Recently, a discussion came up amongst organizers of PodcampCT about different sessions ideas and what makes for a good session. I’ve always felt that a good podcamp is one where everyone learns something. It is one where there are not sales pitches or presentations. Instead, everyone is an equal participant. Everyone is a rock star. One submission particularly caught the attention of a few people.

Title: You Are The Media & The Message
Summary: Whether you are an experienced social networker or just getting your first blog or podcast off the ground, you can be as influential as any media outlet in the state. Learn how to leverage "the brand of you" through various media, both new and old, to get whatever you want to get done from some media mavens who will share some secrets to help you to use the new trust agents to grow your tribes, make it stick and crush it.

Various members of the organizing group felt that this sounded a bit like a sales pitch or presentation. It would probably be a winner on a social media buzz word bingo game card. It talked about ‘media mavens sharing secrets’. Others noted that the person who made the submission is very keen and progressive about social media, but that it did sound a bit like a presentation which might cause people to not attend, or to exercise the rule of two feet.

For people not experienced in Podcamps, the rule of two feet is that if you are in a session that just isn’t doing it for you, you should use your two feet to walk out and find a session that fits your needs better. You will get more out of the sessions this way, and people in a session may have a better session than they would if people are resentfully sitting in the session. When I am at a session that smacks of a presentation, I check to see if there is a chance to turn it into a conversation, and lacking that, I use the rule of two feet.

Yet actually, the session idea might not be as bad as it looks on first glance. If anything, it seemed to have the problem of combining many great potential session ideas. Key session ideas that I picked out of the one submission included:

How to brand yourself.
Participants will explore the idea of what it means to have a "personal brand"; why you might want one, and how you might establish one.

Building audience and influence:
Participants will share ideas about how to get more followers and readers, especially followers and readers that are most likely to act on and/or repeat messages sent out via social media.

Citizen journalism:
Participants will explore what it means to be a citizen journalist; how to cover stories that are being missed by others, how to get press credentials, how to tell the story in a way that people will be interested in.

I also suggested an idea to encourage people to suggest sessions that are not presentations. It seems like a good idea submission form might include a question something like
What do you hope to learn from this session?

Every session should be one that everyone attending is hoping to learn something from. If there aren't
things you are hoping to learn from this session, then perhaps someone else should moderate it.

That said, I also had a snarky suggestion:

Title: How to avoid pitches and presentations at podcamp
Summary: Podcamp is an opportunity to share ideas. Unfortunately, some people view it as an opportunity to make a sales pitch or presentation. They miss great opportunities to learn. This session will help participants recognize potential sales pitches and presentations to avoid, use the rule of two feet when they find themselves in such a session, and think about how they can promote sessions that will be meaningful discussions instead of presentations.

Podcamps are wonderful chances to share ideas and learn new things about podcasting and social media. PodcampCT will take place in New Haven on October 16th. If you live in the Connecticut area, please consider attending. If you live further away, please check out the main Podcamp website to find a Podcamp near you.