WordCamp B’ham: the best $20 I’ve ever spent

11 November 2016
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On October 29th, I attended my first WordCamp in Birmingham (AL). I’d been excited about it for weeks. My background is .Net/C# web development, but I’ve used WordPress for years. Now I was ready to learn about the business and tech of creating WordPress websites for other people.

It didn’t take long before I decided that WordCamp Birmingham was the best $20 I’ve ever spent. A few reasons why:

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  1. The community. The WordPress community is just as nice as I’d always heard. Everyone was happy to talk shop and answer questions.
  2. Cory Miller’s keynote. He talked about the main thing that I think about: purpose.
  3. Impostor Syndrome session. Nathan Ingram’s presentation contained so much great information, and it made me take a long look at whether I sell myself short. (I do; I so do.)
  4. Security information. My husband attended the session on WordPress security, and he brought back numerous hints and ideas for our own business.
  5. Encouragement. I talked to both Nathan and Kyle Johnson about my recent decision to leave my corporate job (the previous day!) to work as a freelancer. Both were very encouraging and gave me things to think about. And Nathan even introduced me to someone saying, “She quit her job yesterday!” 🙂
  6. Learning about Project NAMI. I’m a huge fan of SQL Server, and a SQL Server port of WordPress is really something I can get behind.
  7. The t-shirt. It may seem silly to include it, but it’s a pretty awesome t-shirt.
  8. Meeting Elizabeth Pampalone. My husband went to her presentation and immediately began messaging me to tell me to join him. I did, and she was imparting tons of valuable business information. We talked to her afterwards, and she is super nice.
  9. Slack. My husband set up a Slack channel for our business before the first session was even over. It is a great way to share information, and I’m no longer getting dozens of “read this” emails every day. 😉
  10. Food for thought. By the end of the day, I’d learned a lot of great information to think about as I start my WordPress life. Do I want to only create websites, or do I want to consider developing add-ons and plugins? I’m still thinking about it.

If you have a chance to attend a WordCamp, I highly recommend it. I will definitely be at WCBHAM next year.