Well, after braving the sub-freezing temps (kind of a big deal down here in the south) and navigating the icy streets of west Georgia and Atlanta, we made it to WordCamp Atlanta last night… and we weren’t even late! Ok, well… we would have been late if they’d started on time, but…

Several good sessions tonight including my fav, a block from Topher Kohan on Optimizing your WordPress install for SEO purposes.

And on Saturday…
… I woke up sick. Throbbing head cold and all that goes along with it. The decision between WordCamp and the Doc-in-a-box was touch and go there for a few minutes. But I hung in there and made it in this morning. It didn’t hurt my feelings at all that they pushed everything back an hour to make it easier to get to SCAD in spite of the remaining ice on the roads.

The opening block was a super, super presentation by Jane Wells from Automattic about what 2010 holds for WordPress. The merger of WordPress Core with WPMU is the major objective for WP3.0. Be on the lookout.

Its off to lunch now thanks to the SCAD Hub. Kinda looking forward to something good to eat and good folks to meet.

Saturday Afternoon
So I lingered in the cafeteria a little after lunch to hop online and touch all the bases, then headed out to catch Mitch Canter’s session on How to Design a Killer Blog… but on the way in I noticed I was on the schedule to sit in at the Genius Bar. So I dashed into the phone booth to don my cape and… oh, wait, wrong post.

Had a great time at the Genius Bar, taking with a couple of folks about how they’re using WordPress, the challenges they’re having with them, etc. the only problem was the gravely voice left in place by this crazy cold.

Wrapping Up
Well, its taken me almost a week but its time to put a bow on this post and close out my WordCamp Atlanta experience. By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, I was feeling pretty bad. I’d find out Monday that somewhere along the way a sinus and upper-respiratory infection was the culprit. Let’s just say they didn’t put me in the best frame of mind for the event, but I did try to soldier on.

Overall, in spite of ill-health, I’d have to say the WordCamp Atlanta experience was worth the effort and was a valuable venue for meeting new people and reconnecting with folks I already knew. As I’ve said before, meeting people is probably one of the single greatest reasons for going to these events. The details you pickup on various topics, the tactics others share in their sessions… they’re all good, but they’re temporal. Over time, and sometimes a very short period of time, they become obsolete. But the human connections you make last forever and continue to produce value far beyond the moment.

Thanks for following along with my somewhat limited coverage of WordCamp Atlanta. I hope it was helpful or at least thought provoking. Until next time…

@jtrigsby

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