Absolutely loved the topics, the energy and the camaraderie displayed at yesterday’s event. Thanks to everyone who participated, presented and sponsored.

Please check back throughout the week for the videos of the presentations. They will be posted as editing is completed.

Please take a second to fill out a survey that will let us do better next time. Thanks in advance for your time.

The word of the season is scenius. Without the success of conferences like Phoenix Design Week (PhxDW , facilities/communities like Gangplank and the hard-working, hard-playing scenesters of the Valley, CenPhoCamp wouldn’t exist.

CenPhoCamp exists to bridge the gap between those in the know with those who want to learn. It’s here to build on the inspiration that events like last week’s PhxDW bring to the table, but we know that just having an event isn’t enough, you must have a focus.

PhxDW catalyst Mark Dudlik attributes PhxDW success to its focus on content and community. “If you focus on those things, REALLY focus on them, don’t just say you are in some meaningless platitude meant to “inspire”, then there is no way you can go wrong.”

Now that the creatives are fired up, it’s time to get everyone else involved. Gangplank co-founder Derek Neighbors agrees.

“Phoenix has been devastated by the housing crisis and resulting recession. In times of crisis, it is imperative that people find community and bind together to move forward. CenPhoCamp epitomizes this spirit of locals helping locals and realizing that rising tides raises all boats. Phoenix could use more of this kind of collaboration.”

So join us, write about us and invite those who want to learn to CenPhoCamp and help us help businesses thrive in the new economy. Nothing can be accomplished in a vacuum and nothing is sustainable without buy-in from all stakeholders.

CenPhoCamp is also proud to announce the involvement of communitasPHX, a non-profit cultivating spirituality, community, justice, and creativity in Downtown Phoenix. With a grassroots collection of initiatives, communities, and experiments, communitasPHX is helping to imagine new ways of living and being human in the city. Let’s see if we can’t help them out, too.

Call it collaboration, call it synergy or now call it scenius.

Scenius, coined by musician Brian Eno, means: the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.

Sure it’s another cheesy play on words, but it’s definitely a goal. Not only must groups be better as a whole then the people involved, but those groups must participate together in a way that fosters innovative thinking. Phoenix Design Week is all about creating scenius right now.

We look forward to do something similar next weekend.

See you on October 9. Bring your smart friends. Remember to register here.

The schedule is set, the sponsors are happy and the after party has been reserved.

Now it’s time to get everyone involved. Below, you’ll notice three four things: 1) the boilerplate copy that you can copy and paste to your blog, your Facebook page or wherever else you live online; 2) a Word copy of the official press release; 3) a PDF copy of the same release; 4) a text copy for you to give to your non-press friends. Please distribute any or all of these to greater downtown Phoenix residents and business owners that you think might benefit from CenPhoCamp.

Boilerplate copy (just copy and paste, yo)
CenPhoCamp exists to teach greater downtown Phoenix businesses how to thrive in the new economy. From Kirk Yuhnke of ABC15 to Jose Gonzalez and Bill Binder of Torch Theater and Kevin Spidel of Gannett Local to Jonathan Kressaty of RipStyles and Betwext, we’ve gathered practitioners, not disassociated experts, together for an afternoon or learning and collaboration.

The event is free to anyone.

Please register at http://www.cenphocamp.com/register/

CenPhoCamp will be held at the Cronkite School at the downtown Phoenix ASU campus.

555 N Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85004

October 9, 2010
1–4:30pm (conference at Cronkite)
5–7:30pm (hosted appetizers at the District)

Downloadable press releases
Word press release (right click)

PDF press release (right click)

Downloadable friend invite
Text friend invite

It takes more than a fancy camera and Photoshop to shoot great pictures, and Jason Garcia knows that more than anyone. Please join me in thanking him for signing on to be our official photographer for CenPhoCamp October 2010.

When you see “photography provided by Jason Garcia from Communication Collective,” you know it’s good.

CenPhoCamp, first devised by me and Yuri Artibise is late 2009, was created to help greater downtown Phoenix small businesses use the tools and access the communities that are readily available to them. From social media to philanthropy groups and weekend brunches to clever, word-of-mouth marketing campaigns, we know that greater collaboration benefits everyone. Phoenix, especially what we consider CenPho and downtown, can’t afford to act as separate entities any longer.

But researching what works takes time, it takes money and it often takes a level of understanding that doesn’t come natively to most people. The skills that businesses need to succeed in the new economy need to be taught to those willing to listen.

CenPhoCamp is that solution. Designed for small businesses to learn from other local companies, area leaders and media professionals, CenPhoCamp, now run by me and Si Robins, is here to promote collaboration, exchange ideas and strengthen the local community.

–CenPhoCamp is free of charge to any attendee
–Speakers are chosen based on what they can offer the entire community
–Sponsorships pay the rent at Cronkite and appetizers at the after party
–Food and drink are provided by the attendees
–Organizers work on a volunteer basis only

Welcome to the second CenPhoCamp. We’ll have the speaker schedule confirmed the week of Labor Day.

Thanks, and see you October 9!

Looks like we’re not the only ones who think that specialization and focus is good.

Great article from Wired on why smaller is often better.

Great ideas for next time so far.

–Shorter time frame (4 hours)
–Moderators for roundtable discussions
–Have food and registration table in OWN room
–Keep one room open for impromptu presentations
–Keep the presenters fresh
–Nobody presents more than once

There’s more, but those really stood out. Keep it up!

While we work on getting the videos and slideshows up, please help the next CenPhoCamp out by giving us your thoughts.

Be specific. “I wished it was better”, “parking sucks” and “I would have like more info” aren’t helpful. Give us ideas that we can run with.

Nothing great ever happens in a vacuum. It takes effort from everyone. CenPhoCamp was no different.

Thanks to every single person who helped with CenPhoCamp, including Katie Charland, who took charge when it was necessary, Stephanie Simmons, who ruled room 314 and Andrew Knochel, who never moved from room 252 because he was constantly manning the camera and guarding the food. You stepped up and we thank you for it.

We, meaning Tyler Hurst and Yuri Artibise were more than stoked at the conversations, the sharing and the atmosphere enjoyed from 2pm to nearly 11pm last night. It was fun, it was useful and it’s worth doing again.

So keep up with us. Tyler is constantly on Twitter, Yuri is more of a Phoenix coffee shop guy, but you can easily track either down. Give us suggestions, feedback and offers to help. We’ll take them.

Videos are being processed know, expect to see those popping up, in separate posts, this week. We’ll also include links to presenters’ slides on SlideShare.

Plans are already in the works to have similar events in Scottsdale and Chandler, and a follow up CenPhoCamp in October.

Stay tuned, stay talking and most of all, get to know your community.