Looking Back on the Portable Media Expo 2005
Billed as ‘the first podcast conference,’ handily ignoring that little thing called PodCastConUK that was held during Spetember in London, Tim Bourquin and his staff have pulled together an impressive collection of podcaster and services around this new meda at the Ontario Conference Centre in Southern California. Official attendance was placed at around 2000 (although I’m more inclinced to think about 750-800 were actually there Tim’s commented on the official attendance numbers being 2037 attendees) they had a lot to get their teeth into with an Exhibiton Floor, six keynotes, numerous sessions and pretty much every podcaster on the West Coast (and a few from other places, like Scotland). It’s fair to say that the podcast communities are continuing to grow.
Yes that’s communities plural. We’re definitly deep into the clique territorry here. Where the UK PodCastCon felt like one big happy family, the Portable Media Expo felt more like a lot of families getting together at church. There was myself with the Assoc of Music Podcasters (AMP) at their ‘obviously not spending buckets of money’ stand. Doug Kaye and the IT Conversations crew at even sparser stand. A number of geographcial podcast groups (Orange County and LA Podcasters spring to mind). The massivly over engineered iLounge and Audible stands. And in another Hotel you had the Podshow crowd.
Actually that’s unfair to single out the Podshow crowd. While Adam Curry kept an impressivly low profile (putting in, IMO, just enough appearances to be there, but not actually to take any meaningful part in the proceedings) the rest of the Podshow stable were out and about, and it was great to catch up with (to name three) CC Chapman, Mark Hunter and Marcus Couch.
I think the main advantage that the Portable Media Expo had over PodCastConUK was the fact that it was over two days and (effectivly) three nights, so there was much more time available for socialising and getting to know people. Even on the third night I was bumping into people and doing the introduction thing. This meant that by that last night the cliques of those aforementioned groups had begun to melt and there was a lot more mixing than you could have expected from a single day conference (PodCastCon had the advantage that we were, effectivly, only one clique of Britcaster forum bods). On the flip-side, and in an echo of PodCastCon UK, the keynotes and seminars were really not hugely effective. You can safely assume that the people attending the conference already know why they’re doing podcasting, and there was a feeling of preaching to the converted in many of the keynotes and the seminars. While they were great material, a lot of it was either confirmation of ideas that every already had, or talking about easily findable information that’s already out in the communities.
But we are all “new media” here and it’s the first podcast conference Bourquin has run, so maybe next year both the feedback from the attendees and a growing acceptance of podcasting, will allow a more radical and challenging program. Given that podcasting means different things to different people, there’s never going to be a straightforward thurst to a conference of this nature, with people having altruistic views of the medium, looking to make some nice money on the side, full business plans, and everything else that goes around, so that’s the big challenge for next year’s show.
The main thing I took away from the Portable Media Expo was the number of people who were saying “show me the money,” or words to those effect. The ‘American Dream’ seemed to be everywhere, and a number of people are maneuvering to get into a prime place when the money does start to roll in – it feels like a lot of people have already went all-in and left precious little wiggle room in their business plans. To that end it was surprising that neither Cameron Reiliy, Mick Stanic or Adam Curry were holding a keynote. While MTV prattling on about “I don’t work on Saturdays” and “ooh lots of buzzwords about next year and mobiles and video and youth markets and stuff” will look good to external parties, it contributed very little to the discussion and should really have been replaced by one of the ‘clearly here to make a profit’ podcast networks – rumours of Bourquin looking for a “significant payment” from Podshow are reflected in Curry’s “we invest in podcasters, not conferences” statement.
Next year’s conference looks to be booked already, for September 29th and 30th, and again it’s at the Ontario Conference Centre, and that’s probably the one thing that I’m a bit wary of. There’s very little to attract people to fly out from Europe or the East Coast of the USA beyond the conference, the nearby Hotels are pretty pricey ($100 a night isn’t cheap, even with the exchange rate), and the cost of attendance may be fine for the ‘big boys’ of podcasting, but the grassroots podcasters are going to struggle to raise travel, hotel fees and the conference attendance.
And for those keeping track, 27 people decided I was Mark Hunter from The Tartan Podcast, and not Ewan Spence from TPN Rock. But at least that meant 27 more people who will definitly remember who I am!
Hi Ewan,
It was great meeting you at the Expo. There were actually 2037 attendees there. We don’t fudge on our numbers and we don’t count people twice like some tradeshows do. In terms of the “show me the money” conference sessions – it’s true. Next year though we’ll have a track for the folks who just want to do better shows and that track will be devoid of any monetization talk.
Finally, we’re going back to Ontario because it is inexpensive. Hotel rooms in 2006 at the Marriott across the street will be $92. Try getting that rate in New York or San Francisco!
Thanks for the comments and hope to see you next year!
Tim
Tim,
Thanks for official confirmation on the attendace numbers, I’ve tweaked the article. Certainly splitting out a couple of tracks is something to look at for next year. The number of people who have different slants to podcasting (ore even how to monetise them) was very apparent, so it’s going to be a fun mix for you to cover all of them.
To quickly answer the points on the Hotel room I find it very easy to get decent rooms at the $50-$75 mark when attending US conferences in the big cities. My worry is that three nights sets you back $300 (inc tax) plus your food bill, and your transport, so small podcasters are presented with a very very big financial hurdle to overcome if they want to attend.
I’ve already prepped the family that I’ll be out again next year, no worries in that respect.
Great to meet you and thank you for making the treck across the pond to be there. You definitely kept things in perspective the whole weekend and everytime someone asked if you were Mark it was great to see the reaction!
Plus you can make an Enterprise out of balloons! That is just damn cool and I’ve got the picture to proove it.
Ewan –
The LA Podcasters website is actually http://www.lapodcasters.com. We’re no longer associated with the MeetUp grou.
Thanks for the mention.
– dK
“when the money does start to roll in ” — in case you haven’t noticed: it already rolls big time but not for everybody – only for the chosen.
Dan, I’ve altered the URL for the LA Podcasters. Thanks for the catch.
Jacek, I have noticed. Perhaps you missed the TPN Motorola announcement? Or the tie-in with the Azure Wi-Fi Service Providers in Australlia?
CC, I’m not quite sure how having one of the, ahem, loudest Scottish internet personas in the room is keeping things in perspective, so I’m going to call you on that one. Which perspective? And yes, the Mark recognition was always going to be there. Maybe next year I’ll have parity. The trek itself (bad Enterprise pun nonwithstanding) was for a lot of meetings and events, the Podcat one being the largest slice of the pie, but thanks for that too
Oh and for those searching… The USS Enterprise in balloons.
Well, and let us just get started on the fact that there where so few women, even Wired noticed it! (tip: I can do speaking, talk business, podcast and feedish, plus am female and European. that is like – oh how many things in one? ;) )
I agree with the location – it is not easiest but sure it is possible to do a booking of cheaper hotels and you often have friends in that area (or know you will need some until then). In regards of what was happening, I am a bit irritated about how few people where blogging from the conference (i heard a rumor about wifi not being available?), especially since some of the major bloggers are out there.
In regard to hopping over the pond to a conference in the middle of nowhere with costly transportation from and to the conference, one has to think about perhaps attending Gnomedex instead.
Here’s the weird thing – only one person asked me if I was Mark. Seriously. On reflection I managed to achieve zero recognition! This was not my plan when I decided to attend back in May… Ah well.
Mark, ehrm, exactly how much tartan were you wearing? I told you you should have packed your plaid… The defence rests.
Nicole, yes you hit a million “minority” tick boxes, so I’ll repeat to you what we’ve always discussed, but this time in a scottish accent… “dinnae be faert, grab life by the nuts.” The location thing is one of those tricky 0nes because obviously everyone has a car and is happy to drive 50 miles to get to an off-licence in the USA… well exactly.
Regarding the Wi-Fi each seminar room had coverage, but there wasn’t a global ‘mesh’ with a single SSID, each room was a seperate network, and coverage was nil inside the exhibition hall. In fact there were big warnings in the exhibitors guide which basically said we’ll throw you out if you snag a wi-fi signal, if you need coverage you pay us (silly money) for an ethernet cable to your stand.