Even though we have these amazing, 24/7 ubiquitous connections taking place on the social web, IRL (in real life) conferences are still booming. I think that many of us still long for those face to face connections, even more so now that our networks have blown way past the indications of Dunbar’s number. He he.

This is an opinion piece about things I see happening in the social media space, in short Twitter-sized sound bytes. I am imposing that limit on myself as I am short on time today.

With #podcamphawaii & #socialmediaclub we have open tents, everybody’s welcome. (My preference) Attendance is great. Experiences are powerful. Learning is all over the map.

Other events, when “who is welcome” is changing weekly, when “must request an invite” is the rule? Not so cool. (Especially when no reply is then sent.) Ticket sales are s-l-o-w. Is there a connection?

If you want a private event, by all means have at it. You better have a killer list though and enough personal energy to draw in attendees. The Lobby understands this.

I don’t recommend teasing the public to try to get your buzz on when signups to your private event are not happening. Just open it up and the people will come!

When people are vying for attention and excluding peers, IMO that is so #highschool and #oldschool. We’re due for a major shift in thinking in this arena IMO.

Perfectly reasonable people disagree. That is the good news. When it’s your event, you can do what you want.

I hope these points help you figure out which strategy is more fun and less stress for planning your next event!

Aloha,

Aloha and E komo mai (welcome) to PodCamp+WordCamp Hawaii 2008! Read more about what’s going on here under the chat window below.

In addition to being the founder and main organizer for PodCamp+WordCamp Hawaii, Roxanne will be speaking both days in several sessions. I also have 2-3 sessions currently scheduled that will be covering WordPress and Video Podcasting. When I’m not speaking in a session, I’ll be manning the live streaming station and camera.

Check the schedule for when Rox and I are speaking.

Iphone Users: Use this URL for an iPhone formatted schedule.

Mobile Devices/Phone Users: Use this URL for a mobile device formatted schedule.

Because not everyone could join us in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii for the first ever PodCamp+WordCamp Hawaii, we have a dedicated “streaming rig” setup in the beautiful Theater of the Hawaii Convention Center. We built a completely custom streaming rig that provides a steady and stable platform for the camera, laptop, and associate cables and power needed to provide a live video stream all day Friday and Saturday. And the best part is that it’s portable. So if we want to stream from another room or outside, we just unplug and take our Live Streaming Internet TV Studio with us!

You can chat with us, LIVE, using the chat window above. And if you have questions for the speaker, type them into the chat window and we’ll ask the speaker for you. (If you ask a question and we don’t acknowledge your question in the chat room, please ask us again until we do acknowledge it.)

In addition to the constant live stream, we’ll be posting pics to Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/podcamphawaii throughout the day.

You can also “follow & friend” us on these sites:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/podcamphawaii

Viddler: http://www.viddler.com/explore/podcamphawaii/

uStream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/podcamp-hawaii-2008

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/PodCampHawaii

We are planning a Podcamp Hawaii here. We are also using it as a demonstration project for how to plan a conference using the fabulous (and mostly free) tools of social media. You can read the Step 1 post here.

Set up a Logo Shop to Sell T-Shirts

1. Since our event is free, we decided to let people purchase their own t-shirts. This saves us from guessing how many and what sizes. It also lets anyone anywhere buy a t-shirt and help us promote the Podcamp Hawaii brand.
2. We used Spreadshirt, because it is a social web application. We can add our logo to many different designs, and users can even create their own items using the logos we have uploaded to the site.
3. We can click a button to also have our products and our logos listed in the public marketplace. Most likely, we will get a few more registrations from people who find us there.
4. Each product allows buyers to upload pics of them wearing the t-shirt they have bought too!
5. Spreadshirt allows us to create a customized shop featuring out own masthead and choice of products. There is even a t-shirt for the dogs.

Prepare Your Sponsorship Packages

1. Use the technique of “crowd-sourcing” to speed up the process. All past and upcoming podcamp events are listed on the official Podcamp Wiki. Visit several of them and look at both how they established their rates and who are the committed sponsors. If a company was successful at one podcamp, they will be very likely to want to sponsor the next event in the series.
2. Post the plans as a web page (good for search results and readability) and also as a PDF for a nice, printable version for download. Be sure to indicate on the link it is a PDF! (Web courtesy 101.)
3. Begin announcing them on Twitter and tap into your network to do the same. We are actually getting calls from companies who want to sponsor – without having approached them first!
4. Post the sponsor information on the host web site as soon as you have confirmation. We want to give instant gratification to those who are stepping up to support our event.

Use a Social Web Service to Collect Registrations

1. Online registration sites have been available for many years. Now though, you can find ones with social web features that extend your event beyond the confines of your own network.
2. We chose Eventbrite, because it allows us all the great traditional features of tracking registration counts but it also features our event (if we choose, and we do!) in their community.
3. It allows us to tag our event to help other people and search engines discover us.
4. It allows us to customize our page and add a custom header graphic.
5. It has one-click “share” options to other sites such as Digg and del.icio.us.
6. It generates and RSS feed of all events we create. This is really useful if you put on a new event each month, as people who like and use RSS can be notified in this way.

Create Badges for Others to Post on Their Sites

1. Many bloggers love badges as it’s a way of strengthening their personal brand. They get to associate themselves with other high profile events, as well as products and services.
2. Badges make it easy for those who love you to easily tell their connections about our event.
3. By making them ourselves, we control the brand of our event as it gets distributed out on the web.
4. Of course all of these inbound links from other high-ranking sites boost our search results very nicely too!

The important takeaway of this blog series is that you can use these tools for any type of conference. Even if you choose to just use one or two, you are already ahead of the game when it comes to traditional event planning. So please tell me, out of the many tools mentioned in these first two steps, which one)s) do you think you’ll incorporate into planning your next event? And if you’re still holding out, don’t worry, There’s more to come!

UPDATE: I changed the title of this post and the previous one to better reflect the content. Used to be “Planning a Web 2.0 Conference.”

We are the lead organizers for Podcamp Hawaii, coming this fall to Honolulu on October 24 & 25th. I’ll be using our company blog to share the behind-the-scenes planning process. Since it is an “unconference” there are several things that we do differently.

First off, we are making this happen over a very short time span. Part of this is my insanity to be sure, but in reality the internet facilitates the short time frame quite well. In any case, it adds a sense of focus and urgency, which I generally find helpful in getting things done.

Background
We actually bought the URL (www.podcamphawaii.com) 3 years ago. So in one sense we have been noodling on it that long, and a year aog began talking with one of our colleagues, Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central. Todd has also been active in the podcamp circuit, so it hosting an event locally was naturally on both of our minds.

Two Months Ago
We had a few meetings with the local techies who wanted to have an unconference. Planning got underway though we have had some fits and starts. As is usual, more people want to talk about than do the work, so we’ve been orienting ourselves to getting a critical mass of dedicated, reliable people. Ideas are great and we want them, so part of our initial planning involves getting the word out and letting people talk back to us.

Step One: Agree on a date and location and begin publicity

1. Create a logo
   • Nothing new or un about this. Get yourself a cool logo! My partner Shane created ours however you can “crowd-source this for about $100 at sites like 99Designs and CrowdSpring.
2. Create an event on Upcoming.org. This site lets you list your event for free.
   • If you belong to groups, it also gets listed under those (such as “Web 2.0).
   • If you have friends there, they see your new events.
     * Anyone can mark themselves as “Attending” or “Interested
   • People can put your event on their calendars – it’s a great “save the date” tool.
   • Many people subscribe to a group’s RSS Feed. That means your event gets out to thousands of people you don’t even know.
   • The site also allows people to leave comments on your event, get a map to your event. and upload pictures related to your event.
3. Get a Twitter account. This lets people follow you and your progress.
   • Twitter is exponential networking. You can tap into the people who follow you, and ask them to “re-tweet” or tell those who follow them.
   • Let’s say 100 people follow Podcamp Hawaii. Another organizer, Neenz, has over 900 followers, who each have their own followers. Get it? When she mentions podcamp hawaii, hundreds and sometimes thousands will see it.
   • Post frequent updates to keep the buzz alive among the Twitterati – some of the most verbose and connected people on the planet!
4. Create a Flickr account or Group Pool: Podcamp Hawaii
   • Flickr is a photo sharing site. My partner @Shane made a group for Podcamp Hawaii, and searched for pictures of the Hawaii Convention Center, the location of our event. He invoted those photos to join our group, with the iunderstanding that we could use those photos on our web site.
   • Most have accepted and voila! We have gorgeous photos without having to take a single one.
   • We agree to provide attribution, so that helps those photographers get their word out.
   • Plus, we are helping to promote the venue, who is giving us fantastic rates!
5. Create your official conference “tag” pch08 and PodcampHawaii2008.
   • The web is increasingly organized by tags. People in the know will add this tag to each relevant photograph, blog post, podcast, and video they create, so their media gets attached to our event. It’s a win-win for both of us.
   • Mention your tag on Twitter and on your Upcoming page, and every where else you can so people memorize it effortlessly.
   • People wanting to know more can search for that tag, and find out far more about the event than we could ever produce ourselves.
   • People will themselves use variations of your official tag, so keep an eye for those too. Notice we added the year to the official tag, in hopes there will be additional events in subsequent years. Here are the search results for the plain podcamphawaii tag.

Results
Within less than a week, we had 50 people signed up on Upcoming and we have over 90 Twitter followers (without really trying there yet). Sponsors are coming forward to us, wanting to get in before we have even finished our sponsorship package. Life is good.

Next step is getting up the web site and starting an email list. I’ll talk more about that in another post.

UPDATE: I changed the title of this post and the next one to better reflect the content. Used to be “Planning a Web 2.0 Conference.”

Background
Shane and I have been podcasting since Oct 2004. We have given talks, blogged and podcasted about it, and of course have delivered over 640 episodes of Beach Walks. It has taken on average two to three hours of every day.

Through the podcasting (and now Twitter etc) networks, we have met amazing people who are our neighbors as well as very distant friends. Our techies complain about the echo chamber, about the people who don’t get it, about the missed opportunities. Our local businesses see tourism waning somewhat. They are still averse to much that our geekdom can offer, and we have decreasing visitors and increasing dissatisfaction between the tourists and the locals about their effect on each other and the disproportionate benefits received as well as fees charged.

The PodCamp Dream: October 25-26, 2008; Honolulu, HI
I can imagine a PodCamp event where people come together to learn about a technology that can bridge these gaps, that can let the world see our beauty and experience our aloha, that can listen to our gripes even, and that can elevate us to the stage of importance we truly deserve. One that reaches out beyond the conference attendees, and into the Hawaii we locals know and love.

Please download and read the Fact Sheet PDF (PDF) I posted here as it outlines the many “firsts” that a Podcamp Hawaii can achieve. I want to work closely with the tourism industry. It will create opportunities for attendees and members of the HVCB to collaborate in mutually beneficial ways. It will change our location on the PodCamp map, the internet technology map, and the tourism industry map.

In the UnConference spirit of transparency, I am posting the call for team leaders aka co-organizers here. There’s lots more information available, so please contact me if you want to know more.

UPDATE May 27: I will fill in names as we fill in positions.

Here’s What I Think It Will Take
Here are the minimum requirements I see as necessary to have a successful event of this kind:

1. I will assume responsibility for being project leader. I imagine this will require at least 5-8 hours a week of my time, for the first three months, increasing somewhat steadily until October.
2. I want at least 6 other committed “organizers” who are willing to provide 3-5 hours a week until the event. I am open to co-chair arrangements as well.
3. We will seek the ongoing assistance of as many “volunteers” as we can find.
4. Each organizer will take charge of a specific area, will supervise her/his volunteers, and will coordinate with me and each other on the master details of the event. The commitment of time and responsibility is most important; we will all be learning on the job.
5. Volunteers will be given specific assignments in bite-sized pieces with due dates. Volunteers will be able to come and go as their interest and schedules dictate.
6. I can assure you I have the interest, the ability, the connections, and the drive to create this large scale event, provided I have a team of 6 other people who are willing to give a solid commitment and who themselves are willing and able to plan and delegate work to our beloved volunteers and sponsors.
7. Here are the 6 key areas of responsibility I see for now, each requiring a team leader:
   • 1 – Communication: will manage both publicity and outreach, will develop a marketing plan to use traditional and new media channels
   • 2 -Venue: will coordinate room assignments, AV & wifi needs, decoration, signage, food service, etc. Kyle Nishioka has agreed to be Team Leader!
   • 3 – Activities & Travel: will coordinate lodging suggestions for non-Oahu residents, will manage the matching of an attendee with an appropriate HVCB member, will help plan social activities, etc.
   • 4 – Sponsors: will develop the sponsorship packet and contact sponsors; will help them deliver what we need to promote them adequately, will help think of ways to get gifts, shwag, and messaging, etc.
   • 5 – Web Site & Media: will manage the main podcamp hawaii web site and related sites on other social platforms; will manage media creation and delivery to support the other teams; will support web editors in keeping the site content fresh and compelling. Shane Robinson has agreed to be Team Leader!
   • 6 – International: will develop a plan for inviting attendees and sponsors from Asia and Europe; will determine what countries we should reach out to, based on available volunteers and connections that we can gather; will determine translation needs for the website and during the event. Matt Olson has agreed to be Team Leader!
8. I will form the LLC to run the money through and manage the legal and accounting details. There will be open book accounting, online, for all to see. Podcamp provides that no one is paid; all service is volunteered free of charge. I will work with all of the team leaders and support them in having the tools needed to get their respective tasks accomplished.

I want to fill these 6 seats by June 1st.

I really hope we have the level of interest to do this – I think it will be an amazing learning opportunity and one Äiwaiwa event!

If we have more than 6 people who are interested, there are more tasks to be organized and I think having a co-chair arrangement is also doable. Please contact me to learn more.

I spoke this past weekend at “Podcamp NYC” to a standing-room-only crowd. I promised to post a summary and also provide the links, especially for those peeps who watched from the hallway!

Thanks also to these peeps who attended and offered their input: Jamison Tilsner of Tilzy.tv, Chef Mark Tafoya of Culinary Media Network, Tom Guariello of True Talk Now, Adam Sherlip of New York Islanders and Rahiem Drinkwater of Pdashmedia.

1. Concept (How time-consuming is it?)
   • There is a direct correlation between the difficulty of producing your show and the frequency by which you publish. The easier the format, the more often you can realistically deliver an episode.
   • The more often you release new content, the more often you show up on the top of the page of the various web video aggregation sites.
   • It better be something you love in order to sustain the amount of work it takes to deliver well and deliver consistently.
   • A typical 3-4 minute episode of Beach Walks with Rox, which uses a very simple formula (8 second title sequence, 3-minute one-shot main clip, and 20-second credit roll) and is unscripted, takes about 2.5 – 3 hrs to produce from start to finish.
2. Naming Conventions (for you & your subscribers)
   • Creating a naming convention makes it easy to file and search your content.
   • It makes things line up nicely when displayed on other people’s directories such as iTunes.
   • For correct date sorting, use YYMMDD or YYYYMMDD, regular English will not work.
3. Project Template (reusable parts)
   • Create a master template folder (using your naming convention).
   • Have your main project file built in the software of your choice, and embed all of the reusable clips, such as your theme music bed, your show name and URL, and your version of copyright licensing.
   • Do the same for your episode thumbnail graphic. (You can use one main show graphic or you can use a unique graphic for each episode. I recommend using an episode graphic if you have visual content that changes from day to day – it helps people find an episode when viewing in iTunes, for example.)
   • Duplicate the template folder and rename accordingly for each new episode.
   • Assemble any additional bits and pieces of content in there belonging to that episode.
4. Look & Feel (easier editing & brand consistency)
   • Take some time when first creating your show to develop a look and feel.
   • Experiment with a few transition and titling styles, then stick with them. (Saves you time by being able to ignore all the other choices!)
   • Be sure to build in your show name, your web site address, and your copyright license. Some people also plan ahead for ad insertions, contact information, or other custom items.
5. Encoding & Uploading Tips
   • Flash format will play for most users. Several hosting sites will encode your Quicktime or Windows Media files into Flash for you.
   • You must also supply a downloadable format to enable RSS subscriptions. Your best option is a Quicktime-compatible format.
   • Be sure to add the META data to each episode. You can do this easily by bringing the encoded file into iTunes, and editing the info and adding your artwork.
   • Encoding times can vary considerably depending on the length, size, and output quality of each episode, as well as the speed of your computer. The Visual Hub software (below) does a remarkably good job in dramatically faster times. (Almost in real time whereas other programs can take 3-10 X real time.)
   • Uploading video files can be very time-consuming, and naturally will vary depending on your internet connection speed.

Links Mentioned
Visual Hub – Encodes in multiple formats; $23.32 USD
Viddler for free hosting, comments, & social features
Blip.tv for free hosting and built-in blog; geared to episodic shows
Tube Mogul for batch distribution across the web & stats tracking
Creative Commons for licensing your work if you want something other than full copyright.
Ioda PromoNet for royalty-free music for non-commercial use

Update! Going through my acquired business cards, these folks work in the space.

A Few More People I Met
Ariel Publicity – Ariel reps independent bands who want to promote their music on other people’s shows
Filmosity – Chris Cavallari can help you with shooting, editing, on location work for hire, etc
Carrot Creative – Creative shop to help you with the web site and embrace new media
Truffle Media – They can help you with turn-key business podcasting
Vivid Screen Designs – Jane Gussin does motion graphics and video production
Cheil Worldwide – Ann Marie Mathis and Howard Levenson grok new media & social web campaigns