Jai and I spent the last four days in Portland, Oregon for the WordCamp PDX conference. This conference is aimed towards bloggers and developers who use the WordPress platform. Since I recently moved all three of my websites to WordPress, this was perfect timing to attend the conference and expand our knowledge.
Wordcamp Portland was held at the WebTrends building, which was very convenient for a number of reasons. Jai’s brother just moved to a condo nearby, so we had a place to stay that was only minutes from the venue. Also, my hairdresser works at 220 Salon, which is very close to WebTrends – we left Friday afternoon so that I could get my hair done before the conference!
View from the Webtrends building
We settled in Friday evening, then headed over to Webtrends for the first day of the conference on Saturday morning. We arrived around 8:30 and enjoyed the coffee and breakfast that was provided before the first sessions started.
The workshops were split into two rooms, Track 1 and Track 2. Track 1 focused more on publishing and promotion, while Track 2 focused on the technical aspects of WordPress: building themes, troubleshooting, optimizing, and so forth. I spent most of my time in Track 1 while Jai attended the sessions in Track 2 – which was great, because we were able to absorb all the information on offer and compare notes later. I’m knowledgeable about HTML, and since Jai is familiar with PHP/CSS also, his skills compliment mine perfectly. When we moved these sites from Blogger on to WordPress, I came up with the design concept and graphics, and Jai figured out how to create a theme that would suit my needs. He also greatly helps me by troubleshooting problems when technical issues arise on the site, so he’s my right-hand man for so many things!
The first three sessions that I attended were “From Personal Blogger to Professional Marketer” by Melissa Lion of the blog Recovering Californian and Julie Yamamoto, account director on CMD Agency’s earned media team; “Are You Cheating on Your Blog?” by Aaron Hockley; and “Running a Membership/Subscription Site with WordPress” by Jason Glaspey. Meanwhile, Jai attended “Custom Post Types” by Devin Price; “WordPress MultiSite” by Pete Mall; and “WordPress & Accessibility” by Domanique Alicia.
My WordPress temporary tattoo!
There was a break for lunch, where we were provided with pizza and our choice of soda, water, coffee, or even beer. During the lunch break, they also gave away their first round of door prizes. Organizer Morgan had a box full of paper slips with the names of attendees on them, which was used to draw the winners. After the second or third prize had been handed out, she drew the next winner: “Beeb Ashcroft!”
Yes, I won a prize at WordCamp – I told them it was fitting, since I run a contest blog! 🙂 The wonderful gift bag contained two bottles of wine and a t-shirt from Twilight Pizza Bistro, who donated a few of these gift bags for prizes as well as supplying the delicious pizza which we enjoyed for lunch. They are located in Camas, Washington – so local readers, take note!
After lunch, Jai and I attended three more sessions together – “Why Crush It When You Could Whack It?” by Garron Selliken, “Business Blogging for Nonwriters” by Jessica Neuman Beck, and “Photos on the Go via Email” by Austin Passy.
“Photos on the Go via Email” Panel demonstrating the Postie plugin – click here to visit PDX by Pix and see some of the photos that the audience uploaded during the session!
After this, we split up again and I stayed in Track 1 for “Live Media On Your Blog” by Dr. Normal and “7 Models for Making Your Podcast Pay” by Paul Colligan. Meanwhile, Jai headed over to Track 2 for “Editing PHP and CSS for Beginners” by Shayne Sanderson and “How to Support WordPress” by Sheri Bigelow. Between these sessions, there was also a short break for some delicious Whiffies fried pies. I had two “Mounds of Deliciousness” chocolate/coconut pies, and they were very yummy!
The conference wrapped up at 5:15, and then it was time for the “After-After Party”, which was held at West Cafe. Attendees had a chance to mingle and enjoy cocktails and appetizers – there was a very generous quantity of fabulous food. It was a great wrap-up to the day! The party ran until 10 PM, when we headed back to our hosts’ house to sleep and get ready for day two of WordCamp.
Sounds like a great conference to attend. I’m going to get moved over to WP by the first of the year or a little after. I love the look of all WP blogs….congrats on your win as well!
Thanks Nichol! 🙂 Good luck on your move to WP – I’m very happy with it!
Oh, sounds like you had a great time! And congrats on the nice win! It is always nice to win something instead of being the one always hosting the giveaways! Oh, and I love your cute shoes 🙂
Looks like a fun time was had by all.
So glad you had a great time! We’ll be seeing you next year then, right? 🙂
Thanks everyone! And Morgan, we definitely plan on returning next year! Hope to see you then. 🙂
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