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!

Your wish is our command.

With a little help from Julien Smith (a.k.a. John),  Michelle Sullivan (a.k.a. Yoko) gives you a list of reasons why you definitely need to come to PodCamp Montreal September 19th and 20th.

Photo courtesy of Marko Kulik

Bottom : Jean-François Blais, Julien Smith, Michelle Sullivan, Sylvain Grand’Maison
Top : Laurent LaSalle, Hugh McGuire, Bob Goyetche
Absent : Laurent Maisonnave, Mitch Joel and Harold Boeck

We were also very lucky to be supported by volunteers, including students from Harold’s University of Sherbrooke class, Ile sans fil who provided the wifi, Christian Aubry and Manuel Angelini who, along with Laurent Maisonnave, were behind the camera for our live streaming, and Marko Kulik and Eva Blue, who were our official photographers.

Finally, thanks to all of you for making this inaugural event a big success. See you next year!

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.

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.