Category Archives: Super Heroes

My WordCamp Experience

News, Super Heroes

written by Ella Pader

In the beginning of June I had the opportunity to attend WordCamp Asheville and PreCamp! I learned how to use WordPress and met all kinds of great people. Here’s the rundown of my WordCamp experience.

PreCamp is a day of learning how to use WordPress and understanding how it works. This was perfect for me because my only encounter with the program had been to make blog posts – that were to promote the event! I had actually been volunteered to do these by my dad who taught me himself how to create a blog post. Making blog posts had been straight forward: enter the desired text and media, then publish. PreCamp taught me the rest of the basics and now I’m working on a blog.

Ella’s dad James Pader in the Happiness Bar at #WCAVL 2017.

WordCamp began the day after PreCamp. A lot of knowledge about WordPress was dealt out and I was able to get a hold on quite a bit of it. There were six talks I attended that day about all things WP. There were talks about increasing website speed, how to monetize your site, how to read Analytics, and so on. During lunch I got to talk to some of the friendliest people too! There was also a booth that had a virtual reality set for everyone to use and I of course took advantage of that. At the end of the day, there was a fun party for everyone to get to know each other better.

The third and final day of WordCamp was just as fun and instructional as the previous two! Six more talks and it was concluded for the year. In addition to absorbing even more info about how to better build a website with WordPress I conducted some business! It was sad to see it go but great knowing that I took so much back with me.

***Author Bio: Ella Pader is 14 years old and lives in Western North Carolina. She is exploring all of her future career options.

Everything You Need to Know about Attending #WCAVL

News, Super Heroes

It’s almost time for Wordcamp Asheville!

Here are some reminders and important information for Saturday morning arrival:

Please Note – Roads blocked early Saturday due to Race

The Asheville half marathon runners will be racing through campus early Saturday morning. If you arrive earlier than 8:15am you may be stuck by blocked roads.
Please enter from the Biltmore Road/Mission Hospital entrance. These roads will open up sooner than the Amboy Road/Meadow Road entrance to campus.

8:15am Saturday – Registration
The registration desk is located directly inside the conference center. Give your name at the desk and you’ll be given your badge and t-shirt. You can also grab a printed schedule of sessions for the weekend. ***A breakfasty snack will be available during this time, so grab some food and that all-important cup of coffee!

9am Saturday – Keynote & Announcements
Make sure you arrive in time to hear Jodi Rhoden give the keynote at 9am. We’ll also make some important announcements about the weekend.

Location
The Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center is located at the AB Tech Campus on 340 Victoria Road, Asheville, North Carolina 28801. Please park in the deck directly next to the conference center. When you enter the conference center you will see our registration desk and be directed to the large auditorium for the keynote. View detailed directions and a campus map »

Schedule
Review the upcoming schedule and decide who you want to check out this weekend. Make sure you follow the speakers you love on Twitter and let us know who you think was the best this year!

FAQs
Do you have questions? Read our FAQs to find out the basics. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our communications team on social media over the weekend on Facebook and Twitter or walk on down to the registration desk and one of our lovely volunteers will assist.

What to Bring

  • Your photo ID if you wish to imbibe at the after party
  • Your business card / contact information for connecting with your fellow campers
  • A water bottle/coffee mug (let’s save some trees!)
  • Optional: a fully charged laptop/tablet, or pen and paper for note taking
  • Your super hero game face!

The After Party
WHEN: Saturday 5:30-7:00pm
WHERE: The Wedge at Foundation, 5 Foundry St.
REMEMBER: All attendees to the party must wear their badge
WHAT: Networking, snacks provided, beer available for purchase

Designing a WordCamp Community

Super Heroes

WordCamps are born out of community; ours started out as a very small meetup group and the desire to connect positively with other WordPressers. That meetup group has grown to over 500 members and 2017 marks the fourth WordCamp Asheville! We asked our talented team of design volunteers to create a visual identity that expresses and captures the spirit of our local WordCamp community and they did not shy away from the task!

Here’s what our Design Team wanted to share about what went into this year’s design:

When You Work Together Great Ideas Are Born!

This year, the central theme of  WordCamp Asheville is Community. Such a broad concept is not easy to distill and convey visually. We honed in on the fact that “unity” is contained within the word itself – but wanted to make it active and strong. When thinking about the heart and soul of WordCamps, the tagline “Unite. Share. Develop.” emerged. We literally gather [unite] en masse to share our knowledge, skills and points of view in order to develop – as WordPress users, business people, designers, developers, individuals, and a community as a whole.

Our 2017 Super Hero design!

Putting those words together really ignited the Design Team’s imagination with visions of strength. From there, it wasn’t much of a leap to start thinking about… superheroes. Superheroes can maintain their individual identities, but come together as a group for a united purpose – each bringing their own special power to the table. This, we believe, reflects the WordCamp experience in that users can come from different places/levels/perspectives and bring something unique to the table. Learning from each other, supporting each other, we unite for the common good.

We hope this year’s branding gives a sense of levity to the weekend – and encourages everyone to find, develop and share their own superpower!

Design Team:

Jamie King, Sparking Design
Katie Rotanz, Katie Rotanz Design
Marisa Falcigno, Status Forward
Dena Rutter, Dena Rutter Design