If you’ve been following me on Twitter of Facebook, you’ve probably figured out that I was involved with putting on the first WordCamp Scranton earlier this month.
For those of you who don’t know, WordCamps are day-long (or multi-day) events focused on the WordPress content management system. Website owners, bloggers, business owners, developers, designers, artists, anyone who has an interest in putting something on the web are welcome to come to a WordCamp. While the WordPress software itself is great, I’ve always felt that the community around WordPress is what’s made it the best. And I think WordCamp Scranton was able to exemplify that.
Confession: I had never put on an event like this before. Here’s an insight into the emotional roller coaster I’ve experienced over the past five or six months:
- COOL! We’re gonna host a WordCamp!
- We need a place to host it. That place won’t work. FOUND A PLACE! (And the folks at Johnson College are amazing to work with!)
- We need speakers. Wow – great set of speaker applications!
- We’ll get a decent amount of people. Dang, ticket sales are slow. Things are picking up! Huh, slow week. OMG SELL ALL THE TICKETS!! (119 tickets sold!)
- So, what are we feeding all these people?
- OMG *fangirl time* THE Matt is coming?? To OUR WordCamp?!?!?
- WNEP wants us to get up at WHAT time to promote this thing??
- Ok, seriously, the event is TOMORROW – are we really gonna pull this off?!?!?
- Wait, it’s over? We did it!
I’ve been told that most of that didn’t show through on Saturday. It was an incredible feeling to see this come off so successfully.
I can’t say enough wonderful things about the entire team, including co-organizer Joe Casabona, all of our volunteers and speakers who donated their time, and – most especially – everyone who came out and spent a beautiful Saturday with us.
Also, a huge thanks to Matt Mullenweg – co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic – for taking time out of his busy schedule to join us for a town hall Q&A session.
Didn’t make it to this year’s WordCamp Scranton? Don’t worry, we’ll be planning one for next year. And we always have monthly (roughly) Northeast PA WordPress Meetups that you can join!
