The folks over at Awakened Voice have published some concerns about PodCamp, which deserve to be addressed out loud.
They also recently announced that they will be having an Expo floor of sorts where sponsors can show their wares and pitch their services. I hope I won’t have to parade past a bunch of hard pitches on the way into a discussion. Given that this is an unconference I think that the sponsors names should be mentioned as supporting the various parts of the event and then that’s it.
The expo floor will be a series of card tables – unmanned. Sponsors can leave stacks of brochures there, but the intent is to provide more than just a sign for people forking over literally hundreds or thousands of dollars, while encouraging them not to bring trade show-level stuff along. Sponsors – anyone, really – are encouraged to make any commercial pitches they want to make as a session, alongside everyone else doing sessions. If what they have to offer is worth hearing about, people will attend their sessions. I certainly won’t be giving any sessions on services the Student Loan Network offers because frankly, that’s what my podcast is for 
I am a bit disconcerted that the link for donations goes to the page (and apparently the PayPal account) for a particular podcast. Nothing untoward about that I’m sure. In the spirit of the event I think that they should have a separate page and bank account for donations.
The Financial Aid Podcast is hosting the PayPal stuff because, frankly, it’d be insane to put PayPal stuff directly in a world-editable wiki. The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network, and my company has agreed to act as a financial proxy for the event, including publishing the ledgers for the world to see. Of the 6 organizers, I’m the only one from the Student Loan Network, and we’re ALL in on managing donors, etc., so there are some checks and balances.
Also, I’ve put the same sponsor page on the official blog here, so you can use this one as well.
If anyone else has concerns or questions about PodCamp, please post them! All of us will do our best to address them publicly.
Christopher Penn, PodCamp Organizer
