The second annual Podcamp San Antonio was an amazing experience. From the light bulb moments in the Teaching Sessions to the shock and awe of using virtual world technology in education and advertising. The Learn, Share, Grow model was highly apparent. You could almost hear the synapses connecting in peoples minds as their concept of what education, business, fundraising, video production, medical outreach and social media tools expanded. The overwhelming theme of the comments I received throughout the day was, ” Wow, I didn’t know this existed or that you could even do things like that”.

I applaud the folks who not only attended but got up to introduce folks to the cool and amazing things they were doing using technology as a tool. The day started off with two separate sessions. The main room started off with Todd O’Neill and Susan Price sharing their experiences with Co-Working in San Antonio. Todd runs Co-Working La Taza every Tuesday and Susan has First Friday Co-Working at Firecat Studios every first Friday of the month. Next up was Michael Verdi who uses Second Life as a Video Production Studio for some of his latest machinima projects. The Second Life theme carried on to the next session Education/Pediatrics which was by David and Lupe Rupert who are part of the Pediatrics Department at UTHSCA. They are using Second Life as a platform to reach out to children and parents educating them about nutrition and exercise to combat obesity. The morning sessions ended with Shelly Brisbin sharing her knowledge on Portable Recorders. Check out the session recorded on video by Carol Turner to find out the details.

In the next room it was exciting to see all of the rapid-fire conversations happening inside the Teaching Sessions. So much great stuff was happening they decided to have more Teaching Sessions in the afternoon. The Attendees created their own sessions as the conversations and interest led them. Now if that isn’t the definition of an UnConference then I don’t know what is.

Alysan Delaney-Childs started with Blogging Basics. Followed by Fred Castaneda who shared his knowledge and expertise of Podcasting Promotion. Michael De Leon came next with Tips and Tricks Every Podcaster Should Know. Leslie Baldwin wrapped up the morning sessions by expounding on the Benefits of Doing Live Shows. The audio recordings of these sessions can be found on Leslie’s Talkshoe site.

During lunch the conversation continued and more new sessions were created. Such as A Detailed Look into RSS by Vidya A., Public Access Television by Patsy Robles and a Facebook discussion led by Richard Galvan.

A lively group discussion about the micro-blogging platform Twitter kicked off the afternoon sessions. The fun continued with Alan Weinkrantz who was informative and entertaining in his How to Generate Media Coverage for Your Blog. He shared a few of his blog media promotion techniques. Sometimes it is as simple as being in the right place at the right time and other times it involves a bit of creativity. Jay Ehret was up next with Brand Your Podcast.

With Startup Weekend San Antonio coming up on May 16-18 it was great that Erica O’Grady could be here to share her experience with the Startup Weekend movement. Connie Reece gave a presentation on the power of social media to make a difference. How to Use Micro Media for Macro Results told the story of the Frozen Pea Fund. The Education Panel was led by Brad Pearl, Vidya Ananthanarayanan and Angela Woodrow and sparked some lively debate on the knowledge gap between school and work. The sessions wrapped up with Richard Galvan sharing his professional experience with Mobile Phone Technology and New Media.

A stroll down the Riverwalk for a celebratory meal and a cold beverage or two was a perfect way to keep the conversation and fun going. We enjoyed PodCamp San Antonio: Numero Dos so much we think we might just to do it again next year. Keep your calendars clear for PodCamp San Antonio 3.0!