Podcamp Boston 6 is in the can- I can’t believe there have been 6 (the first occurring on the fall of 2006). As someone involved in each of these PodCamps in some form (I’m going to be like one of those old guys who has been to every SuperBowl) I have been fascinated watching the event mature from “Hey, let’s put on a (really big, with lots of people travelling to get here) show!” to a more consistent gathering of people who want to learn and converse about social media.

For my part, I decided to lead a session this year, “Culture Clash of Personal & Professional Brands, and Why It’s Necessary.” What I meant by that terribly convoluted title was that the public questioning and criticism among members of the social media community is a good thing, and discussed some of the things I make such back-and-forth valuable, such as the addition of constructive arguments coupled with the lack of intimidation against questioning someone who is popular, vs those things that aren’t, such as out and out trolling, the unexplained “Great Post!” comments, and ultra-defensiveness by those being “attacked” (and since one of my tenets is it’s ok to name names, tag Chris Brogan, you’re it).

What was awesome, is that at least one person came to the session thinking it would be more about mixing your personal and professional life online, said, so, and helped start a good discussion on that topic. Somehow, that tied in the spirit of my original topic. Bravo!

I don’t necessarily follow my own advice to the letter, but I lean toward all of us having frank and open discussions about what’s good and bad in what we are doing in our profession. So next time you see a practice or idea, say so publicly– same if you really like something. Just bring something to the table.

Now if we could only get social media d*****bags to stop posting photos of themselves speaking on their blogs. That is such obnoxious egotism. Look at that self-satisfied grin. Have at it in comments if you like.

(photo by Wayne Kurtzman on Flickr)

Facebook Down?

This is a first to me- a Facebook service disruption on September 22. Just a reminder to have other ways of connecting at the ready if you are relying on a service- even Facebook- that you don’t own. That goes for people and businesses. What’s your backup plan?

140 Characters Conference Founder Jeff Pulver (photo by Wayne Kurtzman)

140 Characters Conference, Boston

As I mentioned in my last post, I spoke at the 140 Characters Conference in Boston on September 14. My topic? Finding your voice, in which I lay out several Twitter voice archetypes, and underscore the need to know who you are, be consistent, and be mindful of context. I have a more detailed post at Voce Nation.

Joselin Mane of BostonTweetup posted some nice backstage videos (including many produced by 140conf’s Alan Weinkrantz) at this link.

Also, a great set of photos from Wayne Kurtzman here.

PodCamp Boston 5

It snuck up pn me a bit, but this coming weekend, PodCamp Boston 5 takes place! I still have fond memories of previous PodCamps worth sharing:

PodCamp Boston 1 (2006) (This one especially was  trip for me to read again)

PodCamp Boston 2 (2007)

PodCamp Boston 3 (2008)

PodCamp Boston 4 (2009)

New Twitter- Good, but Lacking, a Little

So, New Twitter is slowly rolling out to Twitter’s users. Is this a gambit to keep people using the site so they can maximize ad revenue? Why not? I love the in-line media (photos and videos right on the page). It makes for a much more complete experience without having to click away. Why, however, does the New Twitter not parse Bit.ly links? That could be in the works, but I haven’t heard anything. Also, I still go back to the desktop client (I use Seesmic), to get the multiple-column view, which the “New Twitter still lacks.

Stupid Fight

My favorite new not-terribly-useful-but-fun tool is “Stupid fight, developed by Tom Scott. It compares the relative intelligence of the follower Tweets of two indicated accounts. I immediately compared my Twitter feed to that of my friend and Ford Motor Company social media lead Scott Monty, and was horrified to find that my Twitter followers are dumber than a bunch of Mustang-driving wahoos:

But wait! A day later, My stupid followers fled for the hills (probably following a flurry of angry but intellectually stimulating Tweets from the latest execrable Red Sox game), and now look. Take that, Ford Motor Company!

UDATE: Kara Brickman has a great summary of linkjs to PodCamp Boston 4 blog posts, photos and sessions,at http://karabrickman.com/2009/08/invasion-of-the-pod-tweeple/

Photo by CC Chapman

As one of many folks who have attended all four Boston PodCamps going back to 2006, it has been interesting to see this event grow- maybe mature is a better word.* From the excitement of a new group of people forming around new media and ideas, to the explosion of Year 2, to a more focused production in Year 3, to a recession-dodging (and yes, more mature) Year 4, I have not grown tired of the event, the concepts or the people. Surely that’s a danger in any long-time involvement, isn’t it?

(* How about this? After I drafted this, Amanda MacArthur came up with an excellent post with the same type of theme: “Social Media Grows Up”)

This year, I decided not to present. Perhaps in retrospect I could have grabbed a session or started an impromptu session as several others did. In the middle, I wondered if I was slipping myself in between the two groups who were clearly getting the most out of PodCamp: the new attendees who were soaking up everything (those people will always be there- every year- and are the heartbeat of PodCamp), and the fellow “old-timers” with more draw than I have, who were leading focused, passionate and entertaining sessions. Perhaps I suffered from the “what will I talk about/what will I learn” dilemma that I had overcome in the past.

Another factor this year was my interrupted Saturday. I was committed to taking my son to Fenway for the “Futures” minor league games, though that did turn into a miniature “PodCamp Boston West” with friends and social media fixtures Adam Cohen and fellow PodCamper Jeff Cutler also in attendance (plus, it was a blast).

Site of Impromptu PodCamp Session on Twitter and Professional Sporting Events

So what did I see and notice this year? As it turns out, several things:

• A torch has passed; Michelle Wolverton (see her PodCamp blog post here) took over from PodCamp co-founder Christopher Penn (who had a great post-PodCamp article, “Arguing Against Your Limitations“) as lead organizer and did a fantastic job, from running a smooth-as-can-be event to a planning phase that never took on an air of “will we get it done? panic (despite at least one “organizer” – me- not pulling his weight in this pre-event phase).
  

  Chel Pixie Gettin' it Done

• As mentioned above, there was great new blood and still a lot of out-of-towners. Helping out at the registration desk, I was sure to meet many of the attendees at least once.  I finally got to meet fellow Tewksbury native Ron Ploof, and Montreal’s own Adele McAlear, and longtime (but never met) friend Lynette Young, while getting to see more of folks like Chris Abraham and Kathryn Jones. That’s only a few of the many new people who made impressions on me, and no doubt will continue to, not to mention a number of old favorites, who don’t need to be told here how much I think of them (or at least will forgive me, eventually, for saving the space).
• One of my true regrets is not being around for the impromptu session on gender, and the excitement it seemed to create, as i took place while I was at the ballpark. See Rakiesha Chase’s blog post on the topic for a flavor  of what went down there.
• I did have an irrational fear that sessions would seem repetitive to me after four years. For one thing, that’s not a bad thing, as some concepts never die and need to be re-visited as more people become interested and these new people bring fresh perspectives. For another, fresh concepts never cease- I saw a lot of interest in measurement, a topic that will not get tired for a long time. I also finally stopped constantly using the “law of two feet” and actually sat still for  Renee Hopkins’ great session on social media in the B2B world, which really made me think about how we can continue to get some great innovators to embrace new communication tools further.

Renee, Speechin' & Preachin'

So, congratulations to Michelle and the rest of the organizers for another well-run event. There are a ton of PodCamps coming up shortly– perhaps there is one in your area?

*Gosh, I almost forgot– I was determined to get the high score at the pre-PodCamp bowling event, and after getting soundly thrashed for two games by Skip Bensley, I managed to do it with a personal best 219.

A few less-than-consequential things picked up this past weekend at PodCamp Boston 3. There’s only four to start, but that’ll do:

1. Quote of the weekend: “This is where I ran out of Schlitz.” Joe Cascio, describing the end of inspiration for assembling his presentation on distributed microblogging. I decided to adopt the phrase as any expression of running out of steam. I was completely out of Schlitz the Monday after PodCamp, for instance.

   By the way, Joe pointed me to the inspiration for his turn of phrase:



2. Another quote:

   “I’m working on my personal bland.”

   That was actually me, misspeaking at a moment when I was totally out of Schlitz. There are some folks out there who could stand to work on their personal bland, now that i think on it.

3. Yet another quote (paraphrased):

   “The light saber doesn’t make a mess– it cauterizes the wound as it cuts through.”



Of course, PodCamp lead organizer Christopher Penn dispensing useful info, as usual.
(photo by C.C. Chapman)



4. Wandering Troubador Chris Brogan solidified my musical ambivalence with multiple renditions of the Counting Crows’ “Mr. Jones.” As an antidote, and for the last word, I submit this far superior “Jones” song, the great Billy Paul singing “Me and Mrs. Jones.”

Technorati Tags: pcb3, podcampboston, podcamp, socialmedia, schlitz, joecascio, chrisbrogan, christopherpenn, billypaul, countingcrows, starwars

For PodCamp Boston 3, I was fortunate to be invited to sit on a panel with crayon‘s Greg Verdino, Morpheus Media’s Adam Broitman (pictured below, with me, as a make-good for leaving him out of my “Bald Marketing Bloggers” post), and ooVoo’s Philip Robertson, titled “Smart Social Media Marketing. While the four of us did the bulk of the talking, the subject matter was driven by the audience.

Len Edgerly was kind enough to Live-Stream the session on Qik.com. He had to do it in two parts, which can be found:

Part 1:

Part 2.

In fact, the audience was so integral that I developed what will now be known as the “Cass pass” – calling on John Cass, who had his arm raised, when Greg asked me a question I needed to chew on before answering. That gave us all a good 5-7 minutes (I kid, John!).

For my part, I tried to hold up the PR end, coming from so-called traditional PR but having social media as part of the mix, and the conversation got me thinking about how do social media marketing agencies, and PR agencies that have social media skills along with the traditional chops, co-exist? (Part of my answer is that my employer, SHIFT Communications, works with C.C. Chapman and the Advance Guard work together on a client- and PodCamp sponsor- mDialog)

Other bits raised: Who is responsible for social media conversations (perhaps that depends on the organizations’ goals)? Who is doing social media right (I favored some smaller software builders and their quick-response habits on Twitters as great examples for all companies)? How can companies make their news stream interactive– or social (yes, we talked about the Social Media Press Release)? How do we best serve “lazy bloggers (I brought up the old “rip and read news” as an analogy)?

We didn’t solve the problems of the world, but showed a lot of people (there were about 140 ion the room) are thinking hard about these issues. Please have a look a the videos and give out your thoughts.

And also, see Greg Verdino’s own wrapup of the session.

And: my colleague Sandy Kalik has a live-blogging play-by-play here.

UPDATE: thanks to Kosso and Phreadz for making it possible to embed Len Edgerly’s qik videos.

Technorati Tags: pcb3, podcampboston, podcamp, socialmedia, marketing, pr, gregverdino, adambroitman, philiprobertson, oovoo, crayon, morpheusmedia

From PodCamp Boston 2, the proudest moment of my presentation with Bryper:

I swear this is not what I meant:

(photo credit: Peter Mello)

Technorati Tags: podcamp, socialmedia

Now that it has been a week since PodCamp Boston 2, I need to get my shout-outs in order. Here is a list of people I saw, and a thought or two about them. Some I already knew and had already met, others I knew online and were meeting for the first time, still others were brand new to me.

While I sludge through my cards to get personal notes out, one theme rules: It was great to have met/seen/spoken with you all!

Another thing: I know I’m going to leave someone out. I hope not though.

One last thing: these people are listed in oprder of the cards I pulled out of my bag, with non-card bearers sprinked in.

Oh, and a few of these are people from the subsequent VON conference. It feels right to put everyone together.

Greg Narain: I met Greg at the very first PodCamp. He now has the cutest little baby ever, and has launched a great new service called Littlegrams. Nice review in Center Networks!

Ed Roberts: Ed Radio finally in the flesh! He came all the way from Kansas City to join us at PodCamp Boston. It’s amazing how far people traveled, especially as there are other PodCamps in closer cities. Such is the draw of the Birthplace of PodCamp…

Grace Buford: A genuinely nice person, and one of the featured musical acts at the Saturday evening party. A pleasure to meet her.

Todd Cochrane: The voice behind Geek News Central, as well as the RawVoice/Blubrry guy. Spekaing of travelling, Todd came all the way from Hawaii. I was flattered that he attended the session Bryan Person and I led on Social Media Relations, and he also attended John Wall’s session on podcasting 101 and helped make many of the podcasting “newbies” in the room feel at home.

Mitch Joel: Here’s a guy who knows how to make an entrance. Did Friday’s party really start before his arrival? It did, but somehow we all sensed when he got there (well, I did). I had been a commenter on his “Six Pixels” podcast for some time, and was looking forward to meeting Mitch, as I missed him last year. I do kick myself for missing his personal branding session, but I’ll catch up.

Amanda Gravel and Amanda Mooney: There was a gaggle of PR students there, which was great to see. I even heard that there is a new media class at Boston University. That’s encouraging. You’d think the younger generation would be automatically clued in to new media relations, but they’re not. The Amandas (like my newly-graduated colleague Sandy Kalik) are among the people who are getting it right off the bat.

Julia Roy:It’s a shame that Boston lost her to the City that Never Shuts Up (New York, for the dense). She’s always fun to be around, and the Mimobot Twitter trivia contest was a real winner. Good luck with the new URL!

Courtney Stone, Marketwire: One of the generous PodCamp Boston sponsors, and glad to see Melanie Stachowiak get some much needed help in the Boston office!

Ewan Spence, The Podcast Network: RRoooaaarrrr! All the way from Scotland, no less! Great chatting with you.

Nik Butler: While we are on to Scots, another traveler. And in case anyone wondered why he goes by “Loudmouth Man,” that voice could cut through steel…

Adam Broitman of Morpheus Media: another Twitter friend from NYC I finally met

Cliff Ravenscraft: traveling from Kentucky/Cincinnati, Cliff brings an enthusiastic voice to podcasting. He just threw in his chips full-time social media guy, so best of luck!

Kris Smith: Not only is he a Kevin Youkilis lookalike, but he took part in the simultaneous Flickrtwitteruttergramming experiment on Day 1.

Bill Rowland, PhillyFoodGuys.com: Met him while he was, well, eating.

Brian Conley, Alive in Baghdad: He truly does some amazing stuff enabling media in Iraq. He appeared on Fox News shortly after PodCamp to talk about his projects.

Bruce Chamoff, PodcasterWhosWho.com. Up from New York, he introduced himself to me Friday evening.

Isabel Hilborn. I have met and talked with Isabel several times at Boston Social Media events. I heard great things about her sessions, and her “Crappy Web 2.0 Marketing” is another one I am kicking myself for missing.

Mark Blevis. One of those names and voices I have heard so often, and was glad to put a face to them finally.

Bob Goyetche. You too. Wait, were you Ernie or Bert?

Norman Huelsman, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. what makes Pittsburgh such a great social media town?

The Diva!!!: Of course, since I only knew her from Second Life, she had to practically whack me in the head before I recognized her. Great work with Electric Sheep, by the way.

Jay Neely, The Social Strategist: His blog is so smart it makes my head hurt.

Bendrix! Spotted for just a moment, but always good to see him. He cam up from NYC.

Kathryn Jones: From Synchronis.tv and the live Web video show “35,” Kathryn is always a joy to be around– I got to spend some good time with her at Video on the Net as well.

Christina Greene, “Carlie Flossberg of Second Life News Network– hangin’ with the Diva, gettin’ all the virtual scoops, no doubt.

Sim Margolis, Utterz: I can’t say enough about how Sim worked hard the Friday of PodCamp to get Utterz working with my blog. I love the tool, and I think I will make it work pretty well to turn this blog into more of a multimedia site.

Jesse Chenard, Tremor Media: I’m going to start liking New York now if I keep meeting people like Jesse.

Glenn Gaudet, podcast.com. Another nice person to know from a company to watch, along with Duncan Perry and Kosso.

David Beaudoin: I finally met Mr. Boh! Ine of the larger-than-you-might-have-thought Baltimore contingent.

Steve Sherlock: One of the PodCamp Boston organizing committee, and truly deserving of the kudos he got from Christopher Penn, who singled out the PodCamp above-and-beyonders.

Evan Blaustein, the Mimobots guy. Thanks for my Mimobot– it is awesome! We’ll be keeping an eye on your very innovative company.

Bre Pettis: If I ever get bored with Rocketboom (I don;t, I swear), Bre’s segments are the antidote.

Matthew Ebel: I just like it when musicians are nice people. I also loved the incongruity of seeing him with Michelle Wolverton wandering among the slide rule and pocket protector crowd at VON on Tuesday.

Michelle Wolverton: Ebel’s right hand, but more importantly another one of the PodCamp Superstars, and invaluable help with the music press release we put together.

Laura “Pistachio” Fitton: a person who is the most at ease with herself as anyone i know. a perfect person to be advising us on giving presentations.

Clarence! Whose iPhone was the first I got to fondle back in the summer. A constant source of good humor.

Jack Daniel (yes, his real name). Long-time Cape Cod resident, another one of the unnamed superheroes of PodCamp Boston. I hope your recorder is found– or at least replaced– I can only speak for myself on this blog, but I know the organizing committee is good for it.

Justin Kownacki: another of the Pittsburgh contingent, one of the coolest characters out there.

Jay Berkowitz, whose “Ten Golden Rules” session I missed, but then again not, thanks to Len Edgerly’s Tweets. 11/7 UPDATE: Also, he provided some valuale assistance donating time and talent to the PodCamp press release effort.

Len Edgerly, simply one of the smartest guys I have seen on Twitter, and i’m damn glad to have met him.

Beth Kanter, who gave a nice presentation on metrics, then surprised me at when I had the stage with Bryan Person, and I used her blog as an example of blogger relations– her post here.

Aaron Brazell, the “Technosailor,” who brought a great edge to the proceedings all weekend. Great to have met you, and sorry I couldn’t give you that ride from Logan!

Jeff Pulver, thanks for the venue and the party, and great to have you “poking” us in person!

John C. Havens of Blogtalkradio, the dean of PodCamp NYC. Best of luck in the new venture!

Paull Young, Christi Eubanks and Constantin Basturea of Converseon. Three foreigners preaching about “digital natives” (oh, Alabama is in the US? Sorry… :) )

Arrgh! category: Can’t believe I didn’t see Mrs. B!

11/7 UPDATE: another Arrgh! George Faulkner of IBM, an Emerson classmate I haven’t seen in 20 years, was there and I didn’t even know it. at least I chased him down via LinkedIn and email, thanks to a heads-up from Paul Gillin’s post.

The one VON note: It was great to meet Bubbe of “Feed Me Bubbe” and her grandson Avrom. They proved to be great riding companions as I gave them a lft to the North end Tweetup.

Other people whom I had better at least mention: C.C. Chapman, Steve Garfield, my presentation buddy Bryan Person, Topaz colleague Todd Van Hoosear, Mark McClennan, Paul Gillin, David Meerman Scott, Joe Cascio, Sarah Wurrey, John Wall and of course The PodCamp originators, Christopher Penn and Chris Brogan!

Again, I am certain I forgot, missed or shortchanged folks. Have at me in comments! I’ll add/edit if needed.

11/3 UPDATE: It has already begun: Sorry, Scott Monty, the Voice!

11/7 UPDATE: I forgot Dan York. I have been listening to him for a couple of years on For Immediate Release, and had been really looking forward to meeting him– really!

Technorati Tags: Podcamp, Podcampboston, socialmedia

Episode 37 of PRobecast,Topaz Partners’ weekly PR podcast is up:

Sandy Kalik , Todd Van Hoosear and I recap PodCamp Boston 2,
live from the convention hall, with a special appearance by Ewan
Spence of The Podcast Network.
Comment below or email bmoc@topazpartners.com
Audio: Leave a comment at +1-781-404-2419, or Skype topaz.partners

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*If the current episode is not yet in the Splashcast player, please use the download link below.

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Technorati Tags: TopazPartners, Topaz, socialmedia, PR, publicrelationspodcamp

PodCamp Boston 2 was this weekend, and provides colorful source material for the Social Media Top 5:

1. Utterz opens up anew channel for me to annoy people with empty content. please subscribe!
2. Lolsaur launched: debates of LOL inanimate objects debated
3. Overheard at lunch: the last Blendtec “Will it Blend” episode ever: hand grenade
4. The Twitterers are revolting! POD tweets make it possible to confound hundreds of readers simultaneously
5. PodCamp Boston conclusion: time to change the water in the New Media Fishbowl?

Technorati Tags: podcamp, social+media+top+5, socialmedia, utterz, newmedia, podcampboston, pcb2, twitter, lolsaur, will+it+blend