UnLondon Digital Media Association

PodCamp London – The End of an Era

Given that PodCamp London was founded by and has been organized by members of UnLondon for the past four years I felt it appropriate to also post this message here. For the original posting please head to www.podcamplondon.com.

Since 2009 PodCamp London has provided a forum for new and social media enthusiasts from in and around London, Ontario to come together to share, discuss, network and learn.

Over the past four years hundreds of bloggers, podcasters, social networkers, marketers and communication professionals from across Southwestern Ontario have converged on the Forest City to attend London’s first and annual unconference.

Through the generous support of many sponsors, community partners, organizations and volunteers, PodCamp London has been able to grow year to year into one of the most anticipated annual events in the region.

While PodCamp London is primarily an event driven by the attendees; attendees who in turn show up, present sessions and interact with one another, it has come to require a significant investment of time and energy from the organizing team. Over the years the demand and investment required from the volunteer organizing team has grown in order to provide the optimum forum, venue and resources for attendees to make use of. What unfortunately hasn’t grown is the amount of time & energy the organizing team has to devote to the event.

The PodCamp London organizing team has determined that this past year’s event (PodCamp London 2012) will be their final year organizing the event. New commitments and responsibilities (both personal and professional) have taken the time, attention and energy of the organizing team away from PodCamp London and they can no longer invest the required time needed into planning future PodCamp London events.

When PodCamp London was founded back in 2009 there wasn’t anything else in the way of an unconference in the city and there wasn’t a ton of opportunity to actively engage in the new media space. Since that time much has changed. There are now multiple groups meeting monthly to discuss and interact with one another in various new media spaces. Annual events take place in the Forest City year-round that focus on specific new media topics such as voice acting, gaming and others niche areas. London also now has a hacker space (the UnLab) that hosts regular open nights, has a recording studio available to its members and contains the resources to build, create or make almost anything a mind can imagine. So while in 2009 there was an ‘unfed appetite’ which PodCamp London was created to feed, today this certainly isn’t the case.

With that said, PodCamp London is not dead (or perhaps it is). The framework and foundation for PodCamp London is already set, the resources are openly available (just ask for them) and support exists from UnLondon and other community organizations to anyone who might want to carry on PodCamp London or deliver an event of a completely different nature. For anyone interested in carrying on PodCamp London or developing something new please contact info (at) unlondon (dot) ca.

Thanks to the dedication of many people and organizations over the past four years PodCamp has provided an opportunity for new and social media enthusiasts from in and around London, Ontario to come together to share, discuss, network and learn. While 2012 marks the end of an ‘era’ for PodCamp London is also offers up the opportunity and potential for new events, forums and communities to develop in and around the Forest City.

Sincerely,

The PodCamp London organizing team.