The organizing committee has been busy getting ready - making arrangements at Ryerson, lining up sponsors, coordinating our communications plan, preparing to recruit our army of volunteers for event support, making plans for a Saturday night social, setting up our websites and online infrastructure… PodCamp Toronto is totally worth the effort. For me (and speaking for the organizing team) it is labour of love.

PodCamp has a proud history and legacy. To participate at PodCamp means you understand the PodCamp ethic is that if you see something not working or out of place, don’t complain about it: correct it or let the organizers know. We think that should be in operation in advance of PodCamp, not just on site. It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure it all runs smoothly.

So, to that end, I’d like to formally introduce our 2011 Organizers - you can read about a bit about us, and/or follow the group on this Twitter list.

Thanks to technical support from Daniele Rossi and Steve Harris, if Facebook is your thing, please feel free to connect with fellow Toronto PodCampers at our brand new Facebook Page.

And last, but certainly not least, we’ve published Comment Guidelines that we believe are in-line with the PodCamp ethic and our Community. As with all things, we welcome your feedback.

Stay tuned for updates and thank you for showing PodCamp Toronto the love by signing up to participate.

The organizing committee is busy working on logistics. And since our event is only as strong as our community, we’ll be back in the new year with details for participants (including how you can present a session), sponsors and volunteers.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone.

Thanks to all those session attendees who found themselves pressed into service as camera operators!! You demonstrated the true spirit of Podcamp!

The updated media page (with video links) can be found here.

This listing is not complete; if you have media (presentations, audio or video) we we love to link to it! Just send an email to jgmeadows {at} gmail.com.

Thanks in advance!

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!

While you are there, say hi to Mark van Tol (aka MVT) who led the charge on the planning of this event. It was a big job and we thank him for taking this on for us all to enjoy.

The PCTO Social
February 20, 2010 | The party will kick off at 6:30 till the last person leaves or they kick us out
Additional details about our secret location will be sent directly to participants shortly.

There will be games and prizes so bring your ‘A’ game!

As well if you have musical talent feel free to bring along an instrument or hop on the ‘stage’ as we will host an open mic throughout the evening.

But that’s not all that’s planned over the next few days. Many others have decides to host some gatherings tonight. We may not know everything that’s planned. Therefore, not to play favourites or miss anyone’s shindig, we wanted to give you the opportunity here to share what you have planned tonight. Use the comments area to tell us about any socials, meetups, parties and the like that you are hosting.

PodCamp Toronto is proud to announce Search Engine People as one of our silver sponsors for PodCamp Toronto 2010.

We asked Bob Nunn, about their involvement this year:

Why did you sponsor PodCamp?
Because it’s where the Elite Meet! In a world undergoing a media revolution THERE ARE NO EXPERTS and at open events like PodCamp the soapbox is shared so that we can learn together from different disciplines and experiences.

What are you most looking forward to at PodCamp this year?
It feels like we’ve been explaining Social Media to the masses for all of last year so looking forward to getting back to the bleeding edge and the heart of the matter.

What session/speaker are you most interested in seeing?
The Business Case for Digital and Social Media

For PodCamp newbies, do you have any words of advice?
I’m a newbie myself so I’ll apply my trued-and-true conference wisdom. Attend at least one session you never would and go up and introduce yourself to someone you’ve never met.

PodCamp Toronto is proud to announce Flight Centre as one of our silver sponsors for PodCamp Toronto 2010. Flight Centre is a leading retailer of travel products and services for the leisure and corporate markets.

We asked Gregg Tilston SEO and Social Media Manager about their involvement in this year’s event:

Why did you sponsor PodCamp?
PodCamp is such an incredible opportunity to share ideas, have great conversations, and learn. Last year was my first PodCamp Toronto and I have been fortunate to attend various camps across North America. PodCamp Toronto is such an incredible meeting of the minds and Flight Centre’s proud to support this great weekend.

What are you most looking forward to at PodCamp this year?
Catching up with friends and meeting new people. Selfishly? Getting feedback on the Flight Centre social media strategy and learning new tricks.

What session/speaker are you most interested in seeing?
Pick one? Wow, there are so many but for sure I am looking forward to Evelyn’s “Building an Online Community is not Rocket Science” session and after just losing a best friend, Adele’s “Death and Digital Legacy”.

For PodCamp newbies, do you have any words of advice?
Walk up to as many people as you can and introduce yourself.

PodCamp Toronto is proud to announce Blubrry as one of our silver sponsors for PodCamp Toronto 2010. Bluberry is a podcast community with services and tools to power your podcast! Blubrry has tools and services that help you build your audience, gain detailed statistics about your audience and provide income opportunities that will help sustain and support your media creation endeavors!

We asked Angelo Mandato Chief Information Officer about their involvement in this year’s event

Why did you sponsor PodCamp?
To support the podcasting community.

What are you most looking forward to at PodCamp this year?
Seeing all of our friends.

What session/speaker are you most interested in seeing?
As many as possible, I love to learn from others.

For PodCamp newbies, do you have any words of advice?
Meet and talk to as many people as possible.

If you have any feedback or run into any issues, please send a tweet to @johnmeadows or leave a comment on this post.

Simply browse to http://m.podcamptoronto.com to access the mobile site.

If you are using an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can add a book mark to make the site instantly available on your home screen, with the Podcamp Toronto icon (see lower right corner below):