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WordCamp Columbus 2012 (Recap, Thoughts, and Pictures)

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This past weekend I, Syed, had a pleasure of attending and speaking at WordCamp Columbus. This was my second year at WordCamp Columbus, and I can’t wait to go back again next year because I think I really made the most out of this WordCamp. I will talk about my experience, things I learnt, and people I met.

WordCamp Columbus 2012 was a huge improvement compared to last year’s event (not saying that last year’s was bad or anything). I think this year, they did a phenomenal job. First of all, the new venue (Ohio State Union), is a perfect location. It has the room for everyone, and this new venue also allows the camp to grow even further. My favorite aspect of this camp was how they dealt with food. Most WordCamps organize catering which limits people’s choices. Also, in the past, I have had experience where vegetarian meals ran out. This happens because people change their mind on spot without realizing that organizers only order a set number of vegetarian meals. Anyways, the coolest thing about WordCamp Columbus was they avoided that entire issue by giving everyone a $20 Buck-ID card (pre-paid debit card by Ohio State university). The Buck-ID’s work everywhere around campus, so all attendees had an ample amount of choices. I hope that other WordCamps, when possible, try to utilize this method to take care of food.

I got to meet a lot of cool people. I will try to keep the list short, but here it goes: John James Jacoby aka J-Trips (@JJJ), Ryan Imel (@ryanimel), Angie Meeker (@angiemeeker), Jonathan Davis (@jonathandavis), Kim Parsell (@kimparsell), Brian Layman (@brianlayman), Bill Rice (@creativebill), Dave Donaldson (@arcware), Justin Jones (@jjonesftw), Austin Gunter (@austingunter), Donovan Hernandez (@heydonovan), and many more.

The second day of the event, I got to pick the brains of @JJJ (lead developer of BuddyPress and bbPress). I learned a lot from him in terms of best practices and such. It is times like these that wants me to go to every WordCamp and pick the brains of smart people. One because he is the best person to talk to about BuddyPress or bbPress considering he is the lead developer. Second, it is FREE (after you take away travel costs). WordCamps are like the best place to get free consulting from experts.

I learned about a few cool plugins that we will write about in the coming days.

Check out some of the pictures below:

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