Singing… (video by Joyce Bettencourt)

Some goofing off…

…oh, no wait, Justin was just being awkward for the very first Podcamp Boston, don’t mind him.

Really what happens is a lot of sharing knowledge and learning.  The majority of people who attend are new to the world of podcasting, social media and digital media creation.  Last year 75% of the people who attended Podcamp Boston 4 were new to the event.  They had questions ranging from the beginner level to the advanced.  The more advanced usually teach and share what they know and what can make it easier for others to refine their knowledge and move forward and it’s like that all weekend long.

There *are* parties but we keep them pretty low key.  Though this year’s is getting me pretty excited.  Yeah I’m still teasing, because we’re still hammering out the details.

The hotel contract is almost settled so I should be posting the URL specific for Podcamp Boston 5 for bookings in the next couple of days when the hotel gets the page set up.  I’m waiting to post the details in a separate post.

Most of all people have been asking about what sessions are going on.  If you want to know the details of sessions registered so far, click this shiny link.  If you want to register to present, click this shiny link instead.

Oh and we’re looking for sponsors!  If you’re company would like to help us sponsor the after party, please get in touch!

Do you have questions about what happens at Podcamp? Email us! Get in touch and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have!  I very much hope to see you at Podcamp Boston 5 on September 25-26th, 2010 at the Microsoft N.E.R.D Center.  Year 5 is going to be a great celebration of how far things have come and we’d love to have you join us for the fun.

-Chel, Lead Organizer of PCBoston (#pcb5)

Viola! It, we did! Yeesssssss.

We’re working on the party details, et al for announcement as soon as we can, in the meantime you can sign up to attend and then register to lead a discussion or present!

The session registration page is live!  Remember this year’s theme is Preparing for the Future.

If you’d like present or lead a discussion this year just sign up for PCB5 over on our Eventbrite page and then fill out the form.

If you have a suggestion for a topic you’d like to learn about this year, please let us know via this page or by the contact page as well!  We want to make sure we put on stuff that shares knowledge people are looking for.

We’d like to have a podcasting specific track this year so anyone that can talk about that subject on different levels please submit and share your knowledge, as usual you can submit any topic that’s related to social media and podcasting.  If you have a question, send it over via the contact form.

Once we start getting sessions listed, the spreadsheet will be published on the schedule page.  We will not have days and times for sessions for a while but as soon as we start laying it out I’ll post a heads up here.

I just want to introduce to everyone the excellent human beings of the Podcamp Boston 5 organizing team.  Each organizer puts forth a great effort in order to make the event a success.  They donate their time and sanity to making the weekend one you can enjoy.

So without further ado, please meet this year’s organizing team:

Christopher S Penn

Chris Brogan

Michelle Wolverton (Chel)

Steve Sherlock

Doug Haslam

Whitney Hoffman

Guido Stein

Ellen Rossaro

Carissa O’Brien

If you see these wonderful people upon your arrival this year at PCB5, please say hello and thank you to them for their effort.

We thank you in advance as the attendees, sponsors, and speakers for putting your time forth to make this year’s event informative and fun!

Edited to add: This post was written by Chel and she was humble and didn’t want to include herself but did after a friendly note.

And fast before they run out!

This year’s venue was donated on behalf of our friends at Microsoft N.E.R.D. and as a result there’s a wee bit limited seating this year for PCB5 with only 200 tickets available.  We’re releasing the first batch of 100 tickets today.

Just go over to our Eventbrite page and get crackin’.

If you miss out today, we’ll be announcing the next batch at a later date.  Just subscribe to our feed for updates!

So many details to share and so many more to come.

We’re happy to announce that Podcamp Boston will celebrate it’s 5th year of unconferencing on September 25-26, 2010 at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (N.E.R.D.) Center in Cambridge, MA.  Not only that but they have donated the space for us!  So please take a moment to say hi to the folks over there and thank them for hosting us this year.

As we enter a new chapter of PodCamp, we’d like to look to the future and help you to do the same, so this year our theme is Preparing for the Future.

What you need to know:

• Seating is limited to 200 tickets, therefore to give everyone some notice prior to purchase, we’re holding off opening tickets sales right away.
• Tickets will go on sale on June 25, 2010.
• The cost of tickets are $50 and this year’s ledger will be updated as we go.
• Net proceeds from the event will be donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
• The hashtag this year is #PCB5.

We should have more details on the conference, scheduling, session registration, etc in the coming days/weeks as we know it.

If you are interested in volunteering or sponsoring the event, please contact us via the contact form or email at podcampboston at gmail dot com.  (The Enrichment Center wishes to remind you that volunteers are not compensated for being a part of the organizing team.)

We look forward to seeing you in September!

The formal discussion schedule for PodCamp Boston 4 has been posted and can be viewed on our Schedule page. A few notes:

1. Don’t print it out just yet. It’s subject to change.

2. You’ll note there are 3 rooms and 1 space (possibly more) that are designated as open/unplanned. These are spaces that are lounges with comfortable seating designed for all the impromptu conversations, discussions, guitar performances, etc. that happen at PodCamps. We’ll have a wiki page up on the day of the event that will let you schedule these spaces freely, and they’re being left up to you entirely.

3. Did we mention it’s subject to change?

4. The most important part of PodCamp isn’t the schedule or planned discussions. These are at most a third of your PodCamp experience, if that. The real juice is in all the hallway conversations, all the side chats, impromptu activities, etc. that happen spontaneously. The planned discussions are there just to give you some starting points for discussions.

5. PodCamp obeys the Law of Two Feet: just because you sat down in a scheduled discussion doesn’t mean you have to stay there. You are expected- obligated, really, to get up and walk out if you’re not getting what you want out of the discussion. Go to another one. Go to an unplanned space. Get the most out of PodCamp by doing what you want to do, listening to the conversations you want to listen to.