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Back from PodCamp Toronto…

imglogopodcamptoronto.gifThis was my second Podcamp, and definitely not my last. For anyone involved in social media, I highly recommend this line of unconferences (held in various cities around the world). This year’s Podcamp Toronto featured a great line of speakers providing informative case studies and “best practices” workshops on a variety of social media topics. I attended the following:

  • Facebook Marketing – Colin Smillie & Roy Pereira
  • Social Media in a Disaster – Dave Fleet
  • Introducing the Social Media Press Release -Collin Douma
  • How the Alzheimer Society of Ontario fell in love with Social Media – WayneMaPhail
  • Everything you need to know about Second Life – Jenny Bullough & Eden Spodek
  • Podcasting on a budget – Russel Hale

The whole conference was streamed LIVE on the Internet so you can watch the sessions yourself if you were unable to attend. Videos and presentation slides will be available here (on the wiki) by the end of the week.

From a public sector marketing perspective, I found the “Alzheimer’s Society” and “Social Media in a Disaster” presentations fantastic. Be sure to watch these sessions as they become available. I spent quite a bit of time chatting with Robin Browne from Da Biz Blog who shares a similar passion in terms of helping non-profits use social media to better deliver their messages and improve their marketing efforts. I also had a great conversation with Collin Douma about the flawed compensation model that the advertising industry is based on and the rise of Social Media Press Releases (to complement traditional PR/Communications). Be sure to check out Collin’s Blog Radical Trust for some great insights and advice on PR in a world of Web 2.0.

Overall I was very impressed with the flawless collaborative organization of the conference and the friendliness of the social media community in general. I see more and more “regulars” as I attend these events but also a whole slew of newbies as the field of social media marketing and communications expands into the mainstream.

I will definitely be using some examples from this conference in my “Develop a Social Media Marketing Plan in One Day” workshop (catered specifically for the public and non-profit sectors), which our organization (CEPSM) will be conducting in partnership with CMG across Canada beginning April, 2008 (shameless plug!). We have a PDF brochure of our complete line of workshops available as well, in case you need a hard copy document with more info .

In all seriousness though, I’m quite excited at getting these best practices out there to hesitant communications and marketing professionals in the public sector that still need proof that the benefits of getting engaged in social media outweigh the risks. Success stories are popping up left right and centre, why re-invent the wheel when we can all learn from each others experiences!

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4 Comments

  1. Hi Mike — great to meet you at Podcamp and thanks for the information about social media usage in different parts of the world ! So much to think about, so many people we can now connect with!

  2. Likewise Victoria! Let me know if you ever need any additional info. I’ve got mounds of stats and data on social media, especially in terms of adoption in government, association and non-profit settings, which is what I specialize in.
    Cheers,

    MK

  3. Mike:

    Fantastic write-up. Thanks so much for being there and helping to make it happen. All the best with the creation of your workshop–it will be well-received I am sure.

    Cheers,
    Connie

  4. I also promote some of my affiliate links on Facebook by making Facebook fan pages and also by advertising on Facebook.-;,

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