Some really cool things I learned at PodCampSLC were:

• The Zoom H4 is a dynamic and superb little podcasting tool.
• The Sure SM58 is a common mic you can get for ~$100.
• The AT4050 is a great mic (three mics in one: cardiod, omni & figure 8) that retails for $999, but you can probably get it for around $550.
• The biggest problem with lower end video cameras is hum from the tape.
• Vegas is a really great professional podcast editor that also does video.
• VisualHub is great video editing software.
• I really like startcooking.com (mentioned by Doug from Podango).
• 50,000 downloads/month is not enough reach to attract sponsorships, 50k might be enough for niche advertisers.
• If it takes 1 hour to create a 13MB audio podcast, it probably will take 10 hours to create a 50MB video podcast.
• Blogging is a great search engine tool. (I knew that one!)
• The best mic situation for a group setting (i.e. users group meeting) is a Zoom H4 type device to record the speaker plus two table top mics for questions from the audience.

Unfortunately, and to the dismay of individuals who couldn’t make it, the only thing PodCampSLC was lacking in… was podcasts, which I’m sure will be remedied in 2009.

PodCampSLC 2008
Learn, Share, Evolve.

If you attended PodCampSLC 2008, there is a survey you can take.

Bloggers, podcasters, videocasters of all skill levels will come together on Saturday, March 15th, 2008 to mix, mingle, and enlighten the Utah community about podcasting. PodCampSLC is a free event open to the public. Tracks include Podcasting 101 and Advanced Podcasting. Registration/networking for this free event begins at 9:00 am. Event is from 10am to 4pm. Please come, learn and share.
http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodCampSLCSessions

Sign Up for PodCampSLC at Upcoming.org
Saturday, March 15, 2008
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Registration/networking begins at 9am
Neumont University
10701 S River Front Parkway, Suite 300, South Jordan, UT 84095
GPS Point: 40.5585 N 111.9104 W

A media darling with serious geek appeal, Automattic quite expectedly makes my list of most-favorite-companies-in-the-world because they manage to combine extraordinary developer talent with a business model built around open source all the while maintaining blog, anti-spam, identity, wikis, forum software, and more via a world-wide spread of developer locations from Australia to Bulgaria. Talk about breaking the barriers of a normally prohibitive job market demographic… don’t let geography get in the way of hiring the most talented developers! I would love to hear more about Matt’s thoughts on his process for hiring such an amazing team. The Automattic outfit completely fascinates me.

Special thanks to Joseph Scott, Automattic’s brilliant “Bug Exorcist,” for organizing the lunch.

Web Directions North | February 6 – 10, 2007

An Aussie creation that spans the globe, Web Directions is a mecca of veritable web talent brought to you by Dave Shea, Derek Featherstone, Maxine Sherrin, John Allsopp and including speakers like Kelly Goto, Andy Clarke, Adrian Holovaty, Douglas Bowman, Dan Cederholm, Joe Clark, Molly Holzschlag, Derek Featherstone, Veerle Pieters, Jeremy Keith, and others.

Workshops will cover Ajax and Javascript, CSS, Microformats, mashups, standards based web design and development, accessibility, web app development, XHTML and HTML and more. Top that off with two optional days of skiing and boarding at Whistler, and Web Directions North is 2007’s web design and development event not to be missed.