One of the bloggers who has taken up my ‘post a day‘ challenge is ArtLinks director Cathy Fitzgerald. Cathy was a recent guest on a podcast show I’m involved with through Blog Talk Radio in the lead up to the second PodCamp to be held in Kilkenny this coming September (I’m one of the organisers).

ArtLinks are slowly but surely opening more doors for artists living in the South East of Ireland to showcase their works online and through a number of professional development courses (see my previous post about Blogging The Arts here) are helping artists to get online, increasing the possibilities of artists sourcing new work and new audiences.

As part of her own ‘post a day’, Cathy outlines her experiences in connecting with new audiences from a beginner blogger’s point of view. Once you start, you can’t seem to stop! Cathy’s post is drawn on experiences gained from attending events like PodCamp and connecting with fellow bloggers and arts practitioners.

As an organiser and contributer to PodCamp and BarCamp-style events, I cannot underline enough how beneficial these free unconference days can be. For a full list of PodCamp events taking place globally see PodCamp.org.

Listen to Cathy’s interview and our thoughts here

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I’ve got a number of freelancing blogs that I read and enjoy during the week, links to some of which you’ll find in the sidebar. But I’m always on the lookout for more.

If you’re writing about your freelance career and experiences, blogging about starting up your business, working online, then I’d love to hear from you. These kind of things are of great interest to me - watching people take an idea “from the page to the stage” so to speak.

Leave a comment with your link or RSS feed, bag yourself a new reader of your works (and possibly a link on the sidebar as well).

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Judging by feedback online, the Going Solo conference for freelancers, held in Switzerland on Friday, was a great success.

A Daily Motion video channel has been created and contains some of the key talks and panel discussions from the weekend, check them out here if you’ve got the time.

Should I find myself available this time next year and the conference goes ahead again I know I would certainly like to attend, especially to meet up and talk with those working in mainland Europe and compare the working market to that here at home.

If you can’t travel out of the country for big events, you should try and keep an eye out for any BarCamp-style events near you. I’ve mentioned before about how you can get connected at BarCamps and PodCamps (having had an organising hand in a few events in the last couple of months), so if you spot one on the calendar in a city near you - make the trip

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I’m looking at making a trip to Toronto (Canada) later in the summer, possibly around the August / September mark.

I’ve had it in my mind to catch PodCamp Toronto or BarCamp Toronto or one of the many excellent DemoCamps that are held around Canada on a regular basis.

If you know of, or would like to highlight events worth attending for a freelancer-slash-social-network-and-blogging-junkie then I’m all ears. Drop me a line by hitting the contact form here.

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Attending unconference and networking events is a great way to meet and talk with other bloggers, designers, writers, and lovers of all things technology. BarCamp (mainly web focused) and PodCamp (web and podcast focused) events (or WordCamp, MashupCamp, BlogCamp etc.) embrace the open and friendly unconference approach when the speakers are made up of those attending, you’re free to walk between talks and demos and you don’t need to pay a stiff fee to get in the door.

I’ve been directly involved in the planning and running of a number of these events and they’re the perfect way to meet like-minded people, learn and share ideas and experiences under the one roof, all without blowing a hole in your precious budget.

With that in mind, here’s a number of upcoming BarCamp and PodCamp

Upcoming BarCamps

*note: Dates are in DD/MM/YY format

• 03/05/08 - BarCamp Jacksonville
• 03/05/08 - BarCamp San Diego
• 03/05/08 - WordCamp, Paris France - Should be great for Wordpress users and bloggers professional and hobby alike.
• 09/05/08 - BarCampKC, Kansas City
• 10/05/08 - BarCamp Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)
• 13/05/08 - DemoCamp Calgary

Upcoming PodCamps

If you’re a podcaster or have any interest in learning about social networking, social and new media then these are some events to check out.

• 25/04/08 - PodCamp NYC, New York
• 03/05/08 - PodCamp San Antonio
• 06/06/08 - PodCamp Chicago
• 20/06/08 - PodCamp Austin
• 28/06/08 - PodCamp Ohio

If you’re looking for networking opportunities then don’t underestimate the power of connections that can be made at these type of events. Anyone and everyone can and does attend, from people with a passing interest in design and technology to company CEOs, web startups, angel investors, VCs, bloggers, developers and more.

Have you been successful in gaining any work, as a freelancer, by attending any BarCamp or PodCamp type events?

Don’t forget your business cards!

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I want to connect with freelancers. If you’re working as a freelancer in the web design and graphic design industries (either or both), particularly those with some experience in logo, graphic and branding design.

In connecting with other professionals in the industry, I’ve recently returned to LinkedIn.com. As the site says itself…

LinkedIn is a place to find and leverage professional opportunities, now and throughout your career. LinkedIn enables you to:

• Present yourself and your professional capabilities
• Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates
• Leverage powerful tools to find and reach the people you need
• Build a powerful network of trusted professionals
• Discover professional relationships and opportunities
• Tap into inside connections and information
• Get the edge that gives you competitive advantage

While working for yourself can give you all the thrills in the world, it can also be lonely at times and if you need to bounce an idea off a fellow professional, want to talk to someone in your industry or discuss ideas with the competition then LinkedIn.com is one place you can start.

So, to reiterate, I want to connect with freelancers. You can find me on LinkedIn.com by visiting my profile here (you’ll see some of my background history, details of where I work etc.). If you’re not yet registered for LinkedIn, sign up for a free account, you’ve got nothing to lose and a potential 20 million contacts to gain.

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