WordCamp NZ – 8th and 9th of August 2009
After spending the weekend at the Mt Victoria Bowling Club attending the first New Zealand WordCamp I feel a bit anxious about all the things I could be doing to this site that I haven’t done yet. I should have a store! I should have better menus! I should be pitching to the media! But I’m a terribly lazy girl and I probably wont do anything to improve until I feel like it’s worth my while.
Being away from my computer for two days while surrounded by geeks and technology gave me some withdrawals and I don’t know how to feel about them. I always consider myself a bit of a fraud when I claim to be a geek, I don’t know how to program or put a computer together, I just like the internet a lot and can follow instructions. If this weekend was anything to go by I’ve got nothing to be ashamed about, sure there were plenty of uber geeks running businesses dealing primarily with code but there were many like me as well. I felt welcome and comfortable.
I went in to WordCamp unsure how much I would get out of it. I was keen to hear more about the WP e-commerce plugin, and listening to Matt Mullenweg (one of the founders of WordPress) talk was bound to be good, but apart from that I had no expectations. I got more than I could have hoped for. For a taste of WordCamp I suggest you watch Matt’s Q&A session where he talks about the future of WordPress, his thoughts on opensource, and how he got to where he is now. It’s great, there is a reference to bunnies on crack.
Hearing everyone speak in such an organised yet informal setting confirmed I was in the right place. Not once did I feel like an unworthy imposter, almost all of the talks were relevant and interesting, with the exception of WordPress for iPhone and one or two others purely because I’m not interested in hardware and I don’t have an iPhone. Talks on keeping out of trouble with the law, being a media darling, and doing business were interesting to me as a blogger and business owner (it sounds so fancy saying I’m a business owner, I feel like a fraud again!).
The bonus came when my name was drawn out of a bag by Matt to win a 250Gb shock resistant hard drive. It came with NTI shadow backup software so I can backup my files automatically! Now I can be quite secure in the knowledge my photos and music are backed up in approximately 4 hard drives, all of them in the same room.
The best thing is that it doesn’t need an external power source. The Boy and I recently bought a one terabyte HD deciding to choose quantity over quality we got one that needs an external power source. I’m very stoked by this win. Look how tiny it is!
The two days were filled with geeky learning, sheep jokes, sunny weather, and free (sponsored) coffee (hot chocolates for me and Chickie Little). I would attend again in a heartbeat. And I encourage anyone trying to decide on a platform for their site to choose WordPress. Both the .com and .org options are fabulous and can handle amazing sites of all kinds, it’s not just a blogging tool.
If you get a chance to attend a WordCamp I suggest you do it. And for those of you still on blogger, make the move already!
11 Responses to “WordCamp NZ – 8th and 9th of August 2009”
Don’t slay me but…. I’m a blogger girl ;) I’m all about making my life a wee bit more difficult and manualling it up… my archives? Hello hand coded!! Sounds like you had a fab time of it though – I really want to start getting to conventions. Mix it up with fellow geeks :D
Darn it, the Sydney WordCamp was quite a while ago :( Hopefully they come around to Australia again soon enough and by then I might have a bit more of a design going and a wee bit more content so I don’t feel like a giant fraud!
Lol Matt mentioned the Sydney WordCamp and got all the kiwis cheering by saying that we beat Sydney, we had more people. :p
There were a handful of people that had been on WordPress less than a month, so don’t let things like that stop you!
Yay for you! I love prizes. I really wanted to go to WC, but life got in the way – so glad to hear your opinion on its worthiness.
Shite – what a load of drama, relating to GD. Her blog is so not me at all, I think I saw a shot of her wearing one of your necklaces?
Yep GD has a necklace and a couple of the rings. The shop gets a few hundred extra views each time she links to it, there is no denying her popularity!
So now I have a competition on my hands! Typical Australia vs New Zealand stuff, but hey, it doesn’t get old!
I won’t let it stop me, I am having far too much fun with the blog :)
Hi,
Great to hear you enjoyed WordCamp :) I found your site via Google as I was looking for the videos of the event.
I was the speaker who’s videos didn’t work :(
I remember. I think you got your point across without them though. :]
New menus are definitely part of my to do list! Just need to find the right motivation.
I don’t use WordPress, but this event sounds EXCELLENT & I would still totally attend if they were to hold one in Sydney soon! Thanks for the review :)
There was heaps of stuff that could apply to blogging and business in general. So if you do get the chance definitely take it.
[...] T is for Tui – These beautiful birds love the kowhai that’s flowering right outside our house. U is for Urban Wetlands – I took a walk down to Waitangi park after a doctors visit and snapped some photos of the urban wetland they have going. I really love what they did with the area, even if it cost a shitload. V is for View – This is what I can see from my blogging chair. Usually the blinds are down because I lounge around in my robe all day. But when I take photos inside I pull it up like this to get more light. W is for WordCamp – I blogged about the fun. [...]
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