Ever wish there was a PodCamp in your area?

PodCamps are fun, free or inexpensive events for people interested in blogging, social media, social networking, podcasting, video on the net and new media, in general. 

They’re also a chance to meet a lot of other cool podcasters. You might even end up in the greatest photo ever. 

The idea of setting up a conference for dozens of hundreds of people is daunting, though. To help, Chris Brogan, who along with Chris Penn pioneered the PodCamp unconference concept, shared his tips for setting up your own PodCamp, calling it the Quick Podcamp Starter Kit:

1. Are there more than 10 podcasters or videobloggers or bloggers in your area? If yes, then you can probably do a PodCamp.
2. Make a wiki. We use http://pbwiki.com . Easy cheesy to edit.
3. List your PodCamp with a tentative time frame up on PodCamp.org 
   • Remember that there are six rules listed on the page to make it an official podcamp.
4. Blog that you’re going to do it.
5. Ask for co-organizers. Assign them very specific tasks.
6. Find a venue. This is way harder than you think. 
   • Room for ___ people (it’s your event. How many do you want?) 
   • Wifi
   • A/V gear (unless you can get a sponsor to give you some)
   • Food costs – Some places charge 3x the venue costs for meals
   • If you can get a corporate venue, that often works the best
7. Seek sponsors to cover costs. 
   • Be very clear on what they get back for their money. 
   • Make sure this includes link love on the web. If you can, ask others to also blog about the sponsors.
   • Be very open about who will come, what type of people, and how the sponsors will interact.
8. Decide whether to charge for attendance (something nominal).
9. Delegate to the volunteers such that everyone knows what they own.
10. Hold a great event and write about it for years.

If you’re not sure about doing your own PodCamp, you can go to one of the upcoming events and see what they are all about. There’s a list of planned events at the PodCamp site.