WordCamp Chicago

Sponsor Spotlight: ServerBeach

June 3, 2009 by Heather Acton • Comments Off

WordCamp Chicago warmly welcomes the fine folks from ServerBeach as one of our generous sponsors this year. ServerBeach has a long history with the WordPress community, being one of the choice providers for hosting servers for WordPress.com is just a start – ServerBeach also genuinely supports WordPress by sponsoring several WordCamp events and just recently, hosted yours truly at the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin Texas where we gave away free copies of WordPress For Dummies and some great free WordPress themes to folks who stopped by their booth. As a result, ServerBeach was listed as “Top 10 Companies Most Discussed on Twitter at South by Southwest“!

ServerBeach’s official company blog is hosted at WordPress.com, as well. We are proud to have them as an official sponsor of WordCamp Chicago ’09 and send out a BIG thanks for their support. (hint: ServerBeach has also donated some great schwag for WordCamp Chicago attendees, too!)

A little about ServerBeach, the company:

By Geeks, for Geeks.

ServerBeach, a PEER 1 Dedicated Hosting company, delivers powerful dedicated servers, convenient server management tools, and 24×7×365 LifeGuard Support™ all on PEER 1’s rock-solid IT infrastructure and SuperNetwork™ backbone. Prices start at just $75/mo. If you want complete control and root access to your dedicated server without any managed support services, Dedicated Hosting is right for you. Eliminating managed support services saves you money that can be used towards other areas like web development, design, and marketing. Our clients include WordPress, Dogster and Tailrank.

Highlights

Choice of Data Center – East, West or Central US
24×7×365 LifeGuard Support™
24-Hour Setup Guarantee
100% Network Uptime Guarantee
Root Access and Server Management Tools
Variety of OS like RedHat, Ubuntu and Debian
Personal Account Manager
Rock-solid PEER 1 IT Infrastructure and SuperNetwork™

Contact ServerBeach

You can also follow @ServerBeach on Twitter!

Posted in Blog, Sponsors, WCChicago 2009 | Tagged serverbeach, WordCamp, wordcamp chicago, WordPress | Comments Off

Speaker Spotlight: David Dalka

May 31, 2009 by Heather Acton • 1 Comment

We’re excited to wlecome David Dalka to WordCamp Chicago. David is speaking Saturday afternoon on the topic of: Using Blogs to Create Marketing Innovation, Competitive Advantage. David’s website can be found at: http://www.daviddalka.com/

Prior to 9/11, David worked in institutional financial services including BlackRock (BLK) during it’s 80 to 800 person growth phase. At BlackRock he led initiatives that transformed quarterly and monthly reports into daily conversations with clients via web portals that created incremental improvements. BlackRock leveraged via customer driven innovation and creation of standards that reduced market frictions. David talked about this in a recent interview about social media as an innovation tool – which is similar to what he did at BlackRock with just a telephone and email back in the 1990’s.

After spending time in a Fortune 500 company after getting his MBA, David returned to his entrepreneurial roots, spending time recently in startups in mobile search and cost per action advertising. David has noticed correlations about how startups have trouble getting new technology to dislodge legacy providers and processes in large companies that struggle with innovation. David has identified several of the root causes of these issues and is ever so slowly starting to educate and speak about how to reorganize management profitably to senior executives (CEO, CMO, CFO, boards of directors, etc) as an executive search marketing management consultant.

On Sunday, after the conclusion of Matt Mullenweg’s speech, David will also be going to Portillo’s at 100 West Ontario, to experience the rare Chicago food delicacy known as Italian Beef. He welcomes fellow foodies to go on this excursion with him as well. Please tweet “@dalka Portillo’s Sunday #wcchicago if you want to go.

Some additional links from David:
Recent interview about social media as an innovation, Reorganize management profitably and Executive Search Marketing Management Consultant.

Posted in Blog, Speakers | 1 Comment

Sold out in Chicago

May 30, 2009 by Heather Acton • 4 Comments

As I’ve announced on our Twitter, as well as noted on our registration page – as of last week, WordCamp Chicago is a sold out event! The venue we booked, the UBS Tower Michicgan Ballroom, has a max capacity of 200, so we had to cap our ticket sales at 200 and we, unfortunately, are not able to over book beyond that number.

I cannot begin to tally up the number of emails I’ve received from folks who didn’t get to register in time before the tickets sold out. As a result of that, I did call the organizers at the UBS Tower to find out if we could squeeze in more – – one more? 5 more..10? The answer was no. They have some pretty strict fire codes in downtown Chicago and we’re not allowed to bring in more than the maximum of 200.

While, on some level, I would like to apologize for not being able to accommodate more people this year – – I’m really pleased with the turn out and interest in the very first WordCamp Chicago event. We really appreciate everyone interest in a WordCamp hosted in the Windy City, though – and will most definitely keep this in mind for our planning efforts for next year.

For the people who have emailed in – please know that if there were a way for me to sneak in another person or two, I would do it in a heartbeat. It’s not that we don’t want you there – we just cannot support the numbers this year.

I have, however, been able to make connections between some people who registered early, but found they needed to cancel. These folks have been able to sell their tickets to people who didn’t make the registration deadline. At this time, I don’t know of anyone who has tickets up for grabs due to cancellation – but will keep my ears open over the next week and if I hear of any, I will surely let people know. We want as many people as possible to benefit from the great weekend we have planning in Chicago next week.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Posted in Announcements, Blog, WCChicago 2009 | Tagged sold out, wordcamp chicago | 4 Comments

A few lingering details for WordCamp Chicago folks

May 29, 2009 by Heather Acton • 1 Comment

A week from today – we’ll gather. We’ll talk, share, laugh, learn and listen – with 200 of you coming (well, 199 excluding myself!), it is sure to be a fun and very interesting weekend! I’m really excited that WordCamp Chicago is just right around the corner – – it feels like I’ve been waiting forever! A few details you should all know before you leave home:

The official WordCamp Chicago hashtag: #wcchicago
Check the FAQ page for directions, parking and hotel information. (I have a call out to find out if there are any associated costs with the parking at UBS Tower – I don’t think there are, but I just want to check and be sure. I probably won’t hear from them until Monday)
Registration starts at 8:30 am – present your tickets at the door and you’ll get your name badge and a few fun extras!
Brian Gardner will kick things off with opening remarks at 9:15am with the first speaker of the day, Liz Strauss, at 9:30
Lunch is being provided on Saturday June 6 from 12:00 – 1:30pm. For the foodies out there – some examples of what will be on the menu
- West Coast Turkey Breast ~avocado, tomato, red onion on a whole wheat baguette
- Classic Roast Beef & Cheddar ~Kaiser Bun
- One North Tuna Salad ~grilled red onion, celery, whole wheat baguette
- Assorted garnishes, Chips, pasta salad
- A dessert bar
- Water, herbal teas, coffee and soda
Breakfast is being provided on Sunday, June 7 from 8am – 9am – and idea of what is on that menu:
- Assortment of Danish, Muffins, Doughnuts and Bagels with a Variety of Cream Cheeses, Butter and Jelly
- A Platter of Seasonal Fresh Fruit
Coffee, water, tea and soda refresh provided throughout both days
We’ve extended Sunday until 1pm (instead of the originally scheduled noon) just to give folks a change to mingle and chat a bit before going home after the last speaker of the day.

LOTS of folks are asking about possible get togethers or after-parties. To my knowledge there is nothing official planned – but if you know of one, or are organizing one – – let us know here in the comments and be sure to TWEET it using the #wcchicago hashtag so everyone knows! And don’t forget that WordCamp Chicago has its own Facebook page – that might also be a good place to post about any gatherings you know about.

I’ve gotten lots of questions about pizza in Chicago – – anyone know of a great “not to miss” place? I’m not a native Chicagoean (is that a word?)…so I’m not sure. Other questions included great places to eat or see in the area from folks coming in from out of town – – so any Chicago information you’d like to share, please do.

Aside from that – I’m really looking forward to seeing you all in Chicago next weekend!

Posted in Announcements, Blog, Venue and Location, WCChicago 2009 | 1 Comment

Speaker Spotlight: Micha Baldwin

May 29, 2009 by Heather Acton • Comments Off

Micah is the VP, Business Development and Chief Evangelist for Lijit Networks, a Boulder, CO startup, provides publishers a robust trusted search and stats tool. Lijit is the sixth startup Micah has been involved with, (having sold his last startup, Current Wisdom, in the beginning of 2007).

Micah is well versed with online social media, using it strategically since 1995, and more recently starting the #followfriday meme on Twitter. A frequent speaker, you can read more about Micah’s philosophy of success through failure here on his blog. Learn To Duck.

I had the opportunity to meet Micah at SXSW Interactive 2009 and am looking forward to seeing him again at WordCamp Chicago – this time, with the fortunate ability of hearing him speak on the topic of: Building and Online Influence: Why Bloggers Blog.

Micah claims in his latest blog post that he has not yet experienced the greatest moment in his life yet. Is it possible that WordCamp Chicago could be it??? 🙂

In his very own words, Micah describes a bit about himself:

There are a few things that I truly enjoy: writing (blogging and creatively) art (collecting and appreciating), teaching (mostly through coaching youth lacrosse), and hanging out with my dogs (Billie and Taylor). Beyond that, that “official” bio abobve can tell you about my work stuff.

Looking forward to hearing Micah’s talk at WordCamp Chicago! You can follow Micah on Twitter: @micah

Posted in Blog, Speakers, WCChicago 2009 | Tagged Micah Baldwin, WordCamp, wordcamp chicago, WordPress | Comments Off

Sponsor Spotlight: WebDevStudios

May 29, 2009 by Heather Acton • 2 Comments

WordCamp Chicago warmly welcomes WebDevStudios as one of our very generous sponsors who are helping us make WordCamp Chicago a successful and fun weekend for everyone!

WebDevStudios are providers of SEO, social media and online marketing consultation and WordPress site development solutions.

Completed WordPress work projects by the folks at WebDevStudios include sites such as: Cornelia Marie, Asbury Park Chess Fest and BlabThis. Check out their full porfolio of client work to get an idea of the great work that they do.

WebDevStudios was co-founded by Brad Williams and Brian Messenlehner, and they are located in New Jersey. As they state on their site “If you can dream it, we can build it!” Give them a call at 732.749.9546 or contact them to discuss your ideas and how WebDevStudios can help you today!

I want to extend a big thank you to Brad and Brian from WebDevStudios for their generous support. WordCamp Chicago is grateful for their generosity. See you in Chicago!