Wordcamp Denver Wrocks the Rockies

The unique power of the internet is in the community that thrives in all corners. From the artsy fartsy to the geeks that worship at the altar of Shatner to the guys building the foundation upon which the internet superhighway runs it’s an amazing place. Part of that foundation is bloggers and the programs that support their writings. To wit the blogging platform WordPress is the superstar, the clutch player and the one you turn to when you need near perfection in your blogging software. It’s also free. Open source. In use by big names. And we have conventions. Did I mention it was free?

WordPress has spawned Wordcamps worldwide. Over the years it’s been happening overseas which if nothing else exhibits the growing reach and strength of the software. Denver has been without since the start. Mind you, there’s no shortage of superstars of both the blogging world and WordPress in the metro area. If the line up at Wordcamp Denver was any indication we were almost overdue for one of these events.

I won’t bore you with the play by play of the day. I will give special props to the Denver Art Museum for being such gracious hosts. With over 200 people occupying the facility at any one time it was handled professional and with great courtesy. It was amusing seeing the stares of the patrons as the army of geeks came and went through the day. We even broke their wireless internet in the morning. They attacked the problem during the lunch hour and as we all returned it was announced the internets were working again.

The morning session was fairly typical and strong with good speakers. The founder of WordPress made his standard State of The Word and gave us a peek at the next version. Founder of the LOLCATS, Ben Huh brought down the house with his (count it) twenty two minute presentation that spawned intense discussion and brainstorming among just around everyone. His perspective on “Mr. Potato Head” as a method to putting together and creating a blog/image was fascinatingly fresh and inspiring. I won’t lie. I drooled a little bit as he spoke.

The website panel was a little dull for my tastes but I’m sure people in the audience appreciated it. I skipped out on Jane Wells and “Open Source Community” to grab food since I was an idiot who woke up late.

You can see a list of the speakers outlined on the web site here. The afternoon brought us the breakout sessions. Like a boy before Prom, I tried so very hard to understand the technical aspect. Sadly that breakout nearly broke my brain. I jumped back to the blogging session. The last three speakers in the afternoon were the most impressive. Gil Asakawa talked about blogging and the media. Gil used to run the old Denver Post Bloghouse (of which I was a link in the lower sidebar at one time) and he has some interesting perspectives.

His session was derided by a few on Twitter but I enjoyed it as it helped set a great foundation for understanding of the new world of media. How bloggers and the “real” media fit into that puzzle of prose is on an ongoing conversation. I’m a firm believer in the social media aspect becoming a larger part of not just media, but companies and organizations. The power of good writing and connective communities is for the moment a growing movement. This is something certain companies are learning. My example is AMC Theatres and the recent Oscar Showcase last weekend. They got bloggers, twitter people and even had a hashtag for the whole thing! (hashtag was #amcbps for those interested)

Later in the afternoon Dave Moyer stepped onto stage and at the (totally not) precocious age of sixteen pulled an Elvis in Hawaii by blowing nearly everyone in the audience away. I had no idea who he was and most of us were unaware of his product, radio show and contributions. After Saturday however, I can assure you his name is very much out there more than it ever was before. This young man was able to present a fully thought out presentation to a room off 200, answer questions, use humor and manage it all without throwing up. He’s ahead of me in at least that respect. Did I mention he’s 16? Benjamin Buttons got nothing on him!

I called him a toddler on twitter but it wasn’t meant with offense. I just was observing what it felt and looked like to a nerd like me. He out nerded me! My mild ego had a small seizure but recovered after a few strokes.

The last and some would argue best of the day was Micah Baldwin. Putting on the aura of a “regular Joe” he was the last to take the stage. It was a good thing as Micah ended Wordcamp on a pretty solid high note that left everyone pumped. If you were watching the twitter hashtag #wordcampdenver through the day you would have seen the twitterati talking about the event with those outside and inside the event. Reviews for most of the other speakers were acceptable.

The power of twitter was evident (and still is as the days pass since) as the specific strong moments in the talks were then thrown out into the twitterverse. The hashtag started trending mere minutes after the event started and it didn’t stop until it began to wind down. From what I can recall, we stayed on the top ten hashtag list all day. Sitting in a room watching everyone with a laptop (and there were a plethora of screens showing twitter and tweetdeck) as the conversation played out before me was a unique experience I can’t even begin to quantify. Surreal and thrilling are the words that probably fit the best.

Overall for a first Wordcamp in Denver it was a great start. Some things will need to be improved for next year. I’m intrigued to see what speakers we end up with and how different the WordPress World will look as it changes, morphs and evolves over the next 365 days. That’s the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to WordPress.

While other platforms stall, grow stale or simply stay with the times WordPress is on the move. Rocking and rolling down the superhighways of the internet, it’s an unstoppable train of geeks, nerds and whoever else is along for the ride. Long live WordPress.

Updated: PHOTOS!  here!