The Power of PodCamp

Brian Conley, a 26 year-old Boston journalist, went to Iraq a year ago to create the apolitical documentary, “Alive in Baghdad.” Conley recruited two Iraqis to be his correspondents and gave them simple video cameras to record life in the war-torn city. The journalist’s first public appearance since winning a whopping seven Vloggie Awards for excellence in videoblogging, was at PodCamp Pittsburgh where he used the opportunity to announce his next venture, “Alive in Mexico” in Oaxaca, where a U.S. reporter and friend of Conley’s was recently killed.

It’s easy for people in more developed countries to take on projects like this, he told the group gathered at PodCamp. Almost anyone with a digital camera has the ability to capture video. He’s hoping to continue gathering correspondents in other conflict zones because they have “the most need to tell their stories and the least ability” to acquire the technology needed to do so. Despite the recent spotlight on Conley, he struggles to keep his endeavor financially viable. This is where PodCamp Pittsburgh lent a hand.

During the lunch break, Andrew Baron of “Rocketboom," a daily news and entertainment videoblog that reaches an estimated 300,000 viewers daily and whose first ads were sold for a weekly rate of $40,000, approached Conley to see how the two sites could work together, a potentially huge opportunity.

It was one of many connections forged over the weekend. And it was made possible by Pittsburgh’s first ever PodCamp.

You had to be there

Bloggers. Podcasters. Journalists. Venture capitalists. Business owners. Educators. Community builders. They were all there, nearly 200 strong from across the U.S. and Canada for PodCamp Pittsburgh the New Media Unconference held recently at Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

As only the second PodCamp ever, following the recent one in Boston, PodCamp Pittsburgh generated a great deal of excitement and opportunity. One participant returning home to Canada stopped at Kinko’s at 3 am to post a message on the forum, saying it was well worth the 14 hour trip down an d 19 hours back (we assume he took the long way) for the experience. Others deemed it “awesome” or “extraordinary” and “a great experience not to be missed.”

The free event garnered international attention for Pittsburgh after an Associated Press story ran in more than a dozen publications including The Houston Chronicle, The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek and Hemscott, an “international data group” based in the UK.

The two day “unconference” featured roughly 50 sessions focusing on a broad array of topics. Beginners learned the basics of getting started with a blog or podcast – easy-to-use favorites were Blogger and Typepad, and the guys from Podcast 411 were a big hit. Established content creators talked about promotion and creating site-specific merchandise – local company Spreadshirt was a favorite here. And experts shared their highly technical secrets – among others, Alex Lindsay of Pixel Corps gave a series of advanced tutorials including an interactive greenscreen workshop. About 40 sessions had been scheduled prior to the beginning of PodCamp, and the rest popped up as it progressed.

In his opening remarks, co-organizer Justin Kownacki, creator of Pittsburgh-based web series “Something To Be Desired," and co-organizer of PodCamp along with Dave Mansueto of Libsyn,stressed the importance of interactivity in all the sessions. Everyone was encouraged to participate, to question, to start their own session—they didn’t call it the Unconference for nothing-- if they wanted. In the first hour, a discussion of the educational potential of the Internet was added.

Chris Brogan, co-founder of the inaugural PodCamp in Boston, praised Pittsburgh for evolving the PodCamp concept and helping the Internet community learn and grow.

Monetize Me

One of the main topics was “the monetization of new media” or making money from an Internet venture. A brainstorming session yielded more than a dozen different money-making methods, including merchandising, sponsorship, ads, product placement, and for-pay content. One of the more innovative approaches was “pooled networks”, creating groups of podcasts and blogs in order to work together when approaching advertisers to custom-fit ads to sites while giving the group more bargaining power.

If there was an overriding desire expressed, it was to decrease divisiveness among content creators, to think of one another as collaborators, instead of competitors, working together to legitimize the medium. Conversely, a frequently voiced issue was how to keep creative concerns separate from business concerns. The general consensus? Blogs and podcasts should not exist solely to make money. The beauty of this new medium for many is that it’s driven by passion and not profit.

Brogan delivered the event’s final session on the future of video on the Internet, which suffers from the misconception that all the content is “guys getting hit in the crotch on YouTube .” Sites like Network2  and Blip TV are attempting to consolidate the ever-growing list of well-produced Internet “shows” and make them easier to find while moving them into the realm of more mainstream entertainment. His advice: Follow your passions and continue making the kinds of content you would like to see, he told them. If you build it they will come.

Networking 101

The weekend wasn’t all business. Attendees were also treated to a meet-and-greet at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh; dinner at downtown restaurant Bossa Nova; a private party at the Tiki Lounge in the South Side hosted by the cast of Tiki Bar TV, one of the most popular shows on the Internet, who were flown in from Vancouver and received like rock stars; and a quiet post-PodCamp wrap-up at Affogato, a coffee bar in Bellevue.

“This discussion is not over,” said Kownacki. “It’s up to future PodCamps [in San Francisco, Copenhagen, Berlin, Philadelphia, New York City…] to take what we’ve done here and utilize it.”

As Jeff Persch of PodSea, a site hoping to match advertisers with websites, put it, “PodCamp Boston was the clay. Now in Pittsburgh, we’ve begun to form it, and each successive PodCamp will mold it more and more,” honing the concept and execution and passing on lessons learned.

“Our primary goal in starting a PodCamp was to help generate a conversation about new media, and I feel we succeeded there on many levels,” said Kownacki. “I loved seeing people who never would have otherwise had a reason to be in the same room wind up talking to each other at length. Those kinds of conversations are what foster new ideas and new relationships, and more of those were created at PCPGH than I realized (judging by the many blog posts I've seen afterwards).

I'm also happy to hear another buzzword associated with the event: "inspired." Dozens of people have mentioned that attending PodCamp inspired them to finally start blogging / podcasting, or to add another facet to their existing role in new media. If events like this can help people kick-start their ideas into motion, then they're worth all the effort that goes into planning and pulling them off.”