Katie Boland

This weekend, Kelly Rusk and I ventured up to Toronto for the third annual Podcamp Toronto. Overall, it was a blastly blast.  Even though I am not a podcaster currently, I am still a podcast listener and potential podcaster (if I get over my fear of it.)

If you are unfamiliar with the “camp” concept, it is 100% free, volunteer, sponsor-supported “unconference” where many of the presenters are attendees of the various sessions.  I believe the camp concept started with Barcamp and has now spread for multiple other interests even Cupcakecamp.

I think it is very important for students to take advantage of events like this either attending or volunteering.

Why?

• It is a free way to take advantage of our amazing Canadian talent and learn from these individuals.

• All attendees of these events are very open to meeting new people and learning from each other (meaning – they aren’t scary).

• Lastly, you are the only one  not benefiting from not attending.

So what did I learn? What value did I get?

• I got to see a presentation from Chris Brogan, a speaker, blogger, president of New Marketing Labs, whose humourous casual presentation was straight-forward and honest about how to use social media for yourself, your company or your client.

• I got to meet handfuls of podcasters and bloggers who I have now become even more jealous of their talent and expertise that I am thinking about what I could bring or what I could share. Some of these people were, Dave Fleet, Sean Power, Eden Spodek, Jay Moonah, David Jones and Amber Naslund.

• I met many other students who shared similar interests and professional drive as me. We got to know each other either at the podcamplunch or podcamp after party.

All and all I had an amazing time at podcamp toronto. Thank you for all you that make that possible, you have inspired me to continue pursuing my personal goals!

Being a student a lot of my time is spent volunteering and attending social functions on top of my education. I feel this is important to demonstrate the skills I am learning from my studies and to meet many of the welcoming industry professionals.

Sometimes this can be overwhelming on top of school and sometimes extremely rewarding. This week has been extremely rewarding. Not only did I see actual results from my efforts over the last year, but I was extremely proud and happy.

Firstly, Bob LeDrew announced I had won his Join the Conversation initiative and I received a copy of Joe Jaffe’s book. Not only is this neat because I love cultural studies books (especially those about social media). But it was a small recognition from an important Ottawa professional that my passion for this industry is being noticed. I also received some amazing publicity on Bob’s blog here.

Secondly, I received a call from the Algonquin College Student Association that I was chosen for a student director position on their executive board. yay! This will help me finance my education for next year, get me further involved in my school, and put me in a place where I can further demonstrate my leadership skills.

The time I have spent for the last year has been worth it.

Clearly if you work hard to build a portfolio for yourself outside of school eventually you will see positive results.

My advice, keep at it.

As announced on Bob LeDrew’s flacklife early this morning, I won a copy of Joe Jaffe’s book Join the Conversation from my comment about students and social media on Bob’s blog.

I am very excited about this. Not only do I visit Chapters monthly to look over the various public relations and cultural studies books, but I really enjoy reading them in my spare time. Over the recent months I have been looking for a book to explain more about this blog-o-sphere… but haven’t found much other then how to blog for business.

Ever since my Carleton University Mass Communication days have been trying to get students involved in various areas. I look as this as a challenge to continue to making blogging and social media a daily habit and to encourage my fellow students to as well. I am sure Rayanne can remember me nagging her to start a blog and to pursue public relations in our last year at Carleton.  I hope I can fulfill Bob’s objectives when creating this challenge in the first place. I give you all the power to nag me if I do not succeed in this. That being said, I will be trying my best to impress him!

In other news, I have been thinking about topics to write on this blog to make it more appealing that random rantings from a student.  I have decided to introduce small social media tools that I have come to use and rely on over the last year and hopefully some students will be able to read this and learn from it.

I am not considering myself a pro-star in any way.  But I think it is the little things you learn along the way that can help you get really far. You never know if you attend that event who you are going to meet and where that is going to take you. If I can get you to the event, that would make me happy to know that there is a greater possibility for you to reach your goal.