Passionate Podcasters Protect PodCamp (but miss my point)
Yesterday’s post about weekend scheduling of Podcasting Industry events elicited quite a flurry of comments (both on the blog and off), and it’s good that people are talking about this issue. However, I believe my point got muddied in my original post. Chris Brogan even wrote a post titled, “Dave Says We Don’t Take Podcasting Seriously.” That’s not at all what I said — or meant — and in fact is exactly the opposite. Perhaps I can better explain if I’m a little more pithy:
- I firmly believe that PodCamp — and events of its ilk — are excellent events (we at BackBeat Media sponsored one of the early BarCamp NYCs, and The Mac Observer and iPodObserver repeatedly are media sponsors of Portable Media Expo).
- I agree that plenty of business happens 24x7x365. In fact, I was on a conference call at 11:30 last night discussing a fairly sizable deal after which I sat down to read and write comments from/to all of you.
- Clearly not all podcasters are here for the business side of things. I know I didn’t start that way. I know Dave Slusher is here for the love of it, and will continue doing it regardless of whether or not he makes another penny. That’s fantastic, and support all of it, including the folks that are podcasting for both business and personal reasons.
The point I was making is:
- We at BackBeat Media talk to people every day — those outside of the blog/pod/echo-chamber — who still see podcasting as very much dominated by passionate hobbyists.
- Those are the people who need to be convinced of how serious we all are about this.
- Most of those people leave their desks at 5:00pm every day, rain or shine (especially shine. :-)).
Perhaps PodCamp is not for them. But *something* should be, because it would be great for them to experience just how serious this is. Unfortunately, continuing to hold the lion’s share of podcasting-related events on weekends and evenings perpetuates the myth that we’re all nothing more than passionate hobbyists.
It’s not I who needs to be convinced — I already drink the Kool-Aid. Heck, I make some of it. It’s those 9 to 5’ers whose heads we need to turn… and there’s a lot of them. Why not remove at least one of the hurdles in doing so?
Technorati Tags: podcasting
February 21st, 2007 at 1:35 pm
No I totally understand what you’re saying, I just think that most people who go to these conferences aren’t in your situation. I bet there are a bunch of folks who would love to have a PodCamp during the week. You could organize one.
If you need help I’d talk to Chris Penn and Chris Brogan and they could point you in the right direction. I’d love to help you out, but don’t tell me that I don’t understand.
February 21st, 2007 at 6:35 pm
No I totally understand what you’re saying, I just think that most people who go to these conferences aren’t in your situation. I bet there are a bunch of folks who would love to have a PodCamp during the week. You could organize one.
If you need help I’d talk to Chris Penn and Chris Brogan and they could point you in the right direction. I’d love to help you out, but don’t tell me that I don’t understand.
February 21st, 2007 at 2:01 pm
As one of the organizers of the Pittsburgh PodCamp, I understand both sides of this argument. I can see where weekends have the “hobby” mentality associated with them, while weekdays have the “business” mentality.
I guess the question of when to hold a PodCamp depends upon one’s primary reason for holding the PodCamp in the first place: is it intended to be a business-oriented POV or a socially-oriented POV?
In order to get people to take off from work and attend a PodCamp during the week, you’d need to be able to provide them with something tangibly beneficial, which they can take back to their day jobs and say, “This was worth the time spent NOT at my desk today.”
Since PodCamp, by and large, is an open-source conversation, and very a much a “you get out of it what you put into” philosophy, I don’t know that it’s designed to justify time lost from from one’s paying job. I almost think that, in order to become that type of conference, we’d need to drop the “un” and put up formalities that would affect the way in which the experience is perceived: less about an open dialogue and more about the business and infrastructure.
Perhaps that’s what a weekday PodCamp WOULD need to be, but I think the current model is built around unrushed, unforced and open-ended dialogues, which may lend itself better to a weekend than to the goal-oriented and product-driven 9-5 workweek.
Perhaps we’re considering two different potential conferences here…
February 21st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
As one of the organizers of the Pittsburgh PodCamp, I understand both sides of this argument. I can see where weekends have the “hobby” mentality associated with them, while weekdays have the “business” mentality.
I guess the question of when to hold a PodCamp depends upon one’s primary reason for holding the PodCamp in the first place: is it intended to be a business-oriented POV or a socially-oriented POV?
In order to get people to take off from work and attend a PodCamp during the week, you’d need to be able to provide them with something tangibly beneficial, which they can take back to their day jobs and say, “This was worth the time spent NOT at my desk today.”
Since PodCamp, by and large, is an open-source conversation, and very a much a “you get out of it what you put into” philosophy, I don’t know that it’s designed to justify time lost from from one’s paying job. I almost think that, in order to become that type of conference, we’d need to drop the “un” and put up formalities that would affect the way in which the experience is perceived: less about an open dialogue and more about the business and infrastructure.
Perhaps that’s what a weekday PodCamp WOULD need to be, but I think the current model is built around unrushed, unforced and open-ended dialogues, which may lend itself better to a weekend than to the goal-oriented and product-driven 9-5 workweek.
Perhaps we’re considering two different potential conferences here…