I’ve just returned to NYC from Podcamp Boston 3.0. This year’s PCB was, as always, a wonderful experience. I sincerely thank the organizers for all their hard work, and the attendees for contributing. However, PCB3 was not without it’s problems. The energy and attendance were both very low. Cost and date seemed to cause universal consternation, and ’social media’ rather than ‘podcasting’ seemed to dominate discussion. Having said that, Podcamp was still successful. Below are the + and - of the conference. I think that by a healthy discussion of what worked and what did not work will help us grow our community.

The Good:
- The people, people, people!
- The hallway! Podcamp hallways are where the action is, and this year was no exception. Impromptu songs, networking, business, and friendships sprung up everywhere.
- The sessions! Always very wiki-like, although I arrive at PDB3 a tad late, I caught some amazing sessions run by amazing people. Needless to say, I learned a ton.

The Bad:
- The People! This year’s PCB was missing a lot of people and organizations that have had previous years’ so bitchin. Why?
- The cost! Wasn’t “Podcamps should be free” a motto last year?
- The date! Podcamp Boston 3.0 came less than a year after 2.0, and less than three months after Podcamp NYC 2.0 - burnout, anyone?
- The Narcissism! The social media community MUST do more than just talk about our shiney toys lest we relegate ourselves to irrlevence.

What we can do:
- Invite your friends and explain to them why you’re passionate about what social media does for you.
- Stop bitching, start doing - in-hallway sessions are great, but we need to start acting on all our great ideas. This year’s Podcamp NYC education initiative was a great example.
- Constructively criticize! Let’s all work together to grow our family of content producers by talking about what can be improved on next year. Complaining is one thing, but remember the organizers work long hours to put these UnConferences together. Tell them what worked for you, and what did not.
- Communicate! We’ll grow our base of consumers and producers by speaking normal-person language. How can we explain what we do and why we do it WITHOUT jargon? Believe it or not, phrases like “I’m totally gonna Twitter my Flickr at the Podcamp, then Qik the shit out of my Seesmic,” can be alienating to some n00bs.

What do you think? What can Podcamps to to better integrate with their local communities, engage a more diverse demographic, attract young people, and DO something?

Dan on Twitter.

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