Listen to Episode 14

Wow, over 20 people showed up for our Podcamp Toronto Wrap-Up Podcast over on Talkshoe. We discussed the good and the bad of Podcamp Toronto (mostly good) and brainstormed on ways to improve the event next time.

On behalf of Connie and myself, thanks to all the listeners and participants on the Podcamp Toronto Podcast. You have helped in making Podcamp Toronto the wonderful success it was.

Run time: 54:09

Show notes:

Your humble hosts:

Connie Crosby
Sean “ductapeguy” McGaughey

Music - “Thematic Waves” by Vergel Evans

On the call:

Michael “definetheline” Mistretta
Mike “The Birdman” Dodd
Steve “Snowball” Saylor
Tommy Vallier
Jay Moonah
Eden Spodek
Whitney Hoffman
Mitch “studionashvegas” Canter

Hipsters in the chat room:

Timothy Pilgrim
Keith Burtis
Chris “Chris24″ Thomson
Donna Papacosta
Dave Fleet
Andrew Rivett
Dave Forde
Drew Beatty
Daniele Rossi
Alex Miller
Three Amigos
Ciciride
gdrage

Send feedback:

ductapeguy @ hotmail.com
conniecrosby @ gmail.com
or leave an audio comment at MyChingo

This picture taken at Podcamp Toronto completely summarizes what I love about the power of podcasting and the community of podcasting. On the left we have a number of teen podcasters including Matt, and Chris24. Some of them can be heard on Blastr.tv , a weekly tech podcast produced by and for teens. On the far right is Anne Abbot an amazing visual artist and podcaster. Although she is unable to speak, she communicates with a communication board. Her paintings and her podcast give her a powerful way to communicate with the world at large.

Here is a brief listing of my personal highlights and aha moments from Podcamp.

• Finally meeting All Axis Ajay in person.
• Bob Goyetche demonstrating how to use the time shift tool in Audacity. Doh!– that is already saving me hours in editing time.
• Meeting Keith Burtis and buying one of his beautiful bowls for my wife for our anniversary (She got me a new mic).
• Hanging out in Zero to Podcasting watching light bulbs turn on over people’s heads and knowing that next year some these people will be back as seasoned podcasting veterans.
• Mitch Joel (and many others) attending the conference through the miracle of twitter and streaming technology. Although Mitch was watching in Montreal, several times he asked questions of the presenters via twitter and one of the people in the room asked it for him.
• The informal meetups Friday and Saturday, especially at our unofficial clubhouse, The Imperial Public Library. We had set up a page on the wiki for facilitating informal meetups, but it went almost completely unused. The action was face to face in the halls and on twitter. In fact, the restaurant we were heading to Saturday changed 3 times as people ahead of us reported that the restaurants were full. Fortunately we were with Daniele Rossi who was keeping up with the twitter conversations on his phone. Why did people use twitter in this circumstance and not the wiki?– portability. This taught me a valuable lesson about new media tools. We have a gajillion tools at our disposal but not all are suited for all purposes. As an organizer of Podcamp I realized that we could set up “Official” channels at an event such as this but the wisdom of the crowds may dictate other channels.
• I also had a wonderful conversation with Many and Brad, our hosts from Ryerson University. I cannot thank them enough for two years of amazing hospitality towards Podcamp Toronto.

Here are a few more pictures from my weekend at Podcamp.

We will be recording a wrap-up of Podcamp Toronto live:

Sunday, March 2nd
9:00 p.m. EST
via Talkshoe

We will have organizers on the call and hope to have participants in last weekend’s Podcamp to discuss the highlights and how we can do things even better than last year.

If you haven’t joined us before, you can call in to Talkshoe:
(724) 444-7444
Enter Call ID 14385
If you are  member of Talkshoe, enter your PIN; if you are not, enter as a guest with 1#

Some of us use Skype (at one of the paid levels) and others use ShoePhone. Or you can just call in at your long distance rate.

We hope you will join us.

How does Podcamp Toronto 2008 differ from Podcamp Toronto 2007? There is definitely a different feel this year, although perhaps not noticeable on first blush.

Ninja, one of the hosts of Hot Fossils and Rebel Matters, said that things seem even more relaxed than last year. Talking with Martin Cleaver, we theorized that it is less about the hype and more about looking maturely as to what we can do with the tools. Technology goes through a sort of “hype cycle” where it becomes popular and hyped, then swings down into a back-lash, and then corrects itself into a more realistic middle plateau (well, he described this better than me and probably could be served by a graphic).

Photo: by Wayne MacPhail

Regardless, more than half the people here have not been to Podcamp before. But many are arriving with a good level of understanding because they have already been part of the conversation, whether it be from listening to podcasts, reading blogs, watching videos, or otherwise consuming and responding to the new media.

Last year Twitter was the domain of just a few people. This year it seems to be part of almost all conversations–either you are sharing ideas on Twitter or you want to.

This year we have more people discovering the live video stream from the wiki, and sending comments via Twitter to audience members to ask of the presenters. So people like Mitch Joel in Montreal and Andrea Vascellari in Finland can follow along and feel even more engaged.

And this year it is not about “how can I make money off my podcast” (the whole “monetizing” concept that is loathed by many hobbiest independent podcasters), and more about how to use podcasting and social media strategically to fulfill certain goals, whether they be building a personal following, using for business, or for non-profit organizations.

We seem to be talking less at cross-purposes this year, and tend to be listening and learning more from each other.

Which is really what social networking is all about.

More interviews from the halls at podcamp.

Listen to Episode 13

Connie and I recorded these interviews live at the restaurant at dinner with about 30 podcampers. No shownotes this time. Just a whole bunch of happy podcampers. Enjoy.

Podcamp Toronto Podcast 12

The Zero to Podcast people at Podcamp are going through the whole process of conceiving, producing and publishing a podcast in just two days. Today they recorded and edited a wonderful podcast called Hiding in the Closet. I sat in the session where Bob Goyetche demonstrated how to edit all the clips together in audacity. I’ve been a daily audacity user for 3 years and I learned about several basic features of audacity which will radically change the way I work.

Have a listen to Hiding in the Closet.

The background music is Fakeout by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com.

Podcamp Toronto is up and running. I’m sitting listening to Chris Brogan’s talk on Social Media and branding. The halls are buzzing. Come on down to Ryerson University and join us or if you can’t make it to podcamp Toronto check out our streaming feeds.

The full schedule is available at http://podcamptoronto.pbwiki.com/Schedule.

PS.  Manny the tech guru says that if you are having trouble accessing the stream on Windows, try right click and copy the stream url then paste it directly into Quicktime.

What is the mentor lounge?

The lounge has been designed to be a place where people new to the world of new media, and veterans in this space, can come together and make connections. People, by nature, are often too shy to break the ice and say hello to someone random, so we’ve designed the lounge to break down these barriers and allow for an easy forum for Q&A to occur.  Added note: The mentor lounge will be open 4:00 - 5:15 p.m. Saturday. 

Last year’s experts.Originally uploaded by wsh1266

How can I help out?

If you have knowledge in one of our four topics, and are willing to sit on a panel for 15 minutes to field questions, we’d love to see you sign up! Remember, being a mentor on the panels requires no slides, no presentation and no preparation - just some free time, a willingness to answer questions, and knowledge of the topic.

What topics will be covered?

Join us for audio podcasting, video podcasting, blogging and social networking.

Great! What do I do next?

Visit the Mentor Lounge page on the wiki for more details and to sign up as a mentor. See you there!

Questions?

The Mentor Lounge is being moderated and organized by Tommy Vallier. If you have any questions, you can e-mail him: tommy [at] tommyvallier [dot] com.

We’re thrilled to announce that CNW Group has signed-up as a sponsor for PodCamp Toronto 2008.

CNW Group is the nation’s number one resource for time-critical news and information from more than 10,000 sources coast to coast and around the world.

CNW Group has agreed to distribute the news releases for PodCamp Toronto. Check out the PodCamp Toronto news releases.

The company joins a growing list of sponsors for PodCamp Toronto. Almost 20 companies have signed up to support this year’s event.