Yes, I know it’s been two weeks since PodCamp Boston 2 and you’ve probably already moved onto your next project or conference, but hey: Consider this post part of the PodCamp Boston long tail.
Here are a handful of my takeaways from the ev…

PodCamp events are still subject to a licensing agreement and the judgement of the community. It’s up to the event organizers to decide how they want their event to be received and remembered.

Finally, as an organizer of many events, I can tell you that as soon as you start charging for an event you have a GREATER RESPONSIBILITY to your participants and sponsors. So, before you run out and start padding your event budget with registration fees, be prepared to be accessible (and available), responsive and supportive in everything you do for the event.

The abolishing of the “free” rule was only one of the many things many organizers have been thinking about, when no-show rates range between 30 and 50%. How to tackle that problem and others was put on the sessions list for Podcamp Boston to guage community response and open the discussion to everyone who cared to participate. If anything, each of us who have organized a Podcamp, do so for the community and believe strongly in having this discussion in the open, not behind closed doors.

It takes a lot of hours and dedication to organize a big event, and while no one is looking to turn Podcamp into a for-profit money making machine, we’d like the community who signs up to attend to take it as a commitment like those of us who organize it. If you sign up just to have your name on a registration list, you cost other people real time and effort securing everything from a physical seat to food or shirts for you. Standing them up is like not going to your best friend’s birthday party and never calling and telling them. It sucks, and that to me is anti-community.

When you get something for free, you don’t value it very much. You don’t have to do anything, to invest anything to be there, so it’s easier to leave it crumpled like a coffee cup on the sidewalk. Someone said this weekend that “I could give you this for free. But I am charging you so you value what is given to you.” I think this is something to consider as well.

Podcamp can only feel and be “Geekstock” as long as the community stays involved. If half the community that signed up to attend (not including those that were courteous and let us know by cancelling in advance) is saying “we can’t be bothered” what message should the organizers take away from that? That is what I think we are struggling with most. the solution probably is not as easy as the co-pay, but we sure know that reduces no-shows at the doctor’s office, so it’s an idea to throw out there and try and see what happens.