The LA/OC Chapter’s MCAI MediaProCamp ‘11 has been deemed the “Best Ever” by both attendees and the volunteers who made it happen. Our third annual event benefited from a number of things including generous sponsors, delicious food, a wonderful location and important topics thanks to one of our largest crowds with many returning professionals who knew the format.

Since the format of MediaProCamp is a series of roundtable discussions created on the spot by participants it’s helpful if the professionals attending come with topics and issues to discuss…and they did! By all reports, MediaProCamp’11 offered a wide variety of topics to help attendees with business, technology, marketing, social media, creativity, career and more. Santa Ana College’s Digital Media Center http://www.dmc-works.com/ again provided the perfect location. We utilized the main, state-of-the-art studio as well as conference rooms, media rooms, work rooms and even the hallways as groups (as small as 4 as large as 25) huddled together to share ideas, brainstorm solutions and collaborate in the unique fashion for which MCAI’s MediaProCamp is known.

2011 saw a few special speakers as well. Tommy James, representing our primary sponsor, Panasonic, http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/home.asp has always provided cutting edge info for us. At MPC’11 he held a special class on large single sensor cameras featuring Panasonic’s new AG-AF100 AVCCAM camcorder--the world’s first professional HD camera equipped with a 4/3rds MOS image sensor. For those attending this was a big hands-on treat.

By the way, this year Panasonic is sponsoring all the MediaProCamps held by MCAI chapters around the country! Our event in June was only the third so far, following the San Diego and Detroit chapters’ events. And speaking of San Diego, Raegan Matthews drove up from the San Diego Chapter to help us out! Besides being a lot of fun she’s an experienced professional and added a lot!

Adobe’s Colin Smith kept a room full of people enrapt while explaining the features of their new 5.5 production premium suite. As a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer, he had a lot to offer. Colin is also  founder of the world’s most popular Photoshop resource site, www.PhotoshopCAFE.com which boasts over three million visitors.

MCAI Member, Walter Davis, a media guru in his own right, shared his experience, ideas and techniques for using the internet to make money. He’s a great teacher as well as a creative businessman. A number of people made positive comments about his sessions which were so popular they went without stopping!

This year the lunch was prepared by Taste Catering. While it was only sandwiches, salads and dessert, it all had their gourmet touch and we got great compliments on the buffet.

After lunch, Panasonic’s Tommy James offered some industry perspective about cutting edge technology (something Panasonic knows a lot about) While few, his remarks his home with both small and large media practitioners.

The Keynote was presented by two well-known media entrepreneurs and experts, Philip Hodgetts, president of Intelligent Assistance, http://www.philiphodgetts.com/ and Marcelo Lewin, founder of www.FilmmakingWebinars.com, gave a tag-team lesson in adapting to changing times with, "Reinventing Yourself To Stay Ahead Of Your Competition."

With a morning divided into three sessions, each of which saw up to 6 roundtables and seminars going simultaneously, lots of networking, a tasty lunch and an insightful keynote presentation, it was a full day. Just as with the topics for each session, attendees got to vote on whether to hold another session of roundtables. The result was negative so the group proceeded to prize giveaways from sponsors, including a CS5.5 Production Premium Suite from adobe, valued at $1800! Producer-director, Wanda Hart, head of Creative Heart Entertainment was the lucky winner.

With all of that the event still wrapped up at 2:00 PM! But we had a lot of happy campers!  Thanks to everyone who made it possible from volunteers to sponsors!