Week in Review — 3 Events, 1 Weekend

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August 29, 2017 by Guest Contributor

Last weekend, the BoldGrid team visited three WordCamps… At the same time… In nearly every US time zone!

We had people at WordCamp Denver , WordCamp Grand Rapids , and Word Camp Omaha . To accomplish this marvel of personnel and logistics, we sent no less than 10 team members into the field (and 1 Banshee). Here’s how their various adventures went:

WordCamp Omaha

Tim S from our community team went solo to WordCamp Omaha. In his words:

Tim S

On Saturday, August 26, and Sunday, August 27, we attended WordCamp Omaha 2017 in Omaha, Nebraska. The WordCamp sold out. Well organized, this event had great speakers, sponsors, and attendees. On Saturday, the atmosphere felt extremely friendly, with everyone happy to strike up conversations. This gave me the opportunity to catch up with other attendees I met while traveling to Kansas City earlier this year. Saturday evening, we enjoyed the speaker sponsor dinner held at Benson Brewery, where great food met with great conversation. After a nice dinner with my new friends, we went to the after-party at Beercade. If you’ve never been there and experienced the old school arcade feel,  it’s simply awesome. All in all, even these smaller WordCamps prove invaluable for the amazing conversations that occur and the long lasting friendships that form. WordCamp Omaha, did not disappoint.

WordCamp Grand Rapids

In WordCamp Grand Rapids we had one of our great Designers, Nicole C, and our brilliant Product Manager, Mike R, holding down the fort. For Nicole, WordCamp Grand Rapids provided something of a homecoming, while it was a first for Mike, who works out of our Virginia Beach office. They both ended up speaking during the event (doing a great job, by all accounts). In their own words:

Mike R

We attended WordCamp Grand Rapids, held at the amazing Grand Valley State University. The WordCamp sold out thanks to the outstanding efforts of the organizing team. I spoke about using animation with WordPress sites and how it affects a user’s experience. Nicole spoke about tools to teach elementary aged students to code. We also spent some time with our good friends at A2 Hosting which includes BoldGrid through Softaculous.

Nicole C

Speaking at WordCamp Grand Rapids was amazing! I was a little nervous, but everyone was very welcoming and understanding. I can’t wait to refine my talk and present it again in the future. For more information on my topic please check out http://elementarycoders.org.
https://twitter.com/BGNicolePaschen/status/901424130066657280

WordCamp Denver (Again)

MikeDemo went back to Denver for the second weekend in a row of WordCamp. Last time he visited WordCamp for Publishers: Denver, which turned out to be an amazing niche event. This time he checked out WordCamp Denver, the broader event for all in the WordPress community.
This was a very special camp for us at BoldGrid, as we opened an office in Denver between the last WordCamp Denver and this year’s event. In total, we had no fewer than seven team members working the event. This was the first WordCamp for many of our team members, and as you’ll see below, they brought home a lot of great memories and experience.

Craig H (one of our trainers):

As a first time attendee of a WordCamp I experienced a great deal of learning, sharing, building new connections, and growing existing ones. From the interactions with Boldie, to the Sunday workshop on Flexbox, I am now more empowered to build, collaborate, and contribute knowledge as a BoldGrid fan and open-source lover. In my opinion the organizers of WordCamp 2017 Denver, did a great job in capturing and bringing together that which makes the open-source community so strong. The sponsors and attendees added even more to this WordCamp, taking my experience with each activity to higher levels. My thanks to all who organized and attended this event for the great experience, and I look forward to being a part of future WordCamps.

Jesse O

Despite the fact that WordPress is such an enormous presence on the Internet, the WordPress community is such a close-knit and welcoming group of folks. Learning more in-depth details about BoldGrid, how it works, contributes to WordPress with source and user experience, the different user avatars that find it useful, and the pain points that it addresses, were experiences I will be able to apply to my work in Training and Support.
It was an enriching experience and I look forward to attending more of these conventions in the future.
WordPress Denver used a new format for this year’s event, with the traditional Saturday sessions and Sunday workshops. The new venue this year at the University of Denver provided a welcome change, making it easier to connect with attendees more often. We even got to show off the newest version of BoldGrid and — as always — everyone enjoyed Boldie, the BoldGrid Banshee.
Sadly, the weekend had to end, but we will be back on the road for our next event very soon. Keep an eye out for us at World Hosting Days USA. BoldGrid is a proud Gold Sponsor of that event, and MikeDemo will both man a booth and speak, so don’t miss it!