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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Construct Your Schedule
The schedule for WordCamp Atlanta is up so take a little time before you head out to put together the timeline of sessions you want to attend. This can be kind of tricky, especially if your fairly new to blogging or this is the first WordCamp you’ve attended. Use the speaker profiles and the session descriptions to get the best idea you can about which ones to attend. You know yourself and your goals better than anyone else so choose for yourself. I usually select a first and second choice for each time block in case one gets rescheduled or doesn’t pan out the way I hoped. And speaking of rescheduling… expect it. Be flexible and go with the flow.

Contribute to the Conversation & Stream
Of the speakers I know, and even the ones I don’t, I can’t imagine any of them not welcoming your input during a session. The whole point of the camp style meetings is group learning. If the speaker doesn’t shed enough light on a topic you’re interested in, ask a question! If they’re asked a question that they struggle with (yes, we struggle with questions some times) and you know the answer, chime in. Don’t be afraid to contribute!

There will also be a stream of communication going on around WordCamp Atlanta as well. Twitter, FriendFeed and Flickr will be buzzing with comments, questions, and pictures. Look for the Twitter hashtag #WCATL and more info on other groups, feeds, and tags for the event.

Connect With People
There will be a ton of really smart folks at WordCamp Atlanta all with different backgrounds and experiences. You never know who you’ll be sitting next to in a session or what their interest in WordPress or blogging is. Take the time to at least introduce yourself, then ask about their blog. Its a pretty safe bet everybody there will have one or at least be starting one! If you happen to have business or calling cards, use them wisely! As Brogan says… don’t go around throwing them out like ninja throwing stars. If you really connect with someone they’ll more than likely ask for yours. If they haven’t asked for it, be cautious about whipping them out! By the same token, if you meet someone you’d really like to follow up with, ask for their contact info… then follow up! Use WordCamp as an opportunity to meet the avatars you’ve been talking to on Twitter and Disqus, maybe even meet some new folks… it’ll be fun… I promise!

Bonus Tip: This event is what you make of it
As with most things in life, you will get back from WordCamp Atlanta what you put into it. If you come looking for the answer to one or two questions… and never ask those questions in either sessions, at the genius bar, or even over lunch… how can you be disappointed if you leave without the answer. (If all else fails, come ask me. If I can’t answer it we’ll go together to find somebody who can!) The point is you have to put a little of yourself out there to get a little back. Don’t be shy!

If you have more tips that you’d like to share, PLEASE drop them in the comments below. We’d all love to hear them.

See you in Atlanta!
@jtrigsby

PS – If you see me at WordCamp Atlanta I’d love to meet you! Just walk up and introduce yourself! I promise I don’t bite!

PPS – Also keep an eye on the jtrigsby WordCamp Atlanta event page. I’ll be posting there more leading up to, at and after the event!

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Probably the single greatest benefit from WordCamp Birmingham ’09, or any camp style meeting for that matter, was the opportunity to talk about ideas. The power of the groupthink is undeniable. You can see it in the faces of people as they hear little tidbits that fit perfectly into that missing space in their puzzle. Or even better, opens a door of thought for them they hadn’t even considered before. The cumulative increase in knowledge is just something you’ll never be able to reach by yourself… at least it would be very very hard.

For me, one of the many awesome aspects of attending WordCamp Birmingham was the opportunity to hear, meet, and talk about ideas with Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress. And Matt did a lot more that just come by, speak, and hit the door. He sat in on and participated in several of the sessions… especially on Sunday. Listening to the challenges and solutions the WordPress community is experiencing, suggestion solutions, and taking back ideas to incorporate into the product.

I had the opportunity to talk with Matt one-on-one for a few minutes and wow, was it great. One of the near and (not so) dear topics for me was Akismet, especially my recent success in escaping Akismet hell. As it turns out, the guy who is normally responsible for answering emails about this topic has taken some time off in the past week or two as he and his wife have just had a baby. Matt shared that he had answered many of those emails while the regular guy was out so, as it turns out, it was probably Matt himself that help me with my escape! Cool.

BTW, The whole time I’ve been using it, I’ve pronounced it like ASCII-met. I said it that way talking to Matt and he pointed out the the correct pronunciation should be a-KIZ-met. So I went back and looked at the word… wow, I wasn’t even close.

And there were lots of other great folks I got to meet there. Many I’d “talked” with on-line but never met face-to-face, many I was meeting for the first time. Thanks to all of you for your input and contribution to my present and future success! Please, let me know if I can ever help you in any way!

@jtrigsby

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Since I crossed over to the dark side and got an iPhone, I’ve been trying to figure out how to format jtrigsby.com for mobile devices. Since I’ve been browsing with the iPhone these mobile formatted sites keep showing up so there has to be some way to do it, right?

Well it happens that, like most things WordPress, there’s a plugin for that! Its called MobilePress (you can download MobilePress here). It took literally less than 30 seconds to install and works great right out of the box.

There are a few configuration options and even some different themes you can install for MobilePress, sometime after the vacation maybe there will be a chance to play with them a bit. When I do, you can bet there will be a post about it.

If you have an iPhone or other mobile device check it out and let me know what you think. Any and all feedback is welcome and encouraged.

*** UPDATED ***

Well, its taken a little while, but I’m finally getting around to tinkering with MobilePress… and I love it more now than I did at the beach! Themes for it are a little sparce, but that’s ok. What it does with the default theme is super and much better than having to do all that layout by hand!

And of course, if you have multiple blogs, the option to set them all up in MobilePress is awesome. It allows for easy switching from one to the other. The only thing that gets me sometimes is that it doesn’t update posts automatically. In other words, if you make a post with the online interface, then access the site with the MobilePress interface, you have to force a reload… I seem to always forget that!

Overall, it is an awesome app and definitely one you should have in your All-Star Bloggers toolbox!

@jtrigsby

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