This week, Podcamp Boston 3 was announced. Podcamp Boston 3 will be, in part, sponsored by the attendees with a registration fee of $50 , meant to defray the cost of the venue. I will be helping Chris Penn and Chris Brogan organize Podcamp Boston 3, just as I did with Podcamp Boston 2, even though I live outside of Philadelphia.
The addition of a registration fee for Podcamp Boston 3 is causing some controversy. Some people feel that any admission charge to an event that has been free in the past is antithetical, and therefore, the Podcamp Organizers should simply shutter the event and call it something else if they want to hold a new media event with an admission fee. While I think this is simply silly, I think it is important to discuss the evolution of a movement, disruption and commerce.
I am reading a great book, The Pirate’s Dilemma- How Youth Culture is Reinventing Capitalism, by Matt Mason, that speaks to this dilemma directly.
Pirates in The Conference Space
Matt Mason talks in the early chapters of his book about how Punk Rock emerged with the Sex Pistols, based on the idea of breaking with tradition, permission, and control, and doing whatever you wanted- the beginning of a culture based on Do It Yourself- DIY. Matt notes “Disruptive new DIY technologies are causing unprecedented creative destruction.” – This is the core of Podcamp.
Podcamp is, in many ways, the Punk version of traditional conferences. It evolved because there was no new media/podcasting conference on the East Coast like the Portable Media Expo, which was held in California at the time. There was a need, and after attending BarCamp, a developer’s conference, Chris Penn & Chris Brogan, along with others, imagined a lightweight conference dealing with the new media space. While I think it started out as a conference geared towards podcasting, it ended up being about marketing, search engine maximization, blogging, exploring tools, production techniques, video production and more, and it has evolved as the community and technology have evolved to remain an inclusive mash-up of community DIY types with business oriented folks.
Chris x 2 opened up the model and encouraged others to adapt it for their own communities. Podcamp Toronto and the many subsequent Podcamps did this. I’ve done it myself numerous times now, in Philly, NYC and even helping out in Boston.
This has been disruptive for events like the Portable Media Expo. People don’t have to wait for a once a year event anymore, and they can create their own, locally, if they want. They have to put in the effort, but people now have tacit permission, looking at the Podcamp model, to create their own conferences if the main stream conferences don’t suit. It carves away business from conferences like the PME, I am sure, but it also heightens the demand for events that suit the community. The sponsors of the various Podcamps have been enthusiastically supporting the model and the relatively low sponsorship levels, which helps make these events happen with increasing regularity.
The Punk Conference has a reputation and main stream acceptance
If you want to see whether or not Podcamp has reached main stream acceptance, look at the attendee list for Podcamp DC and Podcamp NYC. You’ll see individuals from different branches of government, lobbying firms, traditional media outlets, right next to people producing hobby-based podcasts. You’ll see CEOs of start-ups and venture capitalists. It is an exciting, cutting edge place to hang out, and clearly, people from across the new media/social media spectrum think so.
Punk rock artists found out that it’s disruption and rebellion struck a cord with others. The bands empowered and were empowered by the audience. As Matt Mason says in his book,
“Under Punk, the concept of the gig totally changed. Punk despised the one way flow of information typically found at a rock show. At punk shows the band and the fans occupy the same space as equals. …. It was often a violent hate/hate relationship, but it was fair.”
Podcamp is, essentially, a Punk Conference. The first rule of Podcamp is “All attendees must be treated equally. Everyone is a rockstar”, straight out of the Punk gig playbook. And while the relationship is much more kumbaya than pistols at dawn, it doesn’t mean that Podcamp has not been disruptive to bigger conferences.
What Happens After the Disruption? Mainstream Acceptance and Making a Living
Matt Mason goes on to talk about VICE, a Montreal based magazine that grew out of a free magazine called the Voice of Montreal. The people behind it published what they thought was interesting, and if it got big, that was great, if it didn’t, it didn’t and that was fine too. (Sounds like most podcasters I know…..). VICE is now published in 14 countries according to Matt. He says the founder, Shane Smith, states:
“When we started out, we were really idealistic, and we had a mission, we hated baby boomers and we wanted to be anti-status quo and all this stuff. But the business of running a magazine, I mean most of my favorite magazines went out of business. It’s really difficult. The creative side is one thing, but the business side is quite another.” (emphasis mine)
Podcamp is likewise growing, and people are finding out first hand that running a conference and attending a conference, even one you participate in as a speaker or attendee, are not the same thing. the creative side and the business side are both required to keep the enterprise growing and fresh.
While Matt Mason also notes that:
“The future belongs to a new breed of change agents- punk capitalists putting purpose next to profit. Abstract economic constructs have long told us that we are governed by nothing but self-interest, but reality has consistently proved that notion wrong.
I would argue to anyone that Podcamp is this notion in a nutshell- a conference, an “unconference” that started to meet a need, that has the community at its heart, and this is not a venture entered into to enrich any individuals, but to enrich and educate the community who decides to participate. I look at the new $50 cost as the community stepping up to be a sponsor themselves, and in some ways, it is much more egalitarian than expecting a free ride on the backs of others. While sponsors come to help defray costs, we ask them pointedly to participate and be part of the community- using their self-interest in getting to know their audience and market right next to purpose, which is creating a community and supporting the people who will be your reputation agents.
Arggh! Give me Pirate Conferences any day!