I got back last Sunday from the PNME conference in Ontario, Californa. This is the biggest conference of the year for podcasters and it is a wonderful combination of smoozing, presentations, hobnobbing, and networking with other people who are also obsessed with podcasting. Tim and Emile Bourquin (The Podcast Brothers) did another wonderful job on the conference.
Some of my thoughts…

Best Change
I admit I was a little skeptical about the change in format for the keynote presentations to an interview format, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I thought all 3 keynotes were interesting and entertaining. The best line from the keynotes was the Ask A Ninja guys explaining where they are with advertising support for the 3.7 million downloads they get per show. “We have the same standard of living except without the debt. Now I pay for my Raman with cash”.
Best Unappreciated Change
I enjoyed all 5 artists who were scheduled to play at the show and walked away with CDs from both Matthew Ebel and Whitney Steele. I was disappointed for how many people skipped the concert.
Best Idea for Listeners
Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting gave his listeners a password to say so that he knew they listened to the show. “Podcasting will change the world”.
Best Listener Story
Thanks to Paul (didn’t catch the podcast) who let me know he used the Amateur Traveler podcast to plan his trip to Vietnam and then pulled out his iPhone and showed me video of his trip.
Most Seen Gadget
Good grief, am I the only person who does not own an iPhone? Although it was fun to watch Shooby dealing with bricking his phone and trying to fix it with some help from Adam Christianson (MacCast), Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User), and Don McAllister (Screencasts Online).
Podcaster Who Stands Out In A Crowd
Trucker Tom said that people seem to walk up to him and know who he is with checking out his badge. I wonder why?
Podcasters Most Likely to be Heard on Amateur Traveler
I need to get Alex Lindsay on the show to talk about Zimbabwe. Alex says he would move there if he could get his wife to buy into the idea. I also need to get John Miler from The Rest of Everest to come on the show and talk about his trips to Everest and vicinity. Also expect to hear Paolo from Italy from the Inside talking about his native land.
Youngest Podcaster
The youngest podcaster I saw at the show was Hudson Klass (son of Dan Klass of The Bitterest Pill) as he and his dad premiered their new show Animal Rescue Forest Friends before the (wonderful) live show of Doctor Floyd. The guys from Technorama closed the show with an entertaining live game show.
Most Like a Revival Meeting
I first met Paul Colligan at the first year of the expo when the meetup for monitizing podcasting was just the two of us. I don’t know if I had been to one of his presentations before this year but he can stir up a crowd. 🙂
Best Presentation You Didn’t Hear
I almost did not go to the presentation by Tom Merritt from Buzz Out Loud about growing a enthusiastic community both because I am in the community he was describing and because my day job is creating social networks for fortune 100 companies. But Tom is both humorous and knowledgeable and I walked away with ideas about things I want to change in my own community. Since the presentation was so late in the day, most people had already left. I would check this one out when the conference audio comes out.
Best Presentation You May Never Hear
While you will be able to get the audio for Tom’s presentation I hold out less hope that you will find the audio for Tee Morris’s presentation about upgrading your podcast rig. He got so frustrated with the feedback from the lapel mic that he ripped it off and continued without a microphone. We may not see Tee on the program next year.
Fan Boy Moments
It is fun at the show to meet other podcasters whether their shows are very successful or obscure and there is a general sense at a conference like this that we are all podcasters and so somehow there is a fraternity among us.
On the other hand even though I did not immediately break out the camera and try to get a picture it does not mean that I did not think of it when I met Kent from Ask A Ninja or Tom, Molly and Jason from Buzz Out Loud.
Most Surreal Moment
The parties this year were probably more my speed than last year. There was less (no) body painting of naked women and more standing around with a beer (diet coke) talking with other podcasters. But just before the hotel security broke up the Libsyn party on Saturday night I was talking with Alex Lindsay about the economy of Zimbabwe while someone tied up a woman behind him.
Tool with the Best Buzz
Tube Mogal was the tool that most people seem to mention when asked what they had seen that was interesting. It allows you to upload a video a a number of video sites and track the stats all in one location. It is free.
Most Used Tool
This expo was coordinated via Twitter. Most of the people I follow on Tiwtter are podcasters so from Thursday (Podcamp SoCal) on you could track the arrivals, activities and departures of many podcasters via Twitter. When the Libsyn party broke up for instance, where to go next was coordinated on Twitter.
When Shelly from Shelly’s podcast arrived I had not seen her walk into the room but I saw her twittering. Minon from Grammar Girl twittered “is anyone else here yet?” and I twittered back “I am in the row in front of you”. She did not know. We had to date only met on Twitter.
Most Moving Moment
Thanks to Steve Webb from the Lifespring family of podcasts for organizing a worship service at the expo and to Jimmie Bratcher (who also played at the concert Saturday night) who simply shared his story in a matter of fact manner but left me in tears.
So Glad I Finally Met You
I am sure I can’t think of everyone who should be in this category but the two events which stood out were finally meeting Adam Curry (I have been with Podshow now for over a year). He called me earlier in the year but happened to call during my daughter’s graduation. It was interesting sitting down with the Podshow team to talk about how things are going with them.
It was also great fun to meet Molly, Tom and Jason from Buzz Out Loud. They did not recognize my name and show but “Chris the podcaster” they did know since they had just played a bit that I had sent into the show. It was great fun to be able to introduce Tom and Jason to other podcasters like Brian and Tina Ibbott from Coverville (Tom and his wife are big fans). We had a chance to sit down after the show and talk sports, trivia, business. I do like talking to smart funny people.
Most Embarrassing Moment (3rd place)
It is hard enough for someone like me who is bad with names to remember the names of the people I really know so I always end up doing something like this year where I called Steve Garfield (podcaster) “Steve Garvey” (ex-baseball player).
Most Embarrassing Moment (2nd place)
Speaking of bad with names, I walked up to Evo Terra and told him how much I enjoy High Orbit (actually by Matthew Ebel). The blank look on his face should have been a clue. And no, I was only drinking Diet Coke.
Most Embarrassing Moment (1st place)
As if that was not bad enough, I then had to explain to Matthew Ebel after his part of the concert on Saturday night that I was going to have to tell him how much I like Podiobooks.com (actually by Evo Terra) just to be fair. That’s right Matthew just keep smiling and signing the CD that the crazy man bought. 🙂