At PodCamp Western Mass 5, it's about relationships

I attended my fourth PodCamp Western Mass today and I came away as usual impressed and energized by the experience.

Oh it helped that this was my fourth one and I know so many people, but as fun as it was to reconnect with old friends, many of whom I met online before meeting in person, it was even better meeting some new people and hearing about their experiences with social media.

A PodCamp is a conference created on the fly where people come together to learn and share experiences about using online social media. It's organized up front so people will be there, we have a building, and we all get food and drink; but the actual content gets generated on the fly.

I hosted my first PodCamp session this morning with my friend Jeff Rutherford about Google +. We literally decided to do it minutes before the first session started (although we had mentioned it over cofee a few weeks ago). We had a great group of people and we talked about the benefits of Google + without notes or slides for an hour and it was a kick.

There were people who hadn't used it at all and those like Jeff and me who were fairly well versed, and that's the point of PodCamp. You come to learn, to share and work together. At the end of the day, chances are you walked away with more knowledge than you came in with.

But the best part for me was meeting people and talking to them and hearing about how they were using social media in their businesses and what worked and what didn't. When you look at a social media strategy as a whole, it can admittedly be fairly daunting.

There  are different networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest -- to name a few. There's content curating and content creation. There's blogging and most of all, understanding that having a social media presence is more than just showing up. It's about establishing relationships with people. It can all be a bit overwhelming without help -- and that's the point of PodCamp.

As I mentioned earlier, I have forged friendships with many of the folks, at PodCamp and I met amost all of them through Twitter or other online outlets. Once you meet online, and you extend that into real life, something special happens because you have a relationship already. 

In some cases, you know about their kids. You definitely know about their work and you have the basis for something more substantial.

I was surprised to hear from Morriss Partee, who has helped organized the conferences from the beginning, that Western Mass PodCamp is the longest continually running PodCamp in New England, and as of this year, PCWM is the last one standing in New England.

That's too bad because sometimes relationships start online and events like PodCamps give us a chance to extend those relationships into real life. And it works in reverse too. For me, some started today at PodCamp, and as usual, it was a blast.

Photo Credit: Morriss Partee

Comments

[AspiringKaro]

Ron, I'm so glad we got to connect, even briefly. I'm always happy to run across the usual suspects, but making new connections is even better.

With the kind of energy and enthusiasm I've seen year after year (this was my third) I have a feeling we'll be the longest running PodCamp for years to come.

[Ron Miller]

Karo: Yes, I always wonder if should I go and then I'm so glad I did. Never regret it. Nice meeting you too. I'm sure we'll stay in touch in the usual channels. :)