PodCamp Pittsburgh 3

DSCF1077

DSCF1077, originally uploaded by Joel Mark Witt.

Planning is underway for PodCamp Pittsburgh 3, the third iteration of the Pittsburgh line of PodCamps.

I attended the first PodCamp Pittsburgh, where I shared what I knew and thought about blogging and learned a bit about video and podcasting. Then I helped organize a newbie version of the conference, and then PodCamp Pittsburgh 2.

I had fun with the planning and I loved participating in the PodCamps, but what’s been most rewarding all along is meeting amazing local people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, and working with them to create awesome stuff.

So we’re at it again this year. PodCamp Pittsburgh 3 will be held on October 18 and 19 with a lead-up gathering on the 17th. It’ll be held at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Registration will be free, and anyone can present a session (although we are organizing a little bit of curriculum to make sure we cover some basics and offer info of interest to people with advanced skills as well).

We had a planning meeting tonight — the third or fourth I think — and stuff is coming together. In the past we’ve waited a bit late to start organizing, so it’s a change to have enough time to do things properly. For example, the web team and I have several weeks to revamp the website, rather than a couple of days. We’ll even have a testing period. Novel!

We’ve discovered new ways to improve the experience each time, and we’re working to learn from other PodCamps across the country. Ours is the best (naturally), but everybody else does great things, and we all seem willing to share and move the community ahead.

The Loungy Lounge, by the way, is one of two break rooms we had at PodCamp Pittsburgh 2. The other was the Mentor Lounge, which was stocked with computers and was a place where people could go and ask questions. It didn’t seem to be quite as effective as we had hoped; I think some of the Canadian PodCamps have come up with improvements.

But the Loungy Lounge was where anyone could go to just relax, and socialize or not talk to anyone for a few minutes so the brain could absorb all the new info. It was among my favorite innovations for PCPGH2, so I hope we work it into the plan this year.

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