Do you remember last year’s PodCamp Montreal t-shirts? Social Media Rockstar? Montreal’s Evan Prodromou, CEO of Status.net, could have been the poster boy for those t-shirts. Evan worked in San Francisco for companies like Microsoft before settling down in Montreal to found WikiTravel. Since then, he has launched a series of web 2.0 projects, including Identica, Kei.ki, Laconica, Vinismo, certifi.ca and Status.net:

StatusNet is the open source microblogging platform that helps you share and connect in real-time within your own domain. With StatusNet you can encourage collaboration, build and engage your community, and be in command of your brand.

We want to thank Evan for stepping up once again (it’s becoming a habit!) to support PodCamp Montreal.

Evan tells us he (hearts) PodCamp Montreal. Well, we (heart) you too, Evan.

Saturday September 11

Crédibilité(s): construction de l’autorité et de la notoriété dans les médias sociaux
Martin Lessard
L’industrie (renouvelée) de la musique : combattre le web par le web ?
Frédérick J. Fortin
Search & Social Media for Online Publishers
CT Moore
Les différentes formules de baladodiffusion au Québec
Laurent LaSalle
How to efficiently spark professional connections in the Arts
Raphael Ettore
Enfants pour l’Éducation
Félix Trépanier
Search vs. Social
Brian Rotsztein
La vie après le journalisme
Bruno Guglielminetti
Préparer un événement à l’aide des médiaux sociaux
Frédéric Harper
Revenue Generating Trends for Bloggers
Kim Vallee
Table ronde sur la production de contenu
Michel Coulombe , Felix Séguin, Jean-Francois Poulin
Twitpic, cuisine et alcool (ou @ThomaDaneau) : l’importance de l’autobranding
Thoma Daneau
The Art World Invades Social Media – How an artist and gallery owner makes the most of blogging, Facebook, and Twitter
Bettina Forget
Comment booster l’audience d’un blogue/podcast en utilisant les médias sociaux
Benoit Descary
To share or not to share. Exploration du Capital Social pour l’utilisation du marketing viral
Olivier Mermet
Going Against The Grain
Zeke
Le Dilemne Du Réseau
Sylvain Carle
Introduction à la création d’une communauté et d’une marque autour de soi
Kim Auclair

Sunday September 12

Podcasting is friggin’ bigger than Twitter. Now what?
Sylvain Grand’Maison
I want to pogne: bloguer en français ou en anglais?
Fanie Grégoire
Faut-il s’entêter à tout faire chez soi? L’expérience de communautés sans fil avec les nouveaux médias
Laurent Maisonnave et Dave G. Pelletier
Mieux comprendre ce qu’est le cyberterrorisme
Julie Horn
Questions ouvertes à Michelle Blanc
Michelle Blanc
Ces images qui mentent
Olivier Bruel
Un blogue, une entreprise?
Julia Vallelunga
Getting Students Engaged through Social Media?
Alexandre Enkerli
Aménager sa communauté
Nellie Brière
The Trust Agent
Julien Smith
WordPress pour Entreprises: Possibilités infinies?
Diane Bourque
Strategie média sociaux pour un événement de levée de fonds
Marie Annick Boisvert et Camille Desrosiers
Gérer son temps à travers les réseaux sociaux
Hicham Souilmi

By its very nature, the unconference will free you from this agony. The power of the conference is firmly placed in the hands of the attendees. An unconference is based on the principle that the sum of the expertise of the people in the audience is greater than the sum of expertise of the people on stage.

Here’s how the concept is interpreted in the case of a PodCamp :

Everyone is invited to present

If you dream of attending a conference on a specific subject that you’re passionate about, why not simply be the one to present it? You’re probably the best person to deliver a presentation on the subjects that interest you, so submit your workshop idea today.

Anyone can contribute to the discussion

An unconference speaker must be open to actively interacting with participants after an initial presentation. Traditionally, PodCamp sessions have a more rigid structure than at a BarCamp, the unconference model which inspired PodCamp. It is therefore appropriate to develop a theme or rely on visual support (ex : a projector) as needed.

Anyone can leave a workshop at anytime

Otherwise known as the “Law of Two Feet”, this principle gives total freedom to anyone who wishes to do so to leave a presentation if they lose interest or if it’s simply not for them.

Everyone is equal

Another fundamental rule of PodCamp is that “Everyone is a rockstar”. Since everyone is invited to speak at PodCamp, there is no special VIP treatment given to any speaker.

Nothing is carved in stone

PodCamp Montreal organizers try to make space available for impromptu sessions. Sometimes inspired by a workshop that has just been held, or simply a meeting of people with a shared interest, PodCamp participants tend to improvise workshops at the last minute. This practice is encouraged.

Conclusion

Even if the principle of an unconference could lead one to believe they are about to experience event anarchy, everything always unfolds in a manner that is respectful of the person having proposed and presented the subject. Since power is left in the hands of participants, the line “You Are PodCamp” is rich in meaning.

We are looking for our all-important sponsors. If you’re interested in supporting PodCamp Montreal, contact Michelle Sullivan.

If you’re new to PodCamp Montreal, feel free to browse through our site. Last year’s blog posts will give you a taste of what’s in store for you in 2010.

Ed. UPDATE: Event date has been changed to September 11th and 12th 2010.

Those who can’t join us at the UQAM Design School, or who can’t make it for the full weekend, will be able to take advantage of the streaming of French and English sessions between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Archives will also be available after the event, to allow you to relive those magic moments.

PodCamp Montreal in French (room DE-3240)

PodCamp Montreal in English (room DE-3230)

You’ll be able to participate by taking advantage of Ustream’s chat capability. Don’t be shy about sending questions to the speakers. They love it.

In 2008, over a thousand unique visitors took advantage of our livestreaming of PodCamp Montreal. We hope those numbers will grow this year.

I’ll have the pleasure of being joined by the ineffable Christian Aubry (French channel) and the effervescent Guillaume Marin (English channel). Thanks Christian and Guillaume – we couldn’t do it without you.

Founded by podcasters, Blubrry has developed services to meet the specific needs of the podcasting community. Blubrry offers a range of tools to facilitate and optimize the work of podcasters. Statistics, hosting, monetization programs and publication support are only some of what Blubrry offers members of its community. The Blubrry site presents a listing of podcsts, classified by theme. (What a fantastic way to discover new shows!)

Blubrry is a proud sponsor of PodCamp Montreal once again this year. Thank you!

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!

Our thanks to our sponsor, Fairmont Hotels, for giving us access to Suite 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth, and for letting us move the mattress and furniture around to create our version of that magic moment 40 years ago.

Remember that Fairmont is offering PodCamp Montreal attendees a special rate for the weekend of September 19th and 20th. If you’re interested in walking the same hallways as John and Yoko, email PodCamp Montreal organising committee member Laurent Maisonnave at laurent@zelaurent.com for details.

Pssst… We’re working on a surprise for PodCamp Montreal attendees that involves the famous suite at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. It’s going to be great. Stay tuned.

The conference sign up form is also available. Be sure to fill out this second form if you’d like to speak at Podcamp Montreal in 2009. If you conference description is longer than 255 characters, you’ll have to email it to info@pcmtl.org.

We manage the schedule a little differently than other podcamps, given the bilingual nature of our event. We try to maintain a linguistic equilibrium by offering at least one conference in French at all times. And the subject has to be social media related, of course.

I am glad to announce that PodCamp Montreal will be back for a second edition in 2009. Mark your calendar for these following dates :

This year’s organizing team includes the following :

Jean-François Blais, Harold Boeck, Caroline Fontaine, Bob Goyetche, Sylvain Grand’Maison, Mitch Joel, Laurent LaSalle, Laurent Maisonnave, Mélanie Millette, Julien Smith and Michelle Sullivan.

Stay tuned for all the details.