I have to hand it to Mark Blevis, Bob Goyetche and everyone who helped out with, or sponsored Podcasters Across Borders 2010.
They worked together to put on a fantastic conference experience. Not only were there fantastic keynote speakers, but the participants who gave short JOLT! presentations were amazing – from Andrea Ross‘ emotional speech to Julien Smith‘s closing message “When in doubt, have cultists attack”; and everyone else in between.
My only regret was having to miss the last JOLT! and keynote to catch a train back to Toronto…
Here’s my summary of things I learned or observed at PAB 2010 – in 12 points.
Good content is about:
- Creativity – do something a little different.
- Following some rules while breaking some others – don’t think because one thing works for someone else, you need to do the same.
- Emotion & resonance – connect with your audience on an emotional level, and leave them wanting to think about what you’ve shown them.
- Allowing your audience to participate – I don’t just mean direct participation through comments. Leave some loose ends, inspire thought and discussion, make your ideas portable and let your audience remix them.
Strong communities are about:
- Shared experiences
- Common interests
- Trust
- Reliability and meeting (or exceeding) expectations
(It’s very clear by the number of people who travel to attend PAB that it’s a strong community)
Amazing conferences are about:
- Great speakers
- Great company
- Great food & drink
- A great river cruise never hurts
(PAB 2010 had all of these things)
Thanks again! I had a great time, met wonderful people, spent time with good friends and I can’t wait to do it again next year.
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