There will be around 500 attendees at WordCamp Sacramento… that’s a lot of opportunity.
Now I’m not talking the sleazy, sales-pitch-fest opportunity — no self-promotion or sales from the stage is actually allowed at WordCamps. I’m talking about the opportunity to expand your network, meet new people, and open new doors.
At WordCamp Sacramento 2015 and 2016, some pretty amazing things have happened:
- Designers found developers to partner with and developers found designers.
- New partnerships and new companies/agencies were formed.
- Clients found designers and developers to work with, which means developers and designers found new clients.
- Attendees made connections that lead to interviews and new jobs.
- Agency owners made connections that lead to new subcontractors and new employees.
- Attendees met other WordPressers that live nearby and formed mastermind groups and peer support groups to share code and help each other out.
All of these opportunities came about because attendees did one specific thing…
Say Hello
Those that have benefited the most from their time at WordCamp — those that not only uplevels their skills, but made incredible connections — all took the same action: they said hello.
They introduced themselves to other attendees at the coffee station, while waiting in the registration line, in the hallway, at the networking reception, and in the session rooms. They said hello, reached out, and made a connection. They took the initiative to meet other attendees and get to know them.
At WordCamp This Year, I Want You To Say Hello
When you come to WordCamp, say hello to those around you:
- Introduce yourself, ask other attendees lots of questions and get to know them, and help people get to know you.
- Change seats every session and introduce yourself to your seatmates. It’s the easiest way to meet new people and network without networking!
- Come to the speed networking session and let us help you meet more people.
Speed Networking
For the first time, we’re trying something brand new. We’re hosting a speed networking session — and we’re doing it at 11:30 am on Saturday morning so you can make connections early on in the event and then continue conversations later with those you want to get to know better. Plus, you’ll meet a bunch of new people right before lunch, which means you’ll have new people to eat with!
In the networking session, we’re going to facilitate the networking for you. This means we’re going to tell you exactly what to share and when to share it. So even if you’re an introvert, you hate networking, or you’re shy, you can totally do this.
I hope you’ll join us!
Looking forward to meeting a lot of new people this year! I missed last year but was there for the first one and I definitely met a lot of awesome people. Still connected on Twitter and such and I’m excited to do it all again this year.
Go into it just looking to meet people and you’ll be successful. Nobody wants to hear a sales pitch but everyone wants to learn about what others are doing and of course talk about what they’re doing 🙂