What is Podcamp?

It’s an “unconference” where people are participants versus attendees. It’s a lean forward experience where we want you to dialogue, versus sit and listen to a monologue. Podcamp (http://www.podcamp.org/) is actually a corporation, part of the Podcamp movement originally co-founded by Christopher Brogan and Christoper S. Penn, whose first iteration took place in Boston in 2006. You can check out that site for all the specific tenets of a Podcamp, but essentially our focus is on education on new media subjects, networking, and community.

Plus if you’re in a session and you feel you’re being pitched to or the content isn’t for you, you can observe the “law of two feet” and politely leave the room to find greener pastures in another session.

So anyone can speak?

Yes. Just sign up to speak and as space allows, you’re in. The organizers will decide who speaks when and where, but any topic you want to talk about is valid as long as it’s got some focus on new media. You can even call a session, “what’s this podcasting thing about?” and facilitate an open dialogue versus having a more formal presentation. Anything that gets people talking is great.

Why are you in Brooklyn versus Manhattan?

Why not? It’s a great borough and part of New York City proper. We also wanted to expand beyond last year’s midtown NYC boundaries and work to foster the Podcamp message to a fantastic University that serves people from around the world as well as New York. Plus they’ve got great pizza in Brooklyn. And a bridge I can sell you, if we were allowed to profit from Podcamp, which we’re not.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, please. Contact John C. Havens and we’ll get you set up to help in an area you’re interested in.

Last year you scheduled speakers about a week before the event. I thought “camps” were supposed to have people putting up sticky notes the day of the event.

Great point. But as it turns out, the first Podcamp changes some rules from the Bar Camp movement (from which it sprung) where everyone was required to speak. At Podcamp, you don’t have to speak (although we encourage you to do so, even if it’s a flash session at the last minute in a hallway or outside around a tree and a laptop).

As we had 1,300+ people sign up to participate last year with over 100 people presenting, we felt that organizing speakers and putting them into rooms was essential to keep the day’s events from becoming chaotic. We didn’t by any means want to smother last-minute inspiration or creativity, however, and with the help of Christopher Penn (co-founded of the Podcamp movement as a whole), we set up a table near our sponsors to facilitate “flash sessions.”

At the end of the day, every new Podcamp has come up against their own challenges and had their own particular victories/evolutions. We felt that as our main focus was still on education, networking, and community, the fact that sessions weren’t posted with sticky notes or refreshed with our wiki was not a negative for our event. As we had so many “newbies” (non techies) show up, many of them wouldn’t have understood the sticky/wiki paradigm and we wanted to make sure they knew where to go, when. It was a pragmatic decision versus philosophical and the feedback we got was very positive about this move.

You had a lot of sponsors last year. Does that mean you’re corporate or monetization focused?

We had a lot of sponsors because we ran a large scale event in Manhattan and these crazy New Yorkers charge for stuff here. And we’re determined to keep PodCamp NYC free for all participants, and we’d love to supply food, T-Shirts, coffee, and whatever other schwag we can. So that means getting sponsors.

But we feel strongly that sponsors are partners in what we do versus just a logo and a bank account. There’s a strange irony at times in terms of how people view sponsors for cutting edge new media events. They’re almost perceived as a necessary evil versus a demographic of folks who are looking to learn about new media as any new podcaster or student might be. So in our opinion, having lots of sponsors is a great testament to the positive proof of concept of what we’re doing. If people give you money, they obviously see value in what you’re doing.

Also, when does an event become corporate? How many sponsors do you have before you cross that line? We feel that if our focus stays on education, networking and community the number of sponsors doesn’t matter if we’re utilizing their resources to match our budget as posted on our public ledger. Last year we were very proud to have many in-kind sponsors as well as folks who gave $50.

In terms of our focus, remember that people sign up to speak. We don’t create the content. So if you’re not happy with how sessions are lining up, SIGN UP your own session. Call it, “are we too focused on money” and say your peace. Just don’t do a worry piece on your blog about how we’re monetization focused without signing up to speak yourself. We want to hear from you.

In the end, the Podcamp experience is what you make of it, and that means engaging, asking questions, and maybe even giving a session yourself.  This is your chance to make a difference and start a conversation about what you care about most.