2008/09/28

[chrisbrogan.com]

Posted: 27 Sep 2008 02:11 PM PDT

Ever wondered why there’s no PodCamp in your neck of the woods? It’s probably because you haven’t launched one yet.

Want to organize a PodCamp? Though it’s not exactly “easy,” it’s also not especially rocket science. If it was, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off the first one with Christopher Penn. He could’ve, but boy, we learned SO MUCH just in the middle of the action. You could do the same, but if you want to cheat a bit, take advantage of all the cool blogs written about it out there. Want a place to start? Here are 10 of the most important points to getting started.

Quick PodCamp Starter Kit

Are there more than 10 podcasters or videobloggers or bloggers in your area? If yes, then you can probably do a PodCamp.
Make a wiki. We use http://pbwiki.com . Easy cheesy to edit.
List your PodCamp with a tentative time frame up on PodCamp.org
- Remember that there are six rules listed on the page to make it an official podcamp.
Blog that you’re going to do it.
Ask for co-organizers. Assign them very specific tasks.
Find a venue. This is way harder than you think.
- Room for ___ people (it’s your event. How many do you want?)
- Wifi
- A/V gear (unless you can get a sponsor to give you some)
- Food costs - Some places charge 3x the venue costs for meals
- If you can get a corporate venue, that often works the best
Seek sponsors to cover costs.
- Be very clear on what they get back for their money.
- Make sure this includes link love on the web. If you can, ask others to also blog about the sponsors.
- Be very open about who will come, what type of people, and how the sponsors will interact.
Decide whether to charge for attendance (something nominal).
Delegate to the volunteers such that everyone knows what they own.
Hold a great event and write about it for years.

I’m sure that Christopher S. Penn and Whitney Hoffman have some other advice, but that’s a super tiny starter pack list for you to think about, should you want to start your own PodCamp, and hey, there have been 50 or so of them. Why not?

Mobatalk Relaunches as Video for Twitter

Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:18 PM PDT

Michael Bailey is deep into alpha testing of MobaTalk, which he’s calling “video for Twitter.” It lets you record up to two minutes of video and post it to Twitter, to iTunes, as an embed on a site, and I’m sure that I forgot a few other places that it goes.

I’ve seen some of Michael’s testing via his blog. It’s looking very promising. His side-by-side comparison was interesting, too. I’m not sure how one begs to get into the testing with it early, but folks interested in video should pay attention. Michael did a great job a few years back with the MyChingo audio commenting system, which used to be the rage on all the podcast blogs. I think he’s got a great tool here that can be used commercially or for conversation, or as part of your existing video presentation.

What do you think? Swing by MobaTalk to see the video in action.

Namecalling

Posted: 27 Sep 2008 06:59 AM PDT

There’s a funny thing that happens when you make a list. People want to see if they’re on it. If they are, they feel pleased (or smug, or vindicated, or several other emotions). If they are not, they ask to be on it, they make sidelong comments about not being on it, they wonder if it’s a clique or a “cool kids table” kind of thing from school.

In the case of the list above, it was intended to be helpful. I find it helpful. I found a few other people that I’ve yet to pay attention to that add to the information mix of what we learn about on the web. There are some really great names on there. And then, I’m on there, so it makes me feel good.

It’s the same if you list companies. I, for instance, intend to write up the kinds of social software platforms I recommend most often to people. I know that when I publish the list, I will hear from several companies who feel I surely made a mistake by not including them on the list.

When writing a blog post, sometimes we include people as examples. Sometimes, that’s a flattering thing. Other times, we’re throwing a few extra people under the bus.

When we call names, we exclude. When we don’t, we are too bland and neutral. I don’t think there’s a way to do it without someone feeling offended, excluded or otherwise.

What do you feel when you see lists where you think you belong and you don’t find yourself there? How do you proceed? How do these lists help you, or do they?

Photo credit, foundphotoslj