Podcamps are growing all over the world and have become the most popular events to podcasters and bloggers, thanks to the two gentleman who I interviewed and had the opportunity to meet at PodcampNYC on April 7, 2007. With the first Podcamp in Boston (September 9 and 10, 2006) this event has formed a culture of its own with organizers, exhibitors, session speakers, and attendees from all over the world. Check out this interview to find out how Chris Penn and Chris Brogan came up with this fantastic unconference idea.

BC: What prompted you to come up with the Podcamp idea?

CB: We knew we wanted to conduct a gathering of the best minds in the new media space, and that we wanted to build an experience that was as open as BarCamp, and as information-packed as other events we'd attended. 

BC: Why do you think podcamps are so attractive to podcasters and companies servicing podcasters?

CB: PodCamps are attractive to people seeking to get a conversation, and ultimately a relationship, started with an audience, customers, friends, or all the above. I don't use the term podcaster very often, because I believe these are tools to an end. When we're lucky, PodCamp is a place to explain new media community tools to people outside our echo chamber.

CP: One thing I think we forget from our BarCamp roots is that people in new media are, well, media types, which means they LOVE to communicate. They love to talk about cool stuff they've experienced, they love to share generously. PodCamp has benefited from their willingness to share and spread information.

BC: When you decided to hold your first Podcamp, did you have any idea that it would spread all over the world?

CB: As the event was winding down, while sitting in the main auditorium of Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Christopher S. Penn and I were spent, and we looked at each other and almost immediately agreed that the model had to be that others would take the ball and run with their own PodCamps in their own communities, with only limited advice and guidance from us. But did we expect it to go all over the place? That's been really exciting!

BC: What new developments do you see Podcamp organizers implementing? 

CB: With each PodCamp, someone comes up with a neat trend or idea. At PodCamp Pittsburgh, they vowed to try all kinds of experiments after the event and see if they could move the needle forward on better developing the space. PodCamp Atlanta took the press by storm with some major media attention from the AP. At PodCamp Toronto, every session was live-streamed and recorded to video, and that set the bar higher. PodCamp NYC tried to fit as many people as possible in one hotel, at a record-breaking 751 attendees. Each PodCamp has contributed something new to the experience. We love it. So far, Boston 2's first change is moving from a wiki registration to an actual registration software. Why? Because we want a better way to community with people and manage the experience.

CP: The other thing that's important to note is that each PodCamp shares what it's done with the next ones so that everyone benefits from the experiences.

BC: In a nutshell, what is the easiest way for someone to learn how to organize a Podcamp?

CB: We've assembled resources both on http://podcamp.org , as well as the PodCamp Blog ( http://podcamp.wordpress.com). Christopher Penn and I are working on documents and centralizing information so that it will be even easier for future organizers.

BC: For those people who have not yet attended a Podcamp, what would you offer to entice them to attend one?

CB: PodCamp is a free, lightweight, information-and-relationship-heavy unconference experience, with a strong emphasis on participation over the typical paid conference experience. You'll learn more, meet more people, and form better relationships in the new media community through PodCamp than through experiencing any other conference event, I can say without hesitation. Other sessions have their values, but we know our strong suit, and that's building community, and equipping them with the best tools they can use to accomplish their goals.

CP: I have to say that the willingness to freely share is probably one of the most amazing aspects of PodCamp. In other conferences and industries, sessions are nothing more than thinly veiled sales pitches for the most part, and sharing actual knowledge takes a back seat to pure marketing. PodCamps are different in that everyone shares, everyone has something to give. I've given away more software and stuff I've written at PodCamps than anywhere else, and it benefits the community as a whole, because someone can then take what I've done and improve on it and share it back to me.

BC: Can you please describe your own podcasts?

CB: Chris Brogan has a videoblog that's not much more than an assemblage of travel experiences. It's called Small Boxes, and plays at http://smallboxes.blip.tv .

CP: Christopher S. Penn, however, has both the Financial Aid Podcast, a daily free show on how to pay for college and manage your personal finances (http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com) , as well as a collaboration with John Wall called Marketing Over Coffee (http://www.MarketingOverCoffee.com), which is a weekly show about what's new and noteworthy in digital marketing. 

BC: What events do you think will follow the Podcamp concept?

CB: PodCamp borrowed from what we learned from BarCamp. I think all the *.Camp experiences will share information with each other. But even according to the Business Week article ( http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_20/b4034080.htm) about unconferences, it appears that others might well follow the unconference model here and there, where it makes sense.

CP: As new media grows and more people get into it, I can easily see people creating very specialized UnConferences, like a Second Life Camp, or a TwitterCamp, or any gathering of people who have something to share.

*Publishers note: We both attended PodcampNYC. We thought the experience was so great, we decided to do our own Podcamp! This one is a bit different, it will be the first Podcamp not in a city, but in a web conference room, all online! We are calling it Podcamp City Online! It will be held on Saturday July 28th!

Learn more at http://www.podcampcityonline.info