PodCamp Toronto 2010

This is an event organized for the participants, by the participants. We are all part of the PodCamp community, and as such we all have a responsibility to make sure things go smoothly this weekend. If you see garbage on the floor or someone who needs help, please pitch in. If you see something that is not quite right, please either correct it or ask one of the organizing team for help. We also ask that those people in the last session on Sunday will stick around to help with the cleanup. Many hands make light work.

You are also responsible for your own learning this weekend. We run by the “Law of Two Feet” - if you find yourself in a session that is not meeting your needs, please leave and find a session or conversation that is. If you don’t see a session or conversation that you think should take place, please grab some people for a discussion, or book some time to talk about it on Sunday — there are still some time slots open. Make it happen!

Sponsor Thank You

Although the official count’s not in, more than 1,300 people registered for PodCamp Toronto. This is a free event – all because of the generous support of 27 generous sponsors who have partnered with us to help make this weekend a success. This year, we’re even introducing a Gold Sponsor lounge. Be sure to check it out on the third floor atrium.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University for their continued support, specifically Brad Fortner and Jeremy Littler and their staff for giving us access to their beautiful facility, and for providing the A/V set up including the Twitter stream on the screens, livestreaming for those not able to make it in person, and recording the sessions.

Volunteer Thank you

Thank you to our excellent team of volunteers who will be on site to help you at the registration desk, at the information desk, working the cameras for the livestreaming and recording, picking up the coffee, and helping with our set up and clean up. Among many other things we will dream up for them! They help the weekend run seamlessly and we would slow to a halt without them.

New This Year

This year we will be featuring a Gold Sponsor lounge on the 3rd Floor Atrium. Please drop by to experience some of the fun surprises our sponsors have lined up for us! Feel free to use this as a place for casual conversation between sessions.

Also, drop by Roger’s recharging station where you can drop off your laptop or mobile device for recharging. It will be located in the Gold Sponsor lounge on the 3rd Floor.

PodCamp Toronto’s Mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch is here! It features our Saturday and Sunday schedule, plus direct link to the Twitter stream. Go to m.pcto.ca to get yours!

Registration this year is on the 1st Floor, and we are now reserving the 2nd Floor space for our Information Desk. If you have a question about PodCamp Toronto 2010 or have other questions, our volunteers will give you a hand.

Food & Drink

Lunch on Saturday is on your own. You will have about an hour and a half. There is a map on the website at the bottom of the Venue page on our website with some eateries indicated. There are foodcourts upstairs and downstairs in the new mall at Dundas Square (Yonge & Dundas), for example.

We will have some coffee and tea on hand but it probably won’t be enough for everyone. Feel free to bring your own in. It will also be a good idea to bring your own refillable water bottle — let’s keep the plastic bottle waste to a minimum!

There is also a grocery store across the street from the Rogers Communication Centre (our host), for anyone who would like to buy sandwiches or drinks.

And by now, all registrants should have received an email message inviting you to our social event Saturday night. We are looking forward to seeing many of you out! If you play a musical instrument, we hope you will bring it along for our open mic/sing-along.

Livestreaming, recording & wifi

As in past years, we are setting up livestreaming feeds and will also be recording all sessions, courtesy of the folks at Ryerson University.

If you are at PodCamp in person, please be courteous and do not watch sessions in other rooms via livestream. This is for the people who cannot attend in person. Otherwise you will be using up our wifi bandwidth.

We do have wifi available this weekend. Please be mindful — we will have many people here this weekend; please don’t use high bandwidth applications so that we can keep as much access available to as many people as possible.

Sharing your content

The official hashtag for this year is #PCTO2010 - please use this for Twitter, Flickr, blogs, Delicious, and anywhere else fine social media is found.

For those taking photos, we encourage you to use Flickr rather than (or in addition to) Facebook. We have set up the Flickr Group PCTO2010 for your sharing enjoyment.

And please, PLEASE, all speakers and content creators are asked to release your work under Creative Commons so that we can all benefit from your work. It is one of your copyright options on Flickr.

Your PodCamp Toronto 2010 Organizing Team is looking forward to welcoming you this weekend!