This is part of a series of posts from the perspective of a first-time WordCamp attendee. Read Part One and Part Two.

The Bottom Line: If You Come to WordCamp Cincinnati 2017, Awesome Things Can Happen for You If You Dig In and Participate

… Even if you’re an introvert. Or a beginner. Or a non-technical person.

WordPress is all about making the power of the web accessible to everyone.

WordCamp does the same thing for WordPress: It helps all kinds of users at all levels of skill and experience learn how to achieve their goals with WordPress.

No matter who you are or what you know (or don’t know), there’s something here for you.

The Atmosphere Is Casual; the Experience Is As Transformative As You Want It to Be

Come as you are, it’s a casual event– it is the weekend, after all. 😉

Come with your questions and be prepared to get lots of answers. (The Happiness Bar, where you can get individual answers to your technical and other WordPress questions from an expert, is hopefully coming back again this year – woohoo! That alone is worth the price of admission in my book.)

What You Get out of WordCamp depends on what you bring to it…

• If you come with questions, and make the effort to ask them…
• If you come to meet others, and smile and say hello…
• If you come to learn, and are willing to share what you know…
• If you come to grow, and to help others grow, too…

… You’ll be amazed at how much you leave with.

You’ll leave:

• inspired… with lots of ideas and things you’re itching to try.
• smarter… with links to more info and resources to keep on learning.
• connected… with a diverse group of interesting, fun, generous people who are learning or working with WordPress just like you.
• networked… with resources who can help you when you get stuck, and contacts that might lead to great things in the future.
• sporting some nifty swag… including a Limited Edition Uber-Cool WordCamp Cincinnati 2017 t-shirt.

My WordCamp Cincinnati 2016 Swag Stash: a great nylon Woo bag, plus the official t-shirt. There were a lot more goodies there that I left for others…

And finally…

You’ll leave with a new (or improved) appreciation of the possibilities of WordPress– the platform, the people and the community.

And because it’s WordPress, you’ll also leave with a new vision of the possibilities of you, on the web.

How awesome is that?

Submitted by Julie Ladd of Copyshark.net

This is part of a series of posts from the perspective of a first-time WordCamp attendee. Read Part One.

WordPress says “Code is Poetry.”

But when it comes to WordCamp, the code is the medium, not the magic…

It’s the poets, not the poetry, that make WordCamp sing.

WordPress users are an interesting and varied bunch, and the Cincinnati contingent is no exception. WordCamp Cincinnati brings together the diverse Cincinnati WordPress community of businesses large and small, solopreneurs, nonprofits, bloggers, developers, agencies, freelancers, hobbyists, new learners and pros— all in one place.

For all their differences, they have one thing in common: They use and love WordPress, or want to learn to use it or do more with it.

And here’s the thing: When curiosity and needs meet answers and resources with a healthy scoop of sharing and collaboration thrown in, magic happens…

I saw it firsthand.

One of the highlights of the weekend was an amazing opening keynote on networking, where speaker Jeff Rowe worked the audience live, connecting several audience members with others who either needed their skills or could solve their problems (or connect them with others who could help):

• a graduating student looking for an internship
• a business looking for connections at a large local company
• a local event sponsor looking for a graphic designer
• a development agency looking for new team members

It was the most vivid demonstration of the power of networking I have ever seen, and a testament to the reach and depth of the Cincinnati WordPress community.

The Power of Networking in Action: Keynote Speaker Jeff Rowe shows WordCamp Cincinnati 2016 attendees there are a lot of great people to meet and useful connections to make at WordCamp.

The secret superpower of WordCamp (and WordPress, for that matter) is the people. And we’ve got some of the best, right here in Cincinnati.

If you attend the event, you’ll both increase the potency of this superpower by adding your unique skills and gifts to the mix, and you’ll be able to put it to work for you.

Submitted by Julie Ladd of Copyshark.net

Last year, I went to WordCamp Cincinnati 2016. It was my first WordCamp, and the first one in Cincinnati.

I had no idea what to expect, but hoped I might learn a thing or two. Would it be worth it, even for an introvert/non-coder/freelance writer like me?

It was… and then some!

Here’s why…

Last year’s WordCamp Cincinnati was a WordPress training and networking meetup, sort of like a WordPress University: Weekend Edition (without the grades and all-nighters), where local WordPressers of all stripes came together to share what they know and to learn from each other.

Lunch & Laughs: Intrepid WordCamp women grab a bite and swap stories at lunch in Tangeman Center. (Lunch both days is included in the ticket price.)

If You Want to Learn WordPress in Cincinnati, WordCamp Cincinnati 2017 Is a Can’t-Miss Event

At WordCamp Cincinnati 2016, there was a long list of sessions offered— from technical to practical, and for every experience level from beginner to power user to developer— on a broad range of topics, from content marketing, podcasting, SEO and membership sites to site maintenance, security, advanced custom fields and multi-site development (and that’s just scratching the surface).

You can check out last year’s full list of presentations here. (This year’s event is still in the planning phase, more on that in a moment…)

The speakers were an impressive lineup of subject matter experts who volunteered their time and shared their smarts. Most presenters were local to the Cincinnati area, including some from the university. And all of them (at least from the sessions I attended) stayed and answered individual questions afterward— I got a lot of great info by hanging around after and chatting one-on-one.

Academic Advice: UC faculty members Julie Campbell-Holmes, Michael Holmes, Autumn Miller and Lora Arduser talk about how higher education and nonprofits can use WordPress to reach their audiences at WordCamp Cincinnati 2016.

The bench of talent was wide, and everyone’s willingness to share resources and their own connections made it deep as well. I’d be willing to bet you could find a resource (or at least someone else to ask) for just about anything you might need.

It’s a small WordPress world, or so it seems…

Learn Some New WordPress Things— In Your Zone or Outside Your Bubble

At WordCamp, you can learn what you want and skip what you don’t. But if you attend some sessions outside of your primary areas of expertise, you’ll probably still learn some useful things. (I did.)

I’m not a developer; I’m primarily a conversion copywriter and marketer (though I have made websites for clients). And sure, I went to some sessions in the Marketing track– I’m always looking to learn the latest and greatest, and in marketing, there’s always something new to know.

But I also attended a couple of Developer track sessions on website security and plugin development, and even a non-coder like me got something out of them.

… Like how to change the configuration of a security plugin to fix an error that had been bugging me for months.

… And a trick for using Inspect Element to find CSS info.

… And a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes when I install a plugin that helped me fix a problem from outside the WordPress dashboard when I couldn’t log in.

I may never be a developer (or maybe I will someday— with WordPress, anything’s possible). But these little insights into what’s inside the “black box” of a WordPress site help me better understand how it works, so I can solve more problems and fix more errors myself.

A little information can be empowering. And there’s tons of it available for the asking at WordCamp.

Submitted by Julie Ladd of Copyshark.net