The first thing I learned at Podcamp was the #1 google search is for sex and the second is for Facebook. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about my first PodCamp Experience.
Being a PodCamp Virgin, I had no expectations, in fact, no real understanding of what I had signed up for. I knew that a great friend @HeyAmaretto (on twitter) was going and I really wanted to meet her IRL and I knew that other local twitterers were excited about this event...so I decided to go.
From the moment I arrived at PodCamp WesternMA I was greeted by name, everyone recognized me from my twitter pics and everyone was warm, smiling and hugging me as I entered...My kind of People! @HeyAmaretto, aka Diane was taller than I was expecting (but when you are 5'1" everyone is tall!), but other than that she was exactly the woman that I have grown to know and love on twitter and the telephone. After meeting her I met several other people that I have forged friendships with on twitter like: @ChristinePilch, @mmpartee, @JasonTurcotte, @writerjax and so many others. After getting to know these wonderful people I started to network with people I didn't know as well, or at all and there were absolutely amazing people there.
The spirit of the podcamp is the thing that impressed me the most. Everyone was there to learn, to share, to guide, encourage and assist. There were no dumb questions, no silly thoughts...everything was considered input and input was valued. I met: authors, PR pros, bloggers, journalists, dancers, singers, college professionals:all leaders in their industry for advancement of social media. I spent a small breakout session with only a few other people and had the amazing opportunity to get to know them pretty well. The session, led by Mike Langford of www.tweetworks.com was a wonderful blend of chit chat, knowledge and support...great people in that room!
I had many questions answered and I was able (wonder of wonders) to help many people with things that I knew how to do! I made new friends, met some old ones IRL for the first time and had a blast at the after party. Western MA has some seriously cool people here.
I will be blogging about specific ideas that grew from PodCamp WesternMA another day, but I wanted to be sure to post my feedback on the podcamp.
Here are my bullets for people considering whether they should attend a PodCamp:
*YES
*YES
*YES!!!!
Special thanks to the people and sponsors of #pcwm for a fantastic day. I am totally enervated and cannot wait to re-read my notes, start implimenting and exploring new ways to use this wonderful medium.
To see what the day was like, click play on my video!
