The World of WordPress and WordCamps

If you are using WordPress and have never attended a WordCamp, you should.  There is much to say about the community and the connections you can make while attending.  I’ve been attending different WordCamps since 2012, and there is a lot of knowledge to obtain at sessions.

I spoke for the first time at WordCamp Birmingham in 2013.  It was a short session, and I’m quite sure it wasn’t the best, but you have to start somewhere.  For a guy that had a year of speech therapy when I was 18, I’m just glad to be able to talk, let alone in front of a lot of people.

Since the talk in Birmingham, I have spoken at WordCamps in Atlanta, Boston, Asheville, Jacksonville and Tampa.  And now as one of the leaders of the Atlanta WordPress Meetup and an organizer of WordCamp Atlanta, I have much respect for what all is involved in communities like this.

So, why show up for WordCamps?  I can think of quite a few reasons:

1. Networking – whether you are a new user, designer, or developer, you can meet people on the same path and you can share your war stories.  If you are looking for a WordPress developer looking for work, there are always designers looking for a developer to help them out.
2. Knowledge – the speakers are normally experts in their field and they love to share their experience.  I remember the first WordCamp I attended in Nashville, the topic was “Dependency Injection For WordPress Plugin Development”.  I understood the words coming out of his mouth, it was quite over my head (but pretty close) and I learned a decent amount (Thanks @mtoppa).
3. Giving Back – WordPress is free, WordCamps are almost free ($20 for a single day, shirt and a meal included), why not give back?  Share your skills, help people solve their problems at the “Happiness Bar”.  That is why I try to speak at WordCamps, I’ve learned a lot of the years and it is good to share.

I’ve completed all of the WordCamps I am going to this year.  I’d love to attend a few more, but Sideways8 will be busy this year with 48in48 and the multitenancy platform we are building for the event.

Update 10/26/16: Snap!  I’m going to WordCamp U.S. in Philly.  Ok, so I thought I was finished.