PodCamp Toronto 2008

Thanks to Connie Crosby, Dave Fleet, Eden Spodek, Jay Moonah, Katherine Matthews,  Rob Lee, Sean McGaughey and Tommy Vallier for organizing PodCamp Toronto 2008. I was able to attend only on Saturday, but was glad I did, especially for:

• Chris Brogan’s stream-of-consciousness presentation on “Social Media and Networking,” which was punctuated by a phone call from Mitch Joel, who was obviously bereft at not being in Toronto. Chris speaks with passion, knowledge, generosity and humour. We were fortunate that he made the trip from Boston to be with us.
• Whitney Hoffman’s fast-paced and information-packed talk on “Making it Stick,” in which she shared tips on making our ideas (and our podcasts) memorable to our audiences.
• Victoria Fenner’s inspiring “Soundwalking and Creative Listening” session, which filled my head with ideas for incorporating more ambient sound into my work. I’ve collaborated with Victoria on a few projects; she’s a very talented audio artist.
• Wayne MacPhail’s case study of “How the Alzheimer Society of Ontario Fell in Love with Social Media …” was a fascinating look at how he helped this organization transform its intranet (and soon its external Web presence too) with a wiki and other social media tools. Wayne is one of those multi-talented guys who can communicate in the written and spoken word, photography, audio, video, you name it. He speaks geek too.
• “Video Podcasting for Beginners” with Vergel Evans and Bill Deys, where these two answered lots of questions about how to use video to spread your message. The consensus is that Blip.TV is one awesome tool.

Late in the day, I participated in an informal roundtable discussion with Victoria Fenner and Wayne MacPhail on “Corporate Podcasting Best Practices.” Because many of those who streamed into the room were involved in nonprofits, we devoted some time to talking about podcasting in this sector. Another hot topic: “selling” the podcast to clients, and discussing the contentious issue of measurement and ROI. Thankfully, Connie Crosby saved us from white-board-less-ness with her quick creation of a live slide deck as we talked. Wow. You’ll find it on Slidehsare. Thanks to Connie, and to Victoria and Wayne! Also take a look at Michelle Sullivan’s blog post about this discussion as well as several other PodCamp sessions.

If you missed PodCamp Toronto either in person or the live stream, watch for the media archives, which will be posted soon.

Photo credit: Wayne MacPhail

Comments

[Connie Crosby]

Donna:

I am so glad you were able to join us, and to lead the best practices session discussion. I was pleased that so many people came willing to participate, not just to listen to those of us talking at the front of the room.

Cheers,
Connie

[Michelle Sullivan]

Thanks for leading a great roundtable discussion, Donna - it's always great to see you and learn from you.