The guys at the Canadian Podcast Buffet ran an audio comment that I sent them in their latest episode. I was wondering about the awesomeness that is Podcasters Across Boarders and asked why we don’t do something like this on the west coast. Their responses are great, and I hope I keep their gears turning so that something might happen.
This is an idea that I mentioned to Tod Maffin at the recent DemoCampVancouver, and he had the same conclusion that I did. We should just do it ourselves.
Mainly, I like the approach that PAB takes with the whole concept of their conference. I think that if we combined that with the mentality of what goes on at a BarCamp and/or Northern Voice, we could come up with something really good out here on the west coast.
Remember, this wouldn’t just be a west coast of Canada only thing. People from anywhere and everywhere would be welcome to attend, and I’m sure that we could pull an interesting crowd from the U.S. side of the border. I mean, you can’t tell me that folks from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and on down the coast wouldn’t think about the trek, andI say this with the folks from Geek.Farm.Life in mind. Andrew drove from Indiana for last year’s PAB in Kingston, Ontario. Not a huge amount of distance, but a commute nonetheless.
Yes, if you build it, they will come. Wrapping my head around it is another story, but I think Vancouver could pull it off.
This would be an awesome thing. I’ve emailed Mark and Bob of the “main” PAB to see if they’d be game to let us borrow the name for PAB West! We should think about starting up a steering group.
I’m very open to the idea and, if it goes ahead, would like to be involved. I encourage anyone interested in this idea to check out episode 66 of the Canadian Podcast Buffet to hear our (read: Bob and my) initial thoughts on this.
I feel that a ball is starting to roll. This week should allow me to collect some thoughts, but I am all for this, obviously. Mmmmm, planning.