aimee copeland keynote speaker wordcamp

WordCamp Atlanta 2018 Recap from an Attendee

I just got back from WordCamp Atlanta 2018 and once again, it did not disappoint. Here’s a quick run-down of what I got out of it.

I attended my first WordCamp Atlanta in 2016 and WordCamp Raleigh in 2017 and I must admit I was a little skeptical about what the $35-40 conference fee could offer. Seriously, how good could it be for $35? It didn’t take long to be wowed and off-the-chain impressed with what you get for that small attendance fee. For those who don’t know, according to WordCamp Central, WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress, the free and open source personal publishing software that powers over 75 million sites on the web.”

My WordCamp Atlanta Experience

As I came in on Saturday morning, I talked to the Bluehost road show folks – they attend almost every WordCamp and some of the faces were familiar from previous WordCamps I attendedBlueHost_logo. The cool part? They remembered ME and we had a good discussion about how to overcome some of the Bluehost naysayers who don’t realize how they have made changes in their support center to focus on WordPress users and be even more helpful. Incidentally, these guys are not paid to be part of the road show. They volunteer to do it in addition to their regular jobs so they understand when you talk to them about technical issues. Really a cool group.

Because the theme of this year’s WordCamp Atlanta was Creative Diversity and several of the talks were focused on accessibility, the keynote speaker was Aimee Copeland. You might remember her as the Georgia woman who lost all 4 limbs to a flesh-eating bacteria. How inspiring! Her websites are all built in WordPress and she says if her dad can do it, anyone can! She is now a counselor to others with disabilities and I was blown away by her positive attitude and sense of humor about her lot in life. It was a very motivating way to start the conference.

I was hoping for some really good tips on logo design from one of the morning sessions but the presenter was just reading the slides that could be labeled “logos 101” so I snuck out and headed for the Happiness Bar. (Hey – not every single presentation is a winner.) The Happiness Bar is not a REAL bar, it is where you can get help from WordPress developers, designers, and coaches who volunteer their time. I had a problem removing the page headers from my landing page and that was solved in less than 5 minutes by Frank Corso who later gave one of the BEST presentations I have EVER seen on how to speed up WordPress. He’s a real techno-whiz but can explain it so anyone understands it.

Steve Mortiboy founder of All in One SEO Pack

And all this was still BEFORE LUNCH! (BTW – WordCamp Atlanta food is always great and like most WordCamps, it is included in the price of your ticket!!)

After lunch, in between sessions, I got to meet the creator of Wordfence, one of my favorite plugins that I install on all my clients’ sites for security. Wordfence plus the spam comment plugin of your choice is really all you need to protect yourself. They had a “capture the flag” game where you participate in security challenges and one of the winners turned out to be an 11-year-old. VERY COOL! I also got to chat with the owner/creator of All in One SEO Pack, a good old NC boy Steve Mortiboy. He inspired me to do my own personal comparison of his plugin and Yoast. I can see his points for how his product might be superior and I need to try it out.

Although they didn’t call them out as such, there were basically 4 tracks of presentations for Developers, Content Creators, Business Owners, and general WordPress topics of interest (like Gutenberg). Below are the sessions I attended on Saturday and Sunday and there were MANY more I wanted to attend. The good news is, each session is videotaped and released on WordPress.tv in the coming weeks.

  • Conversion Rate Optimization 101 (Full Session) Chris Edwards
  • Understanding SEO in 2018 Steve Mortiboy
  • Where’s the content? Effective Video use in your WordPress Blog Tricia Clements
  • So You Want More Website Traffic? Jenny Munn
  • Speeding up WordPress Frank Corso
  • The Power of Video Storytelling Harry Hayes
  • Overcoming Your Fear of Sales April Wier
  • Content First Web Design is the Best Web Design. Here’s Why Danny Peavey
  • 10 Tips to Creating an Effective Landing Page Sheila Oliver
  • Growth Hacking: Scaling Your Business Using WordPress and Inside Sales Tools: How to Generate Leads and Close Higher Ticket Projects Faster. Bernard Ablola
  • How to use Instagram to generate leads and new clients. Tonya Burge
  • Pricing your WordPress Projects for Profit – Panel Discussion Bret Phillips
  • Content Made Easy: Never Stress About Content Again Heather Baker

Really, the ONLY thing I didn’t like about WordCamp Atlanta is that I did not win the TV that Bluehost gives away at every WordCamp they attend. You get an extra raffle ticket every time they see you in a Bluehost t-shirt. And a word about the WordCamp “swag” – actually here’s a picture instead. You can never have too many t-shirts in my opinion.

wordcamp tshirt swag

Why YOU Should Attend a WordCamp

So, I love WordCamps, had a GREAT time at WordCamp Atlanta, and can hardly wait for WordCamp Raleigh in 2 weeks. Here are my top 5 reasons why YOU should attend a WordCamp.

  1. Get Familiar with your WordPress Peeps – Newbies are welcomed and WordCamp will introduce you to the community. (Some WordCamps have a special Beginner Day on Fridays)
  2. Learn – From newbie to expert, each WordCamp is focused around presentations on relevant topics related to WordPress as well as freelancing and running a web-related business. There is something for everyone.
  3. Solve a Problem – Not only through the Happiness Bar, but sometimes just through casual conversations with other attendees or vendors, you learn how to overcome problems you might be having on your site or in your business.
  4. Meet Popular Plugin Creators/Developers – Many times, these seem like “companies” but when the CEO of the most popular security plugin available (and the one you use), spends 5-10 minutes answering your questions, it’s just something you can’t get anywhere else!
  5. Meet Influencers and New Contacts – I think this might be the most valuable part of a WordCamp, especially for the solopreneur or freelancer. After each one, I have a new list of people I will be following and I’m asking one for possible collaboration on a training piece. SUH-WHEET!

WordCamp Raleigh is in 2 weeks. If you live anywhere close enough, you should definitely plan to attend IMHO. I will be there and looking for you!

 

 

 

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