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!

Those of you who are still beating yourselves up over having missed a great presentation might be in luck. Laurent Maisonnave and his band of merry men, Christian Aubry et Guillaume Marin, have made video archives available for your viewing pleasure. Two of the four rooms were documented, so head over to Ustream to relive the PodCamp Montreal 2009 magic.

It should tide you over until next year.

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!

On Saturday, he’ll deliver a session called “Podcasting: Now & Zen”. He states that it will be “an erratic offering of quotes & images illustrating how an amateurish approach to Zen may (or may not) relate to podcasting & the enjoyment of life.”

The Scarborough Dude describes himself as “The host of the DicksnJanes podcast, spending too much of his time vainly trying to assimilate a life of wide ranging experiences into a coherent whole.” Prepare yourself to be entertained!

Photography by Mark Blevis.

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

He also conducts Social Media Marketing Workshops for public servants (and non-profit workers) across Canada and teaches Small Business Development at Heritage College.

Numerous Canadian government departments have started to tap into the power of social media both internally and externally (i.e. CRA, DND, CATSA, DFAIT and PWGSC to name a few.) Some initiatives are starting to see success, others not so much. What is the common thread that seems to be separating success from failure? What are the main challenges?

Mike Kujawski will talk about the latest best practices and 10 strategic guidelines that you can follow to maximize your objectives and get buy-in for further social media engagement initiatives in your government organization.

Mike’s session is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 15:00.

This session will look at a variety of podcast formats to help you explore podcasting and social media as tools for your organization (or for just you). The focus is on discouraging intimidation by connecting social media to past and ongoing social and media movements. Overcome hesitation and get inspired to begin your projects. Discussion is encouraged!

He also worked as a CTO for hire in Silicon Valley in 2000-2001, where he was a senior consultant to several dot-com startups. He’s a frequent speaker at technology events and has been blogging since 2000. You can read his thoughts at http://afroginthevalley.com.

Here is the first outline for my presentation at Podcamp Montréal this Saturday…

The future is always too far / 10 tech trends you have to know about… and 10 ways to get them in your daily routine :

• The atomization of content (Atom, RSS, microblogging) – small pieces loosely joined
• Distributed platforms (Tumblr, Friendfeed, Praized)
• Semantic and meta-data, machine tags (qrcode, microformats)
• GeoEverything / Location as a filter
• SocialGraph / Friends as a filter
• Identity follows you (OpenID, OAuth)
• Data portability
• Virtualization of infrastructure
• Mobile is the new desktop
• Open source code, open data, APIs are the new black – Open Hardware
• Creative Commons and the new rights (or wrongs)
• The messaging web (back to roots!)
• Aggregation and mashups, exponential
• The global village and trust your tribes

It’s more than 10 for now, I will probably mix some together… Stay tuned!

Sylvain’s session is schedule on Satuday morning at 9:00.

New to Twitter? Maybe you’ve been on Twitter for a while but don’t quite “get” it? This session will show you how to get the most out of Twitter to build your personal brand. Learn tips and tools to engage others, raise awareness and build a following. Hear about the different ways people use Twitter to communicate and how to monitor the chatter to discover new opportunities. Whether you have a podcast, blog or any other online presence, Twitter’s deceptively simple service is a great way to make an impact.

Adele’s session is scheduled on Saturday afternoon at 15:00.

Montreal consultant Michelle Sullivan ← was the first PR professional to conduct blogger outreach in Quebec, and has since worked on a number of campaigns for her clients. A blogger herself, on the verge of releasing two new personal podcast projects, she helps her clients navigate the social media landscape and build meaningful relationships with their communities.

Rayanne Langdon → began her career at com.motion, the social media arm of Veritas Communications, where she was heavily involved in blogger outreach and relationship building. Presently part of FreshBooks‘ dynamic marketing team in Toronto, Rayanne is a new face to the world of marketing and PR, passionate about connecting with others. She blogs at Wide-eyed and Jaded.

Eden Spodek ← is the woman behind the ever-so-pink but not-for-women-only shopping blog Bargainista. She has been involved in a number of successful blogger outreach campaigns and receives more than her fair share of bad pitches. Eden recently entered the podcasting world as one half of the Community Divas team. She spends her days working as a digital communications specialist in Toronto.

As bloggers and podcasters, you are the new influencers and subject matter experts. In your world, the trust economy is the only one that matters. Your audiences count on you not to pimp the next new product or service but to follow your heart and speak your mind. You’re not governed by the same rules as traditional journalists. There are no rules. This is the Wild West. PR consultants are scrambling to figure out the best way to reach out to you. And, if you’re like a lot of bloggers and podcasters, you’re getting tired of the shoddy pitches filling up you in-boxes. At the end of the day, it’s all about building relationships of trust.

Join Michelle Sullivan, Kim Vallee, Rayanne Langdon and Eden Spodek for this interactive panel as they share their experiences with the good, bad and the ugly of Blogger/Podcaster relations from both sides of the equation.

This panel’s session is scheduled on Saturday at 16:00.

Michelle Sullivan’s picture is a courtesy of Simon Law.
Rayanne Langdon’s picture is a courtesy of Ryan Couldrey.