What’s a WordCamp? WordCamp Boston

WordCamp Boston SwagBag

What exactly is a WordCamp? It’s the newest type of “conference/unconference” that is popping up to support specific online technology users.

Much like how BarCamps support the Technology crowd, and PodCamp addresses the Social Media aficionados, the slightly more structured WordCamp helps WordPress users understand, learn, and apply the industry best practices, and to build a sense of community among other WordPress users.  Although helpful for WordPress hosted WordPress.com users, it’s more focused on self-hosted WordPress.org users who are a bit more tech savvy.

This past Saturday, January 23rd marked the first ever WordCamp Boston, welcoming roughly 400 attendees to a sold out event.  Participants crowded the seminar sessions, which were categorized into various tracks based on experience level from beginner to custom design and developers. There was truly something for everyone to learn while the event provided a great networking and interactive environment.

So, in the spirit of WordPress community, we’ve listed three WordPress pointers that our team had fun discussing at WordCamp Boston.  We hope you enjoy our take on some of the WordPress topics and concerns.

1. WordPress Plugins: Plugins are powerful additions and can bring incredible customization to a WordPress blog. If too many are used, however, they can make the site clunky and slow loading. Choose the plugins that are best suited to what you’re trying to accomplish on your blog site. Use those first. Forget about the ones that look cool, but don’t work toward achieving your blog goals. As a ballpark, try not to use more than about ten or so on your blog.
2. Coding: WordPress relies heavily on PhP and MySql coding skills. Beginners and non-technical types can manage with using pre-designed templates and a limited html understanding, but if you really want to make WordPress sing, you may need the services of a coder familiar with those programs to set up your blog and get you started.
3. Think Video. If you’ve been hesitant to start a blog because it’s too hard to keep up with all the writing, consider video. Video is becoming more popular as a blogging medium. It’s easy for visitors to view, and can share a personal impression of the company or topic you’re discussing. As with every type of blog post though, you still need to organize your thoughts and be concise on your key points, so content planning still has to be a part of your preparation.

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