If you’re reading WordCamp US Recap – Part 2 first, don’t forget to read WordCamp US Recap – Part 1. In the first part, I covered the introduction to WordCamp US, gave thanks to my boss at Yoast, Joost, and recapped some of the pre-party events that went on. There’s also some cool pictures so you can see all the fun that went on. 🙂
In Part 2, I’m covering all of Day 1 of the first WordCamp US!
There are a LOT of pictures in this post, so please do note that it may load slower, and might not load so well on mobile devices. Also, I’m not a professional photographer, or a whiz at selfies. Some pics may be a little shaky. Just laying that that out there on the table that I tried to take good pics. (LOL)
I’ll go back through to optimize photos when I can.
WordCamp US – Day 1
Team Yoast stayed at the wonderful Windsor Suites, so we got together and had breakfast. The Con Murphy pub that is attached to the hotel was wonderful.
Once we arrived at the Pennsylvania Convention center, it was amazing to see how many people there were, as well as all the great sponsors. I went ahead and took a few pics of the room where the opening remarks were held.
After opening remarks, I went to check out the Happiness Bar, and they already had people being helped. There were a lot of volunteers.
There were so many talks to choose from. I have to admit that the lightning talks were really interesting to watch. Each of the speakers had to pack a lot of information into such a short time, but they all rocked it. I enjoyed EVERY single one of the talks I sat in on. The WordCamp US organizers really did an amazing job!
Just a note: As I’m made aware of each talk’s video being posted to WordPress.TV, I will make sure to link to the video so you can also enjoy the talk.
Talks attended on Day 1 of WordCamp US
Josepha Haden spoke on Communities and The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense. This was a really good one, and is really useful for people who offer support. Josepha’s talk On WordPress.tv.
Kyle Maurer presented on Contributing To WordPress Meta. Kyle’s talk on WordPress.tv.
Judi Knight spoke on Starting/Growing your WordPress Meetup Community.
Andrea Rennick did an amazing job on sharing her experiences with WordPress, as well as sharing the experiences of other WordPressers in her talk, WordPress: Changing Lives. I really appreciate that Andrea reached out to me to include in this talk, but it could’ve been anyone, as we all have our own unique story to share. The other people mentioned also had amazing stories to hear about. Andrea’s own story is extremely touching, and you may want to give her a hug if you see her at a future WordCamp. See Andrea’s talk on WordPress.TV.
Greg Brown did an interesting talk on “A Survey of Elasticsearch Usage.” I’m actually considering on tinkering with this further for my own site, so I was happy to sit in on his talk.
David Bisset shared some BuddyPress inspiration in his talk, Building Next-Generation Projects With BuddyPress.
Of course, I had to sit in on Andrew Nacin’s talk on Advanced Topics in WordPress Development.
So that ended the last of the talks that I attended for WordCamp US- Day 1.
Some hallway fun at WordCamp US – Day 1
Of course, I couldn’t forget to share some of the fun ongoings in the hallways during WordCamp US. On day 1, there was a lot.
Day 1 After party hosted by SiteGround Hosting
There were a lot of parties scheduled for Day 1 of WordCamp US. Our community manager at Yoast, Taco extended an invite to the rest of the team, to hang out with Hristo Pandjarov, at the SiteGround’s After Party. The After party was held at Charlie was a sinner, in Philadelphia, PA. Yes, that is the name of the bar.
Lots of fun. Let the pictures speak for themselves. 😉
For a bit, I sat with a lady named Michele Roper who does real estate out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and she uses WordPress. It was awesome to hear her story with how WordPress has helped her.
There were so many cool stories from others.
Big thanks to Taco for such an awesome idea, and also a very huge thanks to SiteGround for hosting an event. I truly appreciate that all these people had made Day 1 of WordCamp US so memorable.
What talks did you attend on Day 1 of WordCamp US? Which after party did you attend? Have any cool stories to share?
This series is not done. I still have another part, WordCamp US Recap – Part 3.
Looks like you had a great event. Some known faces like Ileane Smith and so on. I would love to go to one of these camps. Nice pictures Nile.
Thanks Shalu! Yes… I was really excited to see Ileane. I’ve been to Philly a few times, and even though Ileane is from there, we’ve not found the time to meet in person until WCUS. 🙂
Nile, was great to get a chance to sit and talk. Looking forward to the next time!
Of course! Can’t wait… until then… we have the Interwebs! 😀
Great post,thanks for sharing to see this post…Inspiring this post for sharing your word camp photos Nile….It’s great honor to see this album.Wow!!! great thanks for updating us.
It was a pleasure to meet Blondish in person. This lady is a WP #RockStar. We hung out at the front area of Charlie Was A Sinner. Not a person walked through that front door without knowing Nile. Thanks to SiteGround for hosting at the best WCUS party. And thanks to Nile for being such a compassionate listener.
Great post and cool pictures! Lots of very smart people you can learn a lot from 🙂
Hey Nile! It was great to meet you there 🙂 I was glad to meet Ileane in person too finally. My experience: http://courtneyengle.com/2015/12/08/wordcamp-us-friends-50/
Great post and pictures, if possible in future i would love to attend these kind of WordPress camps. But for now i must say thanks for the post.
Many thanks for sharing your experience with us. I wish I could atend myself one of these great WordPress events. You totally deserved to stay there, best regards Nile 😉
Hello,
I have read both part of WordCamp US 2015 Recap . Both are really awesome. I will tell to every once must read it.
Nice! Part I and 2 were great. I literally felt like I was there.