Everyone seems to agree the 2017 WordCamp was the best ever! Below are some highlights from sponsors and attendees. We’d also love YOUR input if you haven’t already completed the post-event survey you may still do so. If you want to be involved in planning this year’s WordCamp you can indicate that on the survey or email us. To be sure you’re always in the know about what’s going on in the community be sure to sign up for our year-round mailing list at the bottom of our website.
Pantheon is returning as a Gold sponsor of WordCamp Seattle this year and we’re so grateful to have their continued support.
If you’re not familiar with Pantheon, they are a host with a unique setup that focuses on fast, solid hosting, combined with professional developer tools and workflows. Did I mention that Pantheon offers free accounts for developers?
Go check out Pantheon’s booth and get a demo; you won’t be sorry.
Pantheon puts the power of the Internet in the hands of developers and DevOps teams, delivering rock solid hosting along with the most complete platform for professional website creation. We’ve built the world’s best website management platform—one that gives web teams all of the developer tools, hosting, scaling, performance, workflow, and automation they need to build the best websites in the world. Pantheon powers 150,000 websites, serving billions of page views per month.
Before there was the tech boom in Seattle, before there was Microsoft, Amazon, innovators and creators like UPS, Cinnabon, or REI, even before Seattle fully caffeinated the globe – the driving technology of the Puget Sound was aviation.
Beginning with that first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903 – the Puget Sound would step into the era of flight just over seven years later. It was the tech conference of its time – the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909 where William Boeing became fascinated with the idea of ‘vehicles that could sail the sky’1 and later buys the Heath Shipyard on the Duwamish River that became his first airplane factory in 1910. Incorporated in 1916 – the Boeing Company now has over one hundred years of innovation in flightworldwide.
So it was a natural choice to make this year’s WordCamp a salute to the technology contribution of expanding aviation as we wanted to encourage Seattle WordCamp attendees to ‘level up’ their WordPress skills and apply those skills to strengthen the WordPress community.
When we began the process to brand the 2017 Seattle WordCamp – we wanted to add a Wapuuto our marketing this year and team member Lisa Stewartraised her hand and gave us not just one – but two Wapuus for this year’s WordCamp.
Lisa is the award-winning creator and owner of BYO Small Business and has been using WordPress since 2009. She has over 30 years of experience as a creative entrepreneur helping Fortune 100 companies to small businesses with their brand, design, and websites.
We had the chance to ask Lisa about the design process and designing our two aviators for WordCamp.
Why did you volunteer to design not one, but two aviator Wapuus?
“Ha! This is a bit embarrassing. Because our theme is aviation, I wanted to create a pilot Wapuu. My first thought was a friendly pilot, so I designed a leather jacket for the Japanese monster. As I added other accents to him (much like a paper doll) I realized something was amiss. Rut-roh. I was mixing my metaphors. It was then I realized that I needed to separate the components to produce two Wapuus.”
What did you enjoy about the Wapuu design process?
“I love being able to realize new ideas through research and design. When I learned about the global existence of Wapuu, I checked to see if Seattle had a Wapuu. We didn’t. So, I decided we must have a Wapuu to up level our visual components for the community. Researching aviators with Carla was too much fun. Adding accessories to round out their charming little personalities made me giddy. Also, getting to know the history of Seattle’s aviation was inspiring. I wanted to make sure that I combined all of those characteristics to form a kickass Wapuu.”
What was your inspiration?
“Wapuu of course, and our aviation theme. Initially, the barnstorming aviator was top of mind as I designed the Wapuu(s), because they’re daredevils. I love the personality and showmanship of barnstormers, even though their time was brief. Next, Carla and I researched the commercial pilots and extolled their attributes for the second Wapuu. He’s just as adorable. I now think of them as brothers and our Commercial Aviator Wapuu is ostensibly the more responsible brother to Barnstorming Wapuu. But, I’ll let you decide.”
Tell me about your contribution to the Seattle WordPress Community as well as WordCamp this year?
“I was asked to create the new logo and design the Web site for 2017 Seattle WordCamp. The logo was designed in Adobe Illustrator and the Web site was redlined in Sketch. I didn’t realize how much of an overkill that was until Teri rescued the WordPress development. Thank you, Teri! I also participate in organizer meetings to identify other ways I could provide support to leads. For example, crafting image templates for content generation that includes blog headings and Instagram posts. As more projects are created, the more the team gets excited and asks me to contribute to help drive the energy of the event. I very much enjoyed working with Carla and getting to know her as a colleague and a friend. It’s delightful to be of service where I can.”
What do you hope people take away from the Seattle WordCamp this year?
“I hope people realize that they’re not alone and they can always get help -no matter what level of experience or skill set. The WordCamp conference helps bring the people together so that we can connect with our virtual friends IRL. Emojis are great until they’re not. The chance to watch the reaction on our new friend’s face after a punch line or their empathy as they help us work out a daunting task is priceless. Being new to the area, I love being involved in the Seattle WordPress community. “
What was the best part of this for you as a designer and developer?
“Being asked to contribute (HINT: Introverts need an invitation) is number one on the list. When the committee realizes my passion for design and helping out, we sit down together and plan supporting materials to give the attendees a better experience. I hope we accomplished that.”
Tickets for the 2017 Seattle WordCamp are now available.
Seattle WordCamp is a yearly conference for the Puget Sound WordPress community of designers, developers, and publishers. If you have attended every year – or this is your first time to join in – we welcome you and can’t wait for what promises to be an empowering two-day conference.
What? Did you say how ’empowering’ can a $40 conference be? Take a look at the speaker line-up and sessionsthat await attendees and understand that our generous sponsors have made it possible to offer WordCamp at an amazing price so that everyone can attend. Plus, your ticket includes the lunch of your choice each day. That’s an amazing deal.
The sessions covered over two days are a mix of all-things WordPress and topics that relate to web design, business development and problem solving for both the seasoned developer to the beginner blogger and everything in between. There’s a Help Desk for answering your current WordPress questions and a Vendor Hall that will showcase resources and give you face-to-face opportunities to talk with their representatives directly and get the latest scoop.
This not only makes the conference attendees better, it makes the WordPress community better. Our Keynote speaker, Andrea Middleton, will kick off our conference on Saturday morning with a session all about the power of community. We suggest you don’t miss it!
Notice we’ve added a new Community Sponsor level for only $250 which gets you into WordCamp, a link on the website and knowing that you’re contributing to the local WordPress Seattle community.
There’s lots more there. If you catch any bad links, typos or things that are missing, let us know. We’ll be adding more over the coming weeks.
Oh…and don’t forget to subscribe in the footer to be notified as we add new things!
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