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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!