Monday, September 3, 2007

More thanks in order!



PodCamp UK 2007 has now come to a close and what a wonderful, entertaining, enlightening and eventful gathering it was. Around 80-90 people turning up for two fantastic days of learning, sharing, networking and socializing in the open and informal atmosphere of the Birmingham New Technology Institute.

Friendships were formed, old ties renewed, food, wine, beer and superb music were liberally served and the UK new media community showed yet again its tremendous energy and enormous enthusiasm for creating, learning about and growing the global and local new media community.

Thanks to everyone who attended and supported. We love you guys! You are the creative hub around which our event revolved. Your passion and dedication as media makers and content creators is amazing; your drive towards constantly improving what you do is inspiring; PodCamp UK was your event. YOU are the maIn reason it happened at all. Thank you.

We'll be collating the various media from the event together over the next week or so and we'll post the links here as and when we can. If you have media you'd like to contribute, please use the tag podcampuk when posting it so that it will be easier for us to find. Thanks...

To Neil, Oliver, Merlinda and Aamar, the truly top notch team at the NTI we offer our collective thanks and a warm round of (virtual) applause. You could not have done a better job. The treatment we got was first class. The NTI was the true home of our PodCamp. From all of us to all of you, thank you.

To the band Esteban, DJ's Tim Baker and Brian Greene, thanks for giving us a party night to remember with great music and good vibes.

We also raise our virtual glasses to Mr Jeff Pulver for buying such a gigantic round of drinks! Even though you didn't attend Jeff, we'd like you to know that your generosity contributed greatly to the happiness of a lot of people and incidentally a few mild headaches on Sunday morning! :)

To the staff at the Aston Business Conference Centre which was virtually taken over for 2 days by PodCamp UK; many thanks. Great hotel and really helpful staff

To our sponsors Cheeze, Digital Central, Wells Park, Podcast Nation, Blogtv (who streamed the event) Bliptv, Techsmith, Pod3.tv, BTPodshow and Node 10. You asked for little and gave a lot in return. We send you our warmest regards and we offer our sincere appreciation. PodCamps are only FREE to attend because guys like you understand the power of community and the creativity of the grassroots. Thanks for paying our bills!

To our fellow PodCamp people across the globe, we wish your events the same warm glow and the same energizing spirit we found in Birmingham this past weekend.

It only remains for us to say "Podcamp UK you were awesome!" Thank you and for now at least, goodnight!" :)

PodcampUK - The Aftermath!

We had some great times, conversations flowed and new friendships built, tune in tonight via webcam and audio mic input (flashmeeting) at 8pm GMT to chat with others from the weekend. If you can make it please drop by and say hello. We have a two hour slot to talk about how to improve for the next one (right?!) what you got from it and what to do next year.
(http://fm-openlearn.open.ac.uk/fm/080ed4-787) (replay at same link!)

You can find all some photos from the weekend that craig took (the dude with all the awesome gear!) at the entrance. Hope you'll twitter about the flashmeeting chat tonight. I personally want to thank john for his hard work with the setup of event and the sponsors, for without them it would not have happened. Please email all the sponsors to thank them personally if you can (even if just one line) (http//www.flickr.com/photos/clanlife)

blogtv show streams
main room - http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/9572
conference - http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/9573
boardroom - http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/9576

blogtv archived video
http://tinyurl.com/2khaef

Any of your videos you want to have hosted for free i can put them on the http://podcampuk.blip.tv feed so everyone can get to them if you like, or tell me where the video is hosted and i will grab them and add them to the feed (with your permission of course)

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Thanks Everyone!

Well, that was PodCampUK. Two days of packed, self-administered entertainment, enthusiasm, learning, sharing, debate, microphones, cameras, suggestions and ideas.

Thanks all the people without whom the event wouldn't have happened - to the volunteers, in particular, John Buckley, Phil Campbell, Linda Mills, Simon Toon, and Mark Crook; to the sponsors for their financial and moral support; to all the staff at the NTI who made the entire thing a really pleasant experience; and many, many thanks to all the people who came and took part and made the sessions the exciting, rewarding and dynamic places they turned out to be. Well done all.

Those of you who missed the live streams, and/or who want to collect goodies from our new media archive, check back for links to podcasts and recordings.

Friday, August 31, 2007

What is PodCamp UK?

PodCampUK is a free two-day event bringing all the excitement and ideas and energy of a PodCamp to the UK for the first time. This unique event is taking place on the 1st and 2nd of September at the New Technology Institute in Birmingham, and promises to be a brilliant mix of ideas, technology, live music, free food, great people and much more...

September 1/2 2007 - Birmingham NTI
Sign-up NOW!

PodCamps are meetups for anyone interested in New Media. The first PodCamp was held in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2006, and they are now spreading across the globe, enabling culture, commerce and connections.

The "Pod" in PodCamp comes from podcasting; but you can expect to find anyone at PodCamp, podcasters, video makers, software developers, entrepreneurs, journalists, musicians, social networkers, marketers, producers, publishers, PR firms, educators, actors, writers, boys, broadcasters, girls and Web 2.0 gurus, all using the internet to communicate with shared media.

Some are beginners, some are experts, but all are enthused by what they are doing, redefining the old media landscape and defining a brand new culture.

PodCamp UK is a free event (we never tire of saying that!) - an open door on new media, organised by volunteers who have all experienced Podcamps elsewhere in the world. To pay for the venue for two days with food for all attendees, we now have sponsorship from UK businesses Cheeze, Podcast Nation, Digital Central and Pod3.tv. Nick Saalfeld from Wells Park has very kindly offered to pick up the refreshments & Jeff Pulver has put a tab behind the bar for the Saturday night social.

This is a FIRST - media coverage is bound to increase as we draw nearer to the first weekend in September. Please contact us if you are interested in joining our sponsors, and helping to make Podcamp UK a truly special event.

The event is taking place on the 1st and 2nd of September at the New Technology Institute in Birmingham, England.

Video Streaming Links Up

http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/podcampuk_videostreaming

You can currently find all the links to the seperate "shows" on blogtv listed, we hope to add the rss feeds later on today so you can get the sessions directly. Also as a backup we hope to have a quicktime stream to streamguys at 256kps. We will also be recording to tape and hopefully using hijack pro to store the mp3 side of things for an audio version.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

PodCamp UK in Second Life: Stage

Freebies, T-shirts and Streaming Gear!

In a last minute rush everything seems to have come together with the freebie giveaway 100 t-shirts from blogtv arriving - the official streaming pack equipment literally getting here and the condenser mics needed to stream from the 4 rooms. Add to this the awesome Second Life setup and the PodCamp looks to be off to a great start and we have not even opened the doors yet!

We hope to start testing the video streams setup for the sessions around 5pm/6pm GMT tomorrow (Friday) in preparation for the early saturday morning start.

We have also limited supplies of the official PodCampuk t-shirts that will be for sale for £5 each at the event, if you require one please update the wiki so we can allocate one to you ahead of time.

Also, our promotion of the event for people to come and watch virtually has started on blogtv.com - we have prime banner space across all blogtv platforms - we are expecting a great turnout of people viewing the sessions and live stream over the weekend.

PodCamp UK in Second Life



Here is the Second Life URL for Podcamp UK: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Booville%202/67/171/29

If you have Second Life installed, click the link and you'll be taken to Booville where we are hosting the virtual Podcamp UK.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Keep up with the Latest on Twitter!

We have an account setup @ http://twitter.com/podcampuk. We will be releasing the schedule to this twitter account as it happens with links to the video streaming for these feeds too. If you have never used twitter before it is a great way to get information in 140 characters or less - you can even link your mobile phone to your own account and get updates direct to your mobile for free.

We hope to start sending out messages on friday afternoon and for the whole weekend after testing setup at the nti.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The PodCamp UK Hotel!



* Check out this link for hotel information about the evening event and hotel rooms. Remember we get a special rate. The Hotel and Evening Event are in the Same Place RESULT!

* The evening event will start at 8pm with FREE drinks, a live band (Estaban), DJ sets and social get together.

* Single occupancy on a 'Classic' room is priced at £40 per night and is the cheapest option. You should quote the "NTI Rate" for the "PodcampUK Conference" on all bookings to get the special prices. All rates include a full English breakfast.

* The 'Standard' room rate is £50.00 for single occupancy.

*'Superior' rooms are £60.00 for single occupancy.

Attached above are photographs of the bedrooms. The first picture with the mounted television on the wall is The Classic bedroom, followed by Standard and Superior.

Book early to avoid missing out!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Pre Hotel Addition Details

Please see John's post above but here are a few other things you should know about the evening event/hotel rooms (one and the same!)
  • the bar tariffs, sample breakfast menu, bar menu - are all linked here to view.
  • the building is open 24hrs and a porter will be at the entrance.
  • breakfast is available from 7:30 - 9:30am over the weekend.
  • loud music must finish by 11pm. There are other guests staying in the accommodation.
  • plenty of rooms are still available.
  • Reservations - You can call 0121 204 3726 or e-mail. r.biran@aston.ac.uk
Thanks!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Sponsor : Node101

NODE101 is an open source, collaborative project created to teach and spread videoblogging worldwide. From online resources to physical classrooms and ongoing events, the goal of NODE101 is to teach media literacy as a life skill and to change the current media landscape from being a lecture to being a conversation. Of, For and By media makers.

Thanks to Jay Dedman and Ryanne for the donation to podcampuk.com

Thursday, August 23, 2007

NTI Pre Testing Setup & Wifi

I visited the birmingham NTI centre this morning in preparation of the event in the next 9 days! - i went to test the wifi capacity that has now been added to the event. I'm pleased to say that on tests it was operating at 6 meg download and 2.5 meg upload - please note this is not dsl but cable so the speed is constant. The speeds are expected to be a little bit faster over the weekend due to less people using the connection at the collage.

A few issues arose this morning regarding the connection however. The internet feed is proxied we will have a leaflet to give out when you arrive to be able to setup your laptop to use this proxy. We tested adium (mac osx) and skype and both of those could be configured for use. We are actively making sure ports are open to access blogtv for streaming and streaming to streamguys for the quicktime feed. Web access is un-effected and is very speedy so text blogging at the event should not be an issue. The reason why the connection is proxied is that the collage has very strict rules about usage of the internet (totally understandable)

Wifi was reported to work in all rooms and is using an brand new airport to deliver the wifi across the rooms.

Sponsors : Blogtv.com & Blip.tv

We have added two more additional sponsors to the mix in the form of blogtv.com (for streaming the event out free of charge to people - no bandwidth restrictions and archival) they also gave us some money for the event - thanks!

Blip.tv have also put together some funds for podcampuk and we are very grateful to mike hudack and his team for stepping up to the plate as we get over closer to the event.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

World Exclusive Software Release @ Podcampuk


as part of my session on videoblogging i hope to demo a piece of software as well as others to help newbie vloggers get started. we have the world exclusive to one such application that enables people to do this. more on the schedule.

Friday, August 17, 2007

BT Podshow Show Support!



We are pleased to announce the support of BTPodShow for PodcampUK.

PodShow is a premier social media community, and daily delivers a digital avalanche of the best in audio, video, podcasts, and music on the web. They have been at the forefront of podcasting and new-media since the beginning and continue to produce great shows, new ideas and to promote the creativity and artistry of podcasters, videobloggers, musicians, comedians, independent film makers and the new-media community in general.

There are already many great BTPodShow people giving time and energy to PodcampUK and this show of support is a lovely gesture from all the PodShow family.

Thanks PodShow! See you all at PodcampUK! :)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Evening Event & Hotel

The evening event and hotels are one and the same so it makes a perfect combination for our evening event. Held on campus at aston university the business centre is a great central location and only 5-10 minutes walk from the NTI center (a few pubs on the way i am sure!)

As of this moment there are 150 bedrooms available for the weekend (basically plenty right now for the weekend, friday and saturday if required) and we have agreed a special rate via the NTI. You will need to call reservations on 0121 204 3726 and quote "NTI Rates" - you do not of course have to use the onsite hotel and accommodation - am sure there are many others in birmingham and the surrounding areas.
  • classic bedroom, bed and breakfast - £40 inclusive of vat
  • standard bedroom, bed and breakfast - £50 inclusive of vat
  • superior bedroom, bed and breakfast - £60 inclusive of vat
You can see photos of the nti centre and the evening location over here.

We do intend to have a band play for an hour and there is plenty of space for chatting, drinking and i believe they have a restaurant/snack bar type thing cooking food till around 9pm. The building itself is open 24/7 with birmingham central for nightlife just a short walk away.

*update* - one of our attendees has already booked the hotel and found that the price was even better than the price above as she got the "single" rate. i believe she got the superior room at the classic bedroom price. I need to confirm this however.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Pod3.tv Joins PodCamp UK!



With PodcampUK less than one month away, we are delighted to announce that another great sponsor has joined the cause. The latest recruit, comes in the form of the innovative video-podcast and webtv company Pod3.tv.

Created in 2006, Pod3.tv was the brainchild of Neil Fairbrother, who created the 6th fastest growing brand in the UK in 2002 (Langley-based Neos Networks), where he invented Liquid Bandwidth' business-to-business telecoms service. The beautifully designed Pod3.tv succinctly defines their purpose, when it describes the company as a "21st century TV company" that creates "high quality TV-style shows as video podcasts that are commercially sponsored – just like commercial TV."

With content that ranges from the arts and music, to business, documentary, food and drink, gardening, travel and more, Pod3.tv is a forward thinking and highly creative company and as such, is a perfect sponsor for the UK's first ever PodCamp.

This is yet more fantastic news for an event that is rapidly shaping up as the new-media party of the UK summer.

Join us by signing up on the wiki. It's totally free to attend and it's going to be really special!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

PodCampUK Promo

Bob Cartwright has crafted this beautiful little promo for PodcampUK. He's actually done several, but this is my favorite. You can download them here for use in your own podcast. - Thank's Bob! :)


Monday, July 23, 2007

PodCamp Promotion - banners, mp3 and video

We really need to make a good push in effort over the next 4-5 weeks to really pack this event out, we are actively producing content - banners, audio and video that you can include on your blog to advertise podcamp. If you are attending you will receive an email soon about things you can do to promote the podcamp to others, we hope to get a broad spectrum of people attending to share in the creative passion that gets released at a podcamp.

You can find some of the promotional materials over at http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodcampUKPromotion. Thanks to all those people that have added, sent in promotional pieces for the videostream - keep them coming. We also need little mp3 audio stingers and would ask podcasters to please consider putting in a little promotion piece into podcasts coming up to the event - it would really help things out.

Friday, July 20, 2007

PodCamp UK Ltd

Podcamp UK Ltd, a non-profit company number 6319378, registered at Companies House, Cardiff, Wales, 20th July 2007.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Podcamp FlashMeeting Discussion Tonight!

Got a webcam? - Got a Microphone?

This evening at 7pm GMT we are hosting a flashmeeting (a video/audio chat room we use for videoblogging from time to time) with regards to the upcoming podcampuk. We are hoping that you will attend to have a open chat about things you would like to see at the event in september.

So far we have fifty people attending and we expect to raise this number to over 100 in the coming month. We will also talk this evening about how you can help raise awareness of the event utilizing your podcast and video feeds. Got questions please feel free to drop by and ask them, we look forward to hearing from you.

http://fm-openlearn.open.ac.uk/fm/flashmeeting.php?pwd=e7fda8-664

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Chris Penn Interview

Dean Whitbread interviews PodCamp co-founder Chris Penn at PodCamp Europe in Stockholm.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Picking up the "tab" - New sponsor for beers!


In a totally shocking display of awesomeness, Jeff Pulver last night gave generously to the PodCampUK cause; donating money to put behind the bar. This is very beautiful! We seriously hope Jeff and some of the other wonders of the new-media sphere (Chris Brogan springs to mind) will attend the event with us. So again, thanks Jeff!

I believe John Buckley might have some news for us all soon regarding hotels for the weekend and some special rates we may be able to get at certain hotel locations.

I have started a PodCampUK promotion show on blogtv and will be visiting the NTI in Birmingham this Monday, to shoot some video for the blip video feed and speak to management about the building, layout and such like.

Monday, June 25, 2007

New Sponsors!



Great news for the PodCampUK cause today - Digital Central have come on board as a major sponsor of the event. Big thanks go to Neil Emery and the guys at the NTI Birmingham for bringing them to the PodCampUK party.

For your reading pleasure, here's a little more information from our new friends in the Midlands. Visit their website to find out more.
Digital Central is a regional development project that helps the West Midlands be nationally and internationally recognised for its digital media and music sectors. That includes Film, Television, Animation, Interactive Media, Computer Games, Digital Imaging, Music and Radio.
Our aim is to develop an enterprise culture for cluster businesses that will help accelerate economic growth and increase employment through the promotion of innovative new ideas, the development of new market opportunities and the nurturing of a new generation of cluster entrepreneurs. Our project represents a major collaboration between the regional development agency, the private sector and higher education.


Sign-up here! :)

PodCampUK - Bliptv Promo-01

Here's the first viral video from the Bliptv feed set-up by the mighty Phil Campbell.
Promo02 made me want to jump straight back on a plane to Sweden and PodCamp Europe!

If you want to experience everything that PodCampUK has to offer, sign-up on the wiki now and register your intention to attend!


Thursday, June 21, 2007

PodCamp Promo

A few of the participants at PodCamp Europe tell you exactly what they got out of being there.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Introduction & Promotion

Hello there, my name is philip campbell. I recently met up with John Buckley at podcampeurope. After not seeing John for nearly 2 years, it was nice to slip back into conversations again and talk about life, media and social networking events. After a quick discussion it appeared that adding additional people to the PodcampUK team would benefit it greatly, so I've stepped up to virtual plate to help.

I'm hoping to bring viral videos and mp3 and video mashups to bear in promoting PodCampUK and in showing some of the things you might learn while at the event. I have already setup a blip.tv account for distribution of these promos via rss feed; so you can grab them and use them in your own media podcast or videoblog productions.

Basically we need YOU to spread the message. I know one of the issues we have is sponsors - We need to make sure we can spread awareness of PodCampUK far and wide. It would be great to meet some of our Swedish friends again from podcampeurope at the uk event!

I have created accounts and distribution methods across some of the major video/media sharing networks and will start to auto syndicate to these as the videos/media/promos comes in - chances are a media platform you use will be covered.

facebook group : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2369610558
facebook event : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2360888978
dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/podcampuk
youtube: http://youtube.com/profile?user=podcampuk
dailymotion rss: http://www.dailymotion.com/rss/podcampuk
blip.tv : http://podcampuk.blip.tv
blip.tv rss: http://podcampuk.blip.tv/?skin=rss

More added soon.. . oh and btw, linda mills has started a jaiku channel over @ http://jaiku.com/channel/podcampuk

Thursday, June 7, 2007

The When & Where!



I went to Birmingham yesterday, to view the facilities at the New Technology Institute (NTI) for PodCampUK in September. After a quick tour, I sat down for a chat with Neil Emery - one of the people in charge of running the place...

Neil has a background in music - he used to run a recording studio. Now he's working for the NTI and (amongst other things) teaches kids how to use new-media tools. He also has a genuine passion for podcasting and puts together the Saturday night Glee Club comedy podcast. He intuitively gets the ethos of a PodCamp event.

I'm delighted to announce that on the basis of our discussions, PodCampUK is now pencilled into the NTI diary for Saturday and Sunday, September 1st and 2nd, 2007.

The NTI is a purpose-built Apple Accredited Training Centre right in the heart of Birmingham city centre. It's a great venue for PodCampUK; with a beautiful open-plan layout and plenty of light and air. It's technically well equipped with lots of computer access points, giant plasma screens in all the main rooms, plus plenty of breakout space, and a brilliant Mezzanine layout which will be perfect for hosting impromptu group discussions.

The main seminar room can be laid out as one large space, or split into two separate areas. There are two additional 'boardroom' environments and several smaller meeting rooms. There's also a dedicated IT space which can be set-up for blogging on the day. It's close to three railway stations; there are good parking facilities near-by an it's ours for two days in the first week of September! So, sign-up on the wiki and get involved in making PodCampUK an outstanding and memorable weekend for everyone. It's your event now and with your help, ideas and input, we can make PodCampUK a really special event for everyone!

See you at the New Technology Institute for PodcampUK in September... ;)

Monday, May 7, 2007

PodCampUK Audioblog 01

Introducing the event.

NB: I accidentally say 2006 instead of 2007!

Link to MP3

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Sponsors

Pleased to announce that Cheeze and Podcast Nation have come on board as sponsors.

These companies have produced a promotional "selection of best of UK podcasts" CD which also plugs PodcampUK.

This is an attempt to get the Podcamp phenomenon moving into some different sections of the the general public. We want people at any stage of experience and from different backgrounds to feel able to come to Podcamp, and hopefully to get something out of it.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Interview - Chris Brogan

John B sits down to share the love with PodCamp co-founder and all round quality guy, Chris Brogan.

Chris talks about the PodCamp movement community, trust, collaboration and relationships and reveals why he feels that every human-being conceals a superhero inside!