Internally, as a podcamp organising committee, we sat down to discuss the possibility of following this set of “rules” in order to present PodCamp Montréal as a “next generation” event. So hat tip to Solaris, here are the 5 signs an event is 1.0 and how PodCamp Montreal intends to address each one.

You know your event is 1.0 when…

1. You have a web page but not a blog

This one is self explanatory. You are reading this from our blog now, aren’t you?

What makes a blog much more interesting than a static webpage? It’s interactive! You can react to pretty much everything by using the comment form below. And this isn’t a one way street : we’ll respond to your comment as soon as possible, as we already have done with other blogposts.

Expect to see more content, like conferences descriptions and related stuff about the event starting this week…

2. You don’t have a Twitter account for the event

Not only are we on Twitter, but we are on Identica as well, a open-source alternative to Twitter, which, incidentally, is much faster. Follow us @podcampmontreal to get the latest details about the event (we’ll obviously chat more on the actual weekend of the event). You can also know what others are think of PodCamp Montreal by tracking the #pcmtl tag. This tag, suggested by one of our participants, helps stream the conversation on both platforms.

For those of you who don’t know what microblogging is about, here’s a cool video : Twitter in Plain English.

3. You are not webcasting

Laurent Maisonnave and his colleague Christian Aubry will be streaming some of PodCamp Montreal’s sessions online. Unfortunately, we can’t webcast every session, but we’ll do what we can to ensure that people who couldn’t make it to Montreal this year get as much out of PodCamp Montreal as possible, without actually being there.

4. You did not create a community beforehand

Fortunately, the PodCamp movement helps us a big way! PodCamps have been happening all over the world for the past few years. The result is a strong community that believes in its formula.

PodCamp Montreal’s volunteer organizing committee includes people well connected with the blogging and podcasting community in Canada, and internationally as well.

5. You are having an impact on the environment

Our idea was to minimize the paper usage by not producing flyers to promote the event; we’ll probably think of something for the schedule as well, make it smaller, or to encourage people to go straight on our blog with their iPhones, iPod or Blackberry.

In conclusion, as you come to Montreal to share knowledge, you are what will make PodCamp Montreal a Web 2.0 event. The quality of the information you exchange with one another and with us will be the 2.0 reward you will offer to the PodCamp Montreal organising committee.