Happy Campers: What We Learned at WordCamp NYC 2016

–Anne Buchanan and Jon Ericson

This past weekend, the two of us had the opportunity to attend WordCamp NYC 2016, a gathering of WordPress users and developers from all over the world. The two-day conference was held at the U.N., which was a mighty cool venue for an equally cool event.

The conference had two tracks – one for developers and one for users – which, in theory, worked perfectly for our Director of Technology and our agency President. In reality, though, there was quite a bit of spill-over in the sessions.

Anne received education on the all-volunteer force behind WordPress. As open-source software, WordPress is “owned” by the non-profit WordPress Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization, and managed by its community of users, who are continuously making upgrades and improvements to the platform. The entire weekend was about sharing – best practices, tools and tips, and new ideas. The experience made Anne feel even better about both using and recommending WordPress to our clients.

For Jon, it is always a treat to see the direction of the software, talk to the major code contributors, and receive insight into the successes and failures before they appear in the trade publications. People often reveal more in person than what appears in sanitized articles in forums and trade publications.

Here are some highlights of the conference:

• We attended an outstanding presentation entitled “Content Strategy from Discovery to Wireframes.” As anyone who’s worked on one knows, developing a new website can be a landmine for disaster. The presenter shared her in-depth and meticulous approach to website planning and development. Two of our favorite takeaways: Test the site on actual users (“Any human is better than no testing at all!”), and use note cards you can move around as you are laying out a site’s architecture.

• Our conviction that video will continue to explode as a communications platform was reinforced by a presentation entitled “So You Think You Can’t Video?” The presenter turned to video when she realized she hated to write, making blogging a pipe dream for her small business. She produces all of her own videos using just her I-Phone, free editing software, and a modest, $250 investment in a tripod and a light.

• On the developer track, we learned about some of the experiences integrating popular JavaScript libraries and frameworks into the PHP based architecture of WordPress. This is cutting edge stuff. The successes and failures will influence what eventually will become incorporated into the “core” of WordPress in the future. Since WordPress comprises over 26% of all sites on the internet, this insight helps us make better informed decisions in where to spend precious resources today.

• There are always the classic sessions that never go out of style, where even long time WordPress web designers can learn a tip or two. Examples were Internet Typography, A/B Testing, and Security Practices, to name just a few.

• One of the most intriguing insights of the weekend came from the “Content Distribution & Platforms 101” presentation. The presenter shared a number of recent studies, including one that reports 80 percent of Buzzfeed’s readership comes from platforms other than its own website, which prompted this question from the audience: “How much longer will websites still matter?” The room burst into animated chatter; this was a shocking question posed at a conference where nearly everyone is in the business of building and maintaining websites.

For Jon – a software development manager – WordCamp was a continuation of a long and rewarding relationship with the WordPress community. For Anne, this was her first introduction to the community and spirit behind WordPress. We both walked away with some new ideas and a renewed appreciation for this vibrant and giving community.

If you’re curious about this community, there are more than 700 WordPress Meetup groups (http://www.meetup.com/topics/wordpress/) and still a few WordCamps remaining this year (http://central.wordcamp.org/). Give one a try. You won’t be disappointed.