WordCamping with Angels
SiteGround was one of the sponsors of the Los Angeles WordCamp 2014 and I was thrilled to be part of the team attending the event. We spent three extremely exciting and rewarding days together with more than 300 other WordPress enthusiasts in the City of Angels. We also had the chance to be involved in many of the great #WCLAX activities including the beginner’s workshop, the selfie scavenger hunt and the contribution Sunday.
The Beginner’s Workshop
We started out the conference on Friday, September 5th, with the beginners workshop track where attendees were encouraged to make their first steps with WordPress. Everything from setting up a website, choosing a theme and adding content was explained and exercised under the guidance of seasoned speakers such as Gregg Franklin, Adam Silver and our own Philip Artinyan. Phil gave out a talk on how to choose your domain and hosting services – a comprehensive guide on the important things to look for when choosing a company to work with. As part of the SiteGround customer care team, both me and Philip have helped online many people get started with their first projects but doing it face-to-face on the spot was even more exciting.
The Great Crowd
We spent the majority of the second day of the event on the SiteGround sponsor booth. No words can express the sheer joy of meeting your customers face-to-face and getting positive feedback. We exchanged words and emotions, introduced ourselves to the rest of the crowd and found lots of new friends among the WP enthusiasts. A special thank you goes to all of the organizers for doing such a great job with the event and for organizing together with us the Selfie Scavenger Hunt. During the whole day you could see people taking pictures with speakers, volunteers, newbies and the SiteGround team. The game helped attendees seek out contacts, network and share the fun with each other. Later at the after party we gave out few cool prizes (iPad Air, 2 iPad minis and some professional headphones) to the most diligent selfie hunters. We also had the chance to talk to many more people in a great informal environment and discuss WordPress, social media and how people that come together to share their experience can actually influence and change products and services for the better.
The Contribution Day
On the last day of the event many people gathered at the Blankspaces DTLA to contribute to the WordPress project. This was my first contribution day and I was surprised to find out how easy it is to give back to the community – all you need is a genuine wish to get involved. The contribution day was extremely well-organized, with dedicated people that were helping all the volunteers get started. A great calm co-working environment formed naturally and made everyone involved feel really good about doing it.
WordCamp L.A. turned out to be everything I hoped for. A place that gathered passionate and positive people which eagerly shared their knowledge and skills. We came back home with new ideas, a lot of new friends and fully charged for the next WordCamp event!
