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  • Kristie Hill

The Bloggers’ Guide to WordCamp Seattle

October 2, 2015

This one is for my local Washington blogging friends! Seattle WordCamp is coming up on October 24th and many bloggers are wondering whether or not they should go.

What is WordCamp? WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. –via WordCamp Central

For the first time ever, Seattle decided to break WordCamp up into two sessions: Advanced and Beginner

The advanced session was this past spring and it was geared towards developers and designers.

The beginner’s session is October 24th and according to the site it is geared towards WordPress users. A lot of the sessions might seem to still be targeting developers, but there are a lot of great sessions for you bloggers! Here’s a breakdown of the sessions I think WordPress bloggers could benefit from (and if you’re not on WordPress, then come and we’ll all convince you to make the switch).

Thinking about going to WordCamp Seattle 2015? Check out this guide for bloggers.

8:00 am Registration.

Make sure to get there in time for mingling and meeting the sponsors! From 8 – 9 you will check in, get your fancy smancy badge (hopefully they’re as cool as they were at the advanced session. Make sure you have your Gravatar set up because the badge pulls your gravatar picture!) The sponsors will be set up for you to visit and chat with and get cool swag. Last time I walked away with 6 shirts. Sweet.

9:00 am

I think either session could be very applicable for bloggers. However, if you really want to know more about how to use WordPress and the cool things it can do for you, then you need to go to Bob Dunn’s session, The WordPress Dashboard Demystified. Bob is an incredible guy who generously shares his WordPress talents with our local community and on his blog.

10:00 am

Alright. Time to learn. If you’re relatively new to WordPress or feel like you’re not really sure what’s what, then you should head to Kelli Wise’s, What does that mean, exactly? A Primer for WordPress terminology.

I know that the word (acronym) HTLM intimidates some of you bloggers, but I think that Andrew Woods’ presentation on HTML is for Everyone is going to be top notch. If you’re going to blog, there are just some things you should know how to do when it comes to HTLM. It will help you immensely in the long run. Knowing code can help you put content boxes or quote boxes into your blog posts. Or put your super long Pinterest perfect image in the post without it actually showing up.

I actually can’t decide which of these sessions I’m going to attend. I might have to hop back and forth between the two.

11:00 am

If you want to customize your theme then you should definitely check out Gaelan’s session Your First Child (Theme).

If you sell products or you plan on selling products, then head over to Andrea’s presentation on Setting up Shop with Woocommerce. Woocommerce is a free (most of the features are, at least) plugin that allows you to easily sell product on your WordPress blog. Andrea is going to walk you through how to set up you online shop.

If you are interested in setting up an online shop, I HIGHLY recommend check out Restored316’s themes. They are all customized to work with Woocommerce. They’re beautiful, chick, and professional. Plus, their Genesis, and we all know I love Genesis.

12:00

Lunch. Yes, lunch is included in the $20 ticket. I’m telling you, WordCamp is a killer deal.

1:00

Sheila is going to be talking about themes. If you need help choosing a theme or deciding whether or not you should use a framework, then check out her presentation. We’ll try not to judge her for not using Genesis.

One thing you might not have thought about is whether or not your site is accessible to everyone. Mark will be talking about what web accessibility is and how you can improve yours.

2:00

You should go to the presentation Non-techie Ways to Speed Up Your Website. Okay, I might be a little biased.

Seriously though, a fast blog is important and you bloggers are frequently guilty of unknowingly making them load s-l-o-w.

If you’re coming with a specific WordPress question, you should drop in for Leslie and Kelli’s WordPress Q&A: There are No Dumb Questions.

3:00

They Keynote will be fabulous, I’m sure. Kimberly Gauthier (I did a whole post on her!) will be sharing a Guide to Surviving WordPress for the Technically Challenged.

Are you convinced yet? Am I going to see you at WordCamp Seattle? I hope so! You should also check out Bob’s 5 reason to go to WordCamp.

Contributors Day – October 25th

As you know, WordPress is a totally free platform and a non-profit organization. This means that WordPress is kept alive by people all over the world contributing at WordCamp, and in many other ways.

“Just remember, every contribution counts, no matter what it looks like. It takes every one of us to make WordPress better.”

There will be tasks there for every skill level. Come contribute to WordCamp, meet other WordPress buddies and have a good ‘ole time!

Tips for attending WordCamp

  • Create your Gravatar. You don’t want to be the ghost guy.
  • Pre-network. WordCamp has this awesome attendee list where you can see who is coming. Search for them on Twitter and say hello. Use the hashtag #wcsea
  • Bring a bag for the swag!
  • Leave me a comment below and let me know you’re coming so I can find you there!
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Filed Under: Blog Ambitions Tagged With: WordCamp Conversation: 9 Comments

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Comments

  1. Coeus says

    October 28, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    I come from Vietnam, and I cant afford to attend. You can share your content has been shared in Sealle. Thank you very much.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      November 4, 2015 at 7:19 am

      Hi. You can check out my post, which is related to my presentation here: 12 Non-techie ways to speed up your WordPress website.

      Reply
  2. Kay says

    October 7, 2015 at 10:54 am

    What perfect timing, boy do I need this! Thanks for sharing.
    See you in Seattle 🙂

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      October 7, 2015 at 2:56 pm

      Can’t wait to see you there, make sure and come say hello. I see you’re in the process of setting up your site. Le me know if you have any questions for me.

      Reply
  3. Kelli Wise says

    October 3, 2015 at 7:24 am

    Thanks for mentioning me. I would encourage all of your readers to attend WordCamp. They’ll not only learn at the great presentations, but they are going to meet a lot of wonderful bloggers, too. I’ve made some terrific friends at WordCamp. It’s just great fun and great people.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      October 6, 2015 at 2:56 pm

      You’re welcome Kelli! Can’t wait to see you there.

      Reply
  4. Eric says

    October 2, 2015 at 7:29 pm

    Great post, Kristie!

    It’s going to be a terrific WordCamp and I’m excited to participate.

    Thanks also for mentioning Contributor Day on the 25th!

    To be clear, while there are plenty of super-smart developers at Contributor Day, we need all sorts of talent. Fact is, you really don’t need to have much in the way of talent or WordPress experience to contribute.

    One fun way to get started contributing is to subtitle WordPress.tv videos and we’ll have a team of folks doing that at Contributor Day. All that’s required is a computer, headphones, ears, and some typing. It’s a lovely way to contribute while learning at the same time. There are several other easy ways to start contributing too. No dev chops required. 🙂

    There’ll be a team of volunteers at Contributor Day helping new contributors get started. I’m fond of saying, “if you show up, we’ll find something you can do.”

    I’m also fond of saying, “Showing up for WordCamps IS contributing.” So, I hope your readers show up to WordCamp Seattle and, if they can, join us at Contributor Day. It’ll be a blast.

    Reply
    • Kristie Hill says

      October 6, 2015 at 2:57 pm

      Thanks Eric. This was a SUPER helpful comment. I’ve made adjustments to the post to reflect the Contributor day is for everyone mentality! Hopefully the Seattle Bloggers will be there to help.

      Reply
  5. Kimberly Gauthier says

    October 2, 2015 at 9:44 am

    Thank you so much for mentioning me. I just finished the outline for my presentation and I’m so excited!!!

    Reply

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