WordCamp Orange County 2018: Awesome Moments

WordCamp Orange County 2018: Awesome Moments

This year, once again, I traveled to Orange County for WordCamp for the sixth time. In case you’ve never heard of Wordcamp, it’s a conference that focuses on all things WordPress. It’s run by volunteers and has the friendliest and most generous people of any conference I’ve ever attended. If you haven’t gone, you simply must go! And if you’d like to read some past posts about WordCamp, here are the ones about Orange County:

• Wordcamp OC 2013: 10 Awesome Things
• Wordcamp Orange County 2014: Awesome Moments
• Wordcamp Orange County 2015: Why Go?
• WordCamp Orange County 2016
• WordCamp Orange County 2017

The People Are Key

Some of my very favorite people are at WordCamp, such as Pam Ann Aungst of Pam Ann Marketing, and Bridget Willard, my besties for years and years. This year, the three of us met after not having seen each other for five years.

People at WordCamp Orange County

Being Surrounded by Smart, Enthusiastic People

What I’ve found at Orange County Wordcamp in particular is there are so many people having cool conversations. You could talk about nearly any topic with anyone here. If you work alone, like many of us do, then having meaningful conversations is doubly important. I look forward to seeing so many people every year.

Fun and Interesting Topics

Some of my favorite topics included Intermediate Google Analytics by Pam Ann Aungst, Ransomware: Don’t Pay That Toll! with Yvonne Conway-Williams, and 90 Days: Finding Your Place in the WordPress Community by Joe A. Simpson. The image above is Joe Simpson speaking about the health scare that caused him to change the course of his life.

Joe Simpson at WordCamp

The Venue

For the past three years, Wordcamp Orange County has been held at University California at Irvine. It’s so comfy that we tend to take it for granted. There’s plenty of parking, electrical outlets all over the place, and good WiFi, too. And air conditioning.

Bridget Willard with a Big Hello

Photo by mjhbower

The Awesome Swag

There were many fun pieces of swag, but my favorite was the Lego person you could build  yourself. GoDaddy had the best swag this year, in my opinion.

DIY LEGO Figure from GoDaddy

The Food Trucks

Who doesn’t love food trucks? This year, there were more food trucks and the lines didn’t seem bad at all. I suspect this had to do with the wonderful volunteers.

Lunchtime with Food Trucks

Have You Ever Been to a WordCamp?

If you have, let me know in the comments! And thank you.