Saturday, November 13, 2010 at the Best Buy Headquarters was Minneapolis/St. Paul’s first WordCamp. WordCamp is for anyone who uses or would like to use the WordPress platform for a blogging tool. I would say that it was not just for WordPress users though. It was definitely for anyone passionate about blogging and wanting to learn more from others that develop blogs or just write for their own personal blog. WordCamp was filled with different sessions that were directed at either the most savvy veteran or the newbie. I think even the blog veterans were bouncing into the sessions meant for newbies, which shows me that even someone that knows everything blogging related like the back of their hand can learn something new. :)

I was one of the speakers/presenters for the “blogger” track. I lead a discussion on finding a topic. It was quite a nerve racking experience but, the discussion was very powerful. I started out just asking everyone why they blog or what they blog for. This lead into personal versus business and if you are blogging for your business, what are your goals? We also went as far as to discuss censoring topics for personal blogs because of wanting to remain neutral. The opinions and discussion were great and the session left me (the speaker) with great ideas for not only what I write for ipHouse’s blog but also for my own personal blog.

WordCamp MSP was an excellent event and I have learned a lot. I hope that there is another WordCamp MSP next year. :)

She’s Geeky was set up similar to Minnebar’s unConference except that sessions and presentations were created at the conference instead of in advance.  I was very impressed by the subject matter and thought that there were some very intriguing topics to be discussed. The way Heidi Nobantu Saul organized the unConference made the day very relaxed and open to learning in an intimate format.

The first session that I attended was about the book and way of life called, “Getting things Done” by David Allen. I had never heard of this process and I was quite intrigued. Basically, what I learned from the discussion (which Meghan Wilker hosted) was that in our daily lives there are tons of missed opportunities to get things done because of procrastination and poor time management. I have always felt like the lists are swirling around in my brain and they do not ever get to where they are supposed to go, completely. This is why, as I was listening to Meghan explain the system of getting things done and what she has learned from David Allen, my eyes widened and I was saying to myself (maybe out loud) “there is a way to get things done?”. I actually went out and purchased the audio book today because I was just so taken with the method of time management. Meghan went through and showed us how she goes about organizing and using custom lists/folders to prioritize. I can not help but think this is a little intense, never the less, I want to try it for myself.

Another interesting session that I chose to attend was that of entrepreneurial women. The session leader was Jacque Urick. Jacque has just started a gaming company, designed for women. She herself is a gamer and thinks that companies are not targeting women like they should be. Jacque had some very useful stories, both horrific and encouraging. A lot of women in the session were freelancers, start ups or had an amazing idea and did not know where to start. Through out this session, I heard a lot of wisdom from women who have been trailblazers in fields that overall, are still male dominated. These women have hard shells and are ready to take on the world. (I did not realize coming in, just how many lawyers are involved in taking on the job of owning an idea, system or product, as well as funding it!) I felt extremely inspired and the recommendations that the different women gave will always be immensely appreciated. I think that those that shared their stories helped others seek an inner strength to do something they believe in.

The unConference was a true success and I met so many amazingly smart and talented women. I was pleased that ipHouse sponsored this event and that I was able to attend!

Brian Solis entered from the left side of the stage and began setting up his Mac Book Pro for slide show mode. He began by entertaining the idea that relations instead of relationships are the way of the future. When one forms a thin bond with someone else on the web because of a common interest or “like” that they share, any sort of relationship has turned to a relation. The thing that is so interesting about this thin, almost stretched out bond is that we would never have associated with this other person if it was not for social media. We have crossed thresholds and passed over prejudices that we once held to share an interest (there for a bond)  with someone across the globe.

For over a decade Brian has been finding these bonds and then helping companies benefit from them. He takes what people are interested in, what they are searching for and compiles that information to help them find you (or your business). In turn, the business or person has created more bonds and it has given the people that are interested in that subject, product or whatever a bit of a surge because it is something new.

Something interesting that Brian brought up was, the feeling that you get from posting something on either Facebook, Twitter or a Blog is similar to the way a mother feels for her child. This is apparent when we repeatedly check on our media, to see what has happened since we last check on it.  When someone posts something they also want a reaction and from what ever type of reaction they get, they start to build a sort of confidence. This confidence is brought on by people paying attention to what they are posting, no matter if this attention is negative or positive (it is attention!). This is interesting because the introverts of the world that use social media seem to build a confidence online and when encountering people outside of the web browser they use that same confidence, pulling off the likes of an extrovert quite seamlessly (or so Brian says).

I am unsure if I understand this feeling of online confidence. It could be possible to go from feeling like an introvert to becoming an extrovert through your online discovery of friends but, I still think that I enjoy my bonds with people that have nothing to do with my online Social Media skills. I guess I could conclude that Social Media is the way in which the world is and the world will keep moving that in that direction. In fact, we will probably be going the way of not much human contact at all. I will say, that I am all for Social Media and Networking but, I will probably try building my confidence with people in other ways as well.

In the end, it was a splendid evening with Brian Solis, learning about social media.

At some of these events we have held a drawing for a free Amazon Kindle. Personally, I have a Kindle and I love it.  Do you folks feel the same way? Do you want a chance to win a free Kindle? Should we be giving something else away? Please send us your opinions and ideas.

Our next event is the 55th Annual Minnesota CPA Tax Conference on November 16th and 17th at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  This is a well-organized and educational event put on by the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants. We look forward to seeing you there.

The attendees self-organized into groups based on similar interests. After lunch a “science fair” style show-and-tell was held. The four groups and their ideas are summarized below.

Data heads: This group was interested in MPR’s raw data, tags, etc. They settled on the idea that MPR needs an API (Application Programming Interface) to give the public access to this data. The API inputs were centered around the idea that if you provide a location, time, and keywords you could be presented with information in new ways. One possible use for such an API would be for listeners to type in their favorite presidential candidate as a keyword, define a geographic location, and possibly time frame and see a sort of “track” of what they did, who wrote about it, etc. Or simply input a location and see all that happened in and near that location.

User generated content group: This group came up with the idea of providing resources and possibly tools to listeners for creating their own journalism or contributing to existing and developing MPR stories. This could allow someone to contribute information to an article without having to actually write or edit it. One interesting use for this came from MPR employees who stated that often they get feedback after a story or article is written that may be very interesting, but not warrant a rehash of the story. This type of tool may be a great way for the public to continue with a story and may be useful to MPR to gauge future interest. For example, if the followup conversation of a particular story lasts weeks perhaps the story should be back “on the radar” for future articles.

Visualization: This group focused on different ways MPR could visualize their content and user generated content or comments. For example, this group took the text from recent MPR RSS feeds and made a wordle out of it. The wordle could change as new content is produced – sort of a weather ball of recent MPR stories.

Nouveau Radio: This group focused on what radio was, what it is today, and what it might be in the future. One challenge of radio is to balance the interests of a wide listening audience with detailed information for those more enthralled. An interesting idea presented by this group was for “side channels”. These side channels might even be user-generated content broadcast on alternate HD channels or available by other means. There was a great appreciation for the medium’s strength: radio connects emotionally with the listeners and any new content must maintain this strength.

An interesting trend became apparent during all of the different group presentations: A thirst for user generated influence, feedback, and access to content. While we feel MPR does a good bit of this already, hopefully some of the practical ideas discussed will help with MPR’s planning. We are sure it will be a seed for some interesting internal discussions and projects.

Learn more about PublicRadioCamp: PublicRadioCamp Twitter Summary, An attendees’ Wiki, and Bob Collin’s newscut blog post.

- Eric Snyder