AC Blog

If you are a regular reader of this Blog you’ll have read some previous posts about MediaCamps.

MediaCamps are a series of FREE unconferences aimed at raising awareness of new-media, or Web 2.0 tools for a variety of people. The camps are organised by the Social Media Mafia and have proven to be popular events with lots of people.

AC has a connection with MediaCampLondon in that the camp is being hosted at SAE London and shaping up to be a buzzing event to say the least.

What you can expect at a MediaCamp

Well, the people who sign up to attend the camp are also the people who run the sessions, or workshops, anyone can list their name down to run a session, sharing their experience. Themes are wide and varied including how to run e-mail campaigns, building virtual communities, selling your wares on the internet, blogging, web advertising, using social media in business etc.

If you are working in the music business, or aim to be, you have much to gain from attending and taking part in the camp, it is of course paramount that your business gets involved, or is at least aware of some of those above themes.

Assets

The camp will produce a lot of assets in the shape of pictures, blogs and vlogs, much of it taking place live on the day, you can watch the wiki for information on that. Many of the rooms at MediaCampLondon will have a web cam that will be beaming the sessions out onto utream.tv.

Register 

All you need to do to attend is register your name on the wiki, by going along to this url: http://mediacamplondon.pbwiki.com and browsing to the register section and adding your name.

I had the pleasure of dropping into SAE New York and meeting up with Udo, the School’s Manager, who kindly gave me a tour of the NYC Music Production School, located on the 9th floor of the Herald Center, 1293 Broadway.

The area is unusually circular in design (in a good way) which gives the spaces a sense of fluidity, and the school’s equipment list which fills the spaces is impressive, (big shiny desks and gear everywhere). It was even better seeing students working in very small groups on musical projects, I even saw one studio with a 2 inch 24 track multi-track recorder doing the business, awesome, that old skool tape sound still alive!

Along with the tour Udo gave good conversation about what they get up to in the vibrant city of New York which I found really interesting to hear, it must be a rush to study in an area with such a buzz around you, both inside and outside.

New York (NYC) is a seriously vibrant place and the phrase “the city never sleeps” is without a doubt true, which I’ve experienced before.

Whilst I’m on the subject of NYC, I’d love to hear what you’ve found in town, including bands, clubs, venues etc, what have you seen?

For those of you in UK there is another exciting MediaCamp in the pipeline taking place on May 17 at Buckinghamshire New University, or BNU.

Last years event was a great success and attracted a variety of bloggers, marketing types, vloggers, PR people, musicians and studio engineers into a melting pot of an unconference.

Unconference?

Yes, the “un” in unconference means that you can expect everything that a conference isn’t. So nobody will be standing talking to you for an hour, you won’t have to sit there becoming bored with the content, you are actively encouraged to get up and walk to another “session” if you find it boring or non-relevant.

Unconferences are powerful and interactive, people travel from afar, book into hotels and make a weekend of it. It’s all about participation and sharing good practice, and as you can imagine slots perfectly into the style of learning we are so proud of on AC here, “open” and immersive.

So pop along to MediaCampBucks and register to attend, it’s completely free!