At both Podcamp Boston and Podcamp New Hampshire I gave a talk on social media and competitive intelligence.  The last time I spoke in front of crowd as a presenter was at NewBCamp 1 in Providence.  I came away from that talk discouraged at the idea of speaking in front of a crowd.

Then I took lead org of Podcamp Boston, which came with an element of standing in front of people to welcome them. Not nearly as nerve wracking to me, but still I wasn’t confident in my abilities.

When the time came to do stand up and do my session at Podcamp Boston I found that I was more confident and some part of that was a result of being passionate about my subject.   At Podcamp New Hampshire, my session on WordPress was supposed to be live and then the usual wifi fail turned it into a Q&A session.  Working with WordPress for 3+ years has given me a little something to talk about.

While I feel better about the confidence parts, I’m still working on my presentation game.  I wanted to share a few things (minus imagining everyone in their undies) that worked for me lately while presenting in hopes that it will help you.

1. Notes.  Okay, it’s cheating a bit, but the outline feature in Keynote?  My new best friend.  I get nervous in front of crowds of people, I lose my train of thought, so having the little reminders help so very much.

2. Not too many notes.  Too many notes at Podcamp New Hampshire made me read from my slides and then when I realized I was reading, waving my hands in dismissal.  It wasn’t at the crowd but it definitely came off that way.

3.  Don’t read from your slides.  Please?  Yes I know it’s a lot of information to remember, but that’s why you need…

4.  More practice.  You’ll feel incredibly goofy but recording it does give you some insight of how you seem to the rest of the room and bonus, you learn the flow of your presentation, your style and you’ll recall the next notes easily instead of being stunned in silence.  Oh time yourself while you do this!  I know that I definitely need more rehearsal.

5. Have a conversation.  If you were talking to a friend about your subject, what would you say?  The friend would ask questions, point out issues, inspire insights.  Treat your audience like you would your friend.  If people want to engage with you about the subject, encourage it.  You may learn something new and they may understand something that was eluding them.  After all, your job is to give people valuable information to take away and use.

6. Slow down.  Give people a chance to absorb what you are saying.  Make sure you have some good examples to talk about between slides so you don’t finish too quickly.  Boy did I finish quickly, but lucky for me, my audience had some questions and actually some points to discuss.  But I realized the need immediately to pace myself in future talks.

I’m looking forward to giving this talk again, hoping that it’ll help others understand the importance of competitive intelligence given access to the wealth of information being shared via social media.  Below you’ll find my slides, they’re not extremely helpful as they’re just words, but I have a few blog posts planned to go in depth about the pieces.

In the meantime, if you’re a expert presenter, please feel free to add your tips in below.  I can use all the help I can get!

6 Presentation Tips for the Neophyte

It’s been a crazy 5 years, well, 4 for me, but 5 for Podcamp Boston.

For those of you who do not know the history of Podcamp:

A PodCamp is a usually free BarCamp-style community UnConference for new media enthusiasts and professionals including bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, social networkers, and anyone curious about new media. The first PodCamp was held September 8-10, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. PodCamps are now being held worldwide.

Podcamp Boston was co-founded by Christopher Penn and Chris Brogan in 2006.  These two guys wanted to learn more and share what they knew about podcasting without traveling over to the west coast to do it, so they came up with the idea to host an unconference in Boston, MA.  The first of many Podcamps around the world took place on  at Bunker Hill Community College.

Why I love Podcamp.

Podcamp Boston’s attendees have historically been overwhelmingly full of people new to online/news/social media.  The event is a great place for people who have questions and need answers on how to get started.  Last year, we focused on making the event discussion based as much as possible vs. presentation.  The goal was to make it easy for attendees to get their questions answered.

This year, I hope that speakers will continue that tradition.  The most important part of Podcamp to me is others learning what they need to know so they can take that actionable information back home or to their office and make it work for them.

Why Greater Boston Food Bank.

We’ve chosen the GBFB in the past for our charity because helping to feed kids is a no-brainer.  While we don’t know the total donation amount for this year’s event yet, we do know that it feels good to keep kids in the Boston area/MA from going hungry.

If you are an attendee this year and paid for your ticket, you should feel proud of how you’ve made the world a bit better with your participation in this event.

I hope that I’ll be seeing many of you this weekend and that you’re excited as I am for the 5th year.  Please enjoy the event and remember to ask the questions that will help you grow and prepare for the future.

Podcamp Boston 5

59 days and counting.

The video below is a TED talk by Rob Hopkins on “Transition to a world without Oil“, who reminds us that the time period in which we’ve developed and build our lives around oil dependency is very short and will very shortly come to an end.  He touches on how oil production has dwindled as well as the energy we get from oil now vs. the 1930s.

“The world isn’t Second Life. We can’t create new land and new energy systems at the click of a mouse.”

Rob founded the Transition movement, helping communities take the steps to creatively come up with new ideas on sustainability now, before our world changes and we must change with it.  Interestingly, one town has created their own currency as a result that is only worth something within the town but inspires local spending and growth.  (As he talks about stories it reminds me muchly of Ron Ploof.)

Will we be able to give up the status and ease of life that we so effectively build on this energy source to embrace a new way of living before we meet a future without oil?  That’s the question that we ultimately need to answer.  This problem isn’t going away.

Think about the ways you can change your world, your community.  It’s a topic on my mind this evening as we ready for Podcamp Boston 5 and this year’s theme Preparing for the Future.

What can you do to creatively change the way you live a little at a time to meet the future transition and prevent disasters like the oil spill from ever occurring again?

Lessons from an Oil Spill : Green is the new Black

Photo by C.C. Chapman.

Wow. Another Podcamp Boston concluded.

It’s was an amazing weekend for me for several reasons. In the past we’ve had people talk about not getting the chance to find out what they needed to know. It’s important for everyone who comes to an event like this to get the takeaways that make the entire weekend and the cost of their attendance worthwhile to them.

That was the focus of this year. We had roughly (from a hand count) 75% first time Podcampers attending. 75%! People who had come to learn about podcasting and new media from those advanced enough to give some good ways to get started. I hope that each of you got a chance to ask the questions on your mind this weekend. If not, reach out to someone you met this weekend and it’s quite possible they can connect you with someone that *can* help you get that question answered. (You can email me, in fact!)

In instances where discussion leaders couldn’t make it for their scheduled discussions, others stepped up, took over and helped the discussions move forward. I’d like to thank all of you who stood up to help facilitate those discussions, flying by the seat of your pants to help the community. You are what Podcamp is all about.

Personally the weekend made me face some fears, helped me move forward and push through some things holding me back. The feeling is overwhelming in a good way. Chris Penn touched on my story in his reflections on the weekend. I’m sure I’ll touch on it again as I turn this next page. Chris and Chris, thank you for trusting me to make this year happen. For believing in me.

Community rocks. Each of you did your part to make this weekend a success. Being a part of this community, watching it come together was very thrilling for me. Seeing all of your faces and all of the discussion happen this weekend made all the hard work worthwhile.

I owe a huge thank you to everyone. The sponsors, the organizers, and of course the attendees, because without you being there it wouldn’t have been possible.

Podcamp Boston 4 Thoughts and Community

12 more days until Podcamp Boston 4! & Work – Hire me?

It’s important to me to do a great job for my clients and to make this Podcamp Boston rock for all of you this year.  So I have a good excuse for not blogging.

We’re definitely smaller this PCB on the 4th go around but I think the economy is getting to everyone.  The discussion rather than presentation format has me excited.  Not to mention, C.C. Chapman and Ron Ploof are heading up the What’s Next discussion.  There are some great discussion leaders over at http://podcampboston.org/schedule-preview

One of the best things about running the conference is the people that come together into the community to make the event spectacular.  There have been numerous offers of wonderful people volunteering to help with anything they can. Thank you each and everyone of you for taking the time to ask.  We have awesome sponsors and some still inbound.

I’m VERY lucky to work with such an awesome team: Christopher Penn, Whitney Hoffman, Chris Brogan, Steve Sherlock, Lance Gomes, Guido Stein, Doug Haslam, Katie Martell, John Eckman, Adam Weiss, & Sara Streeter.

Personally

I’m evolving into what’s next for me personally.  More about that after I survive PCB.  I switched from my iPhone to a new Blackberry Curve on Sprint.  I need to blog about why I switched, but want to put research time into it. I went on vacation and the internet didn’t die. *gasp*

I’m looking forward to getting back to normal after ‘camp is over.

Two Reasons why I’m invisi-pixie…

When I fell asleep during a road trip to Podcasters Across Borders last year, I didn’t know I was going to wake up to being asked to take the reins as lead organizer for Podcamp Boston this year from Chris Penn and Chris Brogan. And in that spirit of shaking things up…

Podcamp Boston 4 is taking a different focus this year!

A lot of us attend conferences to find out what’s new, meet new people (networking FTW!) and get our questions answered.  What are the questions that you need answers to? This year, that’s the idea.  Learn what audio tool is best, how to put together a video podcast, what the heck is Twitter or the best tools for blogging?  Any question, get the answer.

It doesn’t matter your level of skill or involvement in podcasting and/or social media, there’s bound to be someone here that can help you find the answer while we explore what’s next in podcasting and social media.

Podcamp Boston 4, August 8-9, 2009 at University of Mass. Boston.  It’s simple, register and ask and learn.

Podcamp Boston 4: It’s all about the Questions.

The funniest, kinda snarky but all in good fun, hands down BEST review of Podcamp Boston 3 I’ve read.

And I quote:

32. No matter how good the alternatives are, Twitter is too sticky to go away (any time soon). They could drop the whale on a bus full of children, then bake their parents into meat-pies and people will still use Twitter over anything else.

There are so MANY more gems there too. Check it out!

Kevin Kennedy-Spaien so rocks.

Best Twitter line ever.

This past weekend Podcamp Boston 3 rocked the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School. Thank all of you who attended, those who lent a helping hand, and those who taught others.  Thank you to our sponsors who believe in what we do enough to put forth the pledge to help us put on this conference, that includes each of the attendees.

Photos credit to C.C. Chapman.

I want to mention I had the privilege of working with the best team: Chris Penn, Chris Brogan, Sooz, Steve Sherlock, Doug Haslam and Whitney Hoffman.

Huge thanks to Andrew Jankowich for helping out at the reg desk Saturday.

We had an 80% attendance rate, much better than last year’s 50%. 370 people total attended.  Hopefully they learned a lot, met their goals of learning and sharing, and it will allow them to grow and DO in the next year.

Many times throughout the weekend, Chris Penn mentioned “do”.  Doing.  Achieving, reaching out and finding ways to make your real life community (no, not only your social media community) a better place. That maybe, by making your corner of the world a little better that will start something remarkable.  If I reach out to help my community and you reach out to help your community and others follow in our footsteps who knows what changes that will affect.  We’re seeing the beginning of that with Obama’s campaign.  We want change, question is are we each willing to do our part to make it happen.

We have the tools.  We have the power.

Did you meet your goals for learning?  What will you do in the next year to make a difference?

Podcamp Boston 3 – Success! Thanks to you!

Tomorrow I’ll be heading to NYC for the first time ever and going to Podcamp New York!  This is exciting coming down from Podcamp DC last weekend which was a great event put on by Tammy Munson and others in the DC area.

Pixies and apples?  Wonder what the results are?  Come to PCNYC this weekend and find out

If you are going to be in the area, please please email me, call, DM (twitter) me, anything!  I want to meet you!

Podcamp DC and Podcamp NYC

Oh wow. I can’t really believe it’s been a week since the end of Podcamp Boston 2. It’s been really hard to get back to the normal swing of things rather than the pace of organization that was taking place in those last weeks.

(Thank you to Mr. Penn and Mr. Brogan for founding Podcamp.)

What was the best part of Podcamp for me? I can’t possibly answer that truthfully but here are a few shining moments!

Meeting Matthew Ebel. Finally! CC’s photo sorta says it all. Hanging out with him was a pleasure and great fun. Riding in a cab with him reading twitter over my shoulder and the manic rush before walking the expo floor at VON. And *of course* seeing him play repeatedly!

Getting together with other organizers. I finally got to meet Whitney Hoffman, who was *the* organization goddess, after working with her on Podcamp stuff for so long plus Sooz, Steve Sherlock (he was always smiling!) and Dave LaMorte. Don’t let Chris Penn fool you! He worked his tail off in those weeks before Podcamp to help make it a great experience too. These are the heroes for me of Podcamp.

Jeff Pulver. I’d watched his Blogtv shows, I’d talked with him in chat, but this is the first time I’ve met the man. The first thing he did was take my photo and then he gave me a hug. He is a gentle soul and a lot of fun! Jeff’s party at the Roxy the following Tuesday was awesome and he showed that he knows how to have a good time.

Doug Haslam made an effort to get all the details right in the musician’s press release, even embedding audio for me to make it a multimedia press release that featured Matthew, Grace Buford, Natalie Gelman and Becca Lobe. It was easy to collaborate with him and I look forward to doing so again in the future.

The above musicians did a fabulous job performing on Saturday night, read more about them and take a moment to listen to their music if you didn’t get the chance. Support podsafe music and independent musicians!

When I finally met Ed Roberts he gave me the best hug ever. I’m so happy that Jeff Pulver made it possible for him to come to Podcamp. It was so worth it for just that hug and the others throughout the weekend to follow.

I can’t mention Ed Roberts without thinking about Mrs B. These two are great friends and fellow Matthew Ebel fans. As Mrs B and I danced in the ballroom Saturday night I was beaming to finally meet such a sweet woman with the most awesome Patriots fan podcast ever. Yes, I think I’m getting Boston’s sports fever. *groans*

Brian Polensky!!! I met Brian in SL as Connor and didn’t know him well but knew that he was a Ebel fan. Brian is an amazing guy with a big heart. He is heading up Camp Ebel to make music videos of Matt’s music! He’s such a great friend I was so happy to finally meet and hug him in person. He was gracious enough to help out without asking on Sunday at the registration desk and that is just his spirit.

Jeremy Vaught, I’d only known him in Second Life but IMs about his life in Alaska kept me in contact with him in RL. He’s a great guy and has a great sense of humor.

Nico! I kept hearing that this guy Nico was coming to Podcamp and I kept wondering why this was so cool. Now I know! He’s entirely sweet. He asked for his hug immediately before running off to get me Starbucks. Smart boy!

LoudMouthMan. Who the hell can forget a man in a kilt standing in the street at 2 am threatening to show more than leg if a cab driver didn’t stop? If that’s not enough to refresh your memory then surely you remember the loud orders through the halls of the BCEC. If you heard it, you were either in awe or laughing your ass off. He’s an awesome man and has some brilliant ideas about personal branding and social media.

Natalie Gelman was a highlight of my day Saturday when I finally met her for the first time. That girl has voice.

Eric Skiff was a great surprise, friendly and warm. It was so nice to finally put the voice to the face that I’ve seen and he turns out to be one of the coolest people to hang with.

Neil Gorman. If you missed this man’s session, shame on you. I don’t podcast but I attended his session, . I’d been dying to see him present since his video from PAB. Even Chris Penn said skip my session and go to his! That’s the most remarkable endorsement for me. His energy is awesome and he’s a great conversationalist.

Mitch Joel. His session on personal branding was a must for me. I was happy to catch him but sorry that I didn’t get more time to say hi to him in the hallways. Maybe Podcamp NY?

Justin Kownacki and Tommy Vallier. Hee. I think I made Justin giggle at least once and that was great fun. I’m just sorry I couldn’t hang out with them after Saturday’s event was finished!

I know I missed some people and didn’t include some that I had already met. Please shoot me an email or comment if I missed you. It was such a whirlwind of activity that I was in a blur most of the time.

The part I love about organizing events is the hype and the excitement leading up and then during the events that I’m taking a part of. I had a slow cool down of social activity but definitely hit the bottom of The Dip when Saturday rolled around.

What am I doing about it?

I’ve turned to meditation and blasting Matthew’s album Goodbye Planet Earth through the house (off of my MacBook mind you). The meditation has helped me so much in the past few days.

Have a plan when you come down from these type of events. You don’t know what your next big project is? Enjoy the downtime, don’t dread it, don’t avoid stuff, but take your time ramping back up.

I know that I’ll be working on pursuing leads for my virtual personal assistant business plus marketing for Matthew over the next few months. Not sure what events will come up between now and then but I know I’ll enjoy the next one as much as Podcamp Boston.

Podcamp Boston 2 success!