WordCamp Chicago

Looking foward to next year! (video)

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:05:21 +0000

We had the greatest time at WordCamp Chicago, didn’t we? I know I met some great people, listened to some very informative talks and learned a lot just being around you guys and soaking up the geek. I want to give a big thanks to everyone who attended - you all made the weekend a great success. We are really looking forward to planning next years event - - we’ve heard your feedback and are taking everything into consideration. Sometime towards the end of the summer, we’ll post here again and actively elicit your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve on an already great weekend in Chicago!

Our speakers at WordCamp Chicago all did such a fabulous job - each of them bringing a wealth of information and resources that we could all learn from and take home with us. Big thanks to all of them for making our WordCamp weekend valuable and informative!

I would like to take this time to also thank our fabulously generous sponsors, for without them, WordCamp Chicago would not have happened: For Dummies (Wiley Publishing), ServerBeach, Margaret Roach, WebDevStudios, Skype, BluePrint Design Studio, StudioPress, E.Webscapes and BlogsAbout Hosting. Thank you!

As we work to get some other video highlights from WordCamp Chicago up on this site - thanks to HDVideo Chicago we do have the following video wrap up of WordCamp Chicago. Enjoy!

Breaking News: WordPress to invade Chicago…developing

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:45:42 +0000

As the excitement gathers for our upcoming weekend in Chicago, the news is rolling in from Chicago WordCampers on some organized meet ups and places to go to meet, greet and eat. I’ll keep this post updated with additional news as it comes in - but here’s the 411 on what I know so far:

Friday June 5th - for those of you who are rolling into Chicago the night before:
1. The folks from WebDevStudios is hosting a Pizza Party: “Lou Malnati’s Fri night, WDS is buying the pizza so come out and get a slice or ten!
2. Bruce Montgomery sent this message in yesterday: “I am inviting all WordCamp attendees and every other WordPress geek in Chicago to come out to meet, greet, drink and eat on Friday June 5 from 5:30pm to 9pm at Jimmy Fig’s Bar and Eatery located just around the corner from UBS Tower at 160 N. Franklin just north of the corner of Randolph and Franklin. Come on out to welcome the WordCampers to Chicago!”
Saturday June 6th - the official WordCamp Chicago meetup is at Morton’s Steakhouse at 6:00 for dinner/drinks. 65 E Wacker Place - Chicago. It’s about 5 minutes from the UBS Tower Center. Big thanks to Liz Strauss for working to reserve a special room for us at Morton’s! Come for drinks - stay for dinner! (note: if staying for dinner, expect to spend approx. $40 - 60 per person, on average)
Sunday June 7th - David Dalka will be at Portillo’s at 100 West Ontario, to experience the rare Chicago food delicacy known as Italian Beef. He welcomes fellow foodies to go on this excursion with him as well. Please tweet “@dalka Portillo’s Sunday #wcchicago if you want to go.

If you know of, or are hosting, any other meet ups - - let me know and I’ll try and update this post as I hear of more: lisa AT lisasabin-wilson DOT com.

Otherwise - it’s a good thing to follow the official WordCamp Chicago hashstag on Twitter to really learn about all the updates and goings on this weekend in real time: #wcchicago

As for me, I will be at Lou Malnati’s on Friday night and Morton’s Steakhouse Saturday night - - what have YOU got planned??

The rumor mill has told me:

Cory Miller from iThemes will be rolling into Chicago on Thursday.
Jacob Santos will be joining us for dinner at Morton’s Saturday night.
Erin Blaskie is driving in from Ottowa - and hitting to Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland before landing in Chicago!
This weekend at WordCamp Chicago, Jeremy Wright will also be celebrating his 30th birthday! Happy Birthday, Jeremy!
Grant Gannon wants to wear a t-shirt this weekend that says “I know @bgardner“
Deanne Thomas will be there
Melissa Feeney is wearing something between casual and dressy - casual chic?

Subscribe to the #wcchicago hashtag on Twitter and YOU can get all the WordCamp Chicago gossip, too! Also, be sure to use #wcchicago when you tweet about the event so everyone can stay in the loop.

The loop! The Chicago Loop……..The WordPress Loop - - I crack myself up! See you there

Speaker Spotlight: Kevin Palmer

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:08:49 +0000

Kevin Palmer is the social media guru behind the site Social Media Answers, and we’re happy to welcome him to WordCamp Chicago where he will speak on the topic of Using WordPress as Your Social Media Hub. It’s getting somewhat confusing for folks to know where Facebook ends and Twitter begins — and how does that all relate to your blog? Kevin brings his wealth of expertise on the subject to offer some tips and advice on navigating through the world of social media and blogs.

From Kevin’s bio:

I have been active in the world of social media for over five years. I was an early adopter to the social networking site MySpace, on there I used my marketing expertise to create one of the most read personal blogs on the website culminating in millions of page views in the year 2005. Over this time period my expertise grew from social networking to other social media staples such as blogging, podcasting, video, micro-blogging and social bookmarking including being a paid writer for b5media writing a blog covering the social media world. Through this exposure I began to consult with businesses ranging from independent film companies, traditional print publications, to small businesses on how to use social media and internet marketing to brand themselves, their companies, drive traffic and increase sales. My consulting experience led me to work with Frontal Lobe Films as a Vice President of marketing where I helped construct social media strategies for various projects including a marketing plan for the company’s trip to the Cannes Film Festival.

You can follow Kevin on Twitter @KevinPalmer

Sponsor Spotlight: ServerBeach

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:35:07 +0000

WordCamp Chicago warmly welcomes the fine folks from ServerBeach as one of our generous sponsors this year. ServerBeach has a long history with the WordPress community, being one of the choice providers for hosting servers for WordPress.com is just a start - ServerBeach also genuinely supports WordPress by sponsoring several WordCamp events and just recently, hosted yours truly at the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin Texas where we gave away free copies of WordPress For Dummies and some great free WordPress themes to folks who stopped by their booth. As a result, ServerBeach was listed as “Top 10 Companies Most Discussed on Twitter at South by Southwest“!

ServerBeach’s official company blog is hosted at WordPress.com, as well. We are proud to have them as an official sponsor of WordCamp Chicago ‘09 and send out a BIG thanks for their support. (hint: ServerBeach has also donated some great schwag for WordCamp Chicago attendees, too!)

A little about ServerBeach, the company:

By Geeks, for Geeks.

ServerBeach, a PEER 1 Dedicated Hosting company, delivers powerful dedicated servers, convenient server management tools, and 24×7×365 LifeGuard Support™ all on PEER 1’s rock-solid IT infrastructure and SuperNetwork™ backbone. Prices start at just $75/mo. If you want complete control and root access to your dedicated server without any managed support services, Dedicated Hosting is right for you. Eliminating managed support services saves you money that can be used towards other areas like web development, design, and marketing. Our clients include WordPress, Dogster and Tailrank.

Highlights

Choice of Data Center – East, West or Central US
24×7×365 LifeGuard Support™
24-Hour Setup Guarantee
100% Network Uptime Guarantee
Root Access and Server Management Tools
Variety of OS like RedHat, Ubuntu and Debian
Personal Account Manager
Rock-solid PEER 1 IT Infrastructure and SuperNetwork™

Contact ServerBeach

You can also follow @ServerBeach on Twitter!

Speaker Spotlight: David Dalka

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:58:21 +0000

We’re excited to wlecome David Dalka to WordCamp Chicago. David is speaking Saturday afternoon on the topic of: Using Blogs to Create Marketing Innovation, Competitive Advantage. David’s website can be found at: http://www.daviddalka.com/

Prior to 9/11, David worked in institutional financial services including BlackRock (BLK) during it’s 80 to 800 person growth phase. At BlackRock he led initiatives that transformed quarterly and monthly reports into daily conversations with clients via web portals that created incremental improvements. BlackRock leveraged via customer driven innovation and creation of standards that reduced market frictions. David talked about this in a recent interview about social media as an innovation tool – which is similar to what he did at BlackRock with just a telephone and email back in the 1990’s.

After spending time in a Fortune 500 company after getting his MBA, David returned to his entrepreneurial roots, spending time recently in startups in mobile search and cost per action advertising. David has noticed correlations about how startups have trouble getting new technology to dislodge legacy providers and processes in large companies that struggle with innovation. David has identified several of the root causes of these issues and is ever so slowly starting to educate and speak about how to reorganize management profitably to senior executives (CEO, CMO, CFO, boards of directors, etc) as an executive search marketing management consultant.

On Sunday, after the conclusion of Matt Mullenweg’s speech, David will also be going to Portillo’s at 100 West Ontario, to experience the rare Chicago food delicacy known as Italian Beef. He welcomes fellow foodies to go on this excursion with him as well. Please tweet “@dalka Portillo’s Sunday #wcchicago if you want to go.

Some additional links from David:
Recent interview about social media as an innovation, Reorganize management profitably and Executive Search Marketing Management Consultant.

Random Posts

Sold out in Chicago

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:22:33 +0000

As I’ve announced on our Twitter, as well as noted on our registration page - as of last week, WordCamp Chicago is a sold out event! The venue we booked, the UBS Tower Michicgan Ballroom, has a max capacity of 200, so we had to cap our ticket sales at 200 and we, unfortunately, are not able to over book beyond that number.

I cannot begin to tally up the number of emails I’ve received from folks who didn’t get to register in time before the tickets sold out. As a result of that, I did call the organizers at the UBS Tower to find out if we could squeeze in more - - one more? 5 more..10? The answer was no. They have some pretty strict fire codes in downtown Chicago and we’re not allowed to bring in more than the maximum of 200.

While, on some level, I would like to apologize for not being able to accommodate more people this year - - I’m really pleased with the turn out and interest in the very first WordCamp Chicago event. We really appreciate everyone interest in a WordCamp hosted in the Windy City, though - and will most definitely keep this in mind for our planning efforts for next year.

For the people who have emailed in - please know that if there were a way for me to sneak in another person or two, I would do it in a heartbeat. It’s not that we don’t want you there - we just cannot support the numbers this year.

I have, however, been able to make connections between some people who registered early, but found they needed to cancel. These folks have been able to sell their tickets to people who didn’t make the registration deadline. At this time, I don’t know of anyone who has tickets up for grabs due to cancellation - but will keep my ears open over the next week and if I hear of any, I will surely let people know. We want as many people as possible to benefit from the great weekend we have planning in Chicago next week.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

A few lingering details for WordCamp Chicago folks

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:21:51 +0000

A week from today - we’ll gather. We’ll talk, share, laugh, learn and listen - with 200 of you coming (well, 199 excluding myself!), it is sure to be a fun and very interesting weekend! I’m really excited that WordCamp Chicago is just right around the corner - - it feels like I’ve been waiting forever! A few details you should all know before you leave home:

The official WordCamp Chicago hashtag: #wcchicago
Check the FAQ page for directions, parking and hotel information. (I have a call out to find out if there are any associated costs with the parking at UBS Tower - I don’t think there are, but I just want to check and be sure. I probably won’t hear from them until Monday)
Registration starts at 8:30 am - present your tickets at the door and you’ll get your name badge and a few fun extras!
Brian Gardner will kick things off with opening remarks at 9:15am with the first speaker of the day, Liz Strauss, at 9:30
Lunch is being provided on Saturday June 6 from 12:00 - 1:30pm. For the foodies out there - some examples of what will be on the menu
- West Coast Turkey Breast ~avocado, tomato, red onion on a whole wheat baguette
- Classic Roast Beef & Cheddar ~Kaiser Bun
- One North Tuna Salad ~grilled red onion, celery, whole wheat baguette
- Assorted garnishes, Chips, pasta salad
- A dessert bar
- Water, herbal teas, coffee and soda
Breakfast is being provided on Sunday, June 7 from 8am - 9am - and idea of what is on that menu:
- Assortment of Danish, Muffins, Doughnuts and Bagels with a Variety of Cream Cheeses, Butter and Jelly
- A Platter of Seasonal Fresh Fruit
Coffee, water, tea and soda refresh provided throughout both days
We’ve extended Sunday until 1pm (instead of the originally scheduled noon) just to give folks a change to mingle and chat a bit before going home after the last speaker of the day.

LOTS of folks are asking about possible get togethers or after-parties. To my knowledge there is nothing official planned - but if you know of one, or are organizing one - - let us know here in the comments and be sure to TWEET it using the #wcchicago hashtag so everyone knows! And don’t forget that WordCamp Chicago has its own Facebook page - that might also be a good place to post about any gatherings you know about.

I’ve gotten lots of questions about pizza in Chicago - - anyone know of a great “not to miss” place? I’m not a native Chicagoean (is that a word?)…so I’m not sure. Other questions included great places to eat or see in the area from folks coming in from out of town - - so any Chicago information you’d like to share, please do.

Aside from that - I’m really looking forward to seeing you all in Chicago next weekend!

Random Posts

Speaker Spotlight: Micha Baldwin

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:41:28 +0000

Micah is the VP, Business Development and Chief Evangelist for Lijit Networks, a Boulder, CO startup, provides publishers a robust trusted search and stats tool. Lijit is the sixth startup Micah has been involved with, (having sold his last startup, Current Wisdom, in the beginning of 2007).

Micah is well versed with online social media, using it strategically since 1995, and more recently starting the #followfriday meme on Twitter. A frequent speaker, you can read more about Micah’s philosophy of success through failure here on his blog. Learn To Duck.

I had the opportunity to meet Micah at SXSW Interactive 2009 and am looking forward to seeing him again at WordCamp Chicago - this time, with the fortunate ability of hearing him speak on the topic of: Building and Online Influence: Why Bloggers Blog.

Micah claims in his latest blog post that he has not yet experienced the greatest moment in his life yet. Is it possible that WordCamp Chicago could be it???

In his very own words, Micah describes a bit about himself:

There are a few things that I truly enjoy: writing (blogging and creatively) art (collecting and appreciating), teaching (mostly through coaching youth lacrosse), and hanging out with my dogs (Billie and Taylor). Beyond that, that “official” bio abobve can tell you about my work stuff.

Looking forward to hearing Micah’s talk at WordCamp Chicago! You can follow Micah on Twitter: @micah

Sponsor Spotlight: WebDevStudios

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:31:19 +0000

WordCamp Chicago warmly welcomes WebDevStudios as one of our very generous sponsors who are helping us make WordCamp Chicago a successful and fun weekend for everyone!

WebDevStudios are providers of SEO, social media and online marketing consultation and WordPress site development solutions.

Completed WordPress work projects by the folks at WebDevStudios include sites such as: Cornelia Marie, Asbury Park Chess Fest and BlabThis. Check out their full porfolio of client work to get an idea of the great work that they do.

WebDevStudios was co-founded by Brad Williams and Brian Messenlehner, and they are located in New Jersey. As they state on their site “If you can dream it, we can build it!” Give them a call at 732.749.9546 or contact them to discuss your ideas and how WebDevStudios can help you today!

I want to extend a big thank you to Brad and Brian from WebDevStudios for their generous support. WordCamp Chicago is grateful for their generosity. See you in Chicago!

Speaker Spotlight: Erin Blaskie

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:20:25 +0000

We’re getting soooooooo close to WordCamp Chicago!!

One of the exciting speakers joining us on June 6 and 7th in Chicago is Erin Blaskie, the CEO and Visionary behind Business Services, ETC. Erin will be speaking on the topic of becoming an internet celebrity using blogs. A blog can really launch a person into internet stardom - we’ve all seen it happen around us and Erin touches on the the methods and madness of how it happens. I’m looking forward to hearing her speak very much!

A little bio on Erin, from her website:

Erin Blaskie is a born entrepreneur, yoga enthusiast and passionate fashionista.

At the age of 21, Erin launched her very first business - Business Services, ETC. When BSETC first launched, it was started as a virtual assistance company - providing top notch administrative and technical support to companies around the globe. It quickly morphed into a multi-VA team and took the Internet Marketing world by storm.

At the age of 23, Erin then launched her coaching business - The VA Coach. Through this medium, Erin coached, trained and inspired individuals to create virtual assistance businesses and turn them into thriving, six-figure businesses. Erin delivered group coaching programs which can now be purchased as self-study programs on her website.

After supporting entrepreneurs for over four years, Erin has now moved into her latest transformative role. Erin is now an Internet Marketing Strategist who provides solid business savvy and Internet Marketing advice to entrepreneurs from around the world. Erin’s clients are in all stages of business growth - from infancy to the multi-million dollar level - and Erin’s mission is to help her clients reach their goals.

You can also follow Erin on Twitter: @ErinBlaskie

WordCamp Chicago

Looking foward to next year! (video)

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