Last weekend (SEP 9-10), I
was fortunate enough to attend the first Boston Podcamp at Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC). Unfortunately, it was
also the same weekend that I had out-of-town guests visit. Somehow, I managed
to convince them that Cambridge was a cool place
to explore and Bunker Hill is only a few stops from downtown Boston, so I was at least able to attend the
Friday night reception at Harvard and the first half of the Saturday
sessions. I just didn't think it would be fair to keep sending them away
for the entire weekend.

So, from the short time I
spent at Podcamp, all I can say is WOW!
Not only was there an overwhelming response of more than 300 participants, but for an “unconference,” it was also really well
organized and well planned (I've heard horror stories about some other
un-conferences). I'd really like to express my sincerest thanks to the
organizers (especially Chris Penn,
Chris Brogan and Steve Garfield) as well as to the sponsors for their support
(plus some cool t-shirts and other giveaways during the event).

And before we actually get
into the QOTW, here are a few interesting things that I learned at Podcamp:



1. BHCC was part
of the movie Good Will Hunting (thanks to my wife)
2. Feedburner has a
customer-produced podcast (thanks to Eric O.)
3. LibSyn has an
enterprise level program: LibSyn Pro (thanks to Chirs M.) 
4. Like me, Chris
Brogan uses Giant Squids and a Sony MD recorder.
5. Greg from Blue Sky was responsible for getting Michael Geohegan the Disney gig.
6. Them Harvard
guys speak different–all I could think about during their welcome message was
“Any more Sam Adams“?   

OK, now on to the QOTW…

After negotiating my way
through a labyrinth of hallways and stairways that make up BHCC (the map
really didn't help!), I finally arrived at the second session that I wanted
to attend on Saturday morning, called “You and Your Brand–The importance of thinking about
marketing and self brand when doing a podcast.” It was co-hosted by C.C. Chapman and Mitch Joel, who were both excellent speakers.
I can't believe this was the first time they had ever met and spoken together.

While the title initially
made me think it was going to be another talk on self-branding, it actually
turned out to be a lot more interesting and insightful than that. Mitch and CC
candidly discussed many simple truths about what makes a good podcast and
how to connect with your audience.

As I listened to what they
were saying, my thoughts strayed to a podcasting project that I am currently
working on with a third-party vendor. They recently proposed a contrived script
that resembled a formal interview from a typical executive magazine. It was devoid of emotion,
passion, or anything that could make it personal to the listener, so
I immediately sent them a few links to podcasts that would help them
understand what podcasting was all about.

Perhaps, I should have just
asked my vendors to attend this session with CC and Mitch, because they were
sharing the exact message that I was trying to get across:
Whether it's a hobbyist podcast, a corporate podcast, a premium
podcast,  or whatever, the key thing is to be genuine…to
personalize it with your own brand…and most importantly, to be Y-O-U !

So, the QOTW for this week
is succinct, but powerfully stated by Mitch Joel:

“Be
YOU, because others are already taken!”

For those of you who
couldn't make the session/event, here's a pretty raw recording of the entire
session (~30:45 mins):

Here are some other resources related to Podcamp Boston 2006:
- http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/BostonRecordings
-  http://podcamp.wordpress.com/
- http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/podcamp/index.html
(check out the knitting guy)