What did the sponsors think of Podcamp?

Posted by on May 25, 2009 in Sponsors, Updates • No comments

Sure, most conferences focus on the attendees, the venue, the speakers. But we wanted to also focus on our sponsors. They each (large and small) have a custom landing page on our site, where they can speak directly to our audience and be part of the conversation that is the social web. They also experienced one of the unwritten rules of the social web: the more you participate, the more you benefit. We linked to them, we tweeted about them, we featured them on our live stream, we mentioned them at the live event and we blogged about them. We included interviews with them here on this site, some audio some video. We think it's time for sponsors and attendees to have more interaction. The tables were co-mingled with the main gathering areas - not isolated in a sponsor ghetto. Many sponsors were also speakers - sharing their expertise not their pitches. That comes later, during the many social events and in the hallways.

"Congratulations on an amazing, amazing event. It was an honor and a pleasure to be part of it - and congrats to you on being a truly fantastic and welcoming hostess and planner extraordinaire. Thank you so much for a magical few days in Hawaii."
- Dina Kaplan, COO, Blip.tv, New York City

"Representing Viddler at Podcamp Hawai'i was a true joy. Hawaiʻi is not only one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, but Podcamp Hawaiʻi was the best Podcamp I've ever attended. All of the sponsors, speakers, and attendees really knew why were were all there; to help get Hawai'i onto the new media train. I think we accomplished that and I'm really looking forward to the future of new media in Hawai'i."
- Colin Devroe, Technology Evangelist - Viddler.com, Bethlehem, PA

"Thank you and your volunteer team for a terrific unconference last weekend. Wow, has the week flown by. What a great weekend we had....the PODCAMP event was really well coordinated, supported the sponsors well, and had really great, fun, interesting and interactive sessions. Much better than just a bunch of boring speeches. The technology used to stream the main session, and have the chat room, and the dialog on twitter added to the interactive nature of the event. Thank you also WI FI! Its critical at a conference (unconference) like this.

We all learned a lot, and had great dialog among us. The venue was terrific, the location in the HCC was just perfect for networking, and easily getting to the next session. I could not attend the after hour parties, but our team said they were terrific, with great locations choices, and good dialog.

The AV equipment was the best ever at a Hawaii conference. Perfect for a speaker, and made our job to present much easier, with great equipment. No messing with computers, hook ups, bad sound or screens that could not be seen. Well thought out, and well planned. All necessary for success.

The food was great, and the casual "pay your own meal" system worked like a charm. We had casual lunches with old and new friends, and could discuss and dialog easily about the sessions and the technology.

I am not sure from a business viewpoint if we can put an ROI on our investment in the sponsorship, but we believe our real ROI was to support the overall "mission" of the PODCAMP and promote the need for companies and organizations to get more engaged in Web 2.0 marketing channels. We live this everyday, and need to keep communicating it to our clients and stakeholders here in Hawaii, and abroad.

We now have homework to do...and new ideas to initiate here at our company and with our clients. Also, we have new contacts that we met at the event and individuals and companies to follow-up with.

Thank you for your time and effort, and congratulations to all for a successful fist-time event in Hawaii."
- Dave Erdman, PacRim Marketing, Honolulu, HI

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