WordCamp Chicago
Whew! WordCamp Chicago is over and it was a long yet amazing weekend. Highlights for me include:
The speaker’s brilliant presentations (even through some really tough critics using the #wcchicago hash tag!) and for the underlying theme that was: be social, get out from behind your blog and utilize the tools that exist. Some people thought some of the ideas were too basic yet I’d challenge them to look at their existing site to see where they are or are not excelling themselves.
Meeting Matt Mullenweg, the creator and genius behind WordPress. This was a total highlight for me because I’ve secretly (well, not so secretly) had a professional crush on this guy for years. He is genius, humble and completely laid back – very cool to meet him.
Meeting Brian Gardner & Cory Miller. Both of these guys have created amazing WordPress themes that I have loved for years and pushed to all of my clients (although, the themes don’t need much pushing to be honest!) and it was cool to finally put a real face to their name and Twitter profile pics.
Meeting all the other cool peeps. I loved seeing some familiar faces, meeting some new people and getting to chat with some of my clients that I have never been able to meet in person. What a great, social and interactive day. It was also great for everyone to get to meet my h-band who came along as well. It was his first business conference with me so it was awesome to share that experience with him and for him to see what these events are all about.
All in all, it was a great day filled with great speakers, great food and most of all, just the ability to meet people that I hadn’t had a chance to before. The other cool thing is that I got asked to speak at a WordCamp on the East Coast next year so I’ll definitely be making my rounds! That and I’ll also be purchasing my tickets for WordCamp Montreal!
Oh, and check out my slides on Slide Share!
Technorati Tags: WordCamp, WordCamp Chicago, WordCamp Montreal, Brian Gardner, Cory Miller, Matt Mullenweg, Rebecca Zwar, Debbie Saro, Larry Null, Erin Blaskie, WordPress, WP, blog, blogs, blogging, blogger
WordCamp Chicago LIVE!
WordCamp is LIVE! I go on at 1:45pm Central (2:45pm Eastern) and you can watch live here… 
Technorati Tags: WordCamp, WordCamp Chicago, live, Erin Blaskie, WordPress, WP, blogging, blog, blogs
Heading to WordCamp Chicago!
Woohoo! It’s arrived… The night before my h-band and I leave for Chicago for WordCamp Chicago 2009.
Now, we’re not going directly there and, as with most things, we’re taking a bit of an indirect route. We’ll be leaving our home tonight at 2am (once my sister arrives to watch our puppies for the next four days) and then we’ll be driving straight to Cleveland, Ohio. We’ve never been to Cleveland or to Ohio so I am looking forward to that. Why are we going there you ask? Well, we’re heading to the infamous Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. It’s been on our “must-see” list for some time so we’re just going to do it!
After spending tomorrow night in downtown Cleveland, we’ll be waking up to head to Chicago. Friday, we’re going to see a baseball game and then get some rest as Saturday is the BIG day… WordCamp Chicago kicks off and I speak at the conference — just after lunch. I am receiving the honor of sharing the stage with Matt Mullenweg (creator of WordPress), Liz Strauss (the epic blogger) and soooooooo many other amazing speakers. Check out the website for full details. Lisa (one of the coordinators of WordCamp Chicago) also featured me on the blog which you can check out here.
I’ll be blogging our adventures down and posting them to my Erin Blaskie YouTube channel and then Steve (h-band) will also be filming my presentation so I can post that to YouTube as well afterward. Watch for that after the event.
I’ve got my camera ready so I can take tons of photos with my idols and I’ll post those to the blog after the event. Iiiiieeee… to say I am excited is an understatement.
So, watch the blog and I’ll try to post from the road although I will be driving an ENORMOUS amount of miles (or kilometers, whatever you prefer) over the next four days so I’m sure I’ll be exhausted! I’ll see you all on Monday.
E.
Technorati Tags: WordCamp Chicago, WordCamp, WordPress, conference, YouTube, Erin Blaskie, Matt Mullenweg, Liz Strauss, Cleveland, Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, blogger, blogging, blogs, blog
Wordcamp Chicago is Getting Closssssser!
Breathe…… (By the way, that photo is of me speaking at WordCamp Toronto!)
This is what I have to keep telling myself!! Sharing a stage with the creator of WordPress is only slightly intimidating 
I’ll be there speaking on the subject of, “Using Blogs & Social Media to Become an Internet Celebrity” where I use a very specific and proven case study to show what I was able to accomplish with my “alter ego” in less than four months.
I’m SO excited about this event it’s not even funny. Here’s why:
- I’ve realized that the place I feel most at home is in the midst of other techno-geeks and lovers of all things Internet. These conferences, Wordcamps, attract exactly that crowd and I heart them to the end of this world.
- I get to speak at the same conference as Matt Mullenweg (creator of WordPress), Liz Strauss (epic blogger), Doug Hanna, Jeremy Wright, Micah Baldwin, David Dalka, Kevin Palmer, Jim Turner and Tim Frick. See the full list of speakers here.
- This is the first conference that my hubbalicious is attending with me! In fact, other than peeking in during my virtual events that I run from my home office, he’s never actually seen me in “action”… I can’t wait for him to see my speak live!
So, if you’re anywhere in the Chicago area, you NEED to get tickets and come!! I’d love to meet you and I promise you, after attending and speaking at Wordcamp Toronto, these events ROCK!! The best part is the ticket price is unbelievable — it’s like thirty bucks or so!! They only have about 67 tickets left so you really have to hurry…. See who else is attending here!
I actually just noticed that a few people that I know through the online world will be there — YAY! I can’t wait to meet you in person…
Ok, go and register NOW and I’ll see you there
Here’s another snapshot from WordCamp Toronto to get you excited!
Technorati Tags: Doug Hanna, Jeremy Wright, Micah Baldwin, David Dalka, Kevin Palmer, Jim Turner, Tim Frick, Brian Gardner, Wordcamp Chicago, WC Chicago, Matt Mullenweg, Liz Strauss, Wordcamp Toronto, Erin Blaskie, becoming an internet celebrity using blogs and social media
WordCamp Toronto Rewind
This past weekend was WordCamp Toronto and I attended with my lead project manager (and sister) Trina Lamarche. We headed down to Toronto on the Thursday around 11am so that we could enjoy the drive down (about three and a half hours from Ottawa) and also so we could sneak in some shopping in the afternoon on Thursday.
We arrived in Toronto around 3pm and after having dinner at the Pickle Barrel and shopping at the Eaton Center, we headed to the CN Tower just after sunset to go up into the Skypod. This is one of the highest observatories in the world and the view is amazing! I have some photos which I’ll post up at some point — just need to get them off of my camera!
On Friday, we woke up nice and early and got ready for WordCamp. We headed over to the event venue which was this really trendy place called the Oasi. We were both dressed pretty business-y but when we got there we realized that WordCamp attendees like to rock their jeans and tees so Trina headed to the car to change LOL It was very cool though – we got swag bags, t-shirts and our WiFi access (no, a WordCamp would not be complete without WiFi!)
The day was amazing — lots of great speakers who talked about everything from the programming side of WP, the functionality side of WP and the business side of WP. I switched my preso idea midday from WP Outsourced to Becoming an Internet Celebrity Using WordPress & Social Media. I’m glad I did! I was last in the day to go and I wanted something sexy, fun and exciting to keep the energy alive!
Below is a short video featuring a bit of that presentation. To see the rest, come to WordCamp Chicago in June or wait until that is over and I’ll release a full video with PowerPoints. If you did attend WordCamp Toronto, I’m happy to release the PowerPoints to you now.
View more of our videos on our YouTube Channel.
(Photo credit: Tomms on Flickr)
Technorati Tags: WordCamp Toronto, WordCamp Chicago, WordCamp, WordPress, WordPress conference, WP, Erin Blaskie, becoming an internet celebrity, Toronto
