Podcamp + Wordcamp Hawaii 2008 Wrap up

Well, it is almost too embarrassing to put up this report so many months after the event. Nonetheless, it is part of the plan and we want all of you out there to remember what an incredibly successful event this was! Plus, it's never too late to add thanks to all those who helped make this such a magical weekend for the web in Hawaii. These notes are just the highlights! It would take days to actually cover it all. So much happened on those two days - and even more has transpired since. You can read testimonials from our sponsors here.

Hawaii's first Podcamp + Wordcamp was a smashing success! When you consider that a small group of dedicated volunteers pulled this together in less than four months, the achievement becomes even more impressive. The dedication and long hours contributed freely by Roxanne Darling, Shane Robinson, Judi Clark, and Kyle Nishioka really paid off for our community. The changes in less than six months is astonishing in so many ways. Here's a list of the additional volunteers who supported this event.

• We raised $21,562 in cash donations. (Our cash outlay expenses were $1,9887; we have a small reserve to seed potential future unconference events. You can podcamp-final-expenses-090524 here.)
• We raised $44,961 in-kind donations.
• We had over 400 people attend the live event.
• We live streamed our event both days, adding thousands more virtual attendees.
• Our tag, "pch08" was the #2 tag in the world for that weekend on Twitter and Flickr. (This represents thousands of mentions on those two web sites, not to mention on countless other sites.)
• We had visitors from throughout Hawaii, the US mainland, and as far away as The Netherlands.
• We had generous local and mainland sponsors who actively participated. Johnson & Johnson, Viddler, and Blip.tv all sent staff to attend and speak at our event. (Each and every one of them has a custom page on this site. Please go check them out!)
• We brought the community together across newbies and bona fide techies, education and government, tourism and small business.
• We all worked together as peers - speakers, sponsors, volunteers, and attendees. The collaborations were amazing, business deals were initiated, learning was through the roof, and as a result dozens of Hawaii companies and government agencies are now using Twitter, blogging and sponsoring bloggers, and we have launched a Hawaii Chapter of the Social Media Club.
• We walked our talk - just look at all the features and social networking on this blog!
• Roxanne has logged over 400 hours of her time on Podcamp Hawaii; the others were probably smart not to track it.

Thank you to our many Podcamp Sponsors!

Road Runner High Speed Internet
Hawaii Convention Center
HVCB
Pacific Direct Connect
Projection Presentation Technology
HTDC
Wyland Waikiki Hotel
Hawaii Prince Hotel
Johnson & Johnson
RawVoice
Podcast Connect
Hawaii Aloha Travel
PacRim Marketing Group
Blip.tv
Viddler
Blue Hawaii Lifestyle
KnowHow Cafe
mDialog
UH Center for Disability Studies
Vantage Counsel
Philipson Photography
LBJ Catering - 808-343-7829
N-D Mixx Productions
Tilzy.tv