I had a great time participating in the big (perhaps best attended ever!) national WordCamp (WC) conference in DC last August. However it has taken me several weeks to review my notes, refresh my memory from WC videos, plus find the time to boil down my experience and write this article. If you would like to do your own research on the conference, here are links to the WCUS23 site, the WC Schedule, and the YouTube link with all Session videos.
While a Google Search will unearth lots of ex post WCUS 23 reviews and feedback from Exhibitors and Attendees, here is a good WCUS Recap article by GoDaddy, including both narrative and video tips on why you should go to future WordCamps (see also WordCamp Central – a rolling schedule of future WordCamps around the US and overseas).
My article will break down as follows:
- Takeaways from key conference sessions
- Learning at the Exhibitor Expo
- Benefits on going to WordCamp
- Future WCs that I hope to attend.
Session Takeaways
How to Use WordPress to Make a Difference in the World, by Shambi Broome
- Apart from her own WP development business, Shambi started teaching WP to High School students in SC for a community project: build a website to address local food insecurity: Cancel Hunger Project SC
- student driven research, website and marketing teams, with girls as the most dynamic contributors
- key lessons: Kids like adults like to work independently, don’t micromanage, and define a minimal viable product
- how to generate income from teaching WP to school students: get Grants, Contracts with schools, do your own Camps/Classes
- a big need by Schools for help in computer science; try to get on school advisory board; schools may need vendors to flesh out grant requests
- benefit in organizing your own non-profit to better attract and manage donated funds
- Note: her other non-profit project: Web Girls Who Code, offering camps, classes and training to girls as young as elementary age
Make it Real: Use AI to Successfully Deliver an Authentic Content Creation Process, by Femi Lewis
- used Pillars to Prompts content process and tool, plus AI tool, Chat GBT
- Her goal in using AI: save time and boost productivity
- Her method for content creation with clients: Strategy, Plan, Produce, Promote, Analyze…where AI can best help – with Content Planning and Production
- Key to define who you are – your uniqueness, need to create stories
- AI is a tool, not a strategy; it cannot replace who you are or your brand
- she shared a real small business case study: an entrepreneur with a de-cluttering, cleaning business
- her initial diagnosis with client: who is she, why start business, target audience, direct and indirect competition, and what’s her unique story
- determination of 3 content pillars, where audience and brand intersect: Mindset, De-cluttering and Organizing, Cleaning
- also generation of evergreen content; apply weekly themes; plan and time your content (use a spreadsheet, and a tool: content cucumber.com.juno)
- need to be specific in using ChatGBT, avoid its stock answers, remember your unique story for content context
Recipe for Accessibility: Limiting Ingredients for Faster Design, by Gen Herres
- Goal: if use accessibility principles applied early in design process, this will save time and money for wide range of clients
- Her broader notion of user disability: for example, large segments of population needing vision correction, having dyslexia, challenginlife situations, etc…”best to design for imperfect people in an imperfect world”
- Tools to speed things up: color contrast checker, font selection, or process to guide designers on accessibility sensitive design: for example, for Form design, do have clear input labels, don’t apply decorative styling, nor text over image, sliders etc.
- use checklist to review designers work
Gutenberg Next: WordPress 2023 and Beyond, by Matt Mullenweg
- WP 6.3 release just a few weeks ago, with such new features as a command palette; goal to have 3 releases a year
- 6.4 release scheduled for November 7, with features so far of fonts management, image lightbox
- we are nearing end of second Gutenberg phase. Four phases are P1 Editing, P2 Customization, P3 Collaboration, P4 Multilingual
- Update on Learning Management System where some plug-in developers have collaborated to apply common data models/interoperability to their products
Exhibitor Expo
As this Expo link indicates, there was a wide variety of WordPress vendors exhibiting at the Expo. One practical benefit in attending is to pick up lots of free Swag, especially T-Shirts and handy items such as a portable cell phone charger. It was also an opportunity to check out exhibitor WP hardware, software and services. And let’s not forget the impromptu entertainment from trying my hand at tossing a beanbags at one stand or watching other attendees time their rapid changing of a tire as a demo of one vendor’s rapid WP hosting service!
Finally, it was an opportunity to get vendor feedback or referrals on specific WP questions – in my case, what opportunities might exist to extend my WordPress.Com expertise and self-help resources to DC area High School students, following such models as WP.ORG-sponsored KidsCamps.
WordCamp Benefits
- Session Presentations: while I did not find a a lot of sessions on WP use cases or business practice, the Agenda was rich enough to offer Sessions to help update my WP skills and connections as my key session summaries attest.
- Expo Interactions: while over 50 large and small vendor exhibits can be overwhelming, I always find WC Expos to be informative: in asking questions about products, networking with experts, and in helping refine my “elevator pitch” as I introduce myself. I made several passes at the Expo: first to prioritize stands of most interest (and pick up Swag!) and later for more in-depth conversation and connections.
- Corridor Networking: I enjoyed to meet and network with other attendees at coffee breaks or over lunch. I was unable to attend the WCUS After Party, but that is yet another fun way to connect with the WP community.
- Active Participation: While I just attended two days of the conference, anyone can apply to present at a future WC event. Another opportunity is to attend the free added Contributor Day where volunteers share a variety of tech and non tech skills to help advance the evolving open source WP project.
- Professional Reference: I took advantage of WC to deepen existing professional contacts – for example, sidebar conversations with an overseas software developer and the leader of our local DC WP Meetup. In addition, just the prospect of attending such an event compels one to update your website and ready any specific WP software questions or resources to share with peers.
- Cost-Benefit: at a $50 cost for a General Attendee, I found WCUS to be a real bargain! The real costs are your time investment in attending, plus hotel and per diem expenses if you come in from out of town. Yet major WC events are typically held in a city with other tourist attractions and/or opportunities to personally follow up with current or prospective clients or WP resources in the área.
Future WordCamps
While WordCamp Central has updates on a running list of planned WordCamps around the world, see below my own list of WCs that I hope to attend either virtually or in-person over the next several months – see their ref links for info and evolving program details (note that this is a very abbreviated list, with other big WCs planned in Asia and the US – and that several WCs are either not yet listed on WCCentral or have yet to finalize their planning and publicize venue, program and registration.
2023
- October 19-21, WC Atlanta, Georgia
- November 4-5, WC San José, Costa Rica
- November 8-9, WC Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2024
- June 13-15, WC Europe in Torino, Italy
- And keep your eye out for the next annual WCUS event…with its venue, program and call for speakers and volunteers to be finalized later in 2024!
DC Web Revolution 