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.

When I heard the idea of Ignite Columbus I was rather intrigued. The idea is simple: people gather, any of which can sign up beforehand to speak. These speakers get 20 slides and 5 minutes to talk about any subject they want, anything at all. So simple, yet so cool. There are many interesting people out there that are passionate about all sorts of thing, most of which I know nothing about. What a great way to share in the knowledge of others.

But ANYTHING? Really? What if some dullard gets up there are puts everyone to sleep? Not a problem, remember, they only get five minutes and then they’re done. So, even if there is a topic that annoys you, in another 4 minutes and change it’s over.

So, in theory it’s cool, but after attending Ignite Columbus 2 last night, I now have very mixed opinions.

The event was hosted by Lextant in their pretty swanky space on the 6th floor of The Smith Brothers Hardware building. EdgeCase, another event sponsor, provided pizza and beer and there was a good crowd of good people. And, I must say, I thought that Dan Rockwell of Lextant did a excellent job as the M.C.

However, after hearing some of the talks I was a bit disappointed. The majority of the field of speakers thought it would be a good idea to use their five minutes to pitch their product or service. I hate to say it, but this sort of ruined my night. I did not commit two hours of my night to listen to a bunch of sales pitches. NO, I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR HOW YOUR BUSINESS CONSULTANCY CAN HELP MY SMALL BUSINESS IN A BAD ECONOMY.

Now, that being said, not all were bad and there were a few that I really enjoyed. Here are three presentations that I felt really fulfilled the spirit of the event:

• Laura Rees (@LaRees), freelance writer, spoke about springboards to ideas and how something as inane as cheese sauce can lead to a variety of good ideas,
• Brian Link (@blinkdaddy), former exec at Digg, spoke about the concept of agile developemnt,
• And, what I would vote as the best presentation of the night came from Joshua Scott, who I have not had the pleasure of meeting. He talked about the S-curve in business. A topic that an entrepreneur sans business degree truly appreciates.

So, will I go to the next Ignite Columbus. Yeah, I will. But this time, I just might prepare a 5 minute talk of my own and I can promise you it won’t have anything to do with my business.