Has it really been a month since Soo PodCamp already? The time sure has flown!

We just wanted to say thank you again to everybody who came out and made our first Sault Ste. Marie PodCamp such a success. Because of the nature of a PodCamp or Unconference, an event is only as good as the people who come and participate. And lucky for us, everyone who came, presenters and attendees both, were fantastic and made it into a great day.

We’ve got a little informal get-together coming up this Friday, March 26th. At the very end of the PodCamp last month, we decided that it would be a great idea to get together in the near future, to help keep the momentum going and get an update on how everyone has put their thoughts into action since the PodCamp.

Some people have been asking where we’ll be meeting, so here are the details: we’ll be meeting at 6pm at LopLops and everyone is welcome to attend. It’s an informal get-together, no presentations, there will be discussion around next steps for group ideas that were discussed at the end of the PODCamp last month but other then that it is just everyone getting together to have good time and catch up.

So let’s enjoy this early spring we’ve been given and share some more ideas. Hope to see you at LopLops on friday the 26th at 6pm

The Sault PodCamp Team

Re-live or catch for the first time Dave Brodbeck’s most excellent adventures of podcasting in the classroom. Says Dave:

In this talk I present my experiences podcasting my lectures at Algoma University. Instead of using the inhouse course management software I use Wordpress. Each day I post my lectures, and I have posted roughly 500 classes in the last four years. I discuss the impact on attendance, my teaching style, and, most importantly the impact on my students’ grades.

Check out the video post about SooPodCamp at http://saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2462229

Are you new to all those social media stuff? Wondering where to start? Nathan Smith, the passionate guy behind http://CoffeeNate.com has graciously offered to help one lucky PodCamp participant overhaul their online strategy, or kick start it into action.

The makeover will happen either over lunch or in the afternoon. The winning entry will be contacted before the first session.

To be chosen, all you have to do is submit your name, organization and why you think you are the ideal makeover contestant.

Entries must be received by Friday Feb 19, 11:59 pm.

Submit your entry by adding a comment below. Good luck!

In part 1, I mentioned the schedule is now online, that there are mixer parties before and after the event, and I encouraged everyone to think about and share what they most want to get out of Soo Podcamp. I’d still like to see some comments on that last point, and you can share them here at the bottom of that page as a comment. Don’t be shy!

Now, I have a confession to make. You, as participants have an important, I’ll say essential job while attending Soo Podcamp. Time to let the secret out.

You *are* Soo Podcamp

The magic of social media is there is no us and them. We are all a part of the conversation. The tools are simple enough, the bar low enough that with a little help, you and I can contribute. And that’s a good thing. That makes the conversation richer, more diverse.

What you need to bring

1. Digital camera for photos and/or video. Cable to connect camera to your computer.
2. Portable computer and / or mobile phone capable of uploading content to the web. If you don’t have a laptop, bring your camera and we’ll hook it up during break times to someone who does.
3. Curiosity and desire to share thoughts, learnings with attendees and the wider community.
4. Willingness to try and experiment. This will be fun!

How to participate

We’ll have a live blog set up for each session, as well as a general blog for the event. You’ll receive instructions at the start of the day on how to get on the Internet and post your content to these pages. If you can type text in a box, you are overqualified for this job.

As an example, watch this live blog on the Olympics.

Live blogging is simply sharing information, in the form of text, pictures and video. Information can be anything you feel is worth sharing: something insightful, funny, controversial, whatever.

To make the most of your experience, plan to join in the conversation. You’ll learn as much from this experience as from any of the sessions themselves.

Session schedule online

What must Podcamp do for you?

Putting the ’social’ in social media

Want to know what the SooPodCamp is all about or how to register? Watch the below video now!

Do not forget to check out how you can easily win $50 just by sending a simple Twitter post –> Click Here to learn more!

Oh and you gotta love the screen shot YouTube used of me… no I am NOT picking my ear

There are only 10 days left and in an effort to push a little more for the SooPodCamp event, I am putting up a little cash incentive to get you to help us… and it is REALLY EASY!

• Step 1: Friend us on Twitter http://twitter.com/soopodcamp
• Step 2: Post this tweet (just copy and paste):

  FREE Social Media Unconference in Sault Ste Marie Ont. Learn & Share. Register Now at http://bit.ly/duEGtd (You Can WIN Cash!) #SooPodCamp

Rules: On Friday i will check out all the tweeters that posted and do a random draw. You can post once every day and each post (as long as it is on a separate day) will count as a ticket entry. Cash will be paid out via PayPal or Canadian check.

Deadline is Friday February 19th at noon eastern time!

One of our own, Gerry Kirk talks about Podcamp, Sault Ste. Marie-style with Connie Crosby, Eden Spodek, Daniele Rossi and John Meadows, co-organizers of PodCamp Toronto and guest hosts of Canadian Podcast Buffet. The whole show is about all things podcamp in the Sault, Toronto and Halifax.

His part of the segment begins at 4:24 min. Check it out!

Listen to Podcamp session on Canadian Podcast Buffet.

Whether you’ve seen the posters around town, heard about it on Facebook, or from someone else who is planning to go, you got here because you were interested in the Soo PodCamp and in getting involved in the discussion about social media.  If you already know what a PodCamp is, welcome!  Register to attend at the top of the page, and you can also go to the session topic area and let us know the types of things you want to talk about on Feb 20th.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Keep checking back to this blog as it will continue to be updated as we get closer to the actual PodCamp.  All of the blog posts are comment-enabled so let us know what you think!  It’s never too early to get the discussion going.

If you came here because you’re interested, but aren’t exactly sure what a PodCamp is, keep reading.  A PodCamp is a free community UnConference aimed at bringing together new media enthusiasts, professionals, and hobbyists.  If you ever wanted to know more about social media, or how to better utilize it for either business or in any other application, this is the place to be.

But wait, what’s an UnConference?

Well, we all know what a conference is, right? We’ve all been there before – gone to some sort of conference where we were excited to learn something new, and ended up bored out of our minds all day listening to people talk at us.  Or other times the content was ok, but there was another direction we wanted to go in to make it work for us.  And in all cases, there was no opportunity to interact and get what we wanted out of the experience.

And that’s where the ‘un’ part of Unconference comes in.  It takes all the negative things that we’ve come to associate with going to conferences – the long, boring, non-interactive presentations, the set-in-stone agendas, and turns it on its head.  At an Unconference (in this case a PodCamp), you have the opportunity to help shape the experience so that you get the most out of it as possible.

A PodCamp is based on the principles of Open Space Technology.  Developed by Harrison Owen in the mid-80’s and fully outlined in his 1993 book Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide, it is a self-organizing process.  People come together with a common purpose (in this case, an interest in social media).  The whole purpose of the Open Space Technology and the PodCamp is to facilitate the exchange of information.  In order to ensure that the people attending get the most out of it that they can, there is no set agenda going in – so that people are not restricted by someone else’s idea of what should happen.

But just because there is no set agenda going into the Soo PodCamp doesn’t mean that there won’t be one – it just means that the agenda is not set until the people at the meeting decide what it should be.  This is a key difference between a regular old conference and an Unconference or PodCamp – the very way it is organized is to facilitate the best experience for each individual person instead of shoving someone else’s idea of what you should find interesting down your throat.

And why social media?  Because social media has changed the way we go about our daily lives.  It’s called ‘new media’ because that’s what it is – new.  So come, bring an open mind and a willingness to discuss, and see what you can learn about new media and how you can use it, whatever your goals may be.  Share ideas, discuss theories and learn lessons from an audience of experts.  Network, network, network.  All are welcome. Join us!

So know that you know more about what the Soo PodCamp is, register today! It is completely free – we want the most amount of people to be able to attend in order to get the best experience possible.  Refreshments and lunch will be provided to make sure our brains are functioning at their best.  Every person who attends brings their knowledge and adds it to the pool (and everyone has something to contribute, even if they don’t know they do!)