Post WordCamp Hangover

It’s been almost two weeks since WordCamp Sacramento 2015 and other than a head cold, I finally feel like everything is back to normal. Post WordCamp, Brian and I felt like we had a hangover — we were recovering from the WordCamp high and all of the emotions, and effort, and stress, and love that went into putting the event together.

For three years the Sacramento WordPress meetup group has been going strong, and we talked about bringing WordCamp to Sacramento. For it to have finally materialized was an amazing feeling. Several times during the day, Brian and I just looked at each other and said, “Holy Moly! This is really happening!”

WordCamp was everything we hoped it would be for the first time, volunteer-run, community event. The entire organizing team was beyond thrilled that we were able to bring this experience to you and to Sacramento.

Continue reading Looking to The Future For The Sacramento WordPress Community →

WordCamp Sacramento is in the bag!

180 WordPressers of all experience levels, including designers, developers, bloggers, consultants, business owners, writers, publishers, and users picked up name badges at registration and joined us for a day of learning, networking, food, and fun.

The first sessions kicked off at 9:00 am and the last sessions of the day wrapped at 5:30 pm. It was a long, but value-packed day — and most of the attendees stayed until the very end, gleaning every bit of knowledge from the speakers they could.

It was inspiring and exciting to see this engagement from the Sacramento WordPress community. We truly hope to see you all out at the WordPress meetup.

The speakers delivered one information-filled talk after another with doses of laughter and entertainment mixed in. Attendees were making use of the Happiness Room throughout the day talking shop and getting WordPress help. Sponsor tables were busy. Snacks, waters, and coffee were welcomed heartily, and lunch was devoured.

We can tell you over and over what a smashing success our first WordCamp was — but nothing compares to photos.

Check out the snapshots below for a visual overview of the event!

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento In Photos →

WordCamp Sacramento Is A Wrap

It’s hard to believe that WordCamp Sacramento 2015 is over. The entire organizing team is so proud of the Sacramento WordPress community for coming out, contributing to, and being part of a truly fantastic day of learning and networking.

Sacramento’s inaugural WordCamp was a tremendous success.

With 19 different speakers presenting on a variety of topics, covering design, content, development, business, client service, and customer support, it was a long day. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of the attendees who hung in there until the very end at 5:45pm — and posted about the event using the hashtag #wcsac.

Both tracks were packed from the first session all the way until the very last session!

To thank each speaker who volunteered their time and expertise to create and deliver great talks, a beautiful speaker dinner, planned by Heather Hogan, was hosted in their honor on Friday night before WordCamp at Ten22.

Now we know you took notes, but we also know that so much information in one day can be a bit overwhelming and you may want a quick memory boost or recap. So we’ve gathered up the links to the slide decks for each speaker and included them below.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Slide Decks (All In One Place) →

The Details You Want

Between all of us on the organizing team, we have attended at least a hundred live events, and we like to think we know a bit about what information you need before coming to WordCamp so you’re properly prepared for the day.

If this is your first live event, trust us, the worst thing ever is to get to the event — where you’re going to be for the whole day — and not have something you need!

Between the organizers, attendees, sponsors, and speakers, we’ve got 200+ people to care for, and while we are doing our best to serve your needs, we also know that we do have some limitations and ask you to be understanding.

So please be sure to read this entire post, so you are prepared and have your personal needs met — it’s everything you need to know about WordCamp Sacramento.

Continue reading Everything You Need To Know About Attending WordCamp Sacramento →

We’ve thanked the sponsors, and we’ve thanked the speakers, now it’s time to thank the WordCamp Sacramento Organizing Team! It’s takes a crazy amount of hours to plan, organize, manage, and run WordCamp Sacramento and these eight members of our local WordPress community stepped up in a big way — with their time and talents.

For months the team has ben communicating via the Sacramento WordPress Slack Channel, holding meetings, talking to vendors, negotiating pricing, managing the website, writing content, handling catering, running errands, planning the after party and dinner, wrangling speakers, managing the budget, and much more to make the event happen — all because they love WordPress and want to give back to the community that has given to them.

Here are the members of the WordCamp Sacramento 2015 organizing team (and if you see them at the event, be sure to say thanks):

Continue reading Thank You WordCamp Sacramento 2015 Organizers! →

Speakers Are The Heart Of WordCamp

Yesterday we gave a big thank you to all of the very generous WordCamp Sacramento Sponsors and today we’re continuing the gratitude with big thank yous to our speakers!

We’ve mentioned that WordCamp wouldn’t happen without the sponsors because you need money to host an event for more than 200 people. It also wouldn’t happen without the generosity of the speakers who give of their time and talents.

While several of our WordCamp speakers are local to the greater Sacramento region, many are from the Bay Area, Santa Cruz, Southern California, or from other states — and they all pay for their own travel expenses, including airfare, gas, hotel, food, etc. They also aren’t paid for their talk, which means they are investing their time, energy, and skills into planning, creating, practicing, and delivering valuable talks to further the collective knowledge in our local WordPress community.

Some of our speakers are seasoned veterans, some are speaking for the very first time, and others are somewhere in between — and they all have some great information to share with you this weekend!

Check out our lineup of speakers:

Continue reading Thank You WordCamp Sacramento 2015 Speakers! →

WordCamp Sacramento Wouldn’t Happen Without Our Sponsors

It costs a lot of money to host a live event for more than 200 people. WordCamps are non-profit, volunteer-run, casual WordPress community events, which means securing sponsors is critical to their success — especially for a first-time WordCamp like WordCamp Sacramento.

We want to extend HUGE heartfelt thank yous to all of our sponsors who stepped up to support our local WordPress community and the inaugural WordCamp Sacramento.

Because of their generosity, we are able to put on a fantastic event with two value-packed tracks of speakers, an all day happiness room (live WordPress help desk), awesome t-shirts and swag, a catered lunch, an after party, and more! Plus, our sponsors are what allowed us to keep ticket prices super affordable at only $20.

Here’s a list of our 2015 sponsors:

Continue reading Thank You WordCamp Sacramento 2015 Sponsors! →

WordCamp Sacramento 2015 is happening in only five days!

We, your organizing team, can hardly believe it. We’re proofing the name badges, printing event signage, running last minute errands, and taking care of the final details to ensure the event is a great experience for everyone who attends.

With that said, I’m a HUGE believer that you get what you want to get out of live events. I should know as I attend and/or speak at several live events year, with at least 4-6 of them being WordCamps. Over the years, I’ve noticed that those who come with an open mind, ready to hear fresh perspectives, enjoy the events the most.

That’s why I’ve put together a list of nine tips to help you get the most out of your time at WordCamp Sacramento. But first, I’ve noticed that there are three types of people that attend live events:

Continue reading How To Make The Most Of Your WordCamp Sacramento Experience →

Get To Know Peter Chester

Peter is a partner at Modern Tribe, the digital agency responsible for The Events Calendar and Image Widget WordPress plugins as well as for large scale WordPress builds including Harvard Law, Stanford Law and Steelcase.com. Peter often leads large technical projects with budgets in excess of $500k. Peter is also a father, musician, artist, surfer and list maker with an obsession for google spreadsheet formulas (though not necessarily in that order).

We’re thrilled Peter will be sharing his knowledge with us by speaking about coding with a team at WordCamp Sacramento 2015.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Peter Chester →

Get To Know Nick Shipilin

Nikolay Shipilin is a web developer who received his Bachelor of Science in Web Design and Interactive Media from The Art Institute of California — Sacramento. He is Russian, with English being his second language, and with that comes an accent and a certain perspective on things. He believes in intuitive and functional web pages both on user and (UI/UX) and code-wise in terms of future support.

He works for a company called i-Tul Design & Software in Roseville, CA in the technical support department, writing new code and supporting old projects. Nick’s skills are in front-end web development and back-end & database architecture, as well as design and photography. He is passionate about… paying his bills and the rest he does for fun.

We’re thrilled Nick will be speaking on the topic of “Posts are for Blogs — WordPress IA Basics” at WordCamp Sacramento 2015

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Nick Shipilin →

It just wouldn’t be a WordCamp without an after party to celebrate the day — and trust me, you don’t want to miss it!

The after party is a great place to continue conversations from the day, get to know others in our local WordPress community better, start or strengthen some new relationships, and kick back and relax after a day of learning. Here’s the best part:

Whether you have a ticket to WordCamp or not, YOU can join us for the after party.

Continue reading Everyone, Join Us For The WordCamp Sacramento After Party →

Many of You Didn’t Get a WordCamp Ticket, And That Made Us Sad :(

The WordCamp Sacramento organizing team knew that this event would sell out. with a thriving WordPress meetup community, 25-40+ attending the meetups every month, and no other northern California WordCamps happening this year — how could it not?

Earlier this year, we spent months trying to secure a bigger location for a possible WordCamp Sacramento. Hours and hours of time went into phone calls, research, and meetings. But as a first year event, it was tough.

So when the Art Institute of California — Sacramento stepped up to donate their venue for WordCamp we were elated.

We knew the venue could only accommodate 150-175 people, and that was okay because it IS our first year, it is volunteer-run, most organizers have never hosted an event before, and we really want to make sure it’s a great experience.

What we didn’t expect is how many people wanted tickets to WordCamp Sacramento

You guys came out in droves!

Who knew Sacramento had so many WordPress enthusiasts, users, consultants, bloggers, freelancers, agency owners, designers, and developers! While that is exciting (and we hope to see you all at the meetups too), it also means that there are A LOT of you who were unable to get tickets as we sold out in just over two hours.

We know you’re disappointed :(

You’re letting us know through our contact form, email, Twitter direct messages, and Facebook messages — and we want you to know that we hear you loud and clear.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Via LiveStream, Oh Yeah Baby! →

Advanced? Developer? We’ve Got You Covered

Yesterday we published the Beginner/User Track Schedule for WordCamp Sacramento — and we’re pretty thrilled about it. The sessions and the speakers are awesome.

Today, we’re bringing you the Advanced/Developer Track Schedule, with a breakdown of what each session will cover — and like the Beginner Track, we’ve got a great variety of sessions we’re sure you’ll enjoy!

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento 2015: Advanced/Developer Track Schedule →

WordCamp Is Almost Here!

Wow! It’s hard to believe that WordCamp Sacramento is happening in less than two weeks! November 7, 2015 is approaching quickly and we’re finializing signage, name badges, logistics, and more to create an unforgettable experience for you.

We hope that over the last couple of weeks you’ve enjoyed getting to know our speakers better through the Q&A interview series we’ve been running on the blog — and that you’ve enjoyed learning more about what to expect from the first WordCamp in our capitol city.

We’ve finalized the event schedule and are excited to share the lineup of speakers and sessions for the Beginner/User Track.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento 2015: Beginner/User Track Schedule →

Get To Know Bernice “Be” Lee

Bernice began her journey as a self-taught developer in 1998, but stopped to complete a college degree and a graphic communication certificate. At the urging of a friend, Bernice attended a WordPress meetup in early 2013, where she caught the WordPress bug. Since then, she has attended 13 WordCamps, countless meetups, and continues her self-taught journey as a developer. She is passionate about helping others who are starting to learn WordPress themselves. Bernice currently creates websites using WordPress, focusing on development, design, and web strategy.

We’re thrilled Be will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on taking WordPress from a hobby to a side job as a freelancer!

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Bernice “Be” Lee →

WordCamp Happiness Room

If you’ve ever been to one of the Sacramento WordPress Meetup hands-on co-working/workshop nights, or you’ve been to another WordCamp with a Happiness Bar, you’re going to love our WordCamp Sacramento Happiness Room.

Every fourth WordPress Meetup is a co-working and hands-on help night where you can come and get help.

• New WordPress users come to ask questions and learn how to use WordPress better
• Bloggers come to get help troubleshooting a problem
• Website owners come to get help implementing something new on their website
• Consultants and service providers come for theme and plugin solutions
• Designers and developers come for co-working, advanced development collaboration, and peer troubleshooting or code review.
• And, everyone seems to need help with even HTML and CSS too!

In addition to everything else you’ll get to enjoy at WordCamp, we’re going to be offering the same hands-on WordPress help experience for you at WordCamp! Pretty awesome, right — especially for only $20!

Continue reading Get Hands-On Help With WordPress In The WordCamp Happiness Room →

Get To Know Ben Ilfeld

Ben is Lead Audience & Revenue Strategist at 10up, a full service digital agency focused on creating amazing web and content management experiences with a passionate team of 125+ full-time strategists, designers and engineers working around the globe.

Ben has 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur, publisher and innovator, that make him well suited to 10up’s monetization, content conversion, and ad ops business. He has led product development, analysis and iterative design processes, while overseeing all business operations at The Sacramento Press and AdGlue. Ben has consistently stepped over the edge to experiment with new models for creating healthy media ecosystems.

In 2008, Ben launched The Sacramento Press as a new breed of local publication dedicated to rethinking how media interacts with a local audience. In just a few years, his team built an army of over 1,500 volunteer community contributors. During this time, Ben built the first independent online local ad network (SLOAN) that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for over 60 publishers. He was also a founding board member of the Local Independent Online News publishers (LION).

We’re thrilled Ben will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on ad revenue 101: making money from ads on your WordPress site

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Ben Ilfeld →

Get To Know Alex Christensen

I’m a originally a midwestern at heart who moved out to the great big city of trees to pursue my passion of working on the web. I graduated from The Art Institute of California — Sacramento with my B.S. in Web Design and Interactive Media. I first started off in web design then quickly came over to dark side and started working as a web developer. Since moving to Sacramento I’ve interned at Digital Gear, was the lead marketing director and web developer at a Psychiatry firm and currently I’m the lead web developer for the Clinical Translational Science Center at UC Davis Medical Center. I’m very passionate about UI, UX, and ecommerce design and development. Some non-web related hobbies of mine include long exposure night photography, backpacking through beautiful northern California, cooking, and rough housing with my two dogs.

We’re thrilled Alex will be speaking about commerce and WordPress at WordCamp Sacramento 2015.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Alex Christensen →

Get To Know Rob La Gatta

Rob La Gatta is the Head of Quality + Support at Modern Tribe, a remote digital agency comprised of freelancers + traditional employees. Coming from a background in journalism, Rob got involved with WordPress in 2009 as lead project manager at a Seattle company building blogs for lawyers on Movable Type and, later, WordPress. When he’s not working to support Tribe’s customers or building out the company’s QA infrastructure, he can be found bicycling or hiking around the North Bay.

We’re thrilled Rob will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2015 on the art of replying to reviews on WordPress.org.

Continue reading WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Q&A: Rob La Gatta →

Wow!

It’s hard to believe that we’re now less than three weeks out from WordCamp Sacramento 2015 — the Capitol City’s inaugural WordCamp. With attendees, organizers, speakers, and sponsors, we’re expecting 200+ to join us for the event.

We’ve ordered the t-shirts, we’ve got swag ready to give away, we’re coordinating final details — and now we’ve got some fun badges for you…

Show Your WordCamp Sacramento Love

We want to see your WordCamp Sacramento love!

Show off your WordPress pride by adding a WordCamp badge to your WordPress website or blog, or downloading/saving any of the WordCamp Sacramento images (740x415px) below to use on your website when blogging about WordCamp Sacramento 2015.

Continue reading Badges? Yes! We Need Stinkin’ Badges →