This past Sunday, I attended Halifax, Nova Scotia's first PodCamp - an unconference. It was organized by a dedicated group of local social media enthusiasts, and the presentations and workshops were delivered by the participants themselves. There was standing room only at most presentations, and my head is still swollen with information-overload from the day-long event. The keynote speaker, Andrew Baron, was particularly enlightening, and is my new internet geek hero. He's the founder of RocketBoom, and is dug deep within the trenches of social media culture.

In fact, it's two days after Podcamp now, and I'm only one-third of the way through reviewing my notes and implementing strategies I learned there. [caption id="attachment_44" align="alignright" width="192" caption="Andrew Baron, of Rocketboom "][/caption] It's nice to connect with a group of like-minded individuals from all sectors, dealing with the cutting edge of technology. Almost everyone in attendance had an iPhone. Blackberry or laptop - and was constantly accessing their device of choice. Twitter is a hot social media product right now, and the tag '#podcamphfx' hit the top ten on the twitter network during the conference. People were updating their feeds constantly, from brief initial reviews of the session they were currently attending - to one infamous tweet about having to 'go pee' during the keynote speech. (Yes, that tweet probably doubled the twitter traffic for #podcamphfx alone!) In fact, a friend of mine was too intimidated to pull out her 'regular old cell phone' among the tech-savvy crowd... (Luckily, I recently upgraded to a Blackberry, so I wasn't too out of place...) Was Podcamp a worthwhile activity? Heck, yeah! I learned a ton about podcasting, took in some facts and figures on social media use in the Maritimes, learned about geolocation meta-tagging, met ANDREW BARON, and got a glimpse into the future of social media and 'Web 3.0' trends. If a PodCamp ever comes to your area, and you're as big a geek as me, be sure to take advantage! Next time around, I think I'll even offer to present. Social Media has become a big part of the way we communicate, and is a big part of what we do at Rich Graphics. We strive to keep on the cutting edge, and can put you there alongside us. Please contact us if you are interested in having Rich Graphics set up a social media presence for your business. From facebook to twitter, google to friendfeed, stumble-upon to digg - Rich Graphics has you covered.