Author: Christopher S Penn

Why PodCamp in a Social Media World?

A few people wondered why, with so much focus on social media, we still use the word PodCamp. It’s not just legacy or brand, though those are two considerations. There’s also a vitally important legal reason.

Terms like Social Media Club, Social Media Breakfast, Social Media Camp, Social Media Bar, Social Media Meetup, etc. all have failed in part or in whole the trademark process. The reason is that Social Media is a generic term, like toothpaste or lawyer. Organizations have in the past tried to register these terms and been told that they can’t, as the term is too generic.

Last year, Chris Brogan, Whitney Hoffman, and I kicked in some cash and made PodCamp a registered trademark as part of our incorporation. The PodCamp Foundation is a legal entity, an S-Corporation registered as a business in the state of Delaware, and the primary purpose of the PodCamp Foundation is to enforce and defend the trademark of PodCamp.

We did this primarily so that someone can’t arbitrarily start PodCamp Microsoft or PodCamp General Motors, and use the PodCamp name and community goodwill to promote a specific brand. It also gives us the ability to selectively approve or disapprove the use of the PodCamp name, in case someone chooses not to adhere to the six rules of PodCamp and the PodCamp Foundation License.

If we want to change the name of an event itself, that’s fine – we can always do “PodCamp presents…” or something along that vein. However, the PodCamp name and associated legal rights are an important part of keeping PodCamp owned by the community that started it.

If you’re running an organization of any kind in the social media/new media space, give some consideration to what you name it and how well you’ll be able to retain intellectual property rights over the community you shepherd. Check with a lawyer if you can to see what your options are, because ultimately as the founder of your organization, it will be your spirit and vision that drives it, and if you can’t retain rights to the name, you may lose everything you’ve worked for.

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On PodCamp, Epic Parties, and Brand in Flames

Over the past few days, I’ve received lots of feedback about PodCamp Boston 3, and I’m thrilled people had such a good time, had such an educational time, and came away in some cases transformed, ready to take on new challenges and make themselves and their communities more powerful. I want to highlight one shift that has also been noticed at PodCamp Boston 3, well said by David Fisher:

Perhaps I missed a thing or two, as you can never capture 100% of what is happening at Podcamp, but also there was an absence of epic parties, and just the raw excitement. I would describe the vibe best as more mature and more professional, which isn’t bad thing but certainly a shift.

David, thank you so much for noticing! That was exactly one of the goals of this PodCamp, and I’m glad we achieved it.

A few thoughts on this.

First, epic parties are the responsibility of PodCampers, as is all content. Whitney Hoffman, co-organizer of PodCamp Boston 3 along with the rest of the team, helped me to understand why epic parties are definitely something best left up to the wisdom of the crowd. In case you didn’t know, Whitney’s also an attorney, formerly of Madden & Patton LLC and author of Public Facility Law, and has a JD from Dickinson School of Law. There’s a thing, apparently, called dram shop laws, which essentially make any organization that serves alcohol liable for the behavior of its customers. Additional court cases expanded this scope to include social organizations, which means that if someone gets blitzed on drinks paid for in part by PodCamp, we the organization become liable and can be sued into next week.

This, by the way, does not extend to venue rental, like we did with Tequila Rain. The venue is responsible under dram shop laws, unless we contribute money towards drinks. The moment a dime from PodCamp as an organization goes to a drink, liability spreads like disease.

In past PodCamps, generous sponsors like Jeff Pulver have opened the bar and performed other acts of social kindness for PodCampers, but in those instances, Jeff would be liable for someone doing something stupid on his dime. Silly, but it’s the law, and it’s an area we refuse to get entangled with.

Second, and most important, as David noted, PodCamp is maturing. It’s growing up, becoming more professional – and by that, I don’t mean owned by businesses, but rather the folks who came to PodCamp Boston this year were far more focused on learning, sharing, growing, getting the most of the experience, and finding new ways to understand all of this stuff. Socialization, realspace social networking, and enjoying the company of your community are all super-important, but we as a community are understanding just how much reach we have, and the consequences of that reach.

One of the lessons I learned by watching SXSW from afar is how easy it is to damage your reputation when you’re caught up in the manic energy of a massive crowd who are encouraged to party by the conference. I jokingly called SXSW the single best opportunity to ruin your personal brand this year, as some of the drunken tweets of folks – respectable folks that we all know in our online community – wouldn’t even be fit for an episode of Taxicab Confessions. At the MITX forum, Mike Volpe of Hubspot dubbed this “Brand in Flames”.

When it came to planning PodCamp Boston, we made the conscious decision to deliver the best possible venue, the best possible schedule, with the most free space and freedom we could give participants, and then get out of the way. While we had and have no desire to inhibit any kind of more casual social interaction, we also don’t have to enable certain less responsible habits by promoting partying. Instead, we promoted and focused on learning, sharing, and growing your new media skills – and left the partying up to you.

We’re seeing things like podcasting leave the “ooh shiny!” phase and enter the professional, educational, and non-profit communities as useful, valid, important tools that contribute to an overall media strategy. The people who make up the PodCamp community are wonderfully positioned as veterans of these new media tools and technologies. With the right amount of focus on results and professional behavior, we will see folks we know well as friends in the new media community become true powers in their organizations, helping to enrich the opportunities for ALL of us to do what we love in a professional capacity.

That can’t happen if you Google yourself and the first result is a photo of you laying naked in your own vomit with a caption of “OMG PODCAMP BOSTON WAS AN EPIC PARTY MAN!!!!! FTW!”.

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Incredibly proud of the PodCamp community

PodCamp Boston 3 wrapped just hours ago, and I miss it already. The folks who attended made it one of the most amazing PodCamps yet, in terms of energy, passion, and excitement. I’m incredibly proud…

… of you. You made it to PodCamp Boston 3, made it your own conference, made some incredible discussions and shared amazing knowledge. I picked up some fantastic tips for my own work from my peers and shared as I could, but you made it happen. Plus, you helped raise just about $1,000 in cash for the Greater Boston Food Bank. The most amazing thing of all was your energy. Everywhere I went, there were intense, energized discussions, conversations, sing-alongs, and collaborations. Everyone made use of the venue and opportunity exactly as I’d hoped, to engage each other, to share their passion for new media and for making a difference in the world and our communities. As a presenter, I was happy to see more empty seats than normal, because it meant that people were out working together, collaborating, and making the conference their own.

… of my team. The PodCamp Boston 3 organizers – Chris Brogan, Chel Pixie, Sooz, Steve Sherlock, Doug Haslam, Whitney Hoffman, plus a TON of great volunteers all made PodCamp Boston 3 happen. I want to send three special shoutouts to Chel, Sooz, and Steve, who sat registration and skipped a LOT of the conference experience so that all of us could enjoy PodCamp Boston 3. They deserve tons of acknowledgement and recognition for their sacrifices and their dedication to PodCamp Boston, year after year.

… of our sponsors. Instead of raw shilling or crass commercialism, I was so pleased to see premium sponsors Blue Sky Factory and mDialog, plus sponsors Mzinga and Utterz, and sponsors Marketwire, MarketingProfs, Matchmine, ooVoo, Blip.tv, and Blubrry integrate themselves into the event. I saw frequently that sponsor tables were simply unmanned or abandoned, which meant that instead of trying to sell something, the sponsors were participating as part of the community, which was wonderful. I’ve been to a TON of conferences in the last year and a half, all around the world, and I have to say that the companies that step up and support the PodCamp community get it – they understand that community and business opportunity are not mutually exclusive.

… of our venue. Harvard’s team, largely behind the scenes, did an amazing job making sure everything was right, on time, and as promised, except for a technical problem beyond their immediate control. While I can never tell what the future holds, I’d have no trouble recommending or using Harvard Medical School as a conference venue again. The venue was well sized, well laid out with plenty of casual seating, included parking for attendees, and was overall a real treat.

… of my employer and wife. A special shout out to the Student Loan Network, because honestly, how many other companies out there let ANY of their employees create a conference while on lunch break? (incidentally, to my coworkers, that’s why I’ve been so anti-social at lunch the last week or two – sorry!) A double special shout out to my wife, whose husband has been working the equivalent of a second job for 3 months now. Honey, I’m home!

I hope you take to heart the message that Chris Brogan and I promoted this entire weekend. The time for talk only is over. New media, social media, whatever you want to call it, is an incredible power, the likes of which we as humans have never had before. We can affect events at great distances, see beyond walls, know the thoughts of others, influence millions without getting out of our chairs. I hope you take a step back, realize the power you have, and make something of it. I hope you DO something, whether it’s volunteer with a local charity, raise money for a food bank, help homeless kids, whatever your passion is, I hope your PodCamp Boston 3 experience has given you the means to begin improving your part of the world.

As Peter Parker’s uncle famously said, with great power comes great responsibility, and I hope you take advantage of the power you have while you can, while opportunities abound.

Thank you again, so much, for your energy and for making PodCamp Boston 3 such a memorable experience for me as both a participant and an organizer. I can’t wait to see what you do with what you got at PodCamp, and I hope to see you next in Philadelphia for PodCamp Philly.

Image courtesy CC Chapman

p.s. If you have any feedback on my little part of the conference, I’d love to hear about it on LinkedIn if possible.

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