thoughts from PubCampSTL

[Andy Carvin]

Hi everyone,

I just got back from St. Louis, which held PubCampSTL on Saturday. It may have been the best PubCamp yet, so I wanted to pass along some thoughts while they were still in my head.

 

Well attended: there were just over 110 people in attendance. This meant there were plenty of session ideas, and plenty of people to attend those sessions.

 

Diversity. About a quarter of the attendees were people of color. There was also gender parity, and a wide age range, from 16 to 80. Over a dozen teenage students participated, almost all of whom were refugees from around the world. The perspective they provided was extraordinary. There were also some folks there who didn’t have Internet access at home, and they helped keep some of the loftier thinking more grounded.

 

Strong station support. The GMs of both St. Louis Public Radio and KETC-TV attended, from start to finish. They led a session and participated in others. There were probably another 15 or so station staff there, most of whom actively participated. A local alt news service, The Beacon, also had a strong presence (though at times they were a bit aggressive about touting their wares during the sessions).

 

Things that could’ve gone a bit better:

 

Scheduling. They only allotted 30 mins for intros and board planning and we needed an hour to do it all. That mean we had to cannibalize time from the 30-min breaks, two of which became 15 mins.

 

Clear expectations for attendees. A number of attendees expressed surprise during the opening session that they were supposed to pitch sessions. While they still had more than enough sessions to fill all the slots, it did seem they could’ve made this more clear in the pre-camp emails that went out. Similarly, a couple of people wanted to do sessions that had absolutely nothing to do with pub media or community media more broadly. One guy wanted to start a petition on medical marijuana, and another person wanted to organize a session about how great Barack Obama was. Fortunately they both backed down after we explained the purpose of the Pubcamp, but it led to some awkward moments.

 

Apart from those two things, though, it was a really solid camp.

 

Thanks,

ac

 

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Andy Carvin

Senior Strategist
NPR Social Media Desk

acarvin [at] npr [dot] org
Phone:  202-513-3639   

Twitter: @acarvin
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[Rekha Murthy]

This is a great rundown! Emily Corwin, Jake Shapiro, and I were just discussing over lunch how we should find out how things went at other PubCamps. We're trying to understand the kinds of sessions that can really take advantage of the fact that this is a local event, and that participants come from a wide range of professional backgrounds. Any more insight would be great. 

Thanks, Andy.

PS. I look forward to seeing what our own PubCamp renegades come up with!

[Andy Carvin]

My pleasure… And lemme know if you or anyone else wants to get on the phone for more details. Also, I arrive late morning on Friday, so I’m around to help set up or whatever else is needed Friday afternoon.

 

----------------------------------
Andy Carvin

Senior Strategist
NPR Social Media Desk

acarvin [at] npr [dot] org
Phone:  202-513-3639   

Twitter: @acarvin
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[Noah Xu]

Thanks Andy, I hope the email that we are going to send out on
Wednesday and the pre-camp party on Friday can make the things
smoother. -noah

On Aug 16, 4:59 pm, Andy Carvin <ACar...@npr.org> wrote:
> My pleasure... And lemme know if you or anyone else wants to get on the