On day four, it is all about the who factor. Just who should organize a camp?

Really anyone can, but it takes a dedicated team of organizers and volunteers to make a camp happen. While sessions are not created until the day of the event, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that need to be put in place to make sure it is a success.

On day three, I share what I consider to be the three reasons you should consider doing a camp.

BTW, the feedback on this series has been great. Love that this topic has turned into a dialogue. Yesterday’s podcast, What Is A Camp received a couple of thought provoking response from @LynetteRadio & @TheGrannyGamer

Here is the link to their insightful comments.

I have a question for you. In what way would you all prefer me to respond to feedback? Within the daily podcasts, in a separate Cinch recording or via blog post? I’m open to your suggestions.

Cheers!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

On Sunday, March 14th the Austin-American Statesman held the 2nd annual Texas Social Media Awards during SXSW. Celebrating folks who in one way or another have made an impact in their communities or industries with Social Media. I am honored to have been recognized. In the judges words,

“Jennifer is driving the social media space in San Antonio. It’s rare that you find an event in the city that hasn’t been organized or touched by her in some way.”

My thanks to everyone for being part of this incredible journey. Who knew back in 2005 when the community building around the new media space began that it would evolve to this level? Not me. Folk ask me how I got involved in community building and I always go back to my start in podcasting in 2005. My need to talk face-to-face with other folks who were just as excited and passionate about podcasting as I was led me to create the San Antonio Podcasting Meetup. I have my wonderful husband, John aka @designminded to thank for the idea to start that first group. From there it led to the first Podcamp in the State of Texas and so on. There have been many people who motivated and inspired me to “do a camp”: Michael De Leon spurred on PodCamp San Antonio. Erica O’Grady inspired me to have a Startup Weekend . Whurley, Giovanni and Cody Marks Bailey encourage me to have a Barcamp. It was the persistent Connie Reece who guided me through the process of launching a local Social Media Club Chapter and Bryan Person who thought it might be a good idea if San Antonio had a Social Media Breakfast chapter. These folks inspired, encouraged and mentored me through the process of community building. I hope to have done so to others in turn.

They say no man or woman is an island and that has never been more true than when it comes to social media and community building. I am extremely proud of the robust, thriving and giving community we have in San Antonio. It is certainly indicative of what I have found in other parts of the state and country. The commandments of camp is: “Learn, Share, Grow” and the motto of Social Media Club is “If you get it, share it”. The key word in this is  SHARE. I truly believe that as long as we as a community keep this in mind in all of our endeavors we will continue to see success that is beneficial for all.

At heart of it all. I am thankful. So, I will end this post as I started it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

One of the great things about doing something like Nation Podcast Post Month is that it is a self-discovery process. By nature  I’m more of a night owl however I am quickly discovering that not everyone shares my love of dark time recording.

To My Fellow Podcasters:

Creating and being a part of the San Antonio Podcasting Group has been an amazing experience. It started as a way for me to find local podcasters to share my excitement about, what at the time was, a groundbreaking medium.

It’s been 4 years since those humble beginnings back in September 2005. So much has happened since then. We fired up the early adopter tech/geek crowd and have done some first time events here in San Antonio. From our small group the New Media/Social Media Community was born.

From PodCamp to BarCamp to TweetCamp we have been pioneers involved in building what is now a wonderfully diverse and vibrant community. Pat yourselves on the back for being part of the group and making things happen.

As New Media evolved to Social Media we have been using the Meetup site less and less. What was once a chatty message board has become as silent as a library. It’s not that we aren’t still interacting online, however the location for our conversations have been happening on Twitter and Facebook.

There doesn’t seem to be a need for us to continue to host the group on Meetup. As we are well aware, Meetup charges organizers a fee to host a group. As the use of the Meetup platform has become anemic, it appears there is no need to continue with the group in it’s current form.

There are plenty of places for us to host our group outside of Meetup. There is Ning http://ning.com and even Facebook has a group feature. We still have the SA Podcasters blog site which Nathan Lott and Leslie Baldwin have been heading up for the last year.

I propose we allow the Meetup group to close and continue the conversation on either Ning or Facebook. I believe Ning allows us more features as well as an extremely feature rich platform. It’s my first choice, however I know that for the most part we are all already on Facebook so adding a new group to our existing profiles would be easier. I’m willing to go either way.

I won’t miss Meetup. I will miss interacting with you, my dear Podcasting Buds. Knowing you has enriched my life immensely.

Thanks for joining the fun!

Cheers,
Jennifer Navarrete

I have always considered myself somewhat of an adventurous spirit. Not in the climb K-2 without oxygen kind of way, but more in the willing to try something new way. My most recent adventure has been to brave the live video stream for Tech in Twenty. It was something my co-host, Luis Sandoval, and myself had been discussing for some time. We had several listener requests for a video version of Tech in Twenty and with 9 months of podcasts under our belt we were ready to brave the video frontier.

So, on Saturday afternoon a little after 3pm, Tech in Twenty went live with our first video show from the IGOSA Studio. A few differences you’ll note is that the show was longer than 20 minutes. As a matter of fact it was 3x longer! Since Luis and I have no shortage of topics, ideas and opinions to share, discuss and disagree on, the hour flew by.

Topics were chosen by fans on the Tech in Twenty’s Facebook Page. An ongoing poll will select upcoming video show topics. The best way to have your say is to become a fan and vote!

Here is our inaugural show. We had a great time recording and thanks to Ed Lozano and Kaye Cruz of IGOSA for being the pros behind the camera.

Free video chat by Ustream

There seems to be this perception that only a select group of folks can create community events. This could not be further from the truth. There is no secret club or handshake required for you or anyone to create a community event. Whether that’s a Tweetup or an UnConference.

If you have an idea and can find some other folks to champion the idea, then do it.

Don’t wait for permission.
Don’t wait for approval.
Don’t wait…period…amen!

As long as you follow the guidelines for an event which are usually on a wiki somewhere then you should be golden.

Do ask your fellow community members to help make it happen.
Do solicit advice from the more experienced members of your community.
Do be bold and adventurous.

So if you have been waiting for permission to make your community event go from concept to reality.

This is it.

Go! Do! Be!

If you’ve spent any time at all in the Texas Hill Country during the summer months you’ll hear folks talk about “tubing”. As in, “Hey, you wanna join us? We’re going tubing this weekend.” Before you shake your head and wonder about the mental state of folks in Central Texas, let me explain the concept of tubing. First of all, let’s start with a picture of a “tube”.

Now that we know what a tube is we can delve even deeper into a condensed and abbreviated definition:

“Free-floating tubing often takes place on rivers and streams. The tube riders are conveyed by the current of the water. People paddle with their hands to steer while groups of tubers often rope their tubes together creating a large floating group. This generally slows down the float but allows the group to pass food and drink around. Longer expeditions often include tubes mounted with coolers for food and beverages.”

So in other words tubing looks like this:

I’ve lived in San Antonio since 2003 and almost from the beginning I would hear folks talk about tubing. I had a vague sense of what it was, but it wasn’t until I actually went tubing that I truly understood the attraction.

Up until recently my floats have been on the wild and untamed Guadalupe River. However, this year because of low rainfall and drought conditions we decided to give the Comal River a try. Let me tell you it was love at first site and by the time I was floating down river, I was hooked!

Here are a few helpful tips to get you started:

Start off by stopping at one of the local River Outfitters. You can bring your own tube and manage a two car drop off/pick up plan. In my time as a tuber, I have been very happy using the services of the River Outfitters. In doing so, I am supporting the local economy while making my float experience fun and hassle-free. Price ranges anywhere from $14-$20 depending on whether the tube you select has an attached bottom or is au natural. I highly recommend opting for a tube with a bottom. Other than being a place to rest your bottom, It has the added benefit of being a place you can hold your extra gear.

We always rent an extra tube for our ice chest to hold ice cold beverages and sandwich fixings. Being in the sun for a few hours has a tendency to make you hungry so it’s always a good idea to take some food along. Before you leave the River Outfitters, make sure you grab some rope and a trash bag. You’ll want to tie that ice chest tube to your group and of course we want to keep the river clean so a trash bag is a must.

The last thing you’ll need before you leave is plenty of sun block. The water is as ice cold as the sun is hot. After a day of fun the last thing you want is a nasty sunburn. I won’t go into the details about how I know this to be true.

Now that I’ve given you my tips for a successful river float, let’s get back to my recent Comal River experience:

The water was cold and flowing which meant I didn’t have to paddle in order to keep moving. In the triple digit heat we’ve had recently this was exactly what we needed. One of the first things I noticed about the Comal River was it’s neat and clean appearance. The next thing I noticed was how organized the tubing experience was. I was glad to see Park Police were on hand to keep folks safe and secure.

I also noticed signs along the river letting us know what was coming ahead. No surprises meant we could relax and enjoy ourselves instead of being concerned with unexpected rapids or drops. What was especially impressive was seeing Life Guards before and after the River Chute. We were able to enjoy the excitement of going down the fast rushing water chute knowing there were trained responders on hand.

When we were done with our 2 1/2 hour float we picked up our tubes and headed to the waiting River Outfitter vehicles. They loaded our tubes and drove us back to the starting point. We could pack up and go home or for the bold and the brave go for another round of floating. Naturally, we jumped right back in the ice cold water and went for round two.

The Comal River float winds through the City of New Braunfels, TX in the Heart of the Hill Country. Our family had such a wonderful time last weekend. So much so that the Comal River will be our next river destination. The good thing is that we won’t have to wait long. We’ll be part of the folks flocking to the Comal River this 4th of July weekend. I can think of no better way to celebrate Independence Day Weekend than to relax and enjoy the freedom of a river float. Wave if you see me there. I’ll be the one with the water gun helping keep folks cool.

Cheers!

UPDATE:
If you want to have even more fun, check out the other activities on the list. Other San Antonio bloggers have provided their take on some of the best activities in the area.

River float image by Texas Tubes