podcamp

Mar 11 2013

PodCamp Western MA 5? How can this be my FIFTH?

Podcamp WesternMA 021 - Copy — Podcamp WesternMA 021 – Copy (Photo credit: LesleyLambert)

In several weeks I will attend my favorite social media event of the year:

PodCamp Western MA.

I am stunned to contemplate that it is my fifth time attending this event, it seems incredible that It can be so many years since my first.

Here is a list of my previous experiences:

Whether you take the time to read all of these posts or not, I hope you will appreciate my fervor for this event is not exclusive. There are so many other people that I have met and befriended who feel the same way, which is really the greatest part of the function.

Podcamp WesternMA 025 (Photo credit: LesleyLambert)

If you have never been to an un-conference event before, then you owe it to yourself to make this your first. If you have, then you owe it to yourself AND all the other attendees to come and share! These events are only as good as the people who show up and decide to open up their expertise and learning with others who crave the same learning.

Some of my favorite moments at PodCamps have been totally spontaneous and exciting because of the unplanned nature of the sessions. We won’t spend much time laboring over slide shows (although there may be some), but you can bet that we will have a lot of question and answers and open circle discussions. There will be laughter, eye-opening learning and networking of the very best kind.

We are blessed here in Western Massachusetts to have this simmering little hot bed of technology lovers (geeks) who really love to get out in the late winter and share, share, share!

SIGN UP FOR PODCAMP 5 HERE

Don’t miss out on what is truly the most special social media event of the year! You can follow the fun on Twitter with the hashtag #pcwm5. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention to you kind readers that PodCamp Western MA was a pivotal event for me since the start. I met two friends who ended up being very close friends and associates at the first event, not to mention Morriss (my boyfriend of going on 4 years) and so many special friends. I can’t wait to see who I will meet this year (hopefully YOU!).

Don’t forget to add a sign up for the after party at Slainte’ in Holyoke which is sponsored by YOURS TRULY, Julianne Krutka and Ted Cassell of Park Square Realty!

@pcwm begins! Yay PodCamp! (Photo credit: LesleyLambert)

Feb 29 2012

PodCamp Western MA : Where The Geeks Were 2012

I hope my fellow campers know that I mean Geek as the highest praise, I am a proud Geek Girl and a card carrying nerd, myself.

I am proud to say that I am a PodCamp Western MA veteran as I have attended all four of them! These aren’t the only camp/unconferences that I attend, in fact, I have been to over a dozen other camps.

That said, PodCamp Western MA (#pcwm) is always my favorite and PodCamp Western MA 4 was my favorite of them all.

I remember distinctly my first #pcwm in March of 2009. I was really nervous about going to the function and asked Morriss (who I didn’t know at all besides a few tweets) if I could go for part of the day. He assured me that I could, but cautioned me that I wouldn’t want to leave early. Well, he was (as he typically is) very right about not wanting to leave. As soon as I got acclimated to the event I knew I was home and I loved the energy and spontaneous nature of PodCamp immediately. That first year I learned more about the internet and social media in that day than I had all of the year previous.

For the second and third years of #pcwm, I was more comfortable and played a more active role in the facilitating of the event. I now had friends that I was excited to see and the energy and excitement was still there, but I didn’t feel that I was being challenged or learning quite as much. I figured that was natural, as I spend a great deal of time researching and teaching social media now, so it is harder to find topics that I don’t have a pretty good grasp on.

Source: Uploaded by user via Lesley on Pinterest

This year I went to the event with the expectation and desire to help run the day so that the new people could have an amazing experience. I kept my expectations at that role and BOY was I blown away with how wrong I was!

Session after session I was being shown new ideas and tools that I hadn’t explored in the same fashion as the presenter.

David Packman did an amazing presentation about video and podcasting that I enjoyed completely and learned a ton from. I have been doing video for over four years now and thought I had a better grasp on YouTube than I really do. His insights were powerful and I can’t wait to implement some of his great ideas.

Other sessions gleaned great thoughts and I had a fun time leading a discussion about Pinterest that opened up some people’s awareness and afforded an opportunity to hear from all types of professionals as to how they are using the platform.

Morriss and I were interviewed by Channel 40 on how we met at PodCamp and the reporter was the first one to notice that I was wearing Twitter bird earrings:

But by far, my favorite session of the day was the last session. While standing at the schedule board my good friend Christine Pilch Mancini came over and I asked her what session she was attending. None of them were resonating with either of us and she and I decided that we were going to spur of the moment create a new session. Based on her idea that it would be great to brainstorm and crowd share with other advanced social media users, we decided to call our session the Advanced Social Media Sharing session. We claimed a room and tweeted out on the #pcwm hashtag where we were and what we were doing.

Our good friend, Ron Miller, kicked off the session with a discussion on Evernote, but soon the ideas and sharing was hitting maximum speed and we were all wow-ing each other with our tips, secrets, favorite sites and expertise. This session was the core of what a PodCamp should be and was the best session I have ever attended at a camp. I firmly believe we should close every PodCamp in the future with this session.

I left the event (and went to the after party, of course!) feeling so energized and excited by the new ideas and tools that I had learned. PodCamp Western MA 4 was by far the best social media event that I have attended and I am so glad to have been there to experience the potent charge that a room full of excited learners provides.

We geek types can really have a good time talking tools!

Feb 07 2011

More Podcamp Fever: 5 Reasons Why Podcamp Western MA 3 Rocked!

One of the first events that inspired me to do more with internet marketing and social media for my real estate business was the first Podcamp Western MA two years ago.

I love the unconference platform and have since attended numerous different camps, but #PCWM remains my favorite for several reasons.

#1- I love meeting other people in my area who share a love of all things internet geeky. I know most of them through Twitter and it is a favorite thing of mine to get to meet them face to face and share our passion.

#2- Western MA is full of some amazing talent. We might seem to be a quiet little backwater to some, but if you scratch the surface you will discover that we are densely populated with some truly brilliant and generous people. I am thrilled to be surrounded by so much enthusiasm and intellect.

#3- We have the MOST fun. From the pre-party (new this year), through the day of camp and the wrap party you will hear laughter, see smiles and hugs and genuine happiness. It is over way too soon every time. There was mention of making PodCamp Western MA a two day event next time and I vote YES!

#4- Ideas. No matter how far I travel into tech savvy-ness, I learn new things and get fresh ideas every time. Last year I learned about QR codes and implemented a very bleeding edge real estate marketing campaign. This year I got some awesome ideas on content sharing and inspiration to delve deeper into my video blogging. It is always a rich environment for new thoughts I can use as a REALTOR in Western MA.

#5- Energy. It is so invigorating to be around this group of people. I get new energy to resume projects and the Podcamp fever extends into my work week giving me joy.

I taught a new (for me) session this year: “How to shoot, edit and upload video in 15 mins with your iPhone”. It was a small niche session filled with interesting people and we decided to use our time to execute a video on the spot. Here it is:

I also did a video with all my other pics and footage from the events:

This event over the course of the last three years has been instrumental in a sea change for me in both my business and personal life. It has enriched and deepened friendships and opened my heart and mind in wonderful ways. Thank you to my wonderful boyfriend, Morriss and our friends Jaclyn and Kelly for organizing yet another fabulous Podcamp! You guys should be very proud of the event and its ripples.

Jan 25 2011

PodCamp Western MA 3! Return of the PodCamp, or The PodCamp Strikes Back

: Image by shersteve via Flickr

I am writing this to encourage anyone within driving distance of Westfield, MA to join the fun the weekend of February 4 & 5, 2011 at PodCamp Western MA 3.

The weekend is going to start off rocking on Friday night, February 4th, with Jon Berman opening for The Jeff Michaels Band at the Westwood in Westfield, MA. This is a FREE concert event and you do not have to attend the PodCamp functions to come enjoy these amazing musicians. Here is a sample of what you might hear from the Jeff Michaels Band.

On Saturday the 5th Westfield State University will host PodCamp Western MA 3 in the Horace Mann Center. This is an unconference on all things social media and internet based. For the low entry fee of $25 you will get a t-shirt, coffee, lunch and a day loaded with amazing content. Attendees will have the choice of sessions such as: “Facebook Privacy”, “Job Hunting”, “Social Media 101”, “I’m on Linkedin, Now What?”, “The Future of the Web: The Next Wave After Social”, and I will faciliate a sharing session on “How to shoot, edit and post a video in 15 minutes with your iPhone”.

These are just a sample of the types of sessions that will be held throughout the course of the day. There are also open rooms for impromtu tracks to be posted as needed, so if you have something you want to facilitate and share you can.

I have attended the past two PodCamp Western MA and have learned a ton and met some amazing people both times. My first PodCamp post “A PodCamp Virgin Tells All” and my thoughts after my second experience “This One Time at Podcamp” and the video from PodCamp Western MA 2.

Following a fabulous day of learning, we will continue to put the social in social media at The Tavern on Broad Street in Westfield, MA.

I hope I will see you at at least some of the functions, but it is going to be a weekend of fun, sharing and learning that you won’t want to miss! Come get your geek on at PodCamp and learn why everyone at PodCamp is a rock star!

Sep 27 2010

“We are smart and we have boobs” A PodCamp Boston 5 Tale

“We are smart, AND we have boobs.”

THAT was my favorite part of Pod Camp Boston 5.

I love un-conferences, I love the energy, the opportunity and the people. I love hearing smart people share their wit and wisdom and I especially love the opportunity to share some of what I know.

This conference was especially good for several reasons.

#1- I got to go with my sweetie, Morriss Partee.

#2- I got to teach advanced Twitter to rockstars.

#3- I met some extremely smart people who happen to have boobs.

I want to spend some time with the third item on my list: the #smartboobs.

On Saturday morning I saw a tweet in the #pcb5 stream from Rakiesha Chase @rawrmeans143 who said she wanted to put together a “Girl Power” session during lunch. I was intrigued enough to commit and after lunch I wandered out to the patio to meet the other women who were curious, too. It was a small, but wonderful gathering of about 7 women and our conversation was stimulating and fun, but far too brief. We decided that we would re-convene the following day, but start earlier and allow time to really broaden our conversations. Rakiesha had initiated a conversation about a Twitter article about women that she had seen and we all agreed was insulting and limiting.

The following day we started to gather, and gather and gather. People just kept coming in (men and women alike) until the room was full with both our original group plus lots and lots more. This lively and intelligent conversation was by far the highlight of #pcb5 for me. How invigorating to be in a room with so many intelligent, caring, forward thinking people! They gave me the opportunity to tell the #TwitterQueens story (xox), too! We didn’t all agree (which is part of the fun), but everyone was respectful and open. This engaging conversation was both enlightening and entertaining and has given me many things to consider and work on. If you want to meet these power house PodCampers you can go on Twitter and search the hashtag: #smartboobs…designated by Tamsen McMahon. After someone commented in the session that we are smart and just happen to have boobs, this hashtag was quickly adopted by the crowd.

While I did attend sessions and learned lots from soooooo many brilliant and generous minds, my favorite parts of Pod Camp Boston 5 happened out of the sessions. In addition to “girl power”, there was dinner with a small, but special group of people and lots of fabulous hallway chats. I made real friends with several people who I found exciting and wonderful and I can’t wait to grow our little seedling friendship into one big, giant, social media tree.

A final thought. At the opening of the camp Chris Brogan and Chris Penn challenged us to ask for the help we needed and to give help where we could. This isn’t just a good Pod Camp thought, this is a great way of being. So I will close by telling my Pod Camp friends and readers of this blog that I am here for you. I know a lot about real estate, quite a bit about social media, I can teach dance and am a terrific listener. Let me know if you need me and I will do the same.