I spent this weekend “geeking out” at a PodCamp Boston 3, the social media “un-conference” held at the Harvard Medical Center. The organizers – Chris Penn, Chris Brogan, Chel Pixie, Sooz, Steve Sherlock, Doug Haslam, and Whitney Hoffman — deserve a great deal of kudos for putting such great event together.

This was my second PodCamp, and already the differences have been noticeable. The diversity of attendees — from the marketers and PR folks that dominated the last event in October, to designers looking to understand new methods of value creation on the web, to a teacher looking to use co-created media to help troubled students learn to communicate — was matched only by the passion and enthusiasm we had as a a whole to learn from each other and take what we have found back with us, to use and experiment with in our own ways.

A Few Highlights of PodCamp:

No Experience Necessary: A number of folks — some who traveled a significant distance — came to learn about how they can use social media within their organization without having been associated with the “social media space” (a term I particularly loathe) up until this point. What many of them quickly learned is that they have been a part of the global conversation that is happening — they just didn’t realize that it can be harnessed.

The Value Isn’t (Always) In the Sessions: No one is really an expert at PodCamp — The sessions, while engaging and thought-provoking for the most part — were not the highlight of my PodCamp experience. The most fun I had was sitting upstairs in the BrainTorrent rooms  having ad-hoc discussions with presenters, attendees, and organizers. (Another highlight: Chris Brogan covering “Pork & Beans” and “Round Here” on guitar, with varying degrees of success. I occasionally helped Chris cover up his guitar gaffes with my terrible vocal prowess).

Chris Brogan on Guitar, Jeff Fisher on Lyrics

Sponsors Who Understand: The sponsors of the event — mDialog, Blue Sky Factory, mZinga, Utterz, Blip.tv, blubrry.com, ooVoo, matchmine, marketingprofs, and Marketwire — deserve a great deal of credit for participating in the general conference conversations. They all understand that the best PR is when you become a member of your own public. Well done.

A Few Things I Hope to See Improved at PCB4:

Encourage Outside Participation: The social media community in Boston is small and tightly connected, and it seemed at times that the event was just another event for folks to get together again. While I met more folks from outside the social media community this year, the only way our community will truely keep learning is to continue to open the door for other to share their ideas.

This Stuff Doesn’t Make Itself: An number of folks — like myself — came to the conference as experience designers. We are the people who are designing social media products and recommending that our clients use them to grow or transform their business. I had several very good conversations in the BrainTorrent room around designing for social spaces — I’d like to see a presentation or two about social design principles at the next session (I already have Keynote open).

All in all, it was a great camp, and I’m looking forward to following up with all the great folks I got a chance to meet.