My 3 Takeaways from Podcamp Boston Weekend
Posted by dan ronken
I'm slowly coming down from a big 'high' due to an amazing three day event named Podcamp Boston.
The only hangover from this party will be organizing and implementing the awesome ideas shared by some of the biggest thought leaders in social media for business and technology.
Although there are countless technological takeaways from this event, the following three were the most meaningful to me so I'll keep it simple.
Accessible Industry Titans
I've attended many conferences and I've found Podcamp to be most comfortable. I'm originally from Minneapolis and one of the 'unfair stereotypes' about people from the east coast is they are too hard and fast paced. It's true that folks may be more direct here on the east coast, but that does not equate to being too tough or less thoughtful of other people's feelings. Nope, not at all. A good example is Jeff Pulver. Here's a guy who is arguably one of the world leaders as a futurist in the field of communications technology. I found him to be extremely humble and appreciated his talk titled, "The State of Now." It was a very casual and comfortable presentation. He touched on where we're headed for the future and re-emphasized how 'time and space' and the democratization of 'real time' information is creating another opportunity for someone to become the next billion dollar information architect. He was totally approachable throughout the weekend as well.
Keeping Things Simple
Another great experience was sitting in on a presentation from Mike Langford of Tweetworks. He has 'mad skills' when it comes to developing twitter applications which can simplify and create manageable discussions and communities on Twitter. The most memorable moment for me was when a gentle grandmother raised her hand and said, "I need to get plugged in because I heard there were like 500 pictures of my little grandson out there on the internet that I have not seen!" Now if that's not a big motivator to get online, I don't know what is. We all have our own reasons why we want to 'get on board' in web 2.0.
Authentic and Caring Feedback
It's always a beautiful thing to witness random acts of kindness. Especially, when I see this happen in a group of business savvy folks. It really warms my heart and reinforces my belief in the goodness in human nature. While attending yet another fascinating group discussion led by Leslie Poston, a gentleman named Chris Abraham genuinely expressed the value that another attendee brought (by simply being herself and sharing her creativity) with the world. My perception is that she experienced an emotional shift that will continue to pay dividends in more than just the monetary sense of the word.
Of course my list could have could have been much longer than three main points, I just wanted to share this joyful weekend which reinforced the importance of connecting with people and feeling a sense of community.
Next post will be the conclusion from last week on the '12 Steps for Small Business Owners. Please Stop the Denial.' Thanks for reading friends, and don't be shy. Go ahead and leave a comment on how you think social media and technology is affecting humanity.