wccolumbus

wccbusThis weekend I had the opportunity to attend WordCamp Columbus. This isn’t one I had scheduled or planned to attend, but the stars aligned with my home life and left me alone for a weekend, and Columbus isn’t that far of a drive for me. So I bought a ticket and drove out.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if you haven’t attended a WordCamp, then you should. What I like about WordCamps is that they are informal, inexpensive, and offer things for WordPress users at all levels.

My first WordCamp changed many things about the way we operate our business and our business has boomed as a result. I wish I could put some stats on that, but let me assure you that it was a game changer.

Now, after attending four WordCamps I consider myself a seasoned veteran. In fact, I already had some WordPress friends in attendance as speakers. Unfortunately, I  normally have to travel quite a bit to get to a WordCamp because nobody has stepped up to set up a WordCamp Indianapolis. (Which would still be traveling, but that is the biggest nearby city.)

For the first time ever, WordCamp Columbus was sold out! Even though I made a last minute choice to go, I’m lucky I got in under the wire and got a ticket.

This WordCamp sometimes had as many as five concurrent sessions. All the other ones I’ve been to have only had three. I prefer to have less concurrent sessions, because there were times when I had trouble deciding which session to go to, and then also times when I was less excited about the presentation and wished I’d gone to a different session. I’d prefer there be a little less choices during any given time so I don’t have to have an internal debate about which session to go, and less opportunity to miss really good sessions.

A few high points – I was introduced to WP-CLI which is something I’ve heard about but never tried using. This is a command line interface for WordPress that allows you to spin up a local development site from the command line with ease. If you are older (ahem, like me nearing 40) and remember the old days of using DOS for everything, then this will bring back fond memories.

But what was really impressive was the ability to add 10, 20, 50 dummy posts instantaneously, the ability to install any plugin from the repo instantaneously, export your database, and more. The commands available really make this a breeze and I’m looking forward to trying it out with a new site.

I also had some great opportunities to talk to new people, hear about how they are using WordPress, and chat with a few sponsors too. I really enjoyed meeting the guys from Pressable, a new Managed WordPress hosting company. I’m always excited to learn about a new Managed WordPress hosting option that I can refer clients to.

If you’ve been thinking about attending or speaking at a WordCamp, then I’d highly recommend you find one near you and attend.

 

 

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Amy Masson, Web Developer
Owner/Developer

Amy Masson

Amy is the co-owner, developer, and website strategist for Sumy Designs. She's been making websites with WordPress since 2006 and is passionate about making sure websites are as functional as they are beautiful.

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