My blog n'at

5 years of podcamping already. I can’t believe it has been this long since I first made my trip to Pittsburgh Filmmakers with sickpuppy on that chilly November Saturday morning in 2006 for what would be a life changing event known as Podcamp Pittsburgh. For you young bucks this was before Chris Brogan became the social media superstar that he is today.  He even socialized with us little people. (haha). I was just a spectator star struck that these people who made content I watched were here at one place. I admit, when the Tiki’s came in my jaw dropped.

Fast forward to Podcamp Pittsburgh 5. I’m now sponsoring the beer for the Meet n Greet for the 4th straight year, giving 3 presentations and I’m making a living with skills I’ve learned over the last 4 Podcamps. This year was a completely different experience for me and being more involved in sessions than attending gives you a different perspective of the event. Before I decided to public speak (which I don’t like to do in general but for some reason beer and social media comes easy for me to talk your ear off about) I looked at the schedule and wondered if there was anything left for me to get out of Podcamp. The event, much like myself, have evolved over the years. I was now starting to get back experience as a presenter and getting over my speaking fears where as before I was learning the skills I would end up talking about. Wait, did that make sense?

Meet-n-Greet – For the first Podcamp there was a Meet-n-Greet at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh which had sandwiches and a couple beers. SIDT was just getting started and I think we had St. Nick Bock and Penn Pilsner.  Since Podcamp Pittsburgh 2 we (SIDT) have been the suppliers of craft beer for the events. Each year we’ve provided 4-5 different offerings from Erie Brewing Company. This is our time to really showcase the podcast and do my favorite thing, talk to people about craft beer. I love giving someone new to the product their first taste and to explain the features of the beer. If I didn’t love it so much I could never do it. Plus I love talking to people. Have I mentioned I like talking? Seriously.

So for me here were the sessions I did and my impressions afterwards. All of which were on Saturday. If you’ve ever been to Podcamp you’ll know that Sunday is not a very functional day for me BTW, all of the sessions were recorded and will be online soon.

10am: Social Media in Higher Ed – I wasn’t sure where this was going to go and honestly to have 5 people would have made me happy. Mmmmm yeah I walked in to a full room. One thing I’ve noticed is that no one is talking to Higher Ed people on social media on how to use it, what to do, what not to do, and basic strategies. Well there are some people who charge out the ass to say “you need on facebook”, take your money and run. Podcamp is FREE and I was giving you that knowledge. I had 45 minutes and made it through 1/2 my slides thinking I wouldn’t have enough to fill the time but it turned out that the conversation was incredible. The video will be available soon and I’ll release the slides then also so I won’t spoil what happened. It did make me aware that I’m in a unique situation where my administration is very open minded and trusting in me to let me do the things I have so far. Some schools wont get in social media because they think they don’t need it.  If you say that, you need it more than anyone.

11am: We’re Still Here: How to Keep Your Podcast Kicking – This was a discussion panel with myself, Sorg and DJ Lunchbox from the Wrestling Mayhem Show and Hutch from Burgh’s Eye View. Our shows have been running since the first Podcamp and we’re still around so we shared what’s made our them survive. The main thing to take away was that you need to do what you love and you need to take a breather or change things up before it becomes stale. Since SIDT started I”ve moved twice, bought a house, lost a father, gained a son, lost job and gained a kickass new career.

We had a very attentive audience who asked great questions about the creative process and why we do the voodoo that errr we do.

Lunch – Food was provided (That’s right, its a FREE event AND you get FOOD!) but the line was really long so I struck up a food run with Shell and Jen from Burgh’s Eye View and the always kickass Tall Cathy. We traveled to the culinary kingdom with a lotta porn known as Smithfield News. Cathy got the win of the day when she found this gem.

2pm: Podcasting 201 – Sorg asked me to join him for this session and I wasn’t sure what to expect. We had chatted a couple days earlier about an outline and from giving presentations together in the past figured we would wing it. Worked out perfectly for us as we focused building your community and some tech issues when having guests/co-hosts who are worlds away. Sorg does incredible things with the WMS that there were moments I stepped back and marveled. This is why I love Podcamp, you’re always learning something new!

Afterparty – This was the first year that I didn’t go. Instead I spent time at home with Lushie and Teaspoon since I hadn’t seen them for more than 5 minutes in almost 3 weeks. After everyone went to bed I headed to BEV Lounge and mmm yeah it was a long night.

(Thanks v-rock for the awesome pics!)

BEV Lounge is now my new favorite place to go for a beer. Hutch records his hit podcast Burgh’s Eye View in the room next to the lounge and I must say, when I eventually have a man cave I can only dream of it being as cool as the lounge!

Sunday – I went to some sessions but I’m not sure which. I actually arrived at 10am which is a first for me and scarfed down cold pizza and a special present from Erie thanks to Locobone.

Once again it was an incredible weekend and huge props to Missy, Jennie, Rob, Sorg and all of the organizers for putting on yet another huge success of a Podcamp. A huge hi to all of the new people I met this weekend and the multiple hugs from the not so anon Secret Agent L. Now that it has been a week and I’m done with classes I’m motivated from Podcamp to start new things and improve on what I have now. I have time to focus on what I want to do next.

cheers!

P.S. Here are all of my Podcamp recaps. Man i missed that shaved head.

Podcamp 1 | Podcamp 2 | Podcamp 3 | Podcamp 4

Like most instances at Podcamp Pittsburgh this is one of those “things just happened” that has now become a staple of the establishment. Waaaay back at Podcamp Pittsburgh 2 we met a fine young Canadian gent by the name of Tommy Vallier. Tommy is not only a social wiz but an instigator and purveyor of fine alcoholic libations.  It was on this night all of us would learn how the Great White North stays warm, you mix whatever you have together and drink until you’re blind.

Justin Kownacki, Podcamp Pittsburgh founder and helluva model American when the laces are out, explains exactly what a 6-4-9 is.

Scared yet? Probably should be. Tommy said to us it has to do the lottery, we say its a cruel trick to test the fortitude of your liver.

Below is the short, yet official, history of the shots along with video so you too can see how its done.

Sunday morning when you wake up with the worst hangover of your life just remember, 6-4-9

Lushie, Teaspoon and I pulled into the McDonalds drive-thru this morning and it wasn’t until I saw on their sign that there were new menu items. I’m not a big breakfast meal person so I usually just cruise by the fast food places while eating a breakfast bar. I’m always up for new items so I gave that a shot plus ordered food for the family. Normally I’d let them starve but I was feeling generous today and Lushie was buying.

Lets start with the food first. The Steak Egg McMuffin (not on website or I’d link) was a pleasant surprise. The butter was really pronounced on the steak but the meat was rather dry sitting on top of an overcooked egg and between chewy muffins, yeah not good. Overall as a meal it wasn’t bad but the dryness was a bit much.

OK, now with the fun part. As I pull up to the cashier she asks if I would like to fill out a survey and in return get $5. I figured taking an online survey would be fast and an easy $5 Lushie could use when she’s out with the kid. That’s when I got this…

That would be a NINE PAGE PAPER SURVEY! That’s right, its paper and there isn’t even an option to fill it out online! For a second I thought I was in a McDonalds Time Machine to 1995 and was waiting for my no. 2 pencil to arrive. If you click on the image you can see that I have 48 hours to fill it out and mail it (how on earth you’re going to do this tracking with snail mail is beyond me).

This is McDonalds, the overall king of fast food with innovative web marketing for its multi kajillion dollar company yet they’re making me fill out paper? Oh we’re not done yet. I start reading the questions and its like a tax form. There are codes look up for certain items, don’t fill out this if you answered A and B but do if you filled out C, your hair is brown and you like turtles.

I’ve taken the liberty of scanning this so you can see the insanity yourself. You can download the pdf here.

Now the kicker, at the very end they ask FOR YOUR EMAIL and it will take 4-5 weeks for delivery of the coupon. Needless to say I’m not wasting my time filling out 9 pages for $5. I’ve passed this along to colleagues who will most likely use it in their Marketing/PR classes for what not to do. The amount of money spent on this must be epic when you think about it. They printed up the survey, the envelope to give it to me and the envelope to send back PLUS paid for postage.

How do you handle this in 2010? Hand out business card size err cards at drive through with a surveymonkey link (I’ve done many forms online to know this would be no problem and really easy) and at the end of every day/week you run a report to get the info. Bam you’re done. You have instant feedback and can turn the reward around fast. Heck we’ve done shorter surveys with $50 itunes and $25 Starbucks gift certificates to hundreds of people.  $5 is just enough for a value meal, you could have given me a coupon to print out at the end and saved the postage.

If you want to find out more about how social media can save you from making costly (seriously, I’m just thinking about the money spent on printing and shipping and man hours to enter the data INTO A COMPUTER)  mistakes come to Podcamp Pittsburgh 5.  You can hear people like me talk and educate for FREE.

Quit laughing. If you know me you’re saying “he doesn’t shut up”. That’s besides the point right now. I’m talking about presenting at Podcamp Pittsburgh 5 this year.

I’ve been an attendee since the first Podcamp Pittsburgh and a speaker since the second one but never have a doubted if I would be able to be involved until this year. Podcamp is my favorite time of year because great people get together to educate the masses on what makes up social media/networking, trends and you really cant beat the price, it’s free! That’s right, you get FREE advice from industry leaders that might normally charge you some hefty cash.  I also go for the friendships I’ve made with podcampers, to get chopped by the Wrestling Mayhem Show and to brainstorm (total geek-out moments).

Should I Drink That has become a staple of providing the alcoholic beverages for the Meet n Greet the last 2 years (we’ll be doing it again this year!) and thats where I really get to sell the show to people and talk beer. The following day we join the Wrestling Mayhem Show for a joint session in Grassroots Podcasting but this year sickpuppy wants to try something new so who knows what we’ll do. Podcamp is a great promotional tool for us plus it gives us a chance to talk shop with those wanting to learn.

That’s not where my issue comes from (3 paragraphs to get to my point, see what I mean, I like to jibba jab), I do social media for a living and the hesitation I have is if I have time to prepare a quality presentation. I know, its podcamp and a very laid back environment. I can talk this subject in my sleep and have been to a few events where I didn’t know what the topic was until 5 minutes before I went on but this is different. This is non-SIDT Doogle and if you’re coming to hear me talk I want to make sure you’re getting a quality presentation. I’ve always shot from the hip with a few note cards and that worked really well but this is a setting that a lot of information can be given and I want to make sure nothing is lost.

I could be over-thinking this and selling myself short on how fast I can actually put this together. I may be taking this more serious than I need to. Maybe this is the time I make that leap I’ve hinted to some of yinz about. Since I was brainwashed in my role as project coordinator at Ericsson many moons ago sometimes its a curse to be so meticulous.

what do you think?