Lately I have tried to up the ante on my WordPress skills. To use WordPress to write on is one thing, to understand how the platform works is another.

I’ve wanted to be able to help others and put this powerful tool to use in the institution in which I work.  Blogging is nothing new, but it seems as if it has picked up steam in a lot of school and institution. The use of WordPress to build mashup sites, combining other forms of social media such as Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube have transformed how a blog can look and feel.

With all this in mind and a wish to move things forward, what does every good educator do… professional development!

The question is where to go to learn more about WordPress?  First, I went to the WordPress site itself to see what was available there. Then, I went to the all-powerful GOOGLE, searched around and read what I could. Next, I went into the Twitterverse to ask the questions I couldn’t find the answers to. After that, I found the people to follow-on Twitter and read more.  And finally, I “listened” and went to WordCamp!  A big THANKS to Andrea Rennick (@andrea_r) from http://wpmututorials.com for clueing me into the WordCamps!

So far I have attended two WordCamps, the first in NYC (http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/) and then most recently (1/23/2010) in Boston (http://2010.boston.wordcamp.org/). In both cases I was dragging other people along for the ride and in each case we were all very impressed.

My first impression from both camps (does that make sense?) was the value! Unlike the last conference I went to (CASE/NAIS – http://www.johnnystryker.net/2010/01/30/johnnys-take-on-the-casenais-2010-conference/) where I had to spend $795 to attend, the WordCamps were each under $30. The quality and quantity of the sessions offered a participant a number of things to do.  The sessions were tracked well and the descriptions were true to topic… which is something I can’t say very often for other events.

Given that everyone was donating their time, both camps were well-run and organized. I had the opportunity to talk to a number of the volunteers who said that they decided to do it when they couldn’t get a ticket.  Each of them said it was a day well spent! Maybe I’ll volunteer the next time they are in NYC… hmmmmmm.

But when you attend any conference it is all about what you get out of it and I have a general rule that as log as I get one good thing out of any session it was time well spent.  As I look back over my notes from each I’m amazed at the fact that I actually went to 9 different sessions from the NYC Camp and 8 from the Boston Camp! Each session offered something I was able to use.

Here are a few of the stand-outs from the NYC event:

• The “MU Showcase” and “MU How-to” by Andrea Rennick (@andrea_r – http://wpmututorials.com) was a great look at all you can do with WordPressMU as a CMS and some great insights into domain mapping.
• Brad Williams (@williamsba – http://www.WebDevStudios.com) gave an inspiring presentation on locking things down… really made me think about what I needed to do to secure my WordPress install.
• Went to a few good sessions and saw some really cool plug-ins for proofing work (AftertheDeadline), getting the discussion going (IntenseDebate) and some good statistical tools… because it’s important to know who’s looking at you [NOTE: I've played with Clicky - http://www.getClicky.com - which has a WordPress plug-in as well and like it a lot!].
• Ended with learning about little know things like the XML-RPC Interface setting and really swimming in the deep-end of the pool trying to keep up with the conversation around caching and optimization.

The New York WordCamp provided a great introduction to the people behind WordPress and opened up a lot more resources, both online and human, that I would not of thought of before. It was truly about the community and the people there that you were put in contact with.

After NYC, WordCamp Boston was a no brainer. I had just wet my appetite with what I was exposed to in NYC and Boston is only a few hours in the car so what the hell!

Boston would require a night over in Cambridge as we drove up on a Friday, but it was well worth it as I had one of the best meals of my life at RendezVous in Central Square… but I digress.

The Boston WordCamp was held at Microsoft’s New England Research & Development (NERD) center, which I have to say I was a little surprised by.  The reason I say this is because when has Microsoft ever stuck to an open standard or system.  Now I am sure I am going to get comments from all the Microsoft supporters out there, and I don’t mean to stir the pot, because this is about WordPress not Microsoft, but it seems to me the Microsoft always wants to twist things ever so much that it forces you into a position where you have to buy their stuff.  Know, I have not followed everything Microsoft has done over the years so it’s just my observation… now to move on.

The venue was very nice, however they had to split the opening remarks between two rooms on two floors and the audio was very difficult to follow.  Also, they had some technology based rappers going all through lunch which was another audio issue all together!  The big plus was that there was an open cooler of soda and other assorted drinks and coffee in one of the meeting areas which had me on a caffeine high for the entire day.

But what about the sessions… again, AMAZING! They ranged the gamut like NYC and here are some of the high points:

• Karen Rubin (@karenrubin – http://www.hubspot.com/ & http://blog.hubspot.com/) had some great ways to “Rock My Blog”. It was interesting to hear, in her fast paced, frenetic way all the things you can do to improve the quality of your posts.
• Had the cloud of fear lifted away by Shayne Sanderson (@shaynesanderson) who showed us how to play in PHP and CSS (pssst… great preso… just practice it first)
• Jane Wells (@janeforshort) said not to worry about WordPress 3.0… don’t be afraid, just click update.
• Was back in the deep end of the pool with Screaming Fast WPMU… was all about Linux and I’m a Apple guy.
• Was annoyed by Adria Richards… started early, ended early and then made a comment about pornography that didn’t make sense to anyone that didn’t know the back story… which was me.
• Got an introduce to Parent/Child themes from Daisey Olsen (http://WPMama.com), though I have to say I am still confused.
• Laughed and learned about video on a blog from Steve Garfield (http://stevegarfield.com)
• Oh… and found out why you might need a lawyer from the people at Citi Media Law (http://www.citmedialaw.org)

After all of that we jumped back in the car and drove home, a little tired, a little numb (at least my back-end from sitting for so long), but all-in-all inspired to do a little more, try a little harder and look for the next WordCamp in the neighborhood.

Thanks again to everyone who present, to the WordCamp organizers and presenters and a hearty recommendation to anyone thinking about going… stop thinking about it and GO!

What was Johnny doing at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the National Association of Independent Schools conference (CASE/NAIS… damn that was a mouth full) last week? Well, when you have to be in a position to support database systems throughout an organization it helps to understand the reasons people want to keep track of the things that go in them… like MONEY!

Well the CASE/NAIS conference is more than being about the money, but my first reaction was that it was all about the money. First, the conference fee was $795.00!!! Now that’s not a group rate… that’s per person and we sent 8 people… that’s $6360 in conference fees alone! The conference was in New York City and that’s always expensive, but DAMN, the Big Apple or not that’s taking a big bite!

Given that amount of money you had to pay to attend you might expect a few things… like Internet access… right?!?! NOPE!!!! If you wanted to access the Internet you needed to use you mobile device, or get a little crafty and find some people that might have the access code and being willing to share…. shhhh…. that’s how I got on. It’s funny, while they did have some good food and drink ant the cocktail receptions I would have preferred that they spend some of that money on providing access… that and they didn’t have whiskey.

What I find even funnier then the lack of Internet access is that there was a Twitter hashtag (#casenais) they wanted people to use while at the conference to tweet with…. HOW!!!! YOU DIDN’T PROVIDE INTERNET ACCESS!!!! On top of that they sent out emails each day (which I filled out dutifully) to review that’s days sessions. How do you expect people to fill these out with no access?

Now… this is just Johnny, an attendee, but what I find even more amazing is that for the vendors they not only charged them for the space on the floor, they charged them for POWER & INTERNET access as well. Now, I don’t know if this is something that the hotel (New York Marriott Marquis) in responsible for, but so far this conference sound like it’s all about the money!

So, is this just going to be a long rant on how much money was spent and how little I got in return… NO. The conference was time well spent (still not sure about the cost)!

The conference provided me with the chance to raise my Development IQ. My understanding of development has developed (hahahaha) from providing hands-on support from a data perspective in the office, from reading a few books and the FundSVC listserv, and talking with a lot of people.

I attended the conference for three days and went to some really good sessions. I measure the success of each session by being able to take at least one thing out of it and with the exception of one session I was able to do that.

Some highlights were:

• Listening to Carlos Barroso, the Director of Marketing & Communications at the St. Andrews School talk about dealing with all the different types of media he has to manage at his school.
• Hearing about number and metrics from Steve Baker, Director of Alumni & Development Operations from St. Paul’s School.
• Understanding the importance of the “Loyals” from Liz Cahn from The Planned Giving Company.
• Joel Price (@jfwp) the Webmaster & Information Manager from the Friends’ Central School talk about the role of the web in alumni relations.

The “marketplace” where the vendors were is always the place I like to spend some time as well. At many of the conference I attend I find this area to be the most useful as it give me a chance to connect with those vendors that I work with and make some new connections.

A few of the notables in this area were edSocialMedia which provide a social media blog and services for schools and the being able to talk to the different web site providers such as FinalSite, WhippleHill and SilverPoint as they all offer something unique and I am in a position where I need to know what they are all doing.

So… all in all after I got over the price of the conference and the fact that they didn’t provide Internet access, I have to say that the conference was three days well spent. I was tired, I didn’t want to sit in a chair for a minute longer, but I did learn a lot from the conference and would go again… but net time… PLEASE… GIVE ME INTERNET ACCESS!!!!

[CASE/NAIS logo from conference web site/Facebook page.]

I am attending my second WordCamp in Boston today and have to say that I love these. Yeah there are times and sessions that aren’t great, but there is always something I manage to get out of each session.

The first one I went to was in NYC back in November (2009) at Baruch College which was a quick drive into the city for me and allowed me to connect with a lot of good people.WordCamp Boston has allowed me to reconnect with a lot of the people I met there and make some new connection.

I will be posting more on what I learned from this WordCamp so stay tuned…