Tree at my window. (2/29/12 Winter Arrived Today....)

photo by A Stuart

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.
Vague dream-head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.
But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.
That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

~R.Frost

PodCamp 2012

photo by C. Pilch

I am celebrating Leap Day by taking this extra time to finally update my blog ( I have committed an egregious social media faux pas by leaving my blog stranded for some months)! And so, I can think of no better way to do this than to share my experience at podcamp Western MA (#pcwm). Under the umbrella of "social media" this podcamp bills itself as an "un-conference" in which the 150 or so participants decide , on the fly, the topics and sessions to discuss. A tenderfoot to the Podcamp experience, I went in without any preconceptions of what it was all about. I had been using social media for my business(es) but had never really given thought to the idea of a group of people sharing their experiences, knowledge and expertise for the benefit of individuals and business owners alike. I also had no idea of where I rated in my knowledge as social media consumer. So, it was no-brainer to plop down a mere thirty bucks, get a cool t-shirt, swag bag, lunch and an after party, to soak in all that was social media.

From QR Codes to Augmented Reality(so cool) to Pinterest to LinkedIn and beyond, the gamut was covered and I was quickly immersed looking for juicy tips and tidbits that would increase my network worth. There was a great energy and a comfortable casual atmosphere which completely amplified the experience. I was equally delighted to find that I indeed was fully taking advantage of some of my networking and also walked away with a near screen-full of new apps to test out on my smartphone. The value of this un-conference continues to pay for itself with the connections I made and the potential productivity I will gain from all that I gleaned.

As the social media revolution continues to explode, I am looking forward to #pcwm 5 as well as Podcamp Connecticut in May. These are not to be missed!