Thanks to Everyone for a Fantastic WordCamp PDX 2015

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WordCamp PDX 205 is over and it is a resounding success. Wow!

The entire WordCamp volunteer team wants to first thank you, the participant, because we do this for you. It takes a lot of people and a lot of work, but we are happy when you are happy, when you enjoy the diversity of speakers, the facility, food, and camaraderie we work so hard to engineer.

Thank you for showing up, for participating, for helping when help was needed, and for making this an amazing WordCamp for all.

We have a few more people and groups to thank, too.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

WordCamp tickets are lower than any other one day event with such top notch speakers. This is due in part thanks to the WordPress Foundation and tremendous efforts of the Make WordPress Community team.

Most of all, thanks and much appreciation to our generous sponsors that went above and beyond to ensure WordCamp PDX is affordable for all.

WordCamp Thank You Instagram Image by Scott Sakamoto for WordCamp Portland.

Special thanks from Scott Sakamoto

One more round of applause to all of our wonderful sponsors:

Also, special appreciation goes to Brian Kidd for letting us use his likeness in the WordCamp PDX 2015 stickers.

Special Thanks to the Eliot Center and Crew

Throughout the day from the earliest hour in the morning to after the event, the crew of the Eliot Center worked overtime to ensure we had a beautiful and fully functional facility for our event.

The Eliot Center is a beautiful meeting space, and the rooms we used were ideal for our group.

Thanks to all for helping us dismantle and keep the place clean.

https://twitter.com/ScottSakamoto/status/657990425400225792

As a side note, much thanks goes to Ed Bisquera for providing the great live music at the piano in the Chapel all day. What other WordCamp can claim live music during the event? 😀

Contributor’s Day

Deskhub stepped up at last minute to host Contributor Day on Sunday.

Contributor’s Day is a day for the local WordPress Community to give back to WordPress with writing and editing, video transcription and captions, translation services, responding in the WordPress Support Forums, and stopping out bugs in WordPress Trac. There were tasks for everyone at every level, and we appreciate everyone showing up and helping us make WordPress better for all.

The Food

The food and drinks at this WordCamp put it on the record for outdoing itself. The Ethiopian food provided by Bete-Luka’s Ethiopian Restaurant went like hot cakes, literally, not a drop left over. It was amazing. So tasty and perfect for this group.

The donuts in the morning were provided by Blue Star Donuts, fresh out of the oven. The bourbon donuts were a particular hit.

Beer kegs were staffed by servers for hours during and after lunch, supplied by Widmer Brothers Brewing of Oregon.

The WordCamp Portland 2015 After-Party was way too much fun and much thanks goes to the Enso Winery for the great wine and goodies as well as an ideal social space for us to relax in after a full day of non-stop WordPress goodness.

Next time you need a great dinner, desert, or drink, please stop by these vendors and tell them you loved that they were at WordCamp PDX.

https://twitter.com/ScottSakamoto/status/658016541468921857

The Speakers

One of the unique things about a WordCamp is that speakers must submit proposals to speak at WordCamp. They are not cherry picked. This gives people the opportunity to present their ideas and WordPress tips and techniques on stage when they might not typically get the opportunity. It is a chance to step out of the crowd and be heard.

Hugs and appreciation goes to all of our speakers who worked so hard on their presentations, many of them for months, keeping to the topic of how WordPress is changing lives and the world.

Another cheer of applause for our great speakers:

  • Alena Holligan
  • Alex Mansfield
  • Ariel Rule
  • Ben Martin
  • Chris Lema
  • Doug Yuen
  • Drew Jaynes
  • Erin Olmon
  • Jeremy Felt
  • Jocelyn Mozak
  • Kronda Adair
  • Luria Petrucci
  • Marc Benzakein
  • Matthew Eppelsheimer
  • Sarah Pressler
  • Weston Ruter

Learn WordPress in a Day Team

The Learn to Use WordPress in a Day workshop was introduced to this WordCamp weeks before to help those new to WordPress learn how to use it and be better prepared to understand the jargon and topics of WordCamp PDX. The free Saturday event filled up immediately and a second one was held on Sunday, a jam-packed weekend for many volunteers there to answer questions about WordPress.

Daniel Portis-Cathers and Robert Lilly and their team of volunteers worked overtime to ensure everyone walked out with a basic overview of WordPress and fears were eased about how to use it.

Rumors are flying around that there may be other similar events, so join the Portland WordPress Meetup group to get announcements on upcoming events like this one.

https://twitter.com/lisap1111/status/658034880467484672

The Volunteers

Organizer Justin Sainton summed it up beautifully:

if I didn’t say it sufficiently – this only happened because of the incredible work from all of you. I received so many thank-yous from different people. I did my best to deflect that back to the team, but honestly, my efforts were, at best, imperfect. What “was” perfect, however, was every effort from every volunteer and member of the organizing team. You all did awesome. Couldn’t have been prouder of all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank you to everyone who pitched in to help WordCamp come together. Just to give you a peek behind the scenes, these are some of the tasks taken on by volunteers that went above and beyond the call of duty to make this work:

  • facilities
  • food
  • promotion
  • social media
  • website articles
  • speaker wrangling
  • graphic design
  • video production
  • web design
  • web development
  • printing
  • after party arrangements
  • food handling and services
  • clean up
  • prep
  • emcees
  • errand runners
  • AV
  • schwag investigators and designers

In spite of births, deaths, sick, and health, like a marriage, the team came together and everyone gave their all to make this event a success.

https://twitter.com/AlexB_WPEngine/status/658033869027872768