One of the most powerful things about the talks at the TED conference is the restriction that speakers keep their presentations incredibly tight, to 18 minutes of time. Never letting a good idea go to waste, we ask that discussion leaders keep any structured material – presentational stuff – to a maximum of 18 minutes in their time slot, leaving the remainder of the time open for discussion and conversation.

The shorter your “talking head” portion of your discussion is, the better – use it to set the stage or frame the context of the discussion you want to have, and then turn over the reins to the community as a whole and see what the discussion bears.

The formal discussion schedule for PodCamp Boston 4 has been posted and can be viewed on our Schedule page. A few notes:

1. Don’t print it out just yet. It’s subject to change.

2. You’ll note there are 3 rooms and 1 space (possibly more) that are designated as open/unplanned. These are spaces that are lounges with comfortable seating designed for all the impromptu conversations, discussions, guitar performances, etc. that happen at PodCamps. We’ll have a wiki page up on the day of the event that will let you schedule these spaces freely, and they’re being left up to you entirely.

3. Did we mention it’s subject to change?

4. The most important part of PodCamp isn’t the schedule or planned discussions. These are at most a third of your PodCamp experience, if that. The real juice is in all the hallway conversations, all the side chats, impromptu activities, etc. that happen spontaneously. The planned discussions are there just to give you some starting points for discussions.

5. PodCamp obeys the Law of Two Feet: just because you sat down in a scheduled discussion doesn’t mean you have to stay there. You are expected- obligated, really, to get up and walk out if you’re not getting what you want out of the discussion. Go to another one. Go to an unplanned space. Get the most out of PodCamp by doing what you want to do, listening to the conversations you want to listen to.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted a session, the schedule is now full up and we’re working on getting it up for you to print/view/make your own list.  Those who have registered sessions but not yet registered at Eventbrite to attend the event have their sessions on hold and will be receiving notice of that via email.

We should have the final version posted this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Register »

Present/Discuss »

Schedule »

Directions »

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There’s been an expression of interest into the questions/discussion/questions that will be asked at Podcamp Boston 4. It’s only fair that someone who would travel from far away wants to know what to expect at a Podcamp and we’re happy to oblige!

We’ve added a Schedule Preview page with discussion leaders, their questions and a description so you can browse and keep up to date on what will be happening at Podcamp Boston this year.

Note that this is only a preview, discussions are subject to change by the leaders. The dates and times will be set in a few weeks, at which time you’ll have the actual schedule to help you plan what questions you want to get answers to or discussions you want to participate in.

You can get it here on the website with daily updates on the website or subscribe to the RSS feed of changes!

Due to being near the capacity of 480 people, we have moved the sessions from room 214 (the smallest room) to the Bray room. The freeform Pecha Kucha and Battle Decks will be in room 214; also, if you’re presenting and want to practice, and the room is empty, you can do so in 214.

A few late breaking changes…

We’ve got currently 442 people registered for PodCamp Boston 3, well over the 300 estimated. As a result, we’re moving Pecha Kucha and Battle Decks to the Bray room and moving sessions from Bray to the auditorium.

Please download an updated copy of the PodCamp Boston 3 Guide; the schedule pages have changed to reflect some speaker cancellations the move from Bray to Auditorium.

Make sure you’re following pcb3 on Twitter, as additional late changes may appear there.

The PodCamp Boston 3 Schedule is now publicly available here:

To see the full-screen version, click here.

Many thanks to everyone who signed up to present and who helped to self-organize the schedule!

Next Steps:

Some presentation tips to help you make the most of your session or get ideas for your own session to host.

Download the m4v file here.

Next Steps:

BrainTorrent will be a new kind of session at PodCamp Boston 3!

BrainTorrent collaboration sessions will be on the Third Floor of the conference center, in the Rotunda Room.

Download the video as an m4v file here.

Next Steps: