One day before PAB2007 was to kick off, Jeff Parks fell ill. Bob and I decided that I would take the vacancy and pull together a replacement presentation. In my session, I challenged the community to engage their audience with atmosphere and ambience in their audio recordings and productions; to take risks and think beyond quiet studios, converted clothes cupboards and stale boardrooms.  Take your listeners with you — wherever you go — when you record your programs.

You can hear my session at the Canadian Podcast Buffet. A transcript of the session will accompany the podcast in the next week or so.

The latest version of the Canadian Podcast Buffet features an audio collage of PAB2007 speakers and panelists to kick off the show. In my haste to edit and publish CPB I left a number of speakers out of the collage. This morning I completed the collage, republished CPB and made the PAB2007 tribute available on the Podcasters Across Borders site. I can’t help making it available here, as well.

 

 PAB2007 tribute [3:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Canadian Podcasting Legal Guide was unveiled by Andy Kaplan-Myrth and Kathi Simmons at Podcasters Across Borders and is now available for download (in html and pdf) from the Creative Commons Canada site.

The presentation by Andy and Kathi will be available for download on the Canadian Podcast Buffet in the next two weeks.

Episode 71 of the Canadian Podcast Buffet has been published which means that season two is officially over.  For the next two months, all of the official PAB2007 conference audio will be released through the Canadian Podcast Buffet while Bob and I recharge.  Season three kicks off in September.

I thought PAB2007 would end and I would be able to return to a normal life. Not so. I have been constantly thinking about what I’ve learned from the conference, about conference planning, and how we even planned this thing in the first place. You can expect a number of posts as a result.

Here is some of what I’ve learned from co-organizing/co-running PAB2007.

Lesson 1: Be transparent then trust and believe in the community
It’s not easy being shouldered with tough decisions — especially when they result from your own mistakes. Take, for example, the Saturday afternoon draw for the Zoom H4. That was a closed draw that was to exclude speakers, sponsors and organizers. So, when we drew the name Chris Sherry, who is affiliated with one of the sponsors and didn’t catch it, we had the potential of a real problem. We decided to come clean with our mistake and include the community in the decision. The community unanimously forgave our mistake. Immediately after that was resolved, Chris Penn stepped up and donated a second Zoom H4 for the Sunday draw. This leads me to the next lesson learned.

Lesson 2: Include everyone
For our first Zoom H4 draw we announced that speakers, sponsors and organizers were specifically excluded from qualifying for the draw. Many speakers rightfully expressed their disappointment — after all, they weren’t paid and they are part of the community. For the second Zoom H4 draw we decided that all paid registrants, speakers and sponsors who were in the room at the time of the draw qualified to win.

Lesson 3: Share the love
As part of PAB2007, we held a children’s book drive for Kingston’s Central Public School. The drive was a huge hit. We collected 86 amazing kids books and the community felt great being a part of that. Later in the weekend we held a collection to raise money to replace Bruce Murray’s camera after it had disappeared from the conference room the night before. The community raised $291 before Bruce’s camera turned up. When we talked about having a 50/50 draw as a possible use of the collection, Chris Penn piped up with the suggestion that we donate the money to Central Public School. The community immediately approved of the idea.

Lesson 4: Remain calm; the problem can be solved
Actually… what I told a few people — and practiced — during the weekend was to “remain calm and the problem will solve itself”. Many people say that a lot can go wrong at a conference, failing to acknowledge that there is a lot that goes famously well. More importantly, if you think creatively — and keep your wits about you — there is likely to be many possible solutions for every problem (if nothing else, you won’t be stressed).

I have a few posts that I’m working on as part of my reflections on and wrap-up of PAB. I’ve been slower to get them together than I had hoped.

In the meantime, I found this fantastic group photo taken with Jim Milles’ camera (Bruce Murray may have been the photographer). I love this picture. I love that it showcases one of the great qualities of PAB2007… that it’s big enough to be a conference and small enough to result in a great family photo. The picture says so much more than I can articulate, so I’ll just quietly admire it for a while and remember the great event made possible by everyone in the picture, and a few people that aren’t in it.

See you next year!

Okay… this is a bit embarrassing.  The students of Central Public School apparently thought that since the planning for the PAB2007 book drive took place using the “Just One More Book” email account, the conference was about “Just One More Book”.  D’oh!

Andrea and I arrived in Kingston about 45 minutes ago. We had a great time listening to James Whittingham’s coverage of PAB2007 with Bruce Murray on the way in. I wonder if he’ll be calling me.

I have checked out the conference facilities. Everything is in place and ready to go. The sound guy is finishing his setup. In short, the space looks great, and you can see The Island Star (the boat cruise boat) from the south window.

The students of Central Public School made a fantastic welcome sign which is hung up in the conference room. Did you remember to bring a book for the book drive?

See you soon!

Sean McGaughey has tagged me with a meme he’s kicked off this evening: The un-official Podcasters Across Borders Meme. Here are my responses.

Why are you coming to PAB?
The easy answer is that I co-organized the event. The easier answer is that it’s going to be the best time anyone can have Podcasting and new-media.

A little homework now: Which PAB registrants would you like to meet? Why?
Basically, everyone who I haven’t yet met. I guess the standouts are the people that I’ve been in contact with for a while and have never met. People like Daryl Cognito, Ajay and Ted Riecken.

Who is your “dream interview” for your podcast? Why?
Haha. I have been a committed Police fan since I was 11. I would love to complete my holy grail series of interviews with members of The Police camp. Missing are Danny Quatrochi, Jeff Seitz, Andy Summers and Sting (I’ve already interviewed all three Copeland brothers).

Who would you like to interview at podcamp Podcasters Across Borders?
I have no plans to interview anyone at PAB.

What is your, “Can’t miss it” session at podcamp Podcasters Across Borders?
Well, I can’t miss the audio production workshop since I’m co-presenting with Bob. I don’t know if I can pick just one. If you’re going to force the issue, I’ll pick the Creative Commons presentation since the Canadian Podcasting Legal Guide will be released during that session.

What is your favorite podcast?
My current favourites are Inside Home Recording and Todbits. There must be something in the water out west.

What is your favorite web resource?
Google.

Who is your favorite podsafe musician? (eg. Sean McGaughey).
Robert Farrell.

Ginger or Maryanne?
Whoever registers for PAB first.

Bob, Mark, or Tod?
Bob — Tod’s not an organizer.

TAG… YOU’RE IT… Ajay, Daryl Cognito, Ted Riecken, Julien Smith, Whitney Hoffman.

The June 6 issue of Ottawa Life Magazine has identified “Blues Guitar Sensation” Robert Farrell as one of Ottawa’s top 50 people. Click here to see the write-up.

Robert is performing at The Merchant Tap House on June 23 as part of the Podcasters Across Borders 2007 conference in Kingston, Ontario. The concert is open to the public.