Once upon a time (in March of 2009) there was a PodCamp Western MA.  I attended and have already written about my eye opening experience.  A long time user of social media, I had only recently begun blogging and using other new media to try to grow my real estate career.  PodCamp Western MA spurred me along with great new ideas, hands on techniques and friends who would bolster me along as I attempted new things.

A lot happens in a year (or ten months) and since that first un-conference experience I have attended several other camp style events and hosted TwitterQueens Social Media Bootcamp in NYC.  With all of that crammed into the past year, I wondered how PodCamp Western MA 2 would be for me.

I knew it would be a ton of fun, I knew I would see friends that I made last year and have fostered in the months since.  The day began early for me as I arrived at Westfield State College before 8am to assist with the set up and registration desk.  I was very excited to greet so many members of the #twitterqueens at the registration table. I enjoyed myself as the attendees poured in and I encouraged everyone to fill in their tag stickers:  three descriptive words about themselves that could be conversation starters during the course of the day.  I chose “REALTOR”, “MOM”, and “DANCER” for my tags.  Almost instantly a conversation started with Stephanie Oats about yoga dance, which I plan on investigating. As the day progressed I was engaged in other conversations about real estate in Western Massachusetts, dance and parenting that were a delightful part of the event.

After Morriss Partee, one of the organizers (and my boyfriend) explained how the camp would work, the campers filtered toward the schedule board to fill in the sessions that were still available and make their selections for the first hour.

I started with Christine Pilch’s advanced LinkedIn, which is the social media platform where I can most improve.  Some of the great information and reminders that I took from her teachings were: create your custom profile URL, use only a photo that represents you as a professional, fill your bio brief with skill descriptions and keywords, create and participate in groups and use the Answers section to display your knowledge in your field.

Next up was the session I had been most looking forward to: Steve Garfield speaking on video.  I found his session to be filled with a lot of easily implemented changes and additions that I can use to improve my use of video.  I had already been somewhat frustrated with the limitations of my Flip camera and will take his advisement for the Kodak Zi8  into serious consideration.  He shared preferred accessories and websites such as www.animoto.com, www.blip.tv and www.iodapromonet.com.  An hour wasn’t nearly enough time to glean all of his expertise, so I purchased his book, “Get Seen”, to continue my learning in this medium.

Lunch was a great opportunity to bring the social into social media.  I enjoyed a very interesting conversation with Bill Weye about a real estate blog blowout on Agent Genius (where I am a featured writer) that happened last week and was surprised to learn that the topic had bled out of real estate circles.  I cut my lunch a bit short to prepare for the third session, of which I was leading “Tweetdeck to the Rescue”

I had a great time leading this session which was filled with lots of great new faces and interesting questions.  Last year I was a strict observer and it was exciting for me to be able to bring a topic to the camp to share and help others to grow in their use of social media.

Following my Tweetdeck session was a panel, which  included me alongside my good friends, Christine Pilch, Jason Turcotte, Kelly Galanis, Val Nelson and Jaclyn Stevenson.  We were given the task of sharing some real life examples of how social media has impacted our lives, both professionally and personally. Kelly Galanis, went just before me and graciously shared the story of how I met her husband and she at the first PodCamp WesternMA and how they went on to hire me as their real estate agent and become friends of mine.  I mentioned a blog post that I write last year “The Gifts that Social Media Brought Me” and before we even left the session my friend, Jason Turcotte had tweeted the link for me.   While each of us on the panel spoke of different experiences our message was unified in the positive growth we have all found through our use of new media tools.

The day wouldn’t be complete without an after party and so we left Westfield State College and headed to The Tavern in downtown Westfield.   I was excited to be able to extend the conversations with many people that I hadn’t had the opportunity to chat with during the Camp, including many members of the TwitterQueens network.

I spent today, the day after PodCamp, basking in a bit of R&R with my family and collecting my thoughts for this post.  PodCamp Western MA 2 was just as exciting, educational and energizing as the first PodCamp WesternMA and reinforced my pride in being a member of this amazing group of Western Massachusetts social media rockstars!

Heartfelt thanks to Morriss Partee, Jaclyn Stevenson and Kelly Galanis for putting on this most excellent event!