2018 WordCamp Pittsburgh Recap

Having just completed the 10 hour (really it was 12 hour) journey to Pittsburgh to speak and hang out with the WordPress Community was Awesome.  The journey begun on Friday at 7:00am, we drove from Atlanta through Knoxville to Bristol to Bluefield to Morgantown to Pittsburgh).  Expecting to arrive around 5:00pm, check into our hotel and head out to the speaker dinner…those plans were shelved as we hit unexpected delays in West Virginia.  Road construction…patience would become increasing important during our weekend trip.

Speaker Dinner

Pulling into our hotel at 7:00pm, and checking into our room.  My family (yes this adventure included my family) and more specifically my wife decided to call my son’s god mother.  She was planning to cook for him.  My son would arrange for his god father to pick up my family, this would allow me to get to the end of the speaker dinner.  It was held at a nice restaurant, name escape me at this time.

Getting to say hello to Kevin Hoffman, Nathan Ingram, Ben Meredith, Rachel Cherry, Adam Warner, Lee Drozak, and Terri Tutich. Reminded me of getting home for Thanksgiving and hanging out with family.  Arriving to late to eat, I was just happy to see everyone had made it to Pittsburgh.

Saturday Morning

The keynote speaker was Adam Warner.  Having meet Adam at WordCamp Atlanta 2015, he was in the sponsor booth for SiteLock and I was passing out t-shirts directly across from his booth.  We got a chance to talk shop and get in a few laughs.  Never really knowing his story, his Keynote presentations was one of the best…that I have heard.  It was personal.  It was inspiring.  It represented our community.

Adam wove his personal story of tragedy, growth, creating, and community…while his story of entrepreneur held a familiar tone, his community references and development hit so many cords for me.  Finding myself feeling his disappointment, triumphs, sadness, and finally joys was the highlights of his story.

Morning Sessions

Deciding to check out my friend, Lee Drozak’s presentation about “Difficult Clients”.  Love it when a couple of pointers are provided, and Lee is full of great information.  Advising us to interview your client, make sure they are a good fit, and not allowing dollars to be the deciding factors.  Lee’s command of this topic was beyond incredible.  After smashing a few questions, we all was left with nothing but a moment of silence.  Job well done…my friend.

Next I head to hear Ben Meredith (from Give WP) discussion on support.  Must admit, Ben began his presentation with his Religious Degree from UNC.  Thinking about how he was going to get us from Religion to Support, became to much of a focus for me.  Skillfully he was able to move us from religion to support…interjecting his love for his family and company.  Proving us with techniques on how to handle upset clients and customers, while making sure you solve their issues and keep your sanity.

Then it was Nathan Ingram’s time to help us with some key information about Free lancing. Having heard Nathan several times, I plan to attend to support.  Quickly my support was turned into taking notes and finding myself once again learning some new techniques and process.  Nathan has a unique way to turn a short presentation into a learning experience.

Last it was my time…butterflies checked, computer issues solved checked, took some aspirins for toothache checked, and looked into the audience to see my friends checked.  Deep breath…presentation lasted about 20 minutes.  Answered about 5 questions…asked a couple of my friends, how was my presentation.  You knocked it out the park as usually…small smile.

Overall

Pittsburgh WordCamp is an awesome camp.  The venue is awesome.  It is located at Pittsburgh Technical College.  The sessions are held in the Ballroom or two other classrooms.  Lunch is in the cafeteria, which is downstairs from the session.  The happiness bar is held, next to the cafeteria. Lastly the after party was held in the cafeteria…and everyone is friendly and super supportive.

I can not wait until next year…whether as a speaker, volunteer, sponsor, or attendee of Pittsburgh WordCamp.

Image courtesy of Willie Fineberg.

JDS WebDesign is a Web Design and Brand Marketing Agency located in Marietta, Georgia.  We create AWESOME on line presence for Start-ups and Influential People/Organizations.  To learn more about us or how we can help you and your organization schedule an complimentary appointment.

Would you like to speed up your website in 15 minutes?

We can show you how to improve your website speed within 15 minutes with a few free plugins.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Subscribe To Our Blog

Subscribe To Our Blog

Join our mailing list to receive the latest blog post around noon every day. We do blog just about every day.

You have Successfully Subscribed!