After much deliberation, Sylvain and I have decided to take our time preparing a Podcamp Montreal to ensure that it will be of the quality you’ve come to appreciate from past editions. Podcamp Montreal has known great success since it launched back in 2008, thanks to the participation of many volunteers and the support of excellent sponsors.

The volunteers of Podcamp Montreal will see you in the Spring of 2012. Until then, you can follow us her, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Those who can’t bear the thought of going through autumn without their Podcamp fix should consider attending Podcamp Boston, the birthplace of all podcamps! The event will be held September 24th and 25th 2011.

See you soon!

It’s official. PodCamp Montreal is a success. We had 384 participants on site, and 731 unique visitors checking out our live stream throughout the weekend. While our American friends were more likely to follow us on the livestream this year, we were thrilled to attract a greater number of locals to this year’s event, given that our mission is to encourage and promote the use of social media by Montrealers. Our schedule was nicely divided between French and English presentations, and the Montreal sun came out to grace us with its presence, which is always nice when you’re sitting on the great terrasse at l’UQAM’s Design School where PodCamp was held for a second consecutive year.

Bob Goyetche by Eva Blue

PodCamp Montreal is a labour of love that doesn’t happen overnight. The organising committee has been working tirelessly since spring on sponsorship, communications and logistics, not to mention climbing into bed together to produce a rockin’ promotional video. The sacrifices we make for social media!

It’s been great to get all your positive feedback and suggestions for next year. Thanks for coming, for supporting the development of social media in Montreal and hope to see you in 2010!

From left to right…

Top row: Miller Ramos, Jihad Tichioui, Jean-François Michon, Julien Butruille, Julie Sadyn, Hannan Haddouchi, Pascal Fredette, Vincent Emond, Thoma Daneau, Sébastien Simard, Michel Lacroix

Bottow row: Alexandre Hamel-Lesieur, Maud Coussa-Jandl, and me (their professor).

Absent from the picture: Antoine Brault

Here is your cheat sheet for the weekend’s event, beginning tonight. Enjoy!

Friday September 18^th

8 p.m. – La Quincaillerie, 980 Rachel Street East (corner Boyer)

9 p.m. – Tribute to Renée Wathelet at La Quincaillerie

Should you get a craving for poutine, check out La Banquise, 994 Rachel Street East. You’re sure to find a few friends trying out this Quebec delicacy at this 24-hour joint.

Saturday September 19^th

9 a.m. PodCamp Montreal registration opens

UQAM Design Centre
1440 rue Sanguinet

10 a.m. PodCamp Montreal sessions begin

12 p.m. Lunch break (check out the great restaurants in the area)

1:30 p.m. PodCamp Montreal afternoon sessions begin

4:30 p.m. PodCamp Montreal Day 1 sessions end

7:30 p.m. MolsonCoors PodCamp Montreal party at Oven Bar Piztro, 330 Saint Catherine Street East

Sunday September 20^th

9 a.m. PodCamp Montreal Day 2 registration opens

10 a.m. PodCamp Montreal sessions begin

12 p.m. Lunch break

1:30 p.m. PodCamp Montreal afternoon sessions begin

4:30 p.m. PodCamp Montreal ends

If you’re speaking this weekend and have posted a promotional post on your blog that you don’t see linked from the official schedule, please email me at ms@michellesullivan.ca . We want to be sure to send you some link love but, especially want everyone planning their PodCamp Montreal weekend to know what your session will be all about.

Here’s a preliminary list of what you can expect to see and hear at PodCamp Montreal 2009:

Other speaking proposals will be announced as they come in. Our official schedule will follow.

Promotion of the event

Are you a featured speaker at this year’s PodCamp Montreal? If so, we’d like to count on you to get the word out and make things happen. You can blog, tweet, podcast, vidcast and make your network aware that you’re presenting at PodCamp. You can even add our special John & Yoko banner to your website… or create your own. How cool is that? The more you’ll create buzz around you, the more success you’ll have for your session.

Don’t forget to tag your media with #pcmtl and include the words “PodCamp Montreal”. Let’s get the vibe going for this year’s PodCamp Montréal.

Give PodCamp a Chance!

Like that writer, it would seem we’re too close to our event to realize that not everyone knows what a PodCamp actually is. I was speaking with someone yesterday who was sure that it was only for podcasters. Ooops!

Good news: it’s not. Inspired by the BarCamp movement, a podcamp is an open social media conference that focuses on blogging, microblogging, podcasting, vidcasting, wikis and other social networks. If you’re interested in social media in any shape or form, then PodCamp Montreal is for you. Last year’s topics included:

• The New New Music – Fans, Community And What Business Can Learn From An Industry In Peril (Mitch Joel and David Usher)
• Using Twitter to Build and Monitor Your Personal Brand (Adele McAlear)
• Microblogging and Podcasting : How Can They Work Together (Evan Prodromou)

PodCamp is an international movement. The cradle of podcamp civilisation may be in Boston, MA, but PodCamps have since sprung up in cities and countries as far flung as CapeTown, Perth and Ireland. There’s even a PodCamp Barcelona happening the same weekend as PodCamp Montreal.

Here are the ‘rules’ of a PodCamp, as defined by PodCamp creators Chris Brogan and Chris Penn:

1. All attendees must be treated equally. Everyone is a rockstar.
2. All content created must be released under a Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
3. All attendees must be allowed to participate. (subject to limitations of physical space, of course)
4. All sessions must obey the Law of 2 Feet – if you’re not getting what you want out of the session, you can and should walk out and do something else. It’s not like you have to get your money’s worth!
5. The event must be new-media focused – blogging, podcasting, video on the net.
6. The financials of a PodCamp must be fully disclosed in an open ledger, except for any donor/sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous.

Source : PodCamp Community Unconferences wiki

Starting saturday at 8:00 sharp just before the sessions is the social media breakfast. Free coffee, muffins & croissants.

A week ago, we opened registration. Since then, a good number of interesting speaking proposals have been submitted. Here’s a preliminary list of what you can expect to see and hear at PodCamp Montreal 2008 :

Other potential speakers will be announced later on, as topics are confirmed. Maybe we can expect more proposal related to podcasting?

Video promos

Are you one of this year’s PodCamp Montreal speakers? If so, we want to hear from you… literally. Post a 2 minute video promoting your session on YouTube and/or Dailymotion with the words PodCamp Montreal 2008 in the title and join the tag pcmtl with the video. Send us a link and we’ll post it in our blog. A good way to get some pre-conference buzz going.