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PodCamp Ohio Recap

Posted on: June 23, 2009 at 11:32 am | Posted under: Conferences
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This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend PodCamp Ohio in Columbus, OH.  The trip for me started out on Thursday afternoon with 21 hours of travel on Greyhound.  I chose to take the bus this time since it was 1/3 the cost of a plane ticket and it gave me the chance to meet with Aron in Ann Arbor and drive down with him to Columbus.

The event itself was amazing.  From the meetup the night before at Baja Sol Cantina, all of the amazing sessions throughout the day, to ending the night at Jeni’s Ice Cream – it was a great experience.

Aron and I had the chance to really promote our podcast throughout the day.  From passing out stickers to discussing editing methods and media hosting with other podcasters, it was great.  We still have stickers left if you want to snag one, just fill out the form on the Falling Flat site and I will drop one in the mail to you.

A big highlight of the trip was getting to finally meet Brandice Schnabel.  She was kind enough to do a mini-photoshoot with Aron and I so that we have some promotional photos for the podcast.  If you are not following Brandice, I suggest that you do – she is one awesome person!

The organizers (@AngeloMandato, @DoctorAnonymous, @MerryCricket) of PodCamp Ohio did a superb job and I can’t wait until next year.  Also a big thanks to the sponsors, without them this event would not be possible: The Ohio State University Center For The Study And Teaching Of Writing, Blubrry.com, Doctor Anonymous Podcast, Circle Of Seven Productions Book Trailers and Marketing, AssistCoach.com, blip.tv, TechSmith, SpaceBlue, Blue Microphones and Avitae.

A big thank you to everyone for an amazing weekend!

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic

Posted on: May 21, 2009 at 11:54 am | Posted under: Conferences, Development, Technology
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This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend WordCamp Mid-Atlantic in Baltimore, MD.  I had been looking forward to the event since Aaron emailed me back in December letting me know that he was setting this up.  Now that the conference has come and gone, I can share with all of you my thoughts on the event.

Sessions

The sessions were the main focus of the day.  With two tracks to choose from (technical & blogger), there was definitely plenty of knowledge being shared.  One of the sessions that I found to be most informative was the “Thesis Theme Developer Hacks” presented by Brad Williams.  I have been using Thesis on a number of sites, but the hooks have been somewhat confusing to understand.  Thanks to Brad, I now have a much better understanding of how the theme works and look to developing more with Thesis.

The great part about WordCamp is that PodCamp rules applied.  I was able to leave the sessions if I was not interested and breakout with other attendees to discuss our own WordPress issues and offer advice.  Having the ability to create your own session and brainstorm with other users was awesome.

Networking

A big part of the weekend was being able to network with other developers and users.  I have connected with so many people online, that is was great to be able to meet people in person and interact with them in real life.  Yes, video calls on Skype are nice, but nothing beats that real life connection.

I also had the chance to meet Drew Griffin, who I have been working with since last September.  Drew is an awesome guy and it was great to finally meet him (even if he did show up at 3am the day of WordCamp).

Lessons Learned

I learned a lot over the weekend, a lot of knowledge from experts was presented and it was a great experience.  Besides the conference, one of the biggest lessons I learned is not to fly somewhere that is only a 4 hour drive!  My experience with US Airways was horrible over the weekend (Drew’s was worse), and I don’t wish the hell I went through on anyone.  Next time I am taking the bus!

Overall WordCamp Mid-Atlantic was an amazing experience.  Thanks again to Aaron and Jimmy for putting on the conference and I look forward to next year’s event.

Cheers!