The future strength of PodCamp is in three verticals
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.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Mark, I wanted to chime in a short comment here and let you know that I got a ton out of the Zero to Podcasting at Podcamp Toronto. As a fairly new but well emersed guy to the social media scene, I felt as if I had something to offer and something to learn.
I wish I could have been at the entire session (s) but I am very glad that the sessions were taped and recorded for later use. This is really the power of social media and I love the sharing nature of the whole thing!
Thanks for doing a great job!
Keith Burtis
February 25th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Thanks, Keith. I’m glad you found the session helpful.
This community is very supportive. If you have any questions, you can email pretty much anyone and get an informed response. Similarly, feel free to offer any thoughts and experience you have. As you point out, we will all benefit from the sharing.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Mark,
I’d really like to read more about your idea for three verticals. Can you flesh them out more in a future post?
Joel Mark Witt
February 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Joel… I’ll pull my ideas together and blog them. Hopefully that will spark a dialog. Thanks for the nudge.
February 26th, 2008 at 5:59 am
I really enjoyed the group sound effects aspects of zero to podcasting- that was awesome in and of itself!
It’s hard to figure out how to get everyone involved, kind of hands-on in trying out things like editing tools- showing is helpful, but ongoing mentoring helps too- maybe we do have to think about “adopt a newbie” and newer people can put their name in a hat and then more experienced people can pull a name and adopt them, mentoring them for the day or 3 months, or however long, to encourage both bringing the new people into the fold- sort of like a sponsor- someone a new person can call on with specific questions or difficulties and get them answered.
It terms of verticals, I think there are specific challenges with bringing podcasting into the classroom, for example, or using new and social media to supplement classroom learning. That’s why we’re exploring this in a separate track at Podcamp NYC. Demos, hands-on, mentoring, not only showing what’s possible but giving concrete examples on how this changes learning and the implications is important.
Podcamp works best when we have a small enough group that people really feel like they get to know someone new, see old friends, and everyone gets something out of the conference. Even those of us with more experience still feel like we could always learn something new, or how to do something differently or more efficiently. I like hanging around the new kids on the block sessions, not only to help others, but to see what other people do differently, and why it might be WAY better than how I produce my show.
Looking forward to more discussion on the verticals-
Whitney
February 28th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Perhaps I am not one of the cool kids, what the hell does teetup mean?
February 28th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
typo … should have written “tweetup” - which is an informal meeting or get together of Twitter users. Twitter posts are also known as “tweets.”
Joel
February 29th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Aha! Now it makes sense. Yeah the sitting around twittering is, for me, a tad much.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
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