Author Archives: Andrea Middleton

Get nostalgic

Nothing gets you excited about this year’s WordCamp like watching videos from past years’ WordCamp. Watch WordPress.tv videos from WordCamp Portland 2012, 2011, 20102009 and 2008 (ok, those are just slides but still).

Some highlights for us (in chronological order):

Matt’s 2012 Town Hall

Grant Landram: How to Build a Professional WordPress Business

Andrew Nacin: WP_Query

John Hawkins: Intro to Child Themes

Mark Jaquith: SWAN DIVE! …into the Best WordPress of your Life

Michael Fields: New and Exciting Ways to Organize Your WordPress Powered Website

Jane Wells: How WordPress Decisions Get Made

Thank you WordCamp Pillar sponsor Bluehost

bluehost logo WordCamp sponsors, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways! This year, as part of the multi-event sponsorship program, Bluehost has sponsored every WordCamp on the planet – from Buffalo to Nepal! – and sponsors like that are yet another reason that it’s amazing to be a WordCamp organizer these days. Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over one million WordPress sites. Their goal is to provide outstanding hosting services and customer support for the best possible price. Bluehost is also constantly innovating and upgrading their services and infrastructure at no additional cost to their customers. Join the millions of other website owners that have already chosen Bluehost and see how they can help you with your site. Thank you, Bluehost, for helping make WordCamp Portland amazing.

Keeping cool with WordCamp swag

photo (13)On Saturday, you’ll get to add yet another amazing WordCamp Portland pint glass to your collections of awesome, thirst-fighting hardware. Even if you’re not (gasp! cough!) a beer drinker, this little baby holds iced tea, kombucha, and delicious Portland tap water like a champ. Here’s a recipe for a summer cooler that will be something the whole family will enjoy sipping out of a WordCamp pint glass:

Watermelon Mint Agua Fresca*

4 cups fresh watermelon (preferably Hermiston), peeled, seeded and chopped into 2-inch chunks
a handful of fresh mint leaves, minced
1 cup delicious Portland tap water (or any potable water you have available)
1 oz. fresh lime or lemon juice
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Tools: blender, chinois strainer (or cheesecloth-lined colander), pitcher, large spoon Puree the watermelon, mint and water. Strain into a pitcher and add the lime juice and sugar. Stir and serve over ice.

*Doesn’t it look like a WordPress valentine-in-a-glass?

Thank you kindly, Anchor sponsors!

One of the humbling things about organizing WordCamp is learning how many people feel passionately about the WordPress community in Portland. The following companies are deeply committed to making WordCamp Portland a success, and we thank them profoundly for their generous support.

dt-onblackonwhite-120312[1]Not only has Digital Trends sponsored WordCamp Portland for 3 years running, but they also have provided space for our local meetup for over two years now. They help their readers navigate an increasingly digital world, providing trustworthy and unbiased product reviews written in plain English, as well as timely and entertaining coverage of the way tech is changing our lives. Also, they’re pretty big: 10 million monthly unique visitors and growing every month — and that’s before you get to our syndicated network featuring some of the biggest destinations on the web. Which is funny for those of us who think of them as just those friendly guys from down the block. Thank you, Digital Trends, for providing a home for the Portland WordPress community month after month, and for your support of this and previous WordCamps.

10up 10up is a premium web agency that imagines, builds, and grows amazing websites with WordPress. 10up serves an outstanding collection of clients, ranging from small family businesses to diverse WordPress.com VIP clients like TechCrunch, Time Inc, Universal Sports, and Trulia, to universities like Bates College and the University of Rhode Island. Counting over a dozen credited core contributors to the WordPress project as employees, team 10up has the talent and know-how to conquer any project.

10up has also made its mark in Portland – they opened a brand new, satellite office in May! This will be the central hub for 10up’s face-to-face meet-ups, hack days, open houses, and sponsored events, in addition to being a regular office for their five Portland natives. 10up has consistently supported WordCamp Portland in years past, and we are terribly grateful.

WPE_Logo_Color_X-par-1 WP Engine is the one of the most mature premium managed hosting platforms for websites and apps built with WordPress. WP Engine powers tens of thousands of websites, delivering the fastest, most reliable, and most secure web experience. Developers love WP Engine because they know that the ‘WP Engineers’ understand the challenges of developing WordPress sites, and have built an entire development toolkit with features like the one-click staging area, and .git for version control and deployment.

What does WP Engine love? Well, WordPress of course, and also WordCamps! They’ve been a sponsor of WordCamp Portland since 2012, and it’s always fun to give them succor from Austin’s terribly August heat. 😉 Thank you, WP Engine, for your support of this and all other WordCamps!

Swag sneak peek

Pint GlassIt’s August in Portland, and the highs are almost in the 90s. Whew! Don’t hack on your WordPress site without keeping a nice, cold, frosty glass of something close at hand. On Saturday, you’ll get to add yet another amazing WordCamp Portland pint glass to your collections of awesome, thirst-fighting hardware. Even if you’re not (gasp! cough!) a beer drinker, this little baby holds iced tea, kombucha, and delicious Portland tap water like a champ. Yet another reason to love WordCamp!

Thanks, WordCamp Champion sponsor DreamHost!

dreamhost_logo-cmyk-no_tag-2012Thank you to DreamHost for sponsoring WordCamp Portland and many other WordCamps all over the continent as part of the multi-event WordCamp sponsorship program. DreamHost is a global Web hosting and cloud services provider with over 350,000 customers and 1.2 million blogs, websites and apps hosted. They are a big supporter of WordPress and WordCamps, and we just can’t thank them enough.

Thank you to our Rose Sponsors

There’s a reason WordCamp Portland always comes out smelling like roses… it’s all thanks to our sponsors!

Code Poet 2Code Poet publishes amazing articles, resources, e-books, and interviews for and about people doing amazing things with WordPress. How can you not love that?

wpsclogo WP Site Care provides premium WordPress site maintenance and support to individuals, businesses, and even to plugin or theme authors who don’t have the time or energy to provide product support on their own. They’re a first-time WCPDX sponsor, and we’re very grateful.

Thank you to our Heart and Sparrow Sponsors

WordCamp Portland would not exist without all the wonderful sponsors that believe in supporting the Portland WordPress community! Thank you to the following sponsors:

We <3 our Heart sponsors!

ivycat_logo_transparent_186x92IvyCat is small, agile team of WordPress developers and server geeks based in lovely Gig Harbor, Washington. They’ve been a consistent sponsor of WordCamp Portland for many years – so awesome! They’ve also contributed seven plugins to the wordpress.org repo.

 

X-Team-Two-Colour---Vertical-HIRESFormed in 2006, X-Team is a team of digital pioneers capable of bringing imaginations to life, whose mission is to create awesome experiences by embracing extraordinary challenges. They don’t just create websites, mobile apps and games — they strive to maintain a culture based on trust, generosity and high-fives. This is their first year sponsoring WordCamp Portland. Welcome!

SmileLogo-whitebg-webSmile makes productivity software for OS X and iOS devices. They’re in their 10th year of great products and fast, friendly customer support, and this is their first year sponsoring WordCamp Portland. Welcome!

 

Our Sparrow sponsors give us wings!

Gravitate is a digital marketing and design company located in beautiful Vancouver, Washington. They’re another wonderful first-time WCPDX sponsor, yay!

Sticker Giant has provided WCPDX with amazing stickers for many years, now, and has always treated us well. Thanks for festooning our gear for another year!