Whitney Hoffman has published a few blog posts this week relating to the demands put upon conference organizers by last-minute registrations (see Your Failure to Plan Ahead is Not My Emergency, Law of Supply and Demand and What Happened to the Social Contract?).  I’d like to add another component to the discussion: The rule of no exceptions.

This is a hard rule to implement and enforce, particularly since many of us in the social media community know each other very well and in many cases we’re close friends.  It’s hard to say no to your friends.  When it comes to conference planning and public deadlines, you have to. 

I’ll use Podcasters Across Borders as an example since, for some reason, I know it well.

For the second year in a row, we have announced the dates of the next conference nearly a full year in advance (July June 19-21, 2009 in Kingston, Ontario — Canada — in case you hadn’t yet heard).  Last year, we starting making announcements about early registration (with a lower registration rate) a little more than one month in advance.  We made a formal announcement a few weeks in advance, and made regular updates online leading up to and during early registration.  Some people told us that they would be registering on the second last or last day of early registration.  The day following the close of early registration we received several emails requesting that we make an exception in each specific case.

Planning events and conferences for the community is a difficult task.  Registering for an event is an endorsement of the quality of the event and the investment of the organizers.  If an event is worth attending/endorsing, it’s worth doing so within the parameters of the event.

Congratulations to the PodCamp Boston 3 team.  I’m sorry I couldn’t be there this time.

During her presentation at PAB2008, Whitney Hoffman provided her analysis of a fledgling and still relatively unknown podcast network that had great promise when it was launched last September. Whitney outlined what appears to be a breakdown in communications, lack of transparency and possibly the use of bloated claims to market the network to would-be members and sponsors. The problem is that the network never gelled as a cohesive group and has been unable to establish a community among members and audience.

In fairness, most podcast networks have had a difficult time making a success of themselves; the most public of these being Podshow which is trying to distance itself from its earlier mistakes as it goes through its reinvention as an entertainment company.

I believe that there are two types of networks in this space: the Rabbit Network and the Turtle Network.

The Rabbit Network seeks to build market share for financial reasons. These networks face two distinct challenges. First, the early adopters of new media (including podcasting) were hobbyists that struggled with the delivery and/or production of their content. This is in no way a knock at the content creators because most of the content that was (and still is) being produced was fresh and (in some cases) edgy. The content they were creating, though, was marketed to commercial interests that had a difficult time identifying any commercial appeal. This is particularly true where the second challenge comes in — the business model. It’s hard to convince potential sponsors and investors to take a financial risk on an unproven and relatively disruptive technology. The value couldn’t be measured so the potential sponsors avoided the risk. Traditional business models were used where new business models were merited. Because the big players preferred to play safe, the word about the podcasting didn’t move as quickly. This means that it was hard to establish, and ultimately appreciate, the value of the media.

Having said that, there have been some notable sponsorships. As Whitney points out, though, it is unclear whether the sponsorships were achieved based on genuine metrics. Regardless, there is data that suggests some so-called small scale podcasts have greater penetration and engagement than the shows that are getting the big sponsorship deals.

The Rabbit Networks usually make a big splash when they launch and become marginalized over time. Some people believe this is because mainstream media loses interest or that the latest and greatest Rabbit Network has come along to replace the one thatís making the same mistakes as its predecessors. Based on my understanding, the Rabbit Networks almost always disintegrate because of hidden agendas and lack of communication.

The Turtle Network is a group of like-minded content producers that band together in a show of support and to help promote one-another’s shows. There is no expectation of financial gain and in many cases the bond is a mutual (and sometimes vocal) disinterest in sponsorship and advertising. These networks have no specific goals and, for the outsider, appear to be nothing more than a public pronouncement of friendship and a way to help listeners identify content that the producer(s) enjoy.

It’s easy to be dismissive of the Turtle Networks since they never really seem to accomplish anything. However, their organic approach to building and engaging an audience, and their quietly-chug-away approach to creating programs, means that they serve a niche that will follow them and forgive them their absences and production mistakes. The Turtles survive because of their regular, honest and transparent communication.

Perhaps networks haven’t succeeded, yet, because noone’s figured out a way to cross-breed a Rabbit and a Turtle.

Whitney Hoffman and I spoke Sunday evening about the debate over the fee for the upcoming PodCamp Boston.  It seems that many people are quite upset about the fee and have used the argument that communities shouldn’t charge its members to participate in events.  That’s when we started to talk about physical communities and financial support they request.  Immediately, several communities came to mind including my own neighbourhood which asks households to contribute $5 to sustain the activities group (the fee is requested whether you participate in neighbourhood activities or not).

Perhaps the most significant — and oldest — community to expect members to contribute is the church.  Here’s an organization that does a collection from its congregation each week.  To be fair, synagogues have fundraising drives to sustain community activities.  It’s worth noting that these are communities that people are born into, not specifically adopted the way the social media community is.  Many would argue that these are communities that will play the guilt card.

Bob Goyetche said this past fall that social media is a hobby and in order to participate you need some money to buy at least the most basic of technology making us a community of disposable incomes of some degree or another.  Whitney supports this statement by offering demographic data that shows an overwhelming majority of PodCamp (that’s free PodCamp) attendees are professionals in their 30’s.  An increasing number travel great distances, stay in hotels and eat out to attend the events.

Smaller PodCamps like PodCamp Ottawa can be organized in a few days and run at absolutely no charge.  And because they are locally focused, it allows people in a geographic region to connect and form their own community without having to travel and stay in hotels.

PodCamp is a proven model.  An event fee equivalent to a few Starbucks coffees won’t change the content or delivery.  It will sustain it.

I enlisted the help of some friends to share experiences and ideas related to conference and unconference organizing. The hope is to kick off a conversation in which everyone — conference organizers, sponsors, participants, vendors, etc… — contributes and makes future events more smooth, successful and creative.

Contributors

• Dave Delaney
• Whitney Hoffman
• Jay Moonah
• Chris Penn
• Chris Brogan
• Linda Mills

Conferences mentioned

• Podcasters Across Borders
• PodCamps: UK, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Ottawa, NYC, Boston, Philly and Toronto
• BarCamp Nashville

Participate in the conversation. Leave a comment on this post or a record a voice comment at +1.206.350.6487.

 

 Thoughts on organizing a conference (part 1?) [35:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

Like many people immersed in social and new media technologies, I regularly receive friend requests through services like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. About 60% of the time, I know or have met the person from whom the request originates. The rest of the requests come from people I’ve never heard of.

So, how do I know if these people are friends? I don’t. My approach is to assess their existing friends and followers for people I trust. If I see a name like Bob Goyetche or Whitney Hoffman (among others), I immediately accept the request.

How does your trusted network work for you?

PodCamp Philly took place on the anniversary of the original PodCamp (PodCamp Boston) and it was a fantastic tribute to the movement and its founders.

The event was first class. Whitney Hoffman and her team put on an amazing conference at a great venue, with committed sponsors, a herd of new campers and a fantastic anniversary celebration. About the only thing that was missing for me was my Canadian compatriots that were with me in Boston last year (see CC Chapman’s photo of my Tribute to Absent Original Canadian Podcampers and Chris Brogan sticker at the right of this post).

Here are my five highlights from the weekend (in no particular order):

NEWCOMERS

I’ve been to six podcast-related conferences and countless meetups. This is the first such event I attended that had more newly-minted and soon-to-be podcasters than veterans. I had suspected as much when I looked at the list of registrants and was convinced when CC Chapman opened a session by asking how many people in the room did not create a podcast — about 80% of the hands in the room went up.

CONNECTIONS

I always make a point of getting to know as many new people as possible and socialize out of my normal circles at podcast gatherings. Philly offered ample opportunities to meet new people because there were so many unfamiliar (to me) names and faces there. It was great to connect with so many genuine people.

PODCAMP TRIBUTE

Whitney rallied the community to create a tribute to the two Chrises (Chris Brogan and Chris Penn), and Larry Lawfer brought the vision to life in a series of great videos. One of the videos was played during the opening ceremonies on Saturday morning. I wonder if Chris and Chris realize what they have achieved and how many people they have affected.

ROCKY RUN FOR CHOP

While only a dedicated few of us actually made the bold move of self-humiliation when we recreated the famous scene from Rocky in which Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps of the Museum of Art and performed a victory dance, many people contributed to this fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The last I heard, we had raised nearly $300.

WHITNEY HOFFMAN AND HER FAMILY

Besides leading a great organizing team, Whitney was an incredible host. She was an incredible host at the conference and she and her family were incredible hosts to me, CC and Lynette who were guests of their home. Organizing conferences takes a lot of time, energy and juggling of life priorities including families. Whitney was able to do all of this, her family supported her throughout and then displaced themselves for the comfort of others in the process. You guys deserve a standing ovation.

For the first time ever, I arrived at an airport to a car service holding my name on a card — a great greeting from CC Chapman and Whitney Hoffman.

We sat down in an airport restaurant and caught up for a while, waiting for some other flights to come in. That’s when I found out that CC has left Crayon and will make the move to freelancing.

Forty minutes later, Chris Penn and Steve Garfield arrived. With that, PodCamp Philly kicked off in the middle of the airport. The first session took place in Whitney’s van as CC highlighted the features of his new Zoom H2 and Steve introduced me to the iPhone. Then Chris talked TubeTV and continued at Whitney’s house with a demonstration of Blue Sky Factory.

As it turns out, Chris Brogan won’t be here this weekend. I think there’s an agreement among us that we will photoshop him into some pictures and blog about his crazy antics.

Click here to see PodCamp Philly photos on Flickr.

Here are the titles, summaries, times and rooms of the presentations I will be a part of at PodCamp Philly. Note that times and rooms may change.

Editing Techniques and Decisions - (On special request of Whitney Hoffman) Practical examples and live demonstrations of five audio editing techniques and discussions on how to apply them. [Saturday September 8, 11:00am in Korman A]

High Impact New Media (with C. C. Chapman and Linda Mills) - Mistakes to avoid and ideas to consider when incorporating new media as part of a PR and marketing strategy for businesses, organizations, events, music and even personal projects. [Saturday September 8, 2:00pm in Pearlstein 102]

Greater Than the Sum of its Parts - Using examples of three elements that help to develop communities, I will present an understanding of Return on Influence that can be applied in both grassroots and business settings. [Sunday September 9, 10:00am in Korman B]

People: The magic ingredient of all podcasts (with Andy Bilodeau) - If it’s not fun, it’s really not worth doing - whether as a hobby or for financial gain. In this interactive session we’ll talk about proven ways to have fun podcasting, achieve rewarding results and avoid burnout - drawing on the experience of newcomers, podcasting veterans of over two-and-a-half years, and podcast consultants/producers. [Sunday September 9, 1:00pm in Korman B]

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.