Week-in-Review — BoldGrid Visits the Athens of the South for WordCamp US

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December 11, 2017 by Guest Contributor

What better way to wrap up a terrific year of events than at WordCamp US? MikeDemo, Brand Evangelist for BoldGrid, flew out to the event held in a new town (Nashville, TN) after two years in Philadelphia, PA. Downtown Nashville’s beautiful Music City Center served as the convention center for the event. As one might expect of an event representing the entire WordCamp community across the United States, the event proved amazing, informative, and entertaining.

MikeDemo arrived on Thursday to set up the BoldGrid Kiosk. Accompanying him, Mike Z and Boldie, the BoldGrid Banshee, came to help manage the anticipated large crowd of attendees curious about our product. After setting up, MikeDemo attended a dinner for WordCamp partners, then the team settled in early, knowing the rest of the weekend would keep them busy. Friday brought the first day of WordCamp US to the public. As the team expected, they experienced an almost immediate and steady rush of people curious about BoldGrid (and new features following its recent update). Many attendees also wanted a sneak peek at what BoldGrid, one of the most powerful suites of site-building tools for WordPress, would roll out in 2018. Of course, Boldie, Mike Z, and MikeDemo could not give away too many clues. But, they promised the crowd that it would be worth the wait to see next year’s innovations. After a long day on the floor speaking to dozens of interested attendees, the team went to dinner with friends from the event. Saturday brought another long day of conversations with event attendees, but it closed out with the State of the Word by Matt (one of the co-founders of WordPress). The team really enjoyed seeing that elements at the heart of BoldGrid have so inspired the rest of the WordPress community that they will add some of these functions to the WordPress core in coming updates. Nothing like hearing the co-founder of WordPress talk about features in your product as being so important that they need to be incorporated into WordPress itself! That evening, WordPress US put on the “Arty Party” at a local science center. Perfect for the group in attendance, the event even included a special WordPress planetarium show. As Sunday dawned, Boldie and the two Mike’s awoke ready to enjoy Community Day. The organizers of WordPress US designed Community Day to foster a sense of community amongst those passionate about WordPress. This provided an excellent opportunity for the BoldGrid team to network and connect with more partners and new friends. The crowd fell in love with Boldie (how could they resist?), while the BoldGrid team found the crowd’s interest in both WordPress and BoldGrid truly inspiring. Boldie, MikeDemo, and Mike Z left the last day of the event feeling inspired by what WordPress and BoldGrid had accomplished in 2017 and excited for what 2018 holds in store. That evening, WAPU.US put on a special event. BoldGrid proudly sponsors WAPU.US, and you will see more about them in future articles. The event included a tour of the Johnny Cash Museum and to eat: authentic Nashville Hot Chicken. For those who do not know, Hot Chicken, a local Nashville specialty, is a piece of chicken marinated in a special blend of seasonings, floured, fried, and then covered in a spicy sauce, and served on a piece of white bread with pickle chips. A truly incredible experience, worthy of a WordCamp event for the entire nation, the BoldGrid team left feeling happy, energized, and excited for 2018. WordCamp US will return to Nashville next year, and BoldGrid plans to come back for more! Hope to see you next year.