PodCamp Toronto 2008 has come and gone and it didn’t not disappoint. All my expectations were surpassed. I learned a lot, met up with a few old friends and made new ones. Best of all, I came out of it with A LOT of ideas for my podcasts and future ones, too

I won’t go into detail (secrecy is so much fun!) however I am really excited about my ideas and can’t wait to get started on them. Why are there only 24 hours in a day?

There was lots of Twitter love this year and some truly useful sessions (just like last year). The sessions I attended were:

Social Media & Networking Starter Guide by Chris Brogan
I already know about social media and networking but I’d never pass up a chance to hear Chris Brogan speak. His enthusiasm for community is contagious and you always learn something new no matter how much you think you know ;)

Living On The Cloud - how I have (mostly) given up desktop applications by Tommy Vallier. His presentation made me want to run out and get the MacBook Air (despite my PowerBook) and move to a cloud (with real estate prices these days…).

Soundwalking and Creative Listening by Victoria Fenner struck a chord with me because audio art is another passion of mine.

Podcasting your Passion: How to be Creatively Motivated by Steve Saylor really got me excited about being a creator. I’ll definitely be talking about his presentation on my next SpudCast.

Stand up and Breath! Vocal Techniques for Podcasting by John Meadows applied techniques singers use to podcasting. Brilliant!

Who’s Listening? How to avoid 3 big communication mistakes and boost your audience at the same time by PJ Wade was a joy to sit in. PJ’s enthusiasm for creative business planning was a perfect fit for fine tuning your podcast to your audience.

Open Source Podcast Production Tools by John Meadows and Sean McGaughey was a fun comedy show and educational. Edutainment!

Wikis: the what, where, how and why by Martin Cleaver gave me a whole new perspective on planning uses for wikis. Martin is also the organiser for Toronto Wiki Tuesdays.

The last session was a panel discussion on ooVoo moderated by Jay Moonah, Mitch Canter in Nashville, Laura Fitton in Boston, Mitch Joel in Montreal and Andrea Vascellari in Finland!

I also participated in the Q&A panel discussion about social networking in The Mentor’s Lounge moderated by Tommy Vallier which I recorded for the upcoming episode of my Stuttering is Cool podcast.

All sessions were streamed live on the Internet and will soon be archived for viewing on the PodCamp Toronto 2008 video archive page. I will have to the chance to see all the sessions I missed!

A great, big thanks to all the orgsanizers of PodCamp Toronto.  I didn’t take many photos (too much learning going on!) however they are posted on my Flickr page.

PodCamp Toronto 2008 was just as fantastic as last year’s. I have a lot of things to write about however for now I want to direct your attention to an interview of me by John Meadows of his brilliant On The Log podcast (which looks into the future from a rear view mirror).

We talked about if using the computer to make art counts as art. Doesn’t the computer do the art for you? I love the name of this episode: The Pen is Mightier than the Plug-in?

John Meadows also presented “Stand Up and Breathe! Vocal Techniques for Podcasting ” at PodCamp Toronto 2008. The video archive of it should be available here soon.

I’ve uploaded the final set of progress photos of the paintings I’m working on. You’ll see them on my Flickr set called Paintings in Progress. The reddish one is complete (the one in the photo above). The blueish one will take a while. Check out the photos to see why.

SpudCast number nineteen is up. Best of all, it’s short!

The main theme of today’s show is be begging and pleading you to send in comments and tell me about yourself :) Also, a friend drops by to teach us Spanish and I give a brief mention of the upcoming PodCamp Toronto 2008.

Improv comic #4 is up. You can see it here. Once again, I was in over my head with responsibilities and I missed my own deadline that I set for completing this one! Anywhoo, it’s here! And it’s short! I asked for a wedding faux pas and a song.  The result…?

Sorry about the over large video. I’ve had an impromptu epsiode of Sketchy Adventures tonight on Ustream. Nothing too riveting. I found out I can’t draw :P Ok seriously, it’s a short show because, well, I didn’t have enough time. Next time for sure.

My apologies for also taking a while to position the webcam. Makes for truly riveting viewing.