PodCamp in 2009: Thoughts for organizers

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As we wrap up 2008 and the interesting year that it was, I wanted to throw out some ideas there for PodCamp organizers for 2009.

1. Use the tools! 2008 showed rapid growth in every social network of note, and as organizers, the more you can help people meet and greet prior to the event, the better. Set up Twitter accounts for your event, groups on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and many others, use search and readers and RSS to keep tabs on word of mouth. There’s no shortage of opportunities to help your participants connect in advance. At MarketingProfs’ Digital Marketing Mixer, every speaker’s Twitter handle was bundled on a handout – no reason that every participant at a PodCamp who’s active in social media can’t make a directory listing in the event’s wiki.

2. Separate lecture from conversation. Mitch Joel pointed this out in his Pixelated conference series, where he and others gathered together the talking head portions of major conferences. Figure out what makes your local PodCamp special and what’s just talking head stuff, and provide talking head stuff well in advance so that participants can maximize their time together. Grab videos of folks like Mitch, CC Chapman, Chris Brogan, and many other PodCamp favorites far ahead of the event and share them so that when participants arrive, they’re ready to collaborate and share, rather than passively listen.

3. Go paid. The economy has made life tough for the end user and consumer, but even tougher for the marketing budget. Plan your PodCamp to run 100% participant-paid at the door. If you get sponsors, great, but don’t bet the farm on them, and don’t financially extend your PodCamp beyond what money you already have in the bank. Continue to publish your ledgers publicly so participants can see how every dollar is allocated, but strongly consider going paid and having the event be wholly “sponsored” by the participants.

4. Support your local community. Pick a local charity and find a way to divert time, energy, or resources to it so that your community is a little better off for having a PodCamp.

5. Stay lightweight. Keep expenses to a minimum. We’re all adults for the most part who can locate the nearest Starbucks, Dunkin, or McDonald’s. The magic of PodCamp isn’t in refreshments or epic sponsored parties, but in bringing together people to learn, share, and grow their skills. Some facilities will allow you to unbundle catering from facility rental, which can keep costs way down, as food & drink are typically the most expensive part of any conference.

6. Add pieces along the way. Start with barebones expectations for attendees. As funding becomes available, you can add amenities later. Set expectations low, and you’ll never disappoint.

What things have you learned from PodCamps and other conferences in 2008 that you would pass on to PodCamp organizers for 2009? Leave your comments below!

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Comments

21 responses to “PodCamp in 2009: Thoughts for organizers”

November 25, 2008

stevegarfield

Nice post.

I like this line, …”when participants arrive, they’re ready to collaborate and share, rather than passively listen.”

Reply
November 25, 2008

Chris Brogan

I love the idea of having the conversations prepped ahead of time. Imagine if PodCamps were a lot more about the “now, let's get to work” instead of the “I'm sitting here listening to Brogan blather on and on about what's cool.” That's brilliant.

I also agree about the 100% participant paid. It does 2 things: keeps things even more focused on a smaller, more involved crowd.

Excellent plans, really.

Reply
November 25, 2008

chelpixie

The paid aspect really made Podcamp Boston run more smoothly and the survey from participants reflected that.

I'd say, have a game plan and communicate OFTEN with your team. It saves a lot of frustration the day of when everyone knows how to set up or who to go to for getting the doors unlocked and ready. Team conference calls weekly work like a charm for PCB.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Steve Sherlock

Well done, Chris. Planning, planning, planning. Meetings to plan the event do not need to be overdone but the weekly “touch base” as the event approaches has worked well for PCB. We plan to succeed!

We also need to be mindful that as much as the event is based in and around technology, not everyone attending is equally enabled. There should be some manual or standby communications tools, whiteboards (or chalkboards like at MIT) can be multi-purpose. Enables communication updates on schedule changes or enables cross event participation, people finding, birds of a feather, etc.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Susan Murphy

And now, for something completely different.

Podcamp Ottawa 2 was held this weekend and here's what I liked about the format.

Small: Registration was limited to 80 people, in part I think, due to time, space and manageability constraints. In the end, we had about 30 people, which is about a third more than last year.

Short: PC Ott is a 1 day, six hour event. There were 5 sessions in all. Originally there were two tracks but we ended up all participating in one conversation. They were focused, not too long, and Mark kept his eye on the time so we could keep the day moving.

Informal: We sat on the floor in a circle (as you see in Julien's photo http://tinyurl.com/6zr2sa) and it was very casual and lent itself well to conversation and participation.

Don't get me wrong, I love the bigger PC events. I'm all for organization and for participant-paid models. My point is, there is something to be said for keeping it super small and simple. We all got a lot out of the day and nobody was stressed by months of planning. This is a great way to run a PC event for anyone living in a smaller community or who just wants to get up and running without massive expense or time.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Chris Cavs

Glad you took some of my ideas from here http://filmosity.com/ioreality/2008/07/25/podca… and have started to implement them. Podcamps will only start to get better as we DO more rather than GET more.

But i still like the parties.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Jay Moonah from Media Dri

“Plan your PodCamp to run 100% participant-paid at the door. “

With all due respect Chris, this is a terrible idea. If things are tight for companies, they are tighter for many individuals. Keeping Podcamps (well, most Podcamps) free sends the right message in a time of trouble, that being that communities don't turn to grabbing cash when things get tough.

I'd recommend leveraging social connections and barter for goods and services if money is tight. Also if you can't find sponsors, drop perks like lunches and t-shirts. People can brown bag if things are tight, it also puts less stress on organizers and causes less waste. And hey, don't we all have enough white cotton t-shirts with little logos on them anyway? Just sayin'…

Reply
November 25, 2008

Christopher S. Penn

I'll sort of disagree. I think all perks should start out as dropped and only be added as funds are available, but you'll still have a baseline cost for just the space, no matter where you go.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Jay Moonah

Fair enough about the perks, it nets out to us saying basically the same thing. But personally I think organizers should do what they can to try to secure space if they can without having to charge individuals, unless it's really necessary. If you can partner with an educational institute or other space that is simpatico with the unconference ideals, it can be more of a partnership arrangement and potentially better for both the participants & the venue. Figure out if there's a way to sync up a Podcamp with a broadcast or marketing curiculuum at a local college, for example, to help provide additional value.

Reply
November 25, 2008

stevegarfield

Nice post.

I like this line, …”when participants arrive, they’re ready to collaborate and share, rather than passively listen.”

Reply
November 25, 2008

Chris Brogan

I love the idea of having the conversations prepped ahead of time. Imagine if PodCamps were a lot more about the “now, let's get to work” instead of the “I'm sitting here listening to Brogan blather on and on about what's cool.” That's brilliant.

I also agree about the 100% participant paid. It does 2 things: keeps things even more focused on a smaller, more involved crowd.

Excellent plans, really.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Chel Wolverton

The paid aspect really made Podcamp Boston run more smoothly and the survey from participants reflected that.

I'd say, have a game plan and communicate OFTEN with your team. It saves a lot of frustration the day of when everyone knows how to set up or who to go to for getting the doors unlocked and ready. Team conference calls weekly work like a charm for PCB.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Steve Sherlock

Well done, Chris. Planning, planning, planning. Meetings to plan the event do not need to be overdone but the weekly “touch base” as the event approaches has worked well for PCB. We plan to succeed!

We also need to be mindful that as much as the event is based in and around technology, not everyone attending is equally enabled. There should be some manual or standby communications tools, whiteboards (or chalkboards like at MIT) can be multi-purpose. Enables communication updates on schedule changes or enables cross event participation, people finding, birds of a feather, etc.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Susan Murphy

And now, for something completely different.

Podcamp Ottawa 2 was held this weekend and here's what I liked about the format.

Small: Registration was limited to 80 people, in part I think, due to time, space and manageability constraints. In the end, we had about 30 people, which is about a third more than last year.

Short: PC Ott is a 1 day, six hour event. There were 5 sessions in all. Originally there were two tracks but we ended up all participating in one conversation. They were focused, not too long, and Mark kept his eye on the time so we could keep the day moving.

Informal: We sat on the floor in a circle (as you see in Julien's photo http://tinyurl.com/6zr2sa) and it was very casual and lent itself well to conversation and participation.

Don't get me wrong, I love the bigger PC events. I'm all for organization and for participant-paid models. My point is, there is something to be said for keeping it super small and simple. We all got a lot out of the day and nobody was stressed by months of planning. This is a great way to run a PC event for anyone living in a smaller community or who just wants to get up and running without massive expense or time.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Chris Cavs

Glad you took some of my ideas from here http://filmosity.com/ioreality/2008/07/25/podca… and have started to implement them. Podcamps will only start to get better as we DO more rather than GET more.

But i still like the parties.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Jay Moonah from Wild Apricot

“Plan your PodCamp to run 100% participant-paid at the door. “

With all due respect Chris, this is a terrible idea. If things are tight for companies, they are tighter for many individuals. Keeping Podcamps (well, most Podcamps) free sends the right message in a time of trouble, that being that communities don't turn to grabbing cash when things get tough.

I'd recommend leveraging social connections and barter for goods and services if money is tight. Also if you can't find sponsors, drop perks like lunches and t-shirts. People can brown bag if things are tight, it also puts less stress on organizers and causes less waste. And hey, don't we all have enough white cotton t-shirts with little logos on them anyway? Just sayin'…

Reply
November 25, 2008

Christopher S. Penn

I'll sort of disagree. I think all perks should start out as dropped and only be added as funds are available, but you'll still have a baseline cost for just the space, no matter where you go.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Jay Moonah from Wild Apricot

Fair enough about the perks, it nets out to us saying basically the same thing. But personally I think organizers should do what they can to try to secure space if they can without having to charge individuals, unless it's really necessary. If you can partner with an educational institute or other space that is simpatico with the unconference ideals, it can be more of a partnership arrangement and potentially better for both the participants & the venue. Figure out if there's a way to sync up a Podcamp with a broadcast or marketing curiculuum at a local college, for example, to help provide additional value.

Reply
November 25, 2008

Richard Reeve

Going paid by participant will not only focus the group, but it will focus the energies of the organizers to provide for exceptional forums. My sense from having organized and run community events in a variety of disciplines ranging from free to overpriced, efforts to keep expenses down coupled with participant paid revenue stream equals the best results for all involved: organizers, speakers, performers, audience.

Reply
November 26, 2008

ccseed

Going paid by participant will not only focus the group, but it will focus the energies of the organizers to provide for exceptional forums. My sense from having organized and run community events in a variety of disciplines ranging from free to overpriced, efforts to keep expenses down coupled with participant paid revenue stream equals the best results for all involved: organizers, speakers, performers, audience.

Reply
November 26, 2008

ccseed

Going paid by participant will not only focus the group, but it will focus the energies of the organizers to provide for exceptional forums. My sense from having organized and run community events in a variety of disciplines ranging from free to overpriced, efforts to keep expenses down coupled with participant paid revenue stream equals the best results for all involved: organizers, speakers, performers, audience.

Reply