New Media Cruise / Podcamp@Sea - from NYC - June 28th - July 3rd

The Idea

A different kind of cruise is being planned for this June. This is a cruise for people more interested in bit rates than bingo, and more interested in RSS than the midnight buffet. The idea is to create a floating unconference on new media. I have had a chance to do a themed based tech cruise and found that it was much more enjoyable and interesting than a regular cruise vacation (shuffle board is not my game). We will spend the time in port exploring but when the ship is at sea we will have sessions of interest to the attendees on new media and social media.

This is a 5 day cruise to keep the costs low with no additional fee for the conference as long as you register through me. By registering together as a group, the ship should provide the necessary meeting space with no additional charge. Also we will sit as a group rotating people through different tables to make it easier to meet people.

What is an Unconference
To keep the costs low it is my intention to do this as an unconference where the people attending will decide what sessions we will have rather than paying for speakers to attend. I would like to provide a place where novices and experts alike can learn something. I have created a discussion in the Amateur Traveler boards called “What do you want to learn?”

The Cruise
The plans for the New Media Cruise have solidified and we have reserved cabins for cruise leaving New York City on June 28th and returning on July 3rd with stops in Halifax and Saint Johns.

Who are we?
I am the host of the Amateur Traveler, The Bible Study Podcast and a co-host on This Week in Travel podcast. All together I have published more than 400 podcast episodes (both audio and video).

I am working with Lorene Romero of the Home Based Travel podcast to pull this off because she is a cruise travel expert and knows how to coordinate this with the cruise company and how to help people book their travel, excursions, etc.

For full and fair disclosure Lorene and I will make money on the commissions to help pay for our time working on this, but frankly Lorene thinks I am a little crazy for not having a registration fee to pay for miscellaneous expenses.

How much will this cost?
The taxes and fees came in a bit higher than I expected (always make sure to check these when you book a cruise because often the advertised price does not include them).

Final costs are:
Inside Cabin $420 base price, taxes and port charges $198.77 = $618.77 per person
Outside cabin $480 base price, taxes and port charges $198.77 = $678.77 per person
Balcony $650 base price, taxes and port chagres $198.77 = $848.77 per person
Also plan on $10 per person per day for tips

How do I book the cruise?
Email newmediacruise@AmateurTraveler.com with your contact info and cabin selection. If you do contact them please mention that you heard about it via Gary Bembridge (TipsForTravellers Blog)

How can I help?
Please spread the word to the podcasters and new media producers that you know. The more people who come the more fun this will be.

Content is king (again)

When my friends at IAB asked me to join the conversation they would start on this blog, I thought why not use it to share some ideas on hot topics (some would say: buzzwords) in the online space, from a practical point of view. The first topic: the rebirth of King Content.

In an online context, content is the stuff we offer the visitors of our websites, blogs and online media, to get their attention, make them come back, set up a conversation, share our passions, build communities, invite people to subscribe to our online services or simply make them buy whatever we sell. It can be written content but also video, online services and so on. In a marketing context, content is the ‘what’s in it for me’ that makes the consumer listen to or simply play with us.

Maybe you remember that pre-dotcom-bubble mantra ‘Content is King’. It dates from the time that media companies wanted to create as many eyeballs as possible by offering masses of online content. But when the dotcom bubble burst, king content was one of the first to be buried: he simply was too expensive in a world where advertisers didn’t follow. And of course: mass media models didn’t turn out to be the best choice for the web.

Today, king content is back. Let me tell you why:

- Content connects: content is the starting point of every online (and offline) dialogue and thus every relationship. In the end it’s nothing but normal: humans are linguistic and emotional creatures. We can not speak, think and decide without language and images.
- Content is what makes your website or online communication stand out. This is even more so in a world wide web that is unliveable without search engines: relevant content is key to simply being found. The same goes for marketing in a fragmenting media reality: without relevant content you simply are not heard anymore.
- Content empowers: in a participative online world the user-generated content phenomenon empowers people to connect, share and create. Relevant content empowers the consumer to make unbiased decisions by comparing stuff, reading the stuff that others think and so on.
- Content sells: adapting even the smallest piece of content on your website, in your newsletter and so on can make a world of difference. What do you think works best: ending a promotion in a newsletter with ‘click here’ or with ‘click here to find out how we will offer you the holiday experience of a lifetime’?
- Content precedes community. On the web people connect. And most of the time they connect around content: whether it’s uploaded videos, online services, user-generated content or stories about the topics that passionate us: content is at the basis of online community and online word of mouth.

Agree or disagree? More reasons to add? Let me know.