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I’m sitting in my hotel room after getting a hot shower after the day’s conference.  I sat outside talking to Brian Collinger for a while (he’s one of Automattic’s Code Wranglers – and the dude knows his stuff).  And that’s what these events are all about – connecting (and reconnecting) with awesome people and getting lots of useful knowledge. 

It’s funny what you have to learn for these things.  Chris Spencer, the event organizer, asked me to present on WordPress 3.0 today as a last minute session.  I agreed, and (although I knew a lot about it) never really got a chance to put it all together.  So, I started a dev site and started diving in.  I learned more just playing around with the development site than I have in a while.

And so, I take one thing, among many, from this conference – don’t be afraid to love what you do, and do it just for fun every now and then.  Because that’s where the moment’s of true learning are. 

I’m heading out for the after party in a half hour… so hopefully I’ll see you guys there.  If you haven’t gotten a chance to connect with me at the conference, please feel free to see what I’m all about here and get to know me – WordPress is not about great software, it’s about the people that make the software great.

Random Quote: “I have a face for podcasting”

This weekend I hit the airways for WordCampFayetteville, and (being an avid conference-goer) I know that there are certain things that I just cannot leave behind.  So, here are some of the tricks I use to make the most out of my conference, whether it’s in my bag, or just some helpful tips.

1. What’s In Your Bag

Make sure that you at least have the bare necessities when you travel to a conference:

• Notebook Computer, Smartphone, or iPad (if allowed) – to check in, post tweets, and talk about the conference.
• Notebook (the pen and paper kind) – to take notes and write down important info if your laptop or iPad is off.
• Business Cards – don’t have a business? Doesn’t matter – you still need them, even if they’re free, freemium, cheap, or professional.
• Space for swag – you’d be surprised how many people forget this one.  You may get lots of stuff – make sure you’re not over-encumbered when you travel.
• Power Splitter – that way, if there’s not enough power, you at least can provide a spot for multiple people to share the wealth.  This will even let you get away with (usually, and after asking) unplugging someone else’s laptop so you can plug in the splitter, and everyone wins!
• Camera – camera photos, besides being nice to have, help you remember faces of people you meet.  Most people won’t mind a candid shot taken of them.
• Water (if you can) – never hurts to have some extra H20 on you.

2. Don’t hit every session if it’s a *camp style conference.

Take time to smell the roses and spend some time in the hallway getting to know people.  Most people will be out in the halls organizing thoughts into blog posts or whatnot, and some friendly conversation (if warranted) can lead to a much more long term relationship down the road.

3. Hit the after parties, even if you don’t drink.

That’s where the magic happens.  If there’s an event that has an afterparty, that’s where most of the fun is going to be, and most of the networking, providing the music isn’t too loud.

Technorati Tags: #wcfay, conference, wordcampfayetteville, wordcamp

WordPress is, by far, one of the most versatile pieces of software out in cyberspace today. As a developer and designer, my first choice for any project, no matter the scope or purpose, is to see if it’s a job WordPress can handle.  9 times out of 10, it is.  People ask me how software can be so versatile, and how much work is involved to get it that way.  Honestly, it all boils down to the plugins you use, with a few special modifications here and there that most anyone can do.

This year, I’ve made it my mission to show people that WordPress can be used for, well, dang near anything!

Today was a whirlwind day at PodCampNashville.  There were so many great sessions, I saw a lot of great people, and we had a lot of fun at the after party. It’s too soon afterward to really digest things, so I leave you with my session (video is being re-encoded – will have it up ASAP)

No, no sappy Christmasy rhymes tonight.  I’m getting my gear bag together for PodCampNashville tomorrow at the Cadillac Ranch and thought I’d lay down some tips for any newcomers to the podcamp scene (trust me, I’ve done more than my fair share.  I guess that makes me a “podcamping expert” *shudder*)

1) Leave your expectations at the door.

If you’ve never been to one of these, come in with an open mind.  There will be coders, PR hacks, designers, tech geeks, and other strange anomalies, but we’re all here for one thing: to have fun and to network (ok, so that’s two things).  Get ready to meet lots of like minded people and pass out business cards.

2) Remember the Rules of Podcamp.

First rule of Podcamp – you don’t talk about Podcamp.

Wait, that’s not right.

Here are the real first rules to remember:

1. Everyone’s a rock star.  There are no keynotes and no digital dignitaries.  We’re all learning, and we’re all teaching.
2. Law of two feet – if you don’t like what you’re hearing, or you’re bored out of your mind, leave. Not the conference, mind you, but find another room that talks about what you want to hear about.  No one will be upset.
3. If none of the rooms interest you, may I suggest the “hallway track”? Catch up with old friends, meet some new ones, and just eavesdrop on what people are chatting about.  Chances are something may peak your interest.
4. Bring something to take notes, video, and pictures with.  Yes, I said and.  You’ll be on information, and new person, overload by the time it’s all over, so get ready to have trouble remembering who that one dude was or what’s-his-name with the spiky hair and bandana.

3) Bring Stuff

I’m actually breaking my own rule here.  I didn’t order business cards in time (doh!) so i’m on a skeleton supply, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t be giving the few I have out like candy.  For everyone else, I’m taking down email addresses and getting them my info that way.  Here are some other things you may want to consider bringing:

• Power Strip
• Extension Cord (those two will make you the popular kid in the room)
• Alternate Internet source (if you have it, because sometimes the Internet just goes down)
• Bottle of Water
• Notebook (the paper kind)
• Notebook (the digital kind)
• iPhone or SmartPhone (no iPad jokes, please)

So, come tomorrow ready to learn, have a good times, and drink a little beer too (thanks Yazoo!)

It’s that time again!  Time for Nashvillians and people from all around to flock to the Cadillac Ranch to get the tech knowledge on.  Saturday, starting at 9 AM (be there early to get registered, swagged up, and get your networking on) some of the best presenters in Nashville will be showing you how they do what they do best.

I’m taking the entire day tomorrow to finish preparing my slides on “How to use WordPress for Dang Near Anything” and you can guarantee that anything less than perfect for this is going to be unacceptable for me.  I checked the site signups today and found out that nearly 200 people have signed up for my sessions.  I’ve been to entire conferences that have less than that many people.  This is a true honor for me, and I’m not going to let you down.

Photo by Adria Richards

Holly is driving and I’m on the way back home from WordCampAtlanta (well, from staying in Montgomery with her family for a while) and I’m finally getting a chance to reflect and collect my thoughts and what I learned.  WCATL was a fantastic event, and with over 400 people there the number of people I met, saw, and interacted with is too many to put into one post (also, thanks again to everyone who dropped by my presentation – it was a good crowd and I’m glad to hear that you got something out of it!)

But, I’m the first to admit I learn something every time I head to a conference, and this time was no exception. Here are a few of the high points I learned from WordCampAtlanta:

1. WordPress 3.0 is going to be Killer!

Jane Wells (@JaneForShort) gave a fantastic presentation on the future of WordPress, and the future is looking awesome. From the WPMU + WP Merger to a new theme for 3.0, lots of exciting things are in the works.  Her slides are below:

2. The PHP and WordPress communities can learn a lot from each other.

@technosailor gave a fantastic presentation (re: lecture in a discussion-y way) on how the core communities of both the PHP world and the WordPress world could stand to play nicer to each other.  Personally, I think that the problem comes from WP people starting out in WordPress and learning PHP (top down) instead of learning PHP then jumping into WordPress (bottom up). 

3. People will do just about anything for a copy of “Crush It”.

‘Nuff said.

4. The more I talk about WordPress at a conference, the more I realize I know nothing about WordPress.

Getting to meet giants like John Saddington (@Human3rror), talking to Jane Wells, and hearing Mark Jaqueth (@markjaqueth) made me realize that not only do I still have a lot to learn, but by not helping to make WordPress better I am hurting the platform more than I am helping it.  I submitted my first patch to the TRAC, but that’s only a small step in making WordPress even better than it already is.

5. The Atlanta WordPress scene is hopping!

There are a lot of people in Atlanta who are passionate about WordPress, and the community there is fantastic (how could 400 people otherwise justify getting out in the ice and show to come to the SCAD to hear about WordPress, yes?).  I was glad to meet a lot of you, and I hope we can keep in touch.

Oh yeah, this Steak and Shake is hopping!

Holly and I are hanging out unwinding after #wcatl, enjoying Frisco melts.  It was good to see all my Birmingham friends, and to make many new Atlanta friends I’ve made.  You guys have a super cool city, and even though I didn’t get to make all of the stops I wanted (Williams Street studios, Atlantic Crossing, and a few others) I had a great time.

For those of you who were looking for it, here are the slides from my presentation:

These are the same slides I did for BlogWorldExpo, so they have a few blogworld specific items in there… but for the most part, everything is the same content wise.

And please, if you have any questions about WordPress, blogging, or anything in general (even if you weren’t at the conference) please feel free to let me know.

I’m getting super pumped this weekend for the very first Atlanta WordCamp.  There’s an A-List of speakers (including Dougal Campbell and Mark Jaqueth and a host of others who have a lot of great WordPress information) and if you’re looking to network with people it’s a great opportunity.

I’ll be speaking on Blog Design (taking a different approach instead of the normal development speak) and showing people how to design a killer WordPress blog.  Of course, I’m also there for the nightlife, the networking, and hanging out with my friends coming up from Birmingham.

So, if you’re going to be there, make sure to come find me and say hello!

I’m finally getting around to debugging and debriefing myself regarding BlogWorldExpo.  There were so many great sessions and speakers that it’s hard to pick just one or two or a few to talk about.  Hopefully this gives me an excuse and great content to write about for a while.

I was talking to Jeremiah Owyang over email about his session (and Blog World in general), and how a lot of people really balked about the point that their customers own their content and control their brand.  I’d never heard a crowd get tense before, but you could literally hear the crowd of business PR managers and marketing people start sweating.  They’d heard it and heard it and heard it, but it took Jeremiah hitting them in the gut to really drive the point across.

But then, over email, he asked me a question I’d never thought of before:

“Imagine if your server got deleted –how would your customers rebuild your website?”

I really don’t know how to answer that, simply because it’s my website, but I wonder… how would you rebuild it?  Would it be the same as it was, or would you tear it apart and rebuild it from the ground up?  Would you want things to be the same as they are, or would a revolution be the end result?

This isn’t a rhetorical question – I am seriously asking this, because I am seriously wanting to know.  Leave your answers in the comments below, and let’s see whether my own website needs a gut check.