Podcamp Boston 3 - A Bonding Experience

Posted on July 25, 2008

This past weekend, I attended what can only be described as a unique bonding experience at Podcamp Boston 3. Initially, I had no intentions of going, as I’ve become a bit tired with the social media sphere. Yet, when Elastic Lab asked me to do some interviews for them, I made arrangements to share a room with @misssomething and @wankergirl at a hostel in Boston. I was going to Podcamp.

I had mixed feelings all weekend. The podcamp itself was, well, a podcamp. It was different than the others I’d attended before (PodcampNYC 1 & 2), but largely the same. The venue, Harvard Medical School, was beautiful, and lent itself well to the type of unconference Podcamp is all about. There were large, open, well lit hallways in which to sit, gather, network, and talk. There was a decent sized auditorium where the opening & closing sessions, as well as some of the larger sessions were held during the days. A room on the top floor was stocked with breakfast in the morning and snacks during the day. This venue was, so far, my favorite.

Maturing vs. Evolving

I heard a lot of people talk about how Podcamp Boston 3 (or PCB3) was different from other previous podcamps because it was more mature. I thought that a strange word to describe a camplike conference of any kind. On his blog, Chris Penn talked about the parties that accompany many Podcamps, and how this year was much more subdued. One commenter described this podcamp as “more mature and more professional…” which I thought was a bit strange. Podcamps have always been professional, in that professionals have been trying to figure out how to use podcasting (and more recently, all social media) to their advantage. This is nothing new. It’s really the mature part that bothers me. It seems to imply that those of us who enjoyed the sessions at podcamp, used the hallways & nooks for networking and socializing, and went out to dinner and then enjoyed a night at the wonderful bars of Boston were somehow less mature than those who did otherwise. Furthermore, it implies that these activities at previous podcamps were somehow less than desireable. Perhaps I’m making assumptions, but I tend to disagree.

What I see here is a series of “unconferences” in their infancies that are growing and evolving. That, to me, is more important than anything. In the five days since the final day of PCB3, I’ve had numerous conversations with other podcampers about what we can do to help podcamp evolve. I think we all agree that it’s time for podcamp to move forward, before it slips into obsolescence. Ideas like social action, workshops, and labs (more on this later) have been brought up as real, tangible moves forward for podcamps.

Maturity and professionalism are concepts that are secondary to what Podcamp (and indeed, the original Barcamp) was started for: to bring together people from all around the world to talk about new and social media, and how they can use these media toward their own, unique, creative ends. We’re not trying to change the world. We’re just trying to make it more interesting.

Doing More to Make Something

In my talks with other podcampers, one of the issues that came out of PCB3 was the desire to actually create something at Podcamp. At this point, many of us are veterans of podcamps and new/social media, and are looking to expand our horizons. The sessions, while mostly interesting and informative, are generally rehashes of things we’ve seen and done for several years now. Many of us want some kind of track where we can physically put the skills we’ve learned and honed to good use.

I’ve found that a good number of us are philanthropists at heart. We want to give back to the communities that have given so much to us (and let’s face it, if we have the expendable income to be at a Podcamp and have all these expensive toys, we should be giving back) by using the skills we’ve acquired through the years toward good ends. We are communicators. We are message spreaders. We use audio and video and still images to spread the word to large numbers of people using the Internet, a tool we’ve all come to know and love.

Even if it’s not getting together to build a house with Habitat for Humanity, or creating a vidcast showcasing a non-profit’s charitable activities, we are looking to create something. It’s what we do. If Podcamp is to evolve, as I see it doing, the next step is creating. And before you say to me, “Well, Chris, if you want all this creating to happen, why don’t you do a session,” hold your horses. Plans are already in the works.

Intimidation and Meeting People

Any new, unfamiliar situation where strangers abound is going to be intimidating. For many people, it’s easy to overcome their fear of talking to new people. For many of us, who spend so much time behind a computer (or behind a lens, as in my case), the hurdle is much more difficult to leap. One of the complaints I heard repeatedly at PCB3 was that there were too many “cliques” that were just too difficult to break into. People saw these groups of people who already seemed to know each other and felt comfortable with each other, and were too intimidated to break in and say hello. I’ll admit, I was in one of these cliques, though a few people did manage to slide their way into the group. The good thing was, we were more than willing to have people join us. From the inside, it’s hard to see why people would feel uncomfortable, but from the outside (and I speak from experience) that group looks like it has an impenetrable wall surrounding it. It’s because of this wall that many people just don’t even bother.

My group, my “clique” if you will, was guilty of having this wall. We all knew each other from being on the video conversation service Seesmic, and so it was relatively easy for us to join the conversation IRL. As I looked at our group dynamic, I realized that even I myself felt like an outsider at times, occasionally not understanding an inside joke or feeling left out from some activity. I know plainly that this was not intentional. The people I was with are wonderful, warm, and friendly people who are very accepting to anyone. And yet, there is that wall. So, imagine, if it was intimidating enough for me, an “inner circle” member, what it must be like for someone on the outside.

My conclusion to all this is that we, as members of these cliques, must make a concerted effort to include other people. We have to take some responsibility and not hide behind our wall. We have to go out and meet other people, to network, just like everyone else. We’re just as intimidated as you about coming up to you and saying hi, but we have our friends behind us to back us up. So it should be, IMHO, our responsibility to do introduce ourselves and welcome you in. It doesn’t take much, but when someone does that to an intimidated person, I know it means the world to them.

Bonding

There is more to Podcamp than the venue or the sessions. There are the people. The people are really what make a *camp worth going to. My new friend, Rayanne Langdon, posted on her blog that Seesmic is emotional. From her post:

I spent the weekend with about a dozen people I met many months ago on Seesmic. I have gotten to know these people online as well as I would have if I met them in person. When we departed early Monday morning, I cried. And cried and cried and cried. When my co-workers asked me on Tuesday morning how my weekend was, I had to choke back tears and tell them I wasn’t ready to talk about it.

I feel like I’m going through a breakup. The feeling was especially present when I expressed my complete sadness to some of the other PCB3 attendees and got responses like, “Yeah, it’s sad, but we’ll see each other again soon.” I thought I was too emotionally attached and was about to torture myself further.

But my friend (and one of the group) ChrisCavs said it best on a Seesmic post with something like this:

I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s constantly checking Flickr for new pictures and videos. What is it with this weekend? I guess we all needed something like that.

So, I’m not alone. PodCamp Boston was a wonderful experience. Seesmic is emotional.

We bonded.

I admit, I was flushed with emotions when I finally returned home from Boston. I wasn’t teary eyed, but a mixture of sadness, anger, joy, embarrassment, and love sloshed around in my head. For the past 4 days, I’ve checked Seesmic, Flickr, and our personal Ning site for any and all videos and pictures from PCB3. I’ve printed pictures of me and my friends together. They’ll hang on my wall.

Perhaps I’m reading a bit too deeply into it, but I know I’m not alone in thinking this was a very special experience for all of us.

Hopefully, more people can recreate that experience at future camps.

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