Mary Beth Amaral is the Lead Designer at Linchpin, a WordCamp RI Organizer, and WordPress RI Co-Organizer. She’s excited about being part of WordCamp RI again this year.
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Mary Beth you are once again volunteering to help put together WordCamp RI. What brings you back?
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Over the past 5 years, I’ve been a WCRI attendee, volunteer, and now organizer, and can’t imagine not being a part of this great event. Helping to plan WordCamp RI is such an exciting opportunity to get involved in our local WordPress community and give back to the platform we use everyday at Linchpin. As a designer, it’s a really fun project to help out with the marketing and promotional materials.
Although this will be the first WordCamp RI that I’ll miss out on as I’ll be welcoming a new baby into the world, I’m so glad that I was still able to help plan the event alongside a great team of organizers and look forward to catching up on all the amazing sessions we have planned after the event on WordPress.tv!
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This is our 6th WordCamp. What are the strengths of the event?
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First and foremost, the amazing return (20+ sessions and workshops) on such a minimal investment ($40!) makes WCRI attainable for so many people. Whether you’re a novice or an expert, a content creator or advanced engineer, there’s something for everyone with various tracks running simultaneously over the course of the 2-day event.
One thing that makes WCRI unique is incorporating a few workshops into the schedule. These typically run a little longer than the sessions do, with hands on learning focused on specific topics and guided tutorials. The workshops continue to be well-received as a great opportunity for interactive learning in a classroom-like environment.
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There is so much going on: seminars, workshops, networking, the Happiness Bar (as the Help Desk is known) and a reception. What’s a good game plan for getting the most out of WordCamp RI?
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Take a look at the schedule before hand to plan out your day. You may find time between sessions or breaks to take advantage of networking with other attendees or get some one on one help from the Happiness Bar. If you find yourself in a session that you’re not interested in, or isn’t what you anticipated, don’t be afraid to move on to a different talk, chat with sponsors, or peruse the swag area instead. Keep in mind that the Welcome Soiree is also a great opportunity for networking.
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For you, what’s the best part?
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As a WCRI veteran, I enjoy meeting new attendees and speakers who are experiencing the conference for the first time. It’s great to get their feedback, hear about how they use WordPress and learn about their area of interest. And of course it’s great to see all the familiar faces of years past too!
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What supplies would you suggest an attendee bring?
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Business cards! You’ll meet so many new people. Having some business cards or contact information on hand will help build connections beyond WordCamp RI.
Something to jot down notes on is always good to have too. As someone who is on the computer all day just about every day, I’m a little old school in that I still like to take handwritten notes. Come Monday morning when I’m back in the office, I’ll take a look through all the valuable resources and information I gathered from WCRI and start implemeting these new processes or tools into my own workflow.
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What kind of WordPress user will get something out of WCRI?
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Absolutely any kind of WordPress user at any skill level will benefit from attending WCRI. With sessions that focus on a range of topics such as SEO (search engine optimization or how Google finds you), design, business and project management, even someone who doesn’t use WordPress at all will still gain valuable information from the event, and will probably learn quite a bit about WordPress while they’re at it.
And you never know who you might meet, maybe a future employer or business partner, or even just someone to reach out to with questions. If nothing else, you’ll get the opportunity to meet lots of people with similar interests as you!
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If someone wants to keep the learning going, what activities are there for WordPress users in our area?
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There are a number of local meetups where you can extend your learning beyond WCRI, including the WordPress Rhode Island Meetup group. As a co-organizer of the WPRI Meetup, I encourage anyone to join us the second Tuesday night of every month in the Providence area. The WPRI Meetups begin with networking (and FREE pizza!), followed by a featured speaker, with talks ranging in skill level and topic to appeal to our diverse group of attendees. With a mixed group of developers, designers, content strategists and more, we always encourage attendees to bring their questions, bugs or blockers to triage.
And there is also a once month meeting in southern Rhode Island, generally in the Narragansett area. That meeting happens at lunchtime.
To learn more about WordPress Rhode Island and see when our next Meetup is, check out the Meetup Page: www.meetup.com/WordPressRI
For those outside of the Rhode Island area, the Boston WordPress Meetup group (www.meetup.com/boston-wordpress-meetup) meets the last Monday of every month, and the Southcoast (MA) Meetup group (www.meetup.com/Southcoast-WordPress-Meetup) meets the last Tuesday or Thursday of almost every month.
These meetups are all free and open for anyone to join!
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Is there such a person as a “typical” WordCamp RI attendee? If so, how would you describe them? If not, what’s the range of people attending?
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The WordCamp Rhode Island community is made up of such a diverse group of people ranging in age, skill level, area of expertise, and so on. In the past, WordPress may have been thought of only for developers who are building out custom themes and plugins, or content creators who blog. But it’s become SO much more than that. Powering over 25% of sites across the web, WordPress has spread its wings into the realms of design, search engine optimization, content management, user experience, and more, and WordCamp is no different. From entrepreneurs to established business owners, students to freelancers, you can expect a wide variety of attendees at WordCamp Rhode Island.
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If there’s a range, what are the commonalities many WCRI attendees seem to share?
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WordCamp RI attendees all seem to share a willingness to learn and have an open mind to new ideas. We wouldn’t be going to the conference if we weren’t all there to better our careers or learn new tools and processes. This common ground has brought us all together and is what makes WordCamp RI as great as it is!
Follow Mary Beth on Twitter: @maryelizabeth55