PodcampWest: Is it a camp or a conference?
In the beginning, I was very supportive of Podcamp West - we even added a link to it as something we suppoprt on our Web 2point2 Unconference Blog with other sponsors. While I was a bit upset that Vic Podcaster did not keep his promises to us for promoting Web 2point2 and he did not show up at the unconference to podcast as he promised and he did not bring his EVDO wifi router despite his promises to do so, I was really upset when I got an email from Eric Rice yesterday. His email was the first I had heard about being put on a panel with him and Matthew Wayne Selznick. Not only was I not invited to do this, I was never notified that it was happening until I received the urgent email from Eric - if he had not been upset with the panel description and reached out to me, I would never even have known about it. My plan was to attend for part of today (SAT) and then watch Jerry Rice have his number retired tomorrow at Candlestick Park.
Uncool.
So this morning, I finally had a chance to look at the Podcamp West Wiki, and lo and behold - it seems more like a conference than an unconference, and is not even close to being a camp (the BarCamp champions must be shaking their heads somewhere - wonder what they think about this use of their community mark?). Now, we are certainly not ones to be casting aspersions for experimenting - we do it all the time and are pretty good at failing spectacularly - this is also one of the best ways to learn. However, in this environment, for a camp, where there are so many lessons already learned, why not benefit from the experience of others instead of reinventing the wheel? Why not ask for help several weeks in advance to get this worked out right?
My real tipping point in deciding to write something about this rather than playing nice and being silent came when I realized how many PANELS Vic had planned. The "panelization" of conferences is one of the primary drivers of unconferences - in fact, the definition of unconference that I most often use is "an event where we take the power from the podium and panels and give it to the participants". The thing is, as I keep telling everyone I speak to about this stuff, the intention matters a lot (and I know Vic has good intentions so I am in no way meaning to demean him or diminish his herculean efforts in pulling this event off) but encouraging open dialogue is harder than it looks from the outside in. As a matter of fact, I was talking the other day with someone about how we share a bit in common with fashion models in that everyone looks at the job and thinks how easy it must be, when in fact the opposite is true. The other motivation to say something - I don't want the idea of the unconference discussion between people model to be bastardized and taken in the wrong direction - we need to speak out for what is right and say something when something is wrong - even if it is one of our friends who is making the mistake.
Perhaps I will talk with Eric and Matthew and we will find another way to do our session - more importantly, we might be able to get a session topic that makes sense. Honestly though, I am unsure if I will make it tomorrow - Jerry Rice is one of the few football legends I really admire. While I could Tivo it, time shifting on such an important occasion does not make sense to me. Then again, I have a lot of work I should be doing which won't be getting done if I am sitting around a conference.
Of course, I should have jumped in earlier and would have if I had not been so busy, but Vic certainly had plenty of opportunity to ask for advice in the half dozen or so times I have seen him over the last few weeks - he just really seemed like he had understood how this should work and did not need any help. Thankfully, he has been hugely successfull at raising a ton of money and getting around 250 people to sign up, so I am sure it will be just fine despite my grumblings about how he could have made things even bettter. Bottom line, people will make of it what they will and he has worked hard to make it all happen. If he does it again, I am sure he will learn from his mistakes. Let's just hope that other people don't need to repeat those same mistakes to learn for themselves...
