smiled knowing that all of the recordings I made yesterday were waiting for me. All, as it turns out, except for the exchange in the cab.

Like my Edirol R1, the Zoom H2 requires you to double-clutch the record button to begin the recording. The first press gets you into record-ready state and the second press starts the recording.

Trust me, the record-ready-recording of the fight between CC and the cabbie was a classic recording that never happened.

Epilogue: During last year’s PodCamp Boston, I shared a cab back to my hotel with Julien Smith. After a while of driving around aimlessly, Julien, in a sarcastic way that only Julien can deliver, leaned forward and said to our very aggressive and impatient cabbie, “Dude! You do know where you’re going, right?”

Off to PodCamp Boston 2, day 1.

There’s a big community initiative underway to send birthday wishes to Derek K. Miller. It’s very simple to participate. Just send an audio comment of 10 seconds or less (a 5 second limit is ideal) via MP3 to markblevis@gmail.com or call it in to +1.206.350.6487. See the original post below.

Please send your contribution by 8pmET tonight (June 28).

Thanks to Sean McGaughey for kicking this off and Bill Deys for rallying the community.

Photo: Inside Home Recording co-hosts, Derek K. Miller and Paul Garay, at The Police concert in Vancouver.

clipped from deys.ca

Over IM this morning with Sean McGaughey he pointed out the recently Derek Miller of The Penmachine Podcast has a birthday fast approching! He has also received some news that isn’t so Happy. You can read about it on his blog, he has been amazingly open and honest, but I feel this is not the time or place to get into that in great detail. Anyways in light of all that we want to put togeher a bunch of Happy Birthday and Well Wishes for Derek. We need two things, first is some audio. Say whatever you want, from as simple as “Happy Birthday” or more personal if you choose. Mark Blevis has steped up to take on the task of editing it all together, so send your audio to markblevis@gmail.com.

Two weeks from this exact moment, the PAB2007 party will be going strong. “Old” friends will be reunited and new friendships will be underway. It will probably seem like we’ve all known each other for as long as we can remember. I’m writing figuratively, not about the effects of alcohol. And since I’m writing figuratively, I can also speculate that Julien Smith will surprise us all with a new tattoo. </figurative>

Like last year, I’ll be overwhelmed. A near capacity crowd (160 max) has shown its support and endorsement of Podcasters Across Borders by registering to be a part of the event. People will be gathering from all over Canada, the US, UK, Argentina and even Trinidad and Tobago.

Perhaps more significant is that the strength of PAB and the commitment of the community has attracted a lot of additional support. We are grateful for the support of gold partners Rogic, TD Canada Trust and Third Storey Productions, and sponsors Thornley Fallis, Marion McDonald, Don Edwards, Bill Deys and Freddie Litwiniuk. If it weren’t for all of the generous contributions, registration fees for PAB would be much higher, reflecting the true value of the conference.

The PAB community makes this event possible and necessary.  I consider myself very lucky to be trusted by all parties to co-organize the event.

Considering I was originally blog-tagged four days ago by Bill Deys (and then two days ago by Charles Cadenhead), I would say that I’m decidedly late getting this post out.  I will spare you the excuses.  However, since I’m so late on the game for this one, I’m reluctant to tag anyone else since I’m probably the last one on the Internet to respond to this.

So, without further delay and in no particular order, here are my seven favourite songs based on current listening habits:

Sting - Fortress Around Your Heart
Xavier Rudd - Messages
The Police - Hole In My Life
Barenaked Ladies - Vanishing
Jack Johnson - Upside Down
Genesis - Trick of the Tail
Colin Hay - Waiting for My Real Life to Begin
Masters of Reality - She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)

When Bob Goyetche and I first started working on Podcasters Across Borders 2006, there were a lot of reasons to be concerned — mostly relating to financial commitments and community interest. Okay, concerns may not be the right word. Let’s say Stress, with a capital ‘S’.

We took a big gamble, committing personal funds to secure conference facilities and invested a lot of time to plan and promote the event, and process registrations. It was a great learning experience. In fact, maybe I should blog some of my lessons-learned about that process sometime.

A turning point in the process, for me, was the day we received our very first paid registrations. I knew that no matter what happened, PAB2006 was going to be great. In my view, it was already a success because others believed in the event and its organizers enough to commit their own funds and holiday time to participate. Karen and Ross made my day and became silent motivators when things seemed rough. They will always be the first ever paid registrants for PAB.

Things are a bit different this year. PAB is an established event with a large following. A lot of people have been emailing Bob and me for months asking for registration information — many have also offered help. That doesn’t change the fact that there were concerns going in to the big registration announcement. It’s amazing how that first paid registration can evaporate all of those concerns. We have Bill Deys to thank for kicking off the demonstration of trust in us this year.

Registrations are coming in faster than we expected. This is real!

See you in June.