Closing the Books on WordCamp Boston 2011

January 15, 2012 by John Eckman • 4 Comments

Photo by Peter Wood, cc-by-nc-nd license.

It’s been nearly 6 months now since WordCamp Boston 2011, so I figure its a good a time for the official wrap-up post. (OK, so it’s long overdue – I’ll spare you the obligatory blogger’s apology).

In this post I’ll cover some of the facts and figures from WCBOS 2011, talk about what went well and share some of what went not-so-well. I look forward to your comments and responses, especially from attendees who have (constructive!) feedback that will help with the planning of WCBOS 2012.

  1. Attendance
  2. Budget
  3. What Went Well
  4. What Went Not-So-Well
  5. Looking Forward to WordCamp Boston 2012

Continue reading Closing the Books on WordCamp Boston 2011 →

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Best WordCamp Speakers

August 1, 2011 by John Eckman • 2 Comments

As they are finalizing the planning over at WordCamp San Francisco, Jane Wells put out a call for the best WordCamp speakers:

This is about as basic a survey as there is. Tell us the three best WordCamp presentations you saw in the past year or so. For each, give the presenters name, the topic (exact title not necessary) and which WordCamp it was at (important).

Example:

1. Joe Shmoe, Using the Loop, WordCamp Sheboygan 2011
2. Jane Doe, Top 5 WordPress Plugins, WordCamp La Mancha 2010
3. Lee Smith, Your First Core Patch, WordCamp Atlantis 2011

That’s it. We don’t need your name or any info at all, just your three top speaker votes. We’ll take a look at the people with the most votes, and consider them for WCSF if they’re not already in the application pool. Thanks for your help in making this year’s conference better and more WordPressy than ever.

Check out Jane’s post ot go directly to the survey.

You might want to weigh in on your favorites from WordCamp Boston . . .

Posted in Announcement | 2 Comments

WordCamp Boston 2012

July 25, 2011 by John Eckman • 3 Comments

Interested in WordCamp Boston 2012?

Whether you’re looking to volunteer at the event, help organize it, speak, sponsor, or just plain attend, we want to know!

Posted in Announcement | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Welcome Sponsor 10up

July 23, 2011 by John Eckman • 4 Comments

Still more sponsor welcome message to post, day of the event. 😉

Jake Goldman from 10up sent this in today:

Is it already WordCamp Boston 2011? I feel like just yesterday I was walking in the frigid cold between my hotel and the NERD center. Last year I had the honor of helping to organize WordCamp, and had an amazing time introducing WordPress theming to an huge and enthusiastic crowd, and exploring WordPress business models with a small and scrappy panel. I met a client from the UK I’d never seen in person before, would go onto hire one of my co-organizers, and even founded the WordPress Providence Meetup with two fellow RI attendees.

Over a year later, I’m excited to be introducing WordPress as a CMS on Sunday – something that has really blossomed over the last year. Now the owner of a web agency called 10up that specializes in awesome WordPress implementations from WordPress.com VIP clients like TechCrunch to small New England business owners, I’m even more proud to reach into our pocket and support WordCamp as a silver sponsor. From our over a dozen free plug-ins and the other WordPress give aways on our site, to our sponsorships and core contributions, giving back to the community is part of our open source DNA.

For me, WordPress is about connections – and I’m not just talking about web links or XML-RPC APIs (geek cred to those of you who get that). It’s about the amazing people I’ve met and keep meeting at WordCamps around the country, and the vibrant community I interact with every day.

So please stop and make a connection with me this weekend. 10up is hiring WordPress engineers around the country – could you be next? I’ll be speaking in the how to track on Sunday, in the expert zone later in the afternoon that day, and generally walking the halls Saturday afternoon and Sunday. And of course, you can catch me on Twitter – @jakemgold.

Happy camping,

Jake Goldman
President, 10up LLC

Thanks Jake – we’re lucky to have you as a speaker and a sponsor!

Posted in Announcement, Sponsors | 4 Comments

Next Time on Hoarders: Bloggers Without Content Strategy!

July 21, 2011 by jamescoletti • Comments Off on Next Time on Hoarders: Bloggers Without Content Strategy!

You’ve seen it before: people who amass tomato sauce because it’s on sale. They bring home jars and jars and jars of the stuff, even though they don’t necessarily have room in the pantry–or family members who even like a lot of sauce on their pasta. In fact, we soon hear, some family members are allergic to it, and others don’t really even like the brand that keeps coming home.

Hoarding transcends the pantry. Ever go shopping and bring home another pair of shoes because the price was right–never mind that they don’t fit perfectly, match the rest of your wardrobe, or fill an unmet need? It happens… from the pantry, to the closet, to the blog. Are you hoarding content? Do you post information that may not even appeal to your audience, possibly in formats they don’t like? How do you know when you have enough, or how much budget you should aggregate to aggregating, re-purposing, curating, and creating different content types? Content strategist Margot Bloomstein will lead a discussion on how content strategy can help stop the insanity with a message architecture, content audit, and editorial calendar. It won’t help the tomato sauce problem, but it may just save your blog.

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WordCamp Boston Mobile App

July 21, 2011 by John Eckman • 1 Comment

The folks at Top Quark have put together a Sencha Touch based mobile app for WordCamp Boston, which you’ll find at:

http://topquark.com/wordcamp/app/2011-boston

Visit the url on your iPhone, iPad, Android device, and it should create a local, cached copy of the schedule and speaker info.

Thanks Trevor.

Posted in Announcement | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Welcome Optaros as a Silver Sponsor

July 20, 2011 by John Eckman • Comments Off on Welcome Optaros as a Silver Sponsor

It’s especially fun to (formally) welcome Optaros today as a Silver sponsor. They were actually one of the first to sign up for WordCamp Boston 2011 (you’ve likely seen their logo in our sidebar from the beginning) and have long been supporters of the open source community in Boston. (Full disclosure: prior to ISITE Design I spent over 5 years at Optaros, and consider myself a “friend of the firm”).

Steven Kosakow of Optaros said:

We are absolutely honored, proud, and psyched to be first-time sponsors of WordCamp Boston. First and foremost – we’re WordPress users! Not only is Optaros.com a WordPress site, but you can certainly find WordPress aficionados/users at every corner of our company. So we guess you can say that WordCamp will be like a mini-vacation to the many Optaros employees attending.

If you haven’t heard of Optaros, we have our roots in Boston and are innovating in the content driven commerce space; there couldn’t be a better match! Content is core to innovation for the web, and is redefining the way people shop and communicate, and we’re proud to be moving and shaking in this space. More than anything, we’re really excited to connect with the greater community at WordCamp, “talk shop,” and meet some new friends; see you there!

They’re hiring in Boston.

(David Abbet of Optaros actually created the WordCamp Boston 2011 logo).

Posted in Announcement, Sponsors | Comments Off on Welcome Optaros as a Silver Sponsor

WordPress Security – Facts & Fiction

July 20, 2011 by mitcho (Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine) • 3 Comments

More than one million WordPress sites were cracked last year.  Was your site or your client’s site among  them?

Effective WordPress security requires much more than a few plugins.  This candid discussion will review the foundational levels of “The Multiple Layers of Security” methods we implement for clients and our internal sites.  Facts and fiction include: how WordPress sites get cracked, examples of hacked sites, simple coding to help secure a site, and more.

This presentation is for…
This talk will cover basic security that all levels of WordPress users can implement.  It won’t be overly technical however; designers and developers will get more than enough information to adequately secure a typical client site.  I will be taking specific questions afterwards and I’m always available online as well, just hit me up anytime!

Posted in Speaker feature | 3 Comments

Welcome VaultPress as Silver Sponsor

July 19, 2011 by John Eckman • Comments Off on Welcome VaultPress as Silver Sponsor

We’re psyched to announce that VaultPress has joined our illustrious list of Silver sponsors.

Paul Kim says:

The VaultPress team is proud to sponsor WordCamp Boston 2011, and to be a part of the WordPress community

If you’ve somehow never heard of VaultPress, they provide backups and protection for your WordPress powered blog – check out the features and plans for more info.

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WordCamp Boston Attendees Map

July 19, 2011 by John Eckman • Comments Off on WordCamp Boston Attendees Map

Thought I’d share a quick map of zip codes of WordCamp Boston Attendees. Click through for an interactive map you can zoom in and out on, pan around, etc.

Posted in Announcement | Comments Off on WordCamp Boston Attendees Map