I was challenged recently by someone who questioned why anyone would care about the Podcasters Across Borders conference. The individual’s claims suggested that PAB is a small and insignificant player in the conference circuit, offers nothing unique and was too late to the social media conference circuit to be relevant.
“Besides,” this person added. “I can just listen to the sessions when they’re published.”
I loved the challenge to consider what makes PAB an incredible conference. I’m sure others in the PAB community have their own thoughts. (Feel free to share them in the comments to this post, or post your own thoughts)
SIZE MATTERS
One of the early hypotheses adopted for PAB is that the impact of an individual’s experience is inversely proportional to the number of people gathered. That’s to say, the smaller the conference, the better the experience. PAB is the only social media conference we know of that is structured around a small capacity. This bakes in the possibility that everyone will have a chance to meet, if not connect with, everyone else at the conference.
PUTTING THE PROGRAM BACK INTO CONFERENCES
We’ve heard far too many people say that conference programs are meaningless to them so they spend their time in the hallways socializing. We have nothing against socializing at conferences and believe that there should be ample time to do so built into the program (at PAB, we allocate 15 minutes of each hour to socializing). Socializing, though, can happen anytime and anywhere — you don’t need a conference (fee or free) to bring people together to socialize.
Bob and I strongly believe that a worthwhile conference has a meaningful and engaging program. We put most of our time and energy into making sure that each PAB has a program worthy of other people’s time, energy and money.
COMMON EXPERIENCE
PAB’s one-room, one-track program means that everyone who attends gets to experience the same speakers, same sessions and same ideas. There are no difficult decisions to make on which sessions to sacrifice to be in the audience of a particular session. Everyone can participate in the common conversation about program content throughout the weekend and after the conference wraps up. The opinions and interpretations are all unique and that brings extraordinary value to the “one-tent” approach.
HOUSE GUESTS
Bob and I decided to craft the experience of PABsters being guests of a home. This means we act as hosts, working hard to ensure that everyone is made to feel welcome. We do the fussy stuff, operate the sound system, help speakers connect their equipment, introduce them and run the microphones around during the interactive part of the program. Our guests can sit back, relax and enjoy the weekend. Based on feedback from previous years, we enlisted the help of five people this year to serve as Ambassadors, making sure that PAB newcomers were made to feel welcome and that anyone looking lost, lonely or confused would be helped.
The couches and round tables helped, too.
RE-ENERGIZING LUNCH
In order to keep the program moving and to make sure that the community has the physical and cerebral energy to keep going during the Saturday afternoon, we’ve always made sure to provide a good lunch. We’ve kept people at the conference site by offering a fantastic buffet each year. Lunch includes options for the vegan and meat sets, and a great dessert table.
I’M ON A BOAT!
The annual boat cruise has been a highlight of the social part of the program. Nothing brings people together like being out on scenic Lake Ontario for two hours. For the last two years, we’ve included an open-mic on the main level of the two-storey boat. Partners and family members of the PAB community are invited to join us on the boat cruise at no charge.
SECOND TIER
With the exception of PAB06 (our inaugural year), the PAB program has steered away from the basics of recording, publishing and distributing content. We’ve worked hard to make sure the program offers opportunities for new media and social media enthusiasts and professionals to think differently about the tools and how to use them. The hope is to challenge the community to do something new.
Newcomers are reminded that there’s a room full of people with podcasting experience and favourite tools and toys, all of whom are eager to share their ideas over a coffee or beer. It’s not the equipment you use or how you use it, it’s what you want to communicate and how you communicate it that matters most.
MMMMONEY
Money was an unwelcome discussion topic for the first three years of PAB. This was largely for two reasons. First, making money from new media and social media should be an advantage, not a catalyst. That is, producers should focus on doing something remarkable, then figure out if there are opportunities to make money. Second, and more importantly, we believe that new media and social media were not at a mature enough state to have a meaningful conversation about money, monetization and business models until this year. PAB09 was the first year in which money was programmed into the discussion — and the dialog was definitely productive and respectful.
CAMPFIRE DISCUSSIONS
I hadn’t considered this until Adam Gratrix mentioned it during his recent appearance on John Meadows’ On The Log podcast. Adam pointed out that the original idea for PAB was to meet at a campground and to share ideas around a campfire. The magic of PAB, according to Adam, is that the community has managed to transplant that campfire conversation from the outdoors to a conference room.
BEING THERE
We often hear from people who are thankful that we publish the content of each PAB as audio programs in the months following each conference. We do this to help advance the conversation and provide added value for the community. Anyone who believes they’re attending a conference by watching or listening to the verbatim content from the program is only cheating themselves. It’s the experience of being present for the sessions, discussion and socializing that makes the conference a reality.
HAS ITS OWN PLACE
Among the feedback we received so far about PAB09 is the comment from one person that PAB is what this person had hoped Mesh would be. That kind of feedback reinforces the value of PAB and makes it okay that Bob and I volunteer hundreds of hours each into planning and running each PAB conference.
Really, we never created PAB to compete with other conferences. Our goal is to hold an annual conference that fills a void left by, even augments, the other conferences.
PAB IS ABOUT NOT SETTLING
It becomes comfortable planning PAB on a solid foundation each year. With the exception of PAB06 (our first year and the most risky of all of them — just organizing a conference), we’ve been able to tweak and refine the conference approach each year and build on the previous year’s success. When things become rhythmic and comfortable, people will settle.
PAB is about trying new things, exploring new ideas and making things more engaging. PAB is about figuring what the limits are and how to get beyond them. We must practice what we promote by constantly improving. That’s why we made the decision to move PAB to Ottawa, and to shake things up a bit. We’ll still work from the same foundation; it’s just time to test its strength.
While we may have conceived it and taken the reins PAB is a community event. We value that the community trusts us with this event and providing direction. Perhaps that’s the most unique component of PAB.
YOUR TURN
What makes PAB unique for you?
Oh yeah! We take a group photo each year. (photo: Bob Goyetche)
Over the past few years, I’ve been part of the organizing teams for many events and because of my work in social media and podcasting I regularly find myself in discussions about other events and the community. I often hear that participation is noticeably skewed towards white males, aged thirty through fifty, that there isn’t enough cultural diversity or women represented. In fact, I have at least twice been told that I don’t do enough to include multiculturalism and women in the community.
Almost since the moment 
