WordCamp, a conference surrounding the open source blogging platform WordPress, was held today in Columbus. As promised, I gave a talk at the conference (for more details on my presentation check out the dynamIt Blog, to which I will post details soon). I must say, the event really exceeded my expectations. I am really glad that I participated. As a local entrepreneur in the industry, I found it beneficial for various reasons.

A networking event.

Although quite feeble, I did make an attempt at networking. I met a handful interesting people some of which are doing some cool things here in town, others on a higher level.

Putting our name out there.

I gave a twenty minute talk presenting a case study on a recent dynamIt project that implemented WordPress. So, if I did not talk to you personally, you were certainly introduced to me. Plus, when you’re introduced to me, you meet dynamIt as well.

So, my decision to speak was admittedly two pronged. I was able to say, “hey, look at us we do good work.” But, I was also able to offer insight into ways to leverage a great tool like WordPress.

Learning from the group.

I did not just come to talk and peace out. I spent the entire rest of the day listening to the other speakers. Here is a run down of what I liked, what I didn’t, and what I learned.

• Jane Wells of Automattic gave the keynote about the future of WordPress. Very cool to get the behind-the-scenes look on where the platform is going. I dug this talk, really got my mind thinking about how we can utilize WordPress to a greater degree in the future.
• Alex Brown of Bricker & Eckler spoke on legal issues in blogging. Also, a good talk, I was able to take away some general thoughts regarding copyright laws and placing content online.
• Mike Krotscheck of Resource Interactive gave a developer-friendly talk about advanced WordPress install which I found to be pretty rockin’. He introduced me to WordPressMU, which I had been meaning to jump into for a while.
• And Finally, Noel Jackson, also an Automattic guy, talked about the future of themes. Noel was an interesting guy with an uber-fresh perspective on design and development. Great talk.

In short, really excited about how the day at WordCamp unfolded.