PodCampAZ is over and survived. It was a grand event, attended by over 200 people. Everyone was energized, enthusiastic, and reporting on the event. I started a blog post during my Audio Podcasting Basics class, but decided to turn it into this post instead.
So why did it take almost a week to get it done? Because I have some great information for all you podcast newbies out there. During the day, when I wasn’t presenting, I used an MP3 recorder to record one question interviews with a few of the PodCampAZ attendees and organizers. This week, I have been editing the entries and getting them ready to share with all of you. More on that in a bit…
The event actually started on Friday, with a bunch of us meeting at UAT to print nametags, fill swag bags, finish speaker gifts, set up tables… you know.. all the usual stuff that goes with getting a conference going.
When we got up Saturday morning, it was straight over to UAT. Bruce and I got there by 7:30 in the morning. (And if you know either of us, that is VERY unusual.) I spent the first hour or so setting up the speaker room and helping speakers get acclimated. From there, we all went down to listen to Chris Brogan do our keynote. Chris (for those who don’t know) is the originator of PodCamp.
Originally uploaded by dewelch
After Chris talked, it was on to my first session. I presented on Audio Podcasting Basics. The focus of the session was to help new podcasters see how easy it could be to get into audio-casting. I started by covering different types of microphones and recording devices, from there we moved into a quick Audacity demonstration. We closed up with a discussion of ways to distribute your audiocast. (Including a visit by my Nabaztag/tag KathysWabbit, who chose to remain silent as she was protesting being moved from her home network to a public network.)
Starting from very early, I ran around with Bruce’s MP3 player and recorder asking attendees one of two simple questions.
- If you are new to podcasting and social media, what do you want to learn today?
- If you are an experienced podcaster or social media user, what one piece of advice do you have for newbies?
As you will hear during the audio pieces, we got a very wide range of answers. I originally intended to just play a few of them for the Audio Basics class, but was persuaded to continue the interviewing all day and post the results here! I split the audio into two parts, each between 5 and 6 minutes long. Check them out for some great advice.
- One Question Many Answers – PodCampAZ 2007 Interviews Part One
- One Question Many Answers – PodCampAZ 2007 Interviews Part Two
After my session, there was another session. I ducked in and out of a couple of the presentations, but kept getting nabbed for other things. Bruce was working the TechSmith booth doing demos and answering questions. He very nicely volunteered to pull my audio pieces together into a pair of files instead of the 40 or so I had. This gave me something to work with this week.
Lunch was a picnic outside, with bands. The bands were very good, it was just too hot to stay and listen for long. What I did hear while eating and waiting was very good. Including Ms. Jody Gnant. In addition to being a great singer, she is a lifecaster. (That means that if you go to her site, you can almost always see what is going on RIGHT NOW in her life. Click her name and you will see what I mean.)
During lunch, a prize giveaway was attempted. It wasn’t that people weren’t interested in the prizes, it was the winners weren’t paying enough attention to hear the numbers being called. (We fixed that later…)
After lunch, I wandered between a couple of the 3rd session classes, then went and prepped for my 2nd presentation of the day: PPT and ScreenCasting. I showed off how PPT can be used to organize your thoughts while screencasting. After that, we moved into some quick demos of Camtasia and Jing. We would have done more, but I had too much information planned for the day. (Not to mention that uploads and downloads to the net were a little slow by that point. I think the students woke up.)
We closed out the day with a prize give away session like no other. When a number was called, if the person holding the exact number didn’t speak up, a “bidding” war started. This bidding war was for the ticket with the number closest to the winning number. For a few prizes, the ticket holder was in the audience. For the rest, general insanity and fun progressed until the number was narrowed down (usually to within one).
A long day. A great day. A day I can’t wait to repeat in 2008. Are you going to be there this time? I hope so!
[tags]PodCampAZ, PodCamp AZ, Chris Brogan, Jody Gnant, Camtasia, PowerPoint, PPT, Jing, Audacity, advice, audio, audio casting, kathy jacobs, bruce jacobs [/tags]
