As Dave Fleet put it  “hanging out with 900 friends” this past weekend  at PodCamp Toronto was a great experience. It was a great experience because:

1. I got to see some amazing presentations by some of the best in the industry.

2. I got to go with a friend & colleague who introduced me to many new people & ideas.

3. I got to meet some “friends” from social networks in person and realize that we can really be friends outside of twitter, facebook & other networks.

4. I got to network with over 900 people and not feel intimidated by names, brands or knowledge.

There was something there for everyone whether you were a newbie or an “Expert”

One of my favorite sessions was about Pie Charts. Sound Boring? nope. It wasn’t and I think it had a lot to do with the presenter Zoe Siskos. She was able to combine a deathly boring subject (to some) with a great sense of humour and a new approach to visualizing and creating pie charts. For a Graphic Designer this was especially refreshing. Never again will I design a pie chart in the shape of a pie.

There was even something there for the “mummy” in me. One of the sessions was a panel discussion with Erich Ehm about communities for women. Her website is one of my favorite mummy communities “The Yummy Mummy Club” which started from the need to vent about the very real, very difficult career of being a mom.

There is much to be said about these types of events I have never come home and said “that was a waste of time” Here is what a few local friends have said about the weekend:

Andrea Stenberg at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur wrote a great post about making the most of going to an event like this.

Ryan Wiseman from “Take on the Web”  who was also a speaker at #pcto2010 (that’s twitter talk for PodCamp Toronto 2010) posted a video blog about the weekend here.

It truly was a fabulous weekend. Thank you to the many organizers, volunteers and speakers for making it so worth while. See you in 2011!