Podcasters Across Borders Conference This Weekend
Jun 20th, 2008 | By Elisabeth Lewin | Category: Citizen Media, Podcasting, Podcasting Events 
Podcast creators, podsafe musicians, and friends and families of new media mavens will be gathering this weekend at the third annual Podcasters Across Borders conference in Kingston, Ontario. Participants and presenters are coming from Canada, the United States, and from as far away as Argentina.
The conference is organized by members of the Rogic Podcast Conglomerate; Canadian podcasters Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche as well as Cathy Bobkowicz and Andrea Ross.
What’s new about this year’s event? The organizers say that this year’s offering
“[is] all about bringing it to the next level. Sure, podcasting is about creating compelling audio or video, but it’s so much more. It’s about building and engaging communities, using social media dynamics, and honing the skills we use in all aspects of our online presence.”
PAB is unique among podcast/new media conferences, in that it is not strictly free to attend, like previous PodCamps have been. But, unlike commercial or “monetization”-focused podcast conventions, PAB charges a modest ($125 CDN) registration fee, and plows all the proceeds back into the conference. The organizers maintain that PAB “first and foremost [is] a community event. There are no vendor tables, no ‘How do I monetize my podcast?’ sessions. PAB is about people.”
The conference features a single track that all participants can attend. Today’s (Friday’s) sessions included a workshop on video production, the “science” of social media, and LD Podcast’s Whitney Hoffman talking about the importance of creating community among your viewers, readers and listeners. The conference runs through Sunday, June 22.
We hope that Podcasters Across Borders attendees will let us know what they’ve been seeing and doing, leaving us notes in the comments, below. Readers can also find out more about PAB 2008 by searching online for the tag PAB2008.
Thanks so much for the great write-up.
Friday’s workshops exceeded all expectations. Unlike previous years that were fairly quiet during the ‘unofficial’ portion of the conference, a majority of PABsters were on hand for the three workshops that ran during the afternoon. As the social wrapped-up, the community set itself up at The Kingston Brewing Company.
The kick-off ceremony included a humourous and nostalgic look at PAB2006 and PAB2007, a summary of the PAB2008 schedule and the distribution of embroidered ball caps.
Things get started this morning at 9am. Sessions run through to 4:40 when we stop to take the conference ‘family photo’. Tonight’s scenic and social boat cruise goes from 8pm-10pm. Spouses/partners and children of PABsters are invited to join us. There will be an open mic on the boat.
I’ll try to stop by and provide another update during the weekend.