Just around 6 weeks ago, I attended the 2007 Podcast & New Media Expo (PME) in Ontario, CA. I’ve been meaning to blog about it for a while, but between then and now, I’ve had a crazy series of biz trips to Chicago (twice!), New Orleans, New Jersey, and Orlando so it hasn’t been easy to find time to do anything.

Anyway, I have to agree with CC Chapman, who said that returning to PME (for the 3rd year in a row) is much like returning to summer camp. Indeed, one of my favorite parts of the event is hooking up with old friends and making new ones to extend that circle for the next year.

Coincidentally, CC and I were on the same flight back to Boston after the PME and we got talking about this year vs. previous years. I think there was a general sentiment — particularly among the PME “veterans” — that this year just felt different…Almost like some element was missing or that it had grown into something else.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s still a great event with lots to see, hear, and do, but I think the original “grassroots”, ”hey you’re the face behind the voice”, and “we’re passionate about this and love the community” feel just isn’t so evident anymore. It seems like more and more people are just expecting someone to “show them the money” — more taking, less giving.

Whatever the case, this year’s event still had a great variety of meetups, talks (days 1,2,3) and lots of interesting exhibitors. Even just 3 short years in, you can tell right away that the meeting has ‘grown up’; with speakers that now have years of experience under their belt and plenty of ‘regular’ exhibitors, including some that have merged and others that have completely “submerged” and are no longer present.

Here’s a brief rundown of all that took place…

PRE-MEETING:
Even before all the programs begain, the very first morning (7.30am folks!!!) was the first meeting of the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM), a newly formed “…industry association focused on providing standards for advertising and audience measurement for episodic and downloadable media“. I encourage anyone who’s podcasting to join the organization. I’m going to sign up real soon.

MEETUPS:
Meetups are an essential part of the PME culture. Usually planned before the event, via the Expo message boards, these are often a “journey of discovery” as you meet people with mutual interests and put faces to names/voices you know. This year, I attended two meetups…

1. The Health Podcasters Meetup — I met up with my ol’ pal Camp Douglas (Flow Productions). Also met Dr. Ginger Campbell (Brain Science Podcast), Jamie Davis (MediCast), Naomi Hirsch (OSU), and Phil the Floating Bones guy. Overall an eclectic and varied mix of health/medicine/wellness related podcasters, mostly exchanging stories about life in the ER.

2. The Enterprise and Corporate Podcasters Meetup — Organized by my good buddy Paolo Tosolini (Microsoft Academy Mobile) together with his South African Zune lads, Josh and Mike. Also in attendance were John Havens (BlogTalkRadio), Brett Bumeter (LinkyLove Army), Dan York (BlueBoxPodcast), and Warren Whitlock (ImakeAuthorsRich.com). Lots of interesting conversations around corporate regulations and barriers, as well as other issues surrounding internal podcasting (or any social media for that matter) and, of course, a bit about MS Academy Mobile.

TALKS:
One big difference this year, was the format of the keynote talks. Instead of the usual podium presentation, the keynote speakers were invited to sit on a comfortable couch across from Tim Bourquin — PME Organizer — who then conducted a causal and candid talk show style interview. I think this really worked out well and I enjoyed this new format thoroughly. However, the stage was a little short, so barstools or a higher platform would have helped with seeing the interview over the crowd.

Here are some of the talks I really liked…

1. Michael Geohegan – Yet again, Michael was probably one of the best speakers this year, both in terms of the presentation delivery as well as content. He should also get a prize for the longest title: “Selling the Unique Value of Your Content: Determining What Your Show is Worth and Convey It To Advertisers, Sponsors and Investors“. Overall, a nice, significant update to his 2006 talk, that covers many of the aspects of monetizing a podcast, what advertisers are looking for, and what to look out for.

2. Susan Bratton — Susan is CEO of Personal Life Media, a successful and revenue generating podcast network. She is also a champion for the Association for Downloadable Media and she  put on a really engaging and interactive performance, speaking from a lot of her own experience in: “Selling Advertising and Sponsorships for Your Audio or Video Content: What You Need To Know Now! “. Really good stuff and lots o fun, too.

3. Paolo Tosolini & John Havens — Paolo is a good friend whom I met at PME 2006. Over the last year, he convinced Microsoft to adopt podcasting as a means of internal communications and peer support; creating Academy Mobile, a platform where “…social computing meets field sales“. The talk, entitled “The Business Value of Podcasting and New Media for Corporate Organizations“ tells the story of how Microsoft (and Paolo) adopted, developed, and launched Academy Mobile, while John (formerly the About.com Guide to Podcasting guy) adds his comments about enterprise podcasting and “transparency” in social media (which he is currently writing a book on).

4. Greg Cangiolosi, Matt Snodgrass, and Paul Vogelzang – Greg is another good bud whom I met at PME 2006. He runs Blue Sky Factory and he’s the guy that connected Disney to Michael Geohegan, who hosted the Disney 50th Anniversary Podcast (one of the lesser known facts). Anyway, this was a great panel session about “Metrics in New Media: Showing Results and Judging Success“. They of course covered the all important metrics collection issues and walked through the Porter-Novelli MommyCast.com case study, drawing from their collective experience in podcasting, marketing, metrics, PR, etc.

If you’re interested in listening to the audio recordings of these talks immediately, you can purchase all 53 recordings for a price of $99. However, if you can wait 6+ mths or so (I think) you’ll probably be able to download them for free via the GigaVox Network.

I recorded a few of the sessions and will be posting them on this blog over the next few weeks. I also have an interview with Paolo about Academy Mobile that I’ll post as the “first official” podcast of Med20radio — the Med 2.0 Podcast.

EXHIBITORS:
As alluded to, notably missing this year was the Audible Wordcast booth (which was there the first two years). Also missing, was the LibSyn booth, but in it’s place was the Wizzard Media booth (GREAT T-shirts, guys!), consisting of Switchpod, LibSyn and Blast Podcast. Some new and interesting booths include OneUpWeb (an SEO and New Media agency), Ambrosia, Lynda.com, ODEO, Tube Mogul, and — the one that I was a little shocked by — the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (think NIH, folks)…I thought I was getting away from work when I came to the expo, so I was a little taken aback to see the HHS.

FINAL WORDS:
Well, that’s the round-up of the PME 2007 for now. Over the next few weeks, be on the look out for audio recordings from the talks and also new Med20radio podcasts of interviews with various people at the recent events I attended (PME 2007, Digital Pharma 2007, PodCamp Boston 2…All coming soon.).

See pictures from the event here.