WordCamp San Diego 2017

WordCamp San Diego 2017 was on March 25th and 26th. This year WCSD returned to a previous venue at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in the heart of downtown San Diego. The camp was beautifully run and the return to the venue was a great move. The whole Pixel Jar team was able to attend and we have some highlights to talk about.

Speakers, Sessions, and Limited Time

After attending several years of WordCamps in the Southern California area there are definitely speakers that you can’t miss;

• Cain and Obenlund delivered one of their “In the Morning” episodes to kick off the day on Saturday. These colorful sessions always give a laugh along with some WordPress news.

• Jason Cosper gave a to-the-point presentation on load testing like only he can.

• Josh Cummings talked about Continuous Integration, something that we practice. It was great to hear a new perspective on this way of working.

• Adam Silver had a presentation full of humor and practical advice on getting into podcasting.

• Roy Sivan reminded us not to forget about the power of PHP when we are working with heavy JavaScript interfaces.

• Natalie MacLees gave an awesome presentation about time management. We’re going to incorporate some of this into our own lives.

• Jennifer Bourn presented about the importance of taking a break.

• Steve Zehngut talked about selling to strangers.

The hardest part of a WordCamp is not being able to see all of the sessions you’d like to. Fortunately, many of the sessions will soon be available on WordPress TV so you can catch them later. In fact, WordCamp Miami was happening on the same weekend so you can catch those sessions as well.

The Hallway Track

One of our favorite parts of any WordCamp is what we call the Hallway Track. This is basically just hanging out in the open areas of WordCamp and talking to friends new and old. WordCamp San Diego was no different. Pixel Jar had a great opportunity to sit down for lunch with Billy, Justin, and Robby of Beaver Builder. We’ve started using Beaver Builder in some of our own projects and aside from being great developers, the guys were a lot of fun to spend some time with. The Hallway track is also a great chance to catch up with people coming in from out of town like Jennifer and Brian Bourn who are lead organizers for WordCamp Sacramento or Raquel and Cody Landefeld who help organize WordCamp Phoenix.

The Keynote

This year, WCSD had a keynote presentation delivered by ServerPress’ very own Stephen Carnam. Stephen gave a fun and inspiring talk about making and learning from mistakes and delivered it all in an inspirational and fun way. Stephen also talked about the importance of community and creativity. The WordPress community is one that we are proud to be a part of, and Stephen did an excellent job of firing us up even more.

Looking Ahead

Attending WordCamp San Diego always rings the bell in another way. Pixel Jar, for the 8th year in a row, is on the organizing team for WordCamp Orange County. We’re honored to have been the originators of the event and have happily stayed involved over the years. We love our local WordPress community. San Diego is a reminder that WCOC is right around the corner and we hope to have a camp as successful, full of learning, and as fun as WCSD 2017.

Photo © Yvonne Conway-Williams – used with permission.
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