PodCamp AZ on-site report

“This one time at Podcamp…” is what was silk screened on the shirt I bought at PodcampAZ. Podcamp Arizona was held at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe Arizona on November 3rd 2007. Michelle and Brent Spore wrote the first pbwiki page on March 16th of 2007 stating they wanted to put on this event and were looking for help to get the ball rolling. From the looks of the event as an outsider the ball indeed rolled and grew into something they should be very proud of.

The friends I was staying with were volunteers for the event so we arrived early to the UAT campus. Jokingly we were told the internet access in the facility would be fine until 3pm when the college kids would be finally waking up from the late nights. I was helping out in the upstairs “Voice of the Podcamp” room where my friends Dan and CJ Feierabend would be recording and streaming live on Ustream.

People began to arrive a bit early for the event and Chris Brogan was on the big screen in the theater room preparing for his keynote speech. He was unable to attend the event but would be presenting live via the internet. The 100+ people in the room during the speech were told by Mr. Brogan that they shouldn’t be shy and should try to meet as many people as they could. This conference was created for them and discussion was encouraged during the presentations. After the keynote, people were released to the session of their choice.

The day was broken into five parts with the first hour including such topics as: Social Networking, The ROI of social media, Audio Podcasting Basics, Podcasting for Profit and Show in a Box. I attended the Social Networking session which had the subhead reading “Being a social puddle jumper” hosted by Clintus McGintus. Clint is a self proclaimed social puddle jumper, going from one event to another, not limiting himself to any one particular group of people. He talked about the various online technologies he uses to share the audio / video content that he produces.

The second round of sessions in hour two included these topics: From Commenters to Contributors – Building Rabid Fans, Destination Media, The idea that is the Web 2.0, Developing Ideas and content for a weekly show, Podcasting and Education, and Determining the right length for our podcast. I went to the latter and learned quite a bit from CJ “The Mighty Mommy” and Aaron Bates, both of which have an hour plus show as well as a 10 minute or less podcast.

At lunch they had BBQ food and live performances from Jack Mangan and Jody Gnant. After the lunch the third session began with these topics: Ask a Kent with Kent Nichols, Improving your online video with Israel Hyman, Beyond Podcasting with Michael R Mennenga, Marketing in 3D Worlds with Lon Safko and Steven Groves, Why it is Necessary to build and maintain an online brand with Susan F. Heywood, and Building a Podcast from the ground up with Nicole and Marc Spagnuolo. I attended the latter where they talked about the various techniques and technologies used to record, present and deliver their podcast The Wood Whisperer.

The final set of sessions: Video Blogging sharing moments with the world with Clintus McGintus, Powerpoint, blog, screencasting with Kathy Jacobs, Real Estate and social media with Steven Groves and Greg Swann, Why community matters in the new media world with Jack Mangan, and PodFading with Ken Crockett. I attended the PodFading session where Ken spoke about how to not podfade and how to recover from podfading.

Throughout the day they gave out blue tickets for various things you could do such as attending a session, public act of social networking, asking questions or answer someone else’s question in a session. These tickets were used for the raffle they had during the closing keynote session. Prizes were given out during this raffle including books, CDs, headphones, software, gift cards and t-shirts. 

Overall this PodCamp was a big success and the folks that were involved in its creation should be very proud of themselves. The attendees were giving exactly what they were promised, an exceptional event with great people and great atmosphere at an awesome location.

on-site report by Jason Tucker of TuckerTakes

About Jason Tucker

Jason Tucker is a Contributing Editor for Beatweek Magazine and Webmaster for Beatweek.com. He's also a Systems Administrator, Disney Fanatic, WordPress hacker and father of three.