WordCamp – How Do They Do It!
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, then you know that I use wordpress for my website. I attended my first wordpress meetup on a snowy day in January four years ago. I had noticed a recurring announcement about the meetings in a local university’s newsletter for some time and had finally decided to check it out. I sat in a crowded room filled primarily with young computer geeks as the presenter talked about plug-ins – no, not the air freshener variety. I was lost but I told myself that if I continued to attend, eventually it would start to make some sense to me, and four years later, it does.
After that first meeting, one of the organizers helped me move my blog from blogspot.com to wordpress.com and helped me set up my initial wordpress website. Later that year I went to a WordCamp in Dayton, OH. For the phenomenally low price of $20 or $30, I received two days of presentations, plus more food than I could begin to eat, a swag bag with a t-shirt, and an after party for those who chose to stay around for it. And besides that, at the Happiness Bar, I received one-on-one support for problems I was having with my website. An incredible deal!!! And this coming from a woman from a Scotch-German descent who knows something about a bargain.
In this day and age of growing technology and growing prices to support the technology and the staff associated with it, wordpress continues to be an incredible value. You can host a professional website on wordpress.com for a nominal yearly fee. WordPress makes money from placing ads on the websites they host. Or you can set up a wordpress.org website using the wordpress software at no charge. I don’t know about you, but most of the other software packages I’m familiar with run anywhere from $50 to $200.
Tech conferences usually cost in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, yet WordCamps costs a paltry $20-30. How do they do it?
It’s all about community. Members of the wordpress community are very generous with their time and knowledge. I have found this with the members of my local wordpress meetup, and others I met at WordCamp. The presenters at WordCamp are not paid. They enjoy sharing their expertise with others as well as networking with other wordpress users. Others freely offer their service at the Happiness Bar. They also have sponsors to help defray the other costs involved.
Still you might ask, how do they do it? I find it remarkable. In this world were so many people are out to use the internet to make a buck and take advantage of others less knowledgeable than them, the wordpress community is outstanding in their willingness to help at no charge. The cynic in me can’t help but wonder how long this will continue, considering the nature of greed in our world. But in the meantime, I am benefitting from the wordpress community and hope I’m making a small contribution as well.
To find out about Word Camps near you go to WordCamp Central. Jackson WordCamp will be May 5-6. Join us for informative presentations, good food and good people. There will also be an awesome presentation on “Growing Your Reach through Blogging” by yours truly. I hope to see you there!
What has been your experience with the wordpress community? I would love to hear from you.
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