What I learned at WordCamp Utah 2010

I’m a big believer in continual professional development. Although I’m an avid WordPress user (this site is a WordPress site), I’ll be the first to say I don’t know everything about WordPress nor do I take advantage of all its many features.

Plus, attending WordCamp meant I could network with other WordPress aficionados in the Salt Lake area and not do yard work today.

Community

The first thing that stands out to me is the strong sense of community that exists among WordPress users. Many of my Social Media Club of Salt Lake City friends were also in attendance. I guess that makes sense because we’re interested in similar things.

Beyond attending your local WordCamp, or Social Media Club events, are there organizations that help connect you to like-minded individuals? I’d suggest getting involved, volunteering and participating in local and virtual events that help you become better at what you do and more connected professionally.

Supporting the community, especially an open source community, is so important. After basically devoting 10 hours a week last year as I led the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City and chaired the Utah Social Media Awards, I understand how valuable it is to have support from your own community.

Plus I’ve been the local chapter president (in Las Vegas) of both PRSA and IABC. So I know all about volunteering for the good of the community and your own profession.

What’s New?

We spent an hour with Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress. He was engaging, open and even entertaining. He shared with us, in a straight-forward Q&A session, his thoughts on the direction of WordPress and what the future holds for Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.

It was also good to hear from other presenters ways they put WordPress to work for their companies and learn of some tools and plugins I haven’t used.

In this digital era, things change so quickly. Staying current on the latest trends and tools is important. Attending conferences like WordCamp helps you keep up with trends and hone your skills.

The Power of Twitter

I love Twitter hashtags for conferences and events. They can archive the online Twitter conversation, kind of as a collective stream of conscience, in one place.

The Twitter hashtag for WordCamp Utah is #wcut. Check out the conversation on Twitter’s search or on What The Hashtag?!

If you want to learn what those in attendance thought was important, check out the Twitter stream. There are a lot of very cool resources included there.

The Power of Online Video

We also spent an hour with Tom Dickson, the creator of Blendtec, who walked us through a history of his Will It Blend? YouTube channel and what it has done for his company.

In a nutshell, instead of a marketing expenditure, the Will It Blend? campaign has put Blendtec in a position where it’s paid to come do Will It Blend? sessions for other companies. What started with a $50 investment has yielded millions and millions of online video views and something like a 700% increase in product sales.

Tom was very entertaining, down to earth, and downright funny. He shared many behind the scenes experiences he has had at Blendtec and specifically with the Will It Blend? campaign, like blowing up a bunch of cigarette lighters in a blender and having the hair on his hands, arms and eyebrows singed.

Tom led a great conversation, and of course, he ended with a Will It Blend? demonstration blending a USB drive that contained the WordPress code with a ceramic WordPress logoed mug. We’re pretty sure it was a first for any WordCamp in the world.

The whole mug wouldn’t blend completely, at least not in the time he gave it, but we’ll cut him a little slack. It was entertaining nevertheless. And he gave the blender away afterwards (with a clean blending jar).

Tom mentioned that their Will It Blend? videos are usually at the top of the list for views, except for recently when the Old Spice campaign got more attention. Someone suggested a new Will It Blend? episode where the Old Spice guy came in and they blended some Old Spice. Could be very funny!

Blendtec certainly is the benchmark for selling a product on YouTube. Their case study shows how effective online video can be for awareness and sales.

Thank You

To all those involved in orchestrating the 2010 WordCamp Utah, thank you! It was an information filled day with great food by The SugarHouse Barbecue Company, sponsored by Bluehost.

I left with some good ideas for improvements to my WordPress installations and two new t-shirts from WordCamp and Bluehost.

An Update — 8.31.10

I’ve been asked for some specific ‘ah-ha’ moments or recommendations of new tools based on what I learned at WordCamp. Instead of taking detailed notes, I used Twitter.

So, I have exported the Twitter conversation from What The Hashtag?! and included it here (a 32-page PDF).

Feel free to download the PDF and look through the Twitter stream.

You’ll find dozens and dozens of URLs and links to some great WordPress resources.