This guide has been prepared in order to provide potential PublicMediaCamp (sometimes called PubCamp for short) organizers with a reference toolkit for creating their own local PubCamp. Please keep in mind that these insights are not edicts, but are recommendations based on our past experience creating unconferences, and from our experience in creating the 2009 national PubCamp in DC. First some quick links then the guide:

The Blog is here – http://www.publicmediacamp.org
The Wiki is here – http://wiki.publicmediacamp.org
The Google Group is here – http://groups.google.com/group/public-media-camp
The Twitter Profile is here – http://www.twitter.com/publicmediacamp
The Flickr Group is here – http://www.flickr.com/groups/publicmediacamp
The SlideShare Group is here – http://www.slideshare.net/group/publicmediacamp

Download the word document of this guide here – PubCampGuide.Final.doc

Watch a walk-through of the guide here – PubCamp Field Guide Walthrough Video

Watch an overview of PubCamp here – Intro to Pubcamp

Today’s Session Schedule is as follows:

9:00 AM – Board Creation
10:00 AM – Session 5
12:00 PM – Lunch
1:00 PM – Session Block 6
2:15 PM – Break and Move
2:30 PM – Session Block 7
4:00 PM – Closing

Today’s Shuttle Schedule is as follows:

SUN:
7:45a Hotel Helix (depart)
8:00a Tenleytown Metro* (depart)
8:05a AU/Ward Circle building (arrive – follow signage to Conference)
8:30a Hotel Helix (depart)
8:45a Tenleytown Metro (depart)
8:50a AU/Ward Circle building (arrive – follow signage to Conference)
5:00p AU/Ward Circle building (depart for National Airport**)
6:00p AU/Ward Circle building (depart for National Airport**)
7:00p AU/Ward Circle building (depart for National Airport**)

Due to inclement weather and the closure of Mass Ave. for a bike race we’re moving the full camp schedule up an hour:

The Day 1 Schedule is embed below and can be found in Google Docs and the Wiki.

One month ago, we announced that we were going to award 10 PublicMediaCamp scholarships to PBS and NPR stations that would allow them to send up to two people to PubCamp this weekend, as well as receive a $2000 stipend to help defray the costs of their own local PubCamps.

We’ve now confirmed that the following stations will receive scholarships:

Georgia Public Broadcasting (Susanna Capelouto and William Overall)
KETC TV, St. Louis MO (Lauren Schwarze and Kate Shaw)
KLRU TV, Austin TX (Shane Guiter)
Maine Public Broadcasting Network (Chris Sweet and Nick Woodward)
Mississippi Public Broadcasting (Thomas Broadus)
Oregon Public Broadcasting (Rob Vincent)
UNC-TV – North Carolina Public Television (Jen Jones and RL Watson)
WFWA TV, Ft. Wayne IN (Mark Ryan)
WLRN TV and Radio, Miami FL (Stephen Malagodi)
WOSU Radio, Columbus OH (Susan Meyer and Andrew Miller)

Please join me in congratulating them for winning the scholarship – we look forward to seeing you in DC and learning about your own PubCamps in the future!

Despite our best efforts to organize PubCamp during what’s usually one of the most beautiful months of the year in DC, it looks like our weather is going to be cold, dreary and wet. So what better way to cope with the intemperate weather than grabbing a beer Friday night with your fellow PubCampers.

Since we’d hate to leave you wandering aimlessly around the damp, dank streets of DC, we’re going to have an informal meetup/tweetup Friday at 5pm over at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont Circle. If you’ve never been, it’s a cavernous place full of pool tables, dart boards and even a few Wii consoles. This isn’t an official PubCamp event (read: we’re all going Dutch on this one; the beer is on us Saturday night) but at least it’ll be a place to congregate in some relative warmth and contemplate the chaos that’s about to ensue over the weekend.

Buffalo Billiards is located at 1330 19th St NW, one block south of Dupont Circle. If you come via Metro, take the Red Line to Dupont Circle and take the south exit; it’ll literally be across the street to the right when you come up the escalators. If you’re at Hotel Helix, it’s about a 10-15 walk or a five minute cab ride.

Once some of us get there, we’ll post some tweets with the #pubcamp hashtag letting you know exactly where we are in the bar. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to find us. We’ll likely be the geeks with the iPhones and the Flip Cams and whatnot.

We’re just a few days away from PubCamp and in order to make your trip as easy as possible, we’ve put together a short guide that you can download here. You can also click the map to the left for directions from Hotel Helix. The venue page on the wiki has some useful images of the building we’re using as well.

Lastly, follow the pre-camp buzz by tracking #pubcamp on twitter and/or following @publicmediacamp. We’ll be monitoring those and answering any questions if you have them while in route.

(See Update Below)
We are excited to see that currently approximately a third of registrants are coming in from out of town.  We have made arrangements for a block of rooms at the Hotel Helix at a pre-negotiated rate of $195/nt.  These 50 rooms are available on a first come basis.   Call: 800-706-1202, and reference NPR and/or PublicMediaCamp.

While we made sure the camp is free, we couldn’t convince any hotels to give away their rooms.   It is peak hotel season in DC, and given the time frame it was the best option we found for being able to reserve a block of rooms.  The Helix is a great hotel in a fun neighborhood that offers a variety of interests for after conference food and entertainment.   As this hotel is not walking distance to the conference we plan to arrange a shuttle to and from this location.

If you find a cheaper hotel (or a friend’s house) you can take the Metro Red Line to Tenleytown station, and from there ride the AU shuttle to get to the conference. For more directions see Camp Directions and Map.

UPDATE: The Helix Hotel room block is only available through Sept 30th. The one big advantage with this location is that we will be running a shuttle to/from at beginning/end of day. If you’ve found a better rate at another hotel feel free to post in comments so fellow campers can see.

The weekend of October 17th and 18th is quickly approaching, below you’ll find a rough schedule of how the unconference will be framed time-wise.

Our venue is fabulous and has lots of large, open spaces for sessions, project work, and food. There will be ample power, wifi and collaborative areas where developers, creatives, and everyone else will be able to easily work together and make themselves comfortable.

Saturday:

• 8am Breakfast and Socializing
• 9am Welcome to #PubCamp and session planning
• 10am Breakout Sessions (1-hour long segments)
  
• 12pm Lunch
• 1:30pm Breakout Sessions and open-space meetings (1-hour long segments)
  
• 5:30pm Happy Hour! (sponsorship opportunities available)
  

Sunday:

• 8am Breakfast
• 9am Day 1 recap and Day 2 session planning
• 10am 2-hour Power Sessions
• 12pm Lunch
• 1pm Sessions and open-space meetings (1-hour long segments)
  
• 5:30pm Post-camp next steps for organizers and attendees

This schedule can, and will change and feel free to leave your feedback on how we’ve set things up in the comments section below.

If you work at an NPR or PBS member station, you can now apply for a scholarship to attend PublicMediaCamp, scheduled for October 17-18 in Washington DC.

We expect to award no more than 10 scholarships. Each of the station scholarships will cover basic travel-related expenses to attend PublicMediaCamp, as well as a $2,000 stipend towards that same station hosting a local PublicMediaCamp. One application per station, please.

Scholarship Travel: Each station scholarship will cover basic travel-related reimbursements for one or two participants designated by the station to attend the PublicMediaCamp occurring in Washington DC Oct 17th and 18th. If sending two individuals to the unconference, one should be an employee of the station, but you have the option of having the second be a representative of a community organization that you will partner with to plan and host your local PublicMediaCamp. Such travel expenses may include: airfare, lodging, food and other expenses allowed by CPB travel guidelines.

Local Event Stipend: In accepting a scholarship, the recipient station also commits to hosting a local PublicMediaCamp before September 1, 2010. An additional $2,000 stipend will be given scholarship recipients to offset organizing and hosting that local PublicMediaCamp. Note: Scholarship recipients (and all interested stations) will receive detailed information, documented processes, and tools to aid in hosting such events.

Criteria: NPR and PBS will be selecting scholarship recipients — pending CPB approval — based on the applicant’s experience with local community collaboration and ability to host a local PublicMediaCamp, and to create a balance of station market sizes and types (radio/TV).

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 30, though will be considered on a rolling basis effective immediately. Please submit your information using this application form as soon as possible. Scholarship recipients will be notified immediately after being selected, and will be provided with information and process for booking and reimbursement of travel.

We’ve been wondering, what happens when you combine 100 developers, 100 public media supporters, and 100 people who work for public broadcasting companies? At PBS, we hope that mashup of people from different backgrounds will result in some amazing ideas, plans, and prototypes.

Across the country, PBS stations are struggling with reduced budgets and staff – and yet, their mission hasn’t changed. They’re still tasked with engaging audiences with thoughtful, educational content in their local communities. By starting the Public Media Camp movement we’d like to help them build additional support through innovative products and partnerships.

The Washington DC area has an immense technology community, and being home to PBS, NPR, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting makes this an ideal spot to kick off the Public Media Camp movement. While we’re working hard on making sure that the local event is a success, we hope that you will help us take the show on the road and support our many stations across the country.