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I’ve seen a lot of posts from other PodCamp Boston attendees referencing the “circle chat,” in which a bunch of campers sat down a tthe convention center to brainstorm ideas on how to make PodCamp even better. I missed out on the chat. (It may have been taking place while Christi Eubanks and I were trapped on the MBTA with the world’s craziest bus driver, fearing for our lives….) (Seriously, are you familiar with the Irish pub song “Charlie on the MTA“? They could have written that song about Christi and I last Sunday…I was afraid we’d never return.)

I figure that just because I wasn’t there for the chat doesn’t mean I can’t offer up my own suggestions. I think PodCamp is a terrific event, and I had an amazing time and learned a lot. But why not throw out a few ideas, right? Or maybe I just need a post because Nathan has been doing all the heavy lifting on our NaBloPoMo efforts. Regardless…

1) Money, money, money, moooney! (Money!)

This has been covered, but I have to agree. There were 1300 people registered for PodCamp Boston 2, and only about half of them actually showed up. There were even a few presenter no-shows. This is probably due to the event being free-of-charge; that is, no repercussions for no-shows. Instead, the repercussions hit the sponsors and organizers, who had planned their venue, swag, etc around the set expected number of attendees (for example, Chris Penn mentioned on the Marketing Over Coffee podcast last week that there were hundreds of the free t-shirts left over from the event). I think introducing a registration fee (or even a refundable deposit) would only improve the event. As nice as the “free” idea is for the unconference, when you’re dealing with thousands of registered attendees and major venues like the Boston Convention Center, it can’t remain realistic.

2) Green Circles and Black Diamonds

In skiing, trails on a mountain are classified with shapes and colors determining their difficulty. As someone who only became heavily involved with social media tools this year, there is a LOT I still could learn from an event like PodCamp. And yet, in a couple sessions I attended, i found myself thinking the information presented would have been far more useful to a person who wasn’t already pretty well-steeped in social media knowledge. Perhaps there will be a way in the future to differentiate between sessions geared toward “green circle” beginners, and those for “blue squares” like myself, and then finally the advanced “black diamond” sessions for the “expert skiiers” looking to add something to their already expansive repertoire.

3) Hands-on Demos?

PodCamp is not a tradeshow, to be sure, and I am by no means suggesting it become one. But it might have been cool, while at a new media event, to get a chance to play with some of the tools out there that I may not have had a chance to learn about or “test drive” yet. Maybe giving companies with products out there for podcasting or vidcasting the opportunity to show their products to attendees between sessions. Or does this sort of idea go against the whole point of the “unconference”?

For example, I attended Jay Berkowitz’s “10 Golden Rules for Podcasting” sesion, in which he recommended several products available for newbie podcasters looking to get a foot in the door. Wouldn’t it have been even more valuable to see a real-life demonstration of these products before we all run out to Best Buy?

Even if it weren’t commercial, maybe having “experts” out with laptops the opportunity to run hands-on demonstration sessions for people unfamiliar with some of the more popular web-apps, or a step-by-step live demonstration for how to set up a blog. Think of it like the old screenwriting rule, “don’t tell…show.”

Well, that’s it. What are your suggestions for PodCamp?

(And yeah, there’s totally this football game going on today…so I’m thinking I should get back to watching. GO PATS!)

Technorati tags: PodCamp Boston 2, Chris Penn, Jay Berkowitz, Christi Eubanks

Filed under: NaBloPoMo, podcamp Boston, social media