GlitchNYC

Podcamp is awesome.

I could simply end this post right there, but I suppose that’s not much fun, is it?

Well, there’s been so much that happened today that I almost don’t know where to begin. People have come from Kansas, NYC, London, and elsewhere to join in the new media love-in that is Podcamp.

I’d admit to being a bit shortsighted about this event. When I first heard the idea for Podcamp, I didn’t quite get how Barcamp, a multidisciplinary unconference about all things geek (including podcasting) would look if you filtered it down to just Podcasting and Vlogging. If you took out all the non-podcasters, who would come?

Christopher S. Penn and Chris Brogan had the foresight to realize that the Barcamp model is by nature self-exclusive. Because it’s an extremely technical event and everyone who comes is expected to present, people will refrain from participating for fear that they’ve got nothing to say. With podcamp, those who are new to podcasting are instead encouraged to come and learn.

The more inclusive atmosphere has created a ton of participation. At last count, nearly 400 people had registered for podcamp. Andrew and Joanne of Rocketboom are here (and yes, Amanda is here too, but those hoping for drama and subsequent mud-wrestling grudge matches have so far been disappointed ;).) C.C. Chapman is here. Steve Garfield is here. Chris MacDonald is here. These are mini-celebrities of the new media world, and yet they’re all completely down to earth, hanging out and chatting with everyone late into the evening.

The panels I’ve attended have been excellent, and I’m looking forward to catching the ones I missed via podcast later.

While I’ve been writing this, I’ve also been prepping the “warm up” show for tomorrow that will be played over the sound-system while everything gets set up. Speaking of The Alternative Music Show, tonight, Chris Penn asked if I had some shows with me to play during the after-event. Considering I was hauling nearly everything I own, I would have been ashamed if I hadn’t brought a few episodes with me!

While we all chatted, ate, and drank, songs from C.C.’s warm-up and the GlitchCast Rewind editions of The Alternative Music Show played from the speakers. It was strange to hear music that I was so incredibly familiar with coming out of bar speakers all night, and a very nice touch to the evening. Several times, people came over to me and asked who someone was because they really liked them. I love getting instant feedback like that!

Okay, I’ve got to crash so I can get up tomorrow for day two! I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Podcamp is awesome!

I’m currently on my way to Podcamp Boston. It’s just past 7AM and I’m already winding past hartsdale, crammed into the only half-a-seat left on the bus when I arrived.

That’s my own fault of course… I cut my commute famously close this morning, leaving at 5:45 for a 6:30 bus. That sort of stunt might fly during rush hour, but by 6, my subway train hadn’t even left the station (we live at the end of the line). I hurtled down corridors and up flights of stairs with the heaviest bag I’ve ever packed.

But it’s worth it.

As we rode out of NYC, the black sky turned to inky blue, and then almost suddenly to grey as a huge red sun appeared at the horizon. I always forget that sunrise is constantly duking it out with sunset for title of “most beautiful thing that happens around you every day, but most of us never notice.”

We get around thirty thousand of these things in our lifetime. How many have you really seen? I can count maybe 5 great sunrises that I’ve been awake and aware to appreciate.

Allow me, if you will, to share my geek glee with you for a moment. Part of the reason I was up late last night, aside from packing nearly every piece of production equipment, puppet, and cool gadget I own into a giant suitcase, was that one of my co-workers was handing off the holy grail of geeky equipment.

We’ve got 2 EVDO wireless access cards (basically, highspeed cell-phone modems) where I work. One is with our President at all times, and the other rides with one of our field workers. I called this incredible individual, and not only did he graciously offer to let me take it for the weekend, he personally drove it out to me in Astoria in the wee hours of the morning, acting like it was no problem at all. He was all smiles and “don’t worry about it” at 1 AM after a long day.

Sometimes when people are class acts, it just kinda shines through in everything they do. I need to get him a bottle of wine or something!

So, that means that, yes, for once I’m actually posting this from the bus, rather than writing and saving it up to post later. That’s nifty and all, but the real beauty is that I won’t be contributing to the inevitable bandwidth clog that podcamp will bring. Barcamp cripples any facilities wireless simply by virtue of the fact that there’s a hundred or so geeks all online at once, but us podcampers will also be adding rich media like audio and video to that mix, and you know it’s going to be a miracle if anyone can get online on the wifi at peak times.

Now I just need to figure out how to share the EVDO bandwith over my wifi in ad-hoc mode… Hmmm.