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My WordCamp NYC 2012 Recap : 800 WordPress fans assemble

June 12, 2012 By Chrisdigital 8 Comments

-Steve Bruner does the wrap up after a marathon of WordPressWell, it was that time of year again. The time when people’s thoughts turn to warmer weather, cool drinks, blockbuster summer movies, and ofcourse how to improve their WordPress skills. Maybe that last one is just me… or not. Recently, (during WordCamp New York City : June 9th – 10th) WordPress themers, pro bloggers, development rockstars, and newbies thirsty for knowledge got a chance to assemble from all over the world much like Marvel’s Avengers to rub elbows with WordPress core developers (and more importantly each other) in the spirit of learning.

Since I had such a positive experience in 2010, and due to the fact New York took a collective hiatus in 2011, I was looking forward to another wonderful event this time around after all the anticipation. Turns out many people were looking forward to this as well, because we easily hit in the neighborhood of 800 attendees. This year was really special for me personally, because I decided to introduce my son to WordPress. He was excited about assisting me in volunteering, and getting a window into what I do for a living. He also looked forward to being in the “beginner track” sessions, because he has dreams of running or being part of a school newspaper in the future.

[ ↓ Jump down to my list of favorite WordCamp NYC 2012 presentations ]

“Focused” And Diverse

Father and son WordCamp New York 2012 volunteers and attendees pose for the cameraIn addition, this year felt more “focused” and mature to me. That is probably a side-effect of my own knowledge, and the maturation of WordPress itself (WordPress 3.4 launched June 14th.) Also noteworthy, are the facts: like myself several people brought their kids, there were a lot more female presenters, and the topics spanned the spectrum of “improving how you blog” to “getting into the guts of WordPress and coming out the other side” figuratively speaking.

Due to my affinity for this event, I answered the call for the second time in three years and volunteered to aid the WordCamp NYC 2012 team to stage one of the most diverse events I’ve ever attended- diverse in attendees, and in presentation content.

The Fellowship Of WordPress

Shot of the crowd that was starting to develop for keynote WordCamp NYC 2012 speech on SundayIf you’ve never been to one of these WordCamp events, you really missing a treat. WordCamps are hosted year round, all over the country- supported by local Meetup groups, sponsors, and the WordPress foundation. Speaking for “our event” (WordCamp NYC), there is a real spirit of “brotherhood” and “tutelage” at the event that everyone buys into.

Since the event was held at Baruch College (mostly in their 55 Lexington Ave. location) It was always an interesting proposition navigating the hallways and watching people do the lost-freshman-first-day-of-high-school routine trying to find the room numbers of the different sessions. But as usual people made it work.

Shoutout To The Organizers, Volunteers And Individual Sponsors

WordCamp New York City 2012 Organizers take a bow at the urging of Steve Bruner during closing wordsThis year the hard assignment of organizing this year’s WordCamp went to a crack team of intrepid souls from our local WPNYC.org group. If you want to shoot them a note of thanks, Check out this WordCamp NYC 2012 organizer Twitter list. We also had 40 people step up as volunteers and 22 people step up as individual sponsors, including myself.

Why You Should Volunteer Next Time

Just a little secret… I love volunteering, especially for morning setup and lunch because they are really critical. Not only that, but you get to meet the most people which helps if you want to turn to a neighbor for clarity on a point during a speaker’s session. I also like to meet, or work with the speakers if they have to register at your table, or if you happen to be their room monitor. It’s really a great advantage, you get the see the event in a whole different perspective than just being an attendee.

The Theme Of WordCamp NYC 2012

Andrew Nacin walks the crowd through details of the query at WordCamp NYC 2012If I had to pick a theme for this year’s WordCamp New York City I would say it was: “There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way. Learn the right way.” There was a lot of head-nodding in the sessions I attended (even if it was only me doing it.) I definitely think we’ll see a lot about “best practices in WordPress” in the near future. Take a look at this developing page on CSS in the WordPress Codex for example.

The Biggest Things That Stuck With Me As A Designer/Developer:

1. Stay on top of your updates, and take proper security precautions to protect your install.
2. Don’t work against how WordPress works, if that can be avoided at all.
3. Learn the nuances of why WordPress does what it does, this will make you a better developer.
4. If you don’t like the way WordPress works then become a core contributor and patch it, or file a trac bug.
5. We all have access to a really great WordPress community that’s willing to help.

For My Teenager, His Take-aways Were:

WCNYC 2012 - Mark Jaquith speaks as Andrew Nacin deals with the hecklers from his own team during keynote at WordCamp New York1. He really got a ground level introduction to the software.
2. Really enjoyed learning about SEO and taking full advantage of the tools Google offers.
3. Loved the concept of guest blogging and different things you could do to raise your online profile.
4. He really liked the idea of learning a trade that he felt would be in demand
5. He liked learning about all the useful plugins at his disposal especially for things like video integration.

A Lot To Process

This WordCamp was “off the chain” busting out with content, 80 sessions were held on Saturday alone with more on Sunday including repeats by popular demand. It was a lot to process even for a veterans, but oh so awesome ;-)

The coolest things I learned about by far were the new debugger tools available (see slides below), and the new Theme Customizer tool in WordPress 3.4 : download the latest WordPress, (3.4 or later) is out now!

My List Of Homework / Favorite Presentations (*means I saw in person)

Daryl Koopersmith demoing a new feature coming in WordPress 3.4: new theme customizer at WCNYC 2012These are WordCamp NYC 2012 presentations I saw live or wish I saw (like the Mets no-hitter.) It was so hard making choices! This is a list of 20 out of 80! I originally just wanted to highlight 10.

It’s really hilarious and an embarrassment of riches that so much information was offered to the attendees in one place (and in some cases direct from the WordPress VIP developer team.)

I’m not going to bore you any further, or steal the thunder from any of these slide presentations, so just check them out for yourself…

1. Brad Williams – WordPress Security
2. Boone Gorges – Using Git for Sane WordPress Development [Sunday]*
3. Mo Jangda – WordPress Debugging*
4. Andrew Nacin- You Don’t Know Query [Sunday]*
5. Daryl Koopersmith – Intro To Javascript In WordPress* (and the Theme Customizer walk-through for WordPress 3.4 on Sunday)
Snapshot of WordCamp NYC 2012 schedule : lots of content6. Alexandar Sapountzis and Jeffrey Marx – Customizing the loop*
7. Sonja Leix – WordPress Responsive Design Bootcamp
8. John Havlik – The Power Of Custom Post Types*
9. Sarah Whinnem- WordPress Hierachy and Custom Templates
10. Mel Choyce – Alas, No Mind: Designer-Developer Communication
11. Jeremy Clarke = Dry CSS – Theories, Methods And Tools For Scalable Stylesheets
12. Helen Hou-Sandi – Making Plugins and Themes disappear in into the WordPress Admin
13. Jason Paul – WordPress As A Custom CMS
14. Siobhan McKeown – Killer Docs For Devs
15. Mason James – Supporting WordPress:Caring For Your Clients And Community
16. Ben Doherty – WordPress On The Command-Line
17. Jake Goldman – What Would Core Do?
18. Erick Hitter – Moving beyond the Codex: Learning WordPress from itself
19. Kathryn Presner – A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
20. Alex Miranda – Google Loves WordPress – Blogging For SEO

If want to learn more, checkout the WordCamp NYC 2012 Website. If you want follow-up info just check the #wcnyc hashtag on Twitter. Also my Meetup buddy Jean-Pierre Welch (@jpwelch) has a running Delicious.com feed of all the available WordCamp NYC 2012 #wcnyc slides from the event and eventually the videos will be available online as well.

Sponsors

Jean-Pierre Welch and Chris Carvey chat with Austin Gunter of WPEngine during lunch on Sunday at WordCamp New York CitySpecial shoutout to the WordCamp NYC 2012 sponsors for the free swag and the support. Especially the @WPEngine guys who gave any #wcnyc attendee that was interested a free personal account for life! I got into a great dialogue with their team and they’re really committed to sponsoring and promoting WordCamps across the country. Check them out if you’re interested in a hosting company that believes in WordPress. The t-shirts were printed up by Graf-X Unlimited in Brooklyn. Please visit, support and tweet about the sponsors of our event to encourage them for the future.

Other Recaps, Please Comment

If I have left out anything important, if you see any glaring typos let me know. Also, if you have your own WordCamp recap, please comment, shoot me an email, or hit me up on twitter (@chrisdigital) I’ll update the post:

1. Zachery Hogan : WordCamp NYC 2012 Has Come and Gone

2. Sarah Gooding : 12 Fantastic Presentations from WordCamp NYC

3. Austin Gunter : WORDCAMP 2012 RECAP

4. Artiatesia Deal : WordCamp New York City 2012 Recap from a Volunteer POV

5. Content Robot @ WordCamp NYC 2012

6. Nancy Loderick : WordCamp NYC 2012 – An Excellent Adventure

7. Hal Goodtree : Top Tip from WordCamp New York City

8. Poka Yoke Design : Attending The WordCamp NYC 2012 Conference

9. Mike Toppa : WordCamp New York City 2012

Read more on ChrisDigital’s Digital Designer Blog:

1. The Importance of Social Media and Your Online Persona

2. Responsive Design: WordPress NYC Meetup Recap

3. NYC Tech Startup Tour Meetup Recap: ideeli and Skillshare

Filed Under: WordPress Tagged With: #wcnyc, #wpnyc, Baruch College, Slide Presentations, Wordcamp, WordCamp New York, WordCamp NYC 2012

The Importance of Social Media and Your Online Persona

June 11, 2012 By Chrisdigital Leave a Comment

Importance of social media audiobook narrators or any industryThis month of June got quite the kick off, as my friend Robin Miles asked me to head down to the Jacob Javitz Convention Center to participate in a speaking panel. This panel was a feature for a crowd of audiobook narrators as part of the annual Audio Publishers Association/Book Expo America event titled “The State of Audio Book Narration.” As she elaborated on the details, she felt the discussion needed an added twist. That’s where I came in.

The panel already had a noted list of industry professionals booked (listed below) and since she had particular concerns about social media, mainly that her members could benefit from some of the “geekery” floating around in my head- she pitched the idea that I should share some of our conversations about the Web with the larger group. I’m glad she did, because I accepted and had a great time.

In preparing my remarks I collaborated with the other panelists about what would best help the group. Robin and John McElroy (our moderator) were particularly helpful in shaping the conversation. Since I was a guest to this community I wanted to be a team player and “help the ball club win.” So after some back and forth, then some last minute tweaks- I was satisfied we had something that was a basis for good conversation. (See slide link below.)

Slides And Goals

Social media is big and confusingMy slides are posted here on slideshare.net. My goals were short and sweet, and goes a little something like this…

1. Communicate the importance of the Web in current American/International culture.
See slide #2 which discusses this in particular, and if you’re interested in the source of some of these assertions- Check out Mary Meeker’s Latest Stunning Presentation About The State Of The Web.

2. Stress the current trends of buying and hiring decisions were being influenced by Internet searches and social media. Those interested should check this out: New Revelations on Facebook, Background Screening, and Privacy.

3. Lay down some rules of the road for setting up your online “persona.”
See slide #3, I make references to “Me 2.0, Revised and Updated Edition: 4 Steps to Building Your Future by Dan Schawbel.”

4. Offer some basic marketing tips. These are disbursed all over the presentation, so click through to get an idea. In addition, “The Thank you Economy” by Gary Vaynerchuk has an interesting take on strategy as it relates to social media.

5. Talk about the paradox of old-school business methods working hand-in-hand with modern day networking. See slide #6 which offers some bullet points of what I mean.

The Take-Aways

World is going backwards as it speeds to futureThe Q&A was lively, the crowd was really into it, and I learned quite a bit about their industry by being there. They also really appreciated my presentation and the “on the fly” commentary on the two case studies I included. I want to give a shout out to Simon Vance that was gratified I thought he was doing several things right.

I think for a lot of attendees, I de-mystified the social media/marketing process when I told them to focus on the target audience they are trying to reach and come up with a manageable plan. Absence of a plan, especially in “social media” will mean you’re at the mercy of whatever Google can scrape off the Internet to tell a story about you. Even worse if you not “searchable” at all you will lose business to others.

In addition, I stressed trying to “talk” to their users and people they are marketing to, watch their page traffic. Get a sense of how they are perceived, and what their audience is asking of them so they can be more responsive.

There were some really great conversations after the panel. One of my favorites was with a gentleman that was quite annoyed that he had to actively participate in some form of self-promotion, which tickled me quite a bit. So I turned his mock anger on it’s head with this series of questions…

“Are there people in the industry that make you life easier? …Make you feel comfortable in the booth? …Perhaps you want to work with again? Maybe you want to talk about that?”

“I’m sure you’ll get a lot of mileage out of that, and give people a behind the scenes look of how you work. In addition, your colleagues will appreciate the positive feedback, and this will give you a bit of a theme and strategy to your social media postings.”

I saw a lightbulb go on over his head.

The Biggest Lesson

John McElroy, Chris Carvey, Dan Zitt afterwards at the mixerThe biggest lesson I tried to convey was: Be an active participant in developing your online brand. Think of others first, and how they can benefit from your posts, (e.g. tips you can share, your unique knowledge on a subject matter), and this will make you shine in the end possibly bringing you more work.

For me personally, this event was awesome. Once we got warmed up the panel really got flowing and we provided great benefit to the assembled group. I especially made a concerted effort to emphasize other panelists points and I got a lot out of it learning the nuances of another industry. Although I deal with clients with varying degrees of tech-savvy-ness all the time, it’s important to remember not everybody is “wired in” to Web-related strategy as I try to be. It was really fun talking to the attendees during the Q&A and afterwards. I will definitely do it again. Someone even came up to me and asked if I was interested in addressing a group of SAG actors :-)

The Noted Panelists:

John McElroyJohn McElroy (our moderator) is President and Executive Producer of Eljin Productions, Inc. In the audiobook industry since the early 1990s, he has produced and abridged hundreds of programs. He has won three Grammy Awards and has been nominated for two others. In 2002 he was co-recipient of the Audio Publishers Association Hero Award for his work with Stephen King on the Wavedancer Foundation. He continues to serve on the board of The Haven Foundation, the successor to Wavedancer.

 

Dan ZittDan Zitt is the Director of Audio Production at Random House Inc. In his sixteen-year career, he has produced well over two thousand audiobooks, and he currently oversees production teams in New York and Los Angeles that produces over four hundred audiobook titles a year. His team’s productions have garnered Audies, Grammys, and Odyssey Award winners. Most recently he recorded First Lady Michele Obama for her audiobook, American Grown.

 

Tavia GilbertTavia Gilbert is a multiple Audie nominee and Earphones and Parent’s Choice Award-winning producer, narrator, and writer Tavia Gilbert has appeared on stage and in film. School Library Journal has called the performances of this highly-acclaimed actress “as close as you can get to a full cast narration with a solo voice.” She has narrated nearly 150 multi-cast and solo voice audiobooks.

 

Christopher Carvey you can read about me here.

Special Thanks

Robin MilesSpecial thanks to Robin Miles (our facilitator.) Here’s a little about her… Robin began narrating audiobooks at American Foundation for the Blind’s Talking Books Studio in 1994 and now boasts over 200 titles covering many different genres. She is a regular narrator for several different commercial audiobook producers, and in addition to fiction, autobiography, sociology and children’s titles, Robin has recorded an exhibit for the Museum of Natural History in NYC, led sexual harassment training on the Internet, imparted New York’s legal codes for disabled lawyers, and she continues to provide dubbing and dialogue for dozens of feature films and television shows.

The Books

Here are some of the books I reference in the slides or mentioned in the Q&A:

Me 2.0, Revised and Updated Edition: 4 Steps to Building Your Future by Dan Schawbel

[From Book Description] There is no job security anymore, which means that the way we manage our careers has forever changed. Now, everyone in the world is your competition and the single greatest differentiator you have is your personal brand. With social media tools, blogs, and mobile applications, there are endless opportunities to become known and connect with other people.

In Me 2.0, personal branding expert Dan Schawbel gives you all the tools you need for building a powerful personal brand that WILL give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace, including:

· A 4-step process for discovering, creating, communicating and maintaining your personal brand.

· How to use all the latest social media tools, including video, blogs, and social networks for job search and career development.

· The secrets to networking effectively – both online and offline.

· Proven branding advice from industry experts and insiders.

Whether you’re looking for your first big job, want to climb the corporate ladder, or are eager to jumpstart your own business venture, Me 2.0 will help you achieve lasting success!

 

The Zen of Social Media Marketing (2012 Edition) by Shama Hyder Kabani

[From Book Description] Social media is a crucial tool for success in business today. People are already talking about your business using social media, whether you’re using it or not. By becoming part of the conversation, you can start connecting directly to your customers, as well as finding new ones, easily and inexpensively spreading the word about your products or services.

But social media marketing isn’t like traditional marketing—and treating it that way only leads to frustration. Let Shama Hyder Kabani, social media expert and president of web marketing firm The Marketing Zen Group, teach you the “zen” of social media marketing: how to access all the benefits of social media marketing without the stress!

With a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Chris Brogan, The Zen of Social Media Marketing outlines the most popular social media tools, from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, and teaches you how to use them, step by step. Kabani provides proven strategies for success from the businesses she works with every day, along with shortcuts and tips to help you make the most of your time and energy.

 

The Thank you Economy by GaryVaynerchuk

[From Book Description] Here renowned entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk reveals how companies big and small can scale that kind of personal, one-on-one attention to their entire customer base, no matter how large, using the same social media platforms that carry consumer word of mouth. The Thank You Economy offers compelling, data-driven evidence that we have entered into an entirely new business era, one in which the companies that see the biggest returns won’t be the ones that can throw the most money at an advertising campaign, but will be those that can prove they care about their customers more than anyone else. The businesses and brands that harness the word-of-mouth power from social media, those that can shift their culture to be more customer-aware and fan-friendly, will pull away from the pack and profit in today’s markets.

Extra Credit

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

[From Book Description] Today’s online influencers are Web natives who trade in trust, reputation, and relationships, using social media to accrue the influence that builds up or brings down businesses online. In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand’s influence, reputation, and, of course, profits.

In this revised paperback version, learn how businesses are using the latest online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can use those networks to positively impact your business. Combining high-level theory and practical actions, this guide delivers actionable steps and case studies that show how social media can positively impact your business.

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki

[From Book Description] Enchantment, as defined by bestselling business guru Guy Kawasaki, is not about manipulating people. It transforms situations and relationships. It converts hostility into civility and civility into affinity. It changes the skeptics and cynics into the believers and the undecided into the loyal. Enchantment can happen during a retail transaction, a high-level corporate negotiation, or a Facebook update. And when done right, it’s more powerful than traditional persuasion, influence, or marketing techniques.

Kawasaki argues that in business and personal interactions, your goal is not merely to get what you want but to bring about a voluntary, enduring, and delightful change in other people. By enlisting their own goals and desires, by being likable and trustworthy, and by framing a cause that others can embrace, you can change hearts, minds, and actions.

Contact Me

Reach out to me if you’d like me to talk to your group :-)

Read more on ChrisDigital’s Digital Designer Blog:

1. 16 Twitter rules for high performance results

2. My WordCamp NYC 2012 Recap : 800 WordPress fans assemble

3. Responsive Design: WordPress NYC Meetup Recap

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: apac, panel, Slide Presentations, social media, social media performance, social media strategy