Week-in-Review: cPanel Conference and San Antonio

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October 5, 2017 by Guest Contributor

Last week turned into a whirlwind of travel across the United States for BoldGrid teams. We attended the cPanel Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, WordCamp San Antonio, Texas, and WordCamp, Los Angeles, California (discussed in a separate post). The week started with the cPanel Conference in Fort Lauderdale.

cPanel Conference

Our team arrived on Monday morning and checked into the hotel. The event moved two blocks away from its original location in the wake of Hurricane Irma. But, bad weather could not hold down a conference as big as cPanel, so it was still a go. And the new location was not so bad either: the Ritz Carlton right on the beach.    As people registered they found a BoldGrid Tide pen in their swag bag. We can only assume it proved useful for that evening’s social event. The pre-event social at the Blue Martini Lounge (sponsored by WHMCS) offered a very laid back venue with great service and drinks. Connecting with all the people we saw just a few weeks ago at WHD USA and HostingCon Global provided a great sense of camaraderie and comfort.  The event began Tuesday, and our team had a booth to man. Of course, Boldie proved popular as usual, and the day flew by. Boldie enjoyed hanging outside and flying around in the ocean breeze while Brand Evangelist, MikeDemo, met with attendees and explained the benefits and power of BoldGrid. The day also offered a number of great sessions, including the roadmap of cPanel and WHM.   One of the coolest features of this conference was an escape room. The premise behind escape rooms (for those that may not have ever been): you have a scenario required to achieve some goal (sometimes escaping a room) and have to solve a series of puzzles and riddles with a team of other players to reach that goal. For this one, players had to prove that they were not spam, or they would be killed by SpamAssassin. Clever marketing and it was a lot of fun! Sadly, MikeDemo had so many guests at the booth that he did not make it to the escape room. That evening the team attended a concert at the Stache Speakeasy with geek folk singer Jonathan Colton. Jonathan Mentioned Boldie three times from the stage and even got a photo with him after the show. Boldie, being a huge fan of JoCo, sat on MikeDemo’s shoulder the entire time singing along.  Wednesday saw another booth day, and MikeDemo gave his Duck talk (with a few tweaks for the audience). The audience responded well and the talk inspired lots of great conversations. The evening ended with a game night at the Ritz in lieu of a beach party that had to be canceled due to inclement weather.  Before MikeDemo and Boldie headed home they had a chance to hang out on the beach. He compared seeing the birds run and grab the fish that were left on the beach by the tide like watching the Disney Pixar short “Piper” (only in real life).  The cPanel conference proved itself a great event yet again, and we are happy and proud to have been a sponsor. We cannot wait for next year.   

WordCamp San Antonio 

Quickly after leaving the sun and fun of Fort Lauderdale, our team made their way to San Antonio, Texas for WordCamp San Antonio. The team checked into the historic Sheraton Gunter Hotel SanAntonio. The event took place at the University of Texas San Antonio downtown campus; a nice change from last year’s venue. Keeping everything in the heart of the city provided a much better flow to the events. After setting up, our intrepid team went to the speaker and sponsor event, held on campus. It provided a great networking opportunity with other presenters and sponsors, and the favorite topic of the night (aside from BoldGrid) centered on the team’s haunted hotel.  Saturday proved busy, with a series of great talks, and opportunities to connect with a lot of people who had not yet heard of BoldGrid (hard to believe, right?). MikeDemo took to Twitter to try and bring the spirit of the event to the interwebs (see below). Saturday’s afterparty happened at the rooftop patio of the campus, offering beautiful views and great a great place to relax after a busy day.        On Sunday, Mike R and MikeDemo both gave talks during the same timeslot. 66% of people at the event learned something from one of the BoldGrid Mike(s). Mike R gave his “Animation” talk while MikeDemo gave his “Ducks” talk on the main stage.   https://twitter.com/BGNicolePaschen/status/914503261939486720 Freebirds catered a delicious lunch, and the evening workshops took the rest of the day. We have always loved this WordCamp and cannot wait to be back next year!