Hummingbird604.com » WordCamp

WordCamp Whistler coming up!

Raul — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:38:03 +0000

This all happened last night after I had gone to sleep, I’m pretty sure, but the best ideas are always those that just organically emerge. Duane thought of organizing a WordCamp Whistler and I’m SO in for that! I am not a winter sports guy, but I definitely love the WordPress platform, I plan to speak at WordCamp Whistler (I already did at WordCamp Fraser Valley) and I’ll help organize in any way I can.

I know that there will be a lot of us involved in organizing it, and I would encourage you to either drop a comment here or at Duane’s blog if you’re interested in attending and/or presenting. Should be a lot of fun! From what I saw on Twitter, Rebecca, Kulpreet, Lorraine, Duane and Colleen have been talking about the organization so far, so why not join us? Leave a comment!

WordCamp San Francisco 2008

Raul — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:05:48 +0000

No, I didn’t go to WordCamp San Francisco, but two friends of mine (Duane and Andy) did. As a matter of fact, Andy gave a great presentation on BuddyPress. I didn’t get to see it (obviously), but I know the project, as we’ve talked about it over beers. Duane liveblogged it (not sure if this is your first liveblog, but it was really good!) and apparently they’re now downing beers at the WordCamp SF social (why am I not surprised?). Congratulations to Andy on a good presentation and to Duane for a great liveblog. I’ll see you guys when I get back, and we’ll chat about all things WordPress.

BarCamp Vancouver 2008 is coming up!

Raul — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:38:21 +0000

And if you haven’t signed up, you better get going on this! This is my very first BarCamp (I would have attended last year, but I had just recently begun to read more frequently Rebecca’s blog and I don’t think it registered in my brain that it would be an important event to attend).

Given that I am now in the tech world, and that I have A LOT of friends in tech/social media, it just makes sense for me to participate. This year, I’m part of the organizing committee and I promised to help (I haven’t yet been assigned any specific tasks, but since apparently I’m a master of schmoozing and social networking – not my words, Thomasso‘s! I guess I will be helping with venues or sponsorship or something along those lines).

Rebecca and Duane will be headlining WordCamp (a mini-camp on all things WordPress), which is kind of cool. I am of course sure that by then, I’ll be self-hosted and therefore, if the topic comes up, I can always talk about the transition from the WordPress.com-hosted to self-hosted (a topic that I told Kulpreet I would talk about if there is a BC WordCamp in the future).

So what is BarCamp and why should you attend?

BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.[BarCamp wiki]

So, save the date (it’s about a week after my birthday, so I will try to include some post-birthday celebrations in here (after the camp is over, of course!)

I want to convert you… to WordPress!

Raul — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:40:40 +0000

As I’ve posted before, I read pretty much every blog on my blogroll and then some. Thanks to a handy RSS feed reader, now I can do that in the blink of an eye, literally (I speed-read). However, I took some time to see who of my friends are still on Blogger (I am talking to you Barbara, Phaedra, Pat, Jennifer, Marina, Dan, Mitch, Sarah, to mention just a few).

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you’ll know that I am speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley, precisely on the topic of how I transitioned from Blogger to WordPress. I am in no way associated with WordPress, they don’t pay me a cent (although I do have friends who are indeed associated with Auttomatic).

The truth is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing my blog on this platform. So, I’m basically plugging you to switch and since many of you Blogger friends are also my friends, friends, you should come to WCFV and hear me speak like Ulysses listened to the siren’s sweet voice “WoooordPreeeess…. WoooordPreeeess” (ok, that sounds better when I say it than when I read it).

So, join me and a roster of fabulous bloggers (Rebecca, John, Kerry, Kulpreet and yours truly) on July 16th, 2008 from 6-9pm. For more details, click on the link that says “I’m Speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley“. And in case you didn’t know, the registration is almost full so, you REALLY want to register as in, like, right now.

WordCamp Fraser Valley 2008

Raul — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:27:13 +0000

Gary Jones from BlueFur invited me a while ago (after the very successful, and superbly organized WordCamp Vancouver 2008, by Tazzu) to speak at the first ever WordCamp Fraser Valley 2008 , and I was thrilled to accept. I really respect the work of Blue Fur and I’m very happy to contribute in any way I can. As a matter of fact, I owe a lot of the increase in my readership to WordPress-specific tools and tricks.

Matt Mullenweg in WordPress gear. Photo credit: Niallkennedy on Flickr.

The following is an abstract of the talk I’m going to give, hoping that it will be useful. I know for a fact that John Chow and Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss604) will be speaking too. This will be SO MUCH FUN!

Here’s the abstract of my talk:“I Switched to WordPress, and So Can You”

I started blogging on the Blogger platform for ease of use (and because several friends of mine were using it too!). On March 23rd, 2008, I took one of the best decisions in my burgeoning blogging career: I moved my blog entirely from Blogger to WordPress. Many bloggers seem afraid of taking the plunge and switching to WP. Currently, I blog primarily on the WordPress.com platform, and have enjoyed an increase in readership of over 300%. In this presentation, I will talk about my experience switching platforms, outline the advantages that I see in WordPress, and speak about the next steps I plan to take in the process of becoming a WP geek.

I am, of course, open to any questions or comments you might want to include. I am sure that some of you might want me to post some video, being the owner of a Flip and having attended a Reachd.com awesome seminar. I will try to do at least some vlogging – most likely, I’ll be live-vlogging Rebecca‘s as she will be too busy giving her own talk to be able to vlog it!!! (but knowing Rebecca, she might even be able to live-blog/vlog her own part of the WordCamp!)