Lightning bolts at WordCamp Miami
WordCamp Miami was today at the University of Miami School of Communication in Coral Gables, a place that I know very, very well. I was pleased to see so many unfamiliar faces in attendance, as well as many people who I am privileged to call my friends.
Unlike last year, WordCamp was held separately from BarCamp Miami (which is taking place Sunday). Although I did not get to attend last year, I really feel that this was a smart move on the part of organizers. Presentations were categorized into three tracks (developer, social media, and beginner) and provided a range of interest that really spoke to attendees of all knowledge-bases.
One of the things that stood out for me during WordCamp was something Jane Wells (Twitter: @JaneForShort), user experience lead for WordPress, said during her presentation preview of WordPress 3.0. Jane was asked what it was like to take part in something like WordPress, as there are over 18 million blogs publishing on WordPress. She was extremely modest and talked about how she hopes to help teach underprivileged youth technology, possibly through the new WordPress Foundation, as a way to open their eyes to something they may never have realized was an opportunity.
This got me thinking and I sent out the following tweet:
After Jane’s presentation was over, I was quite surprised when my friends Rebekah Monson and Mallory Colliflower (Twitter: @malcolli) came up to me and wanted to brainstorm more about this. Rebekah was particularly interested in creating training for young girls who are interested in becoming journalist-developers, since this niche field is dominated by males.
I’m extremely excited in seeing where this idea leads. I will be putting together a Wave to help us brainstorm the idea and would love for anyone who is interested to contact me to get involved.
Kudos to the organizers of WordCamp Miami for putting on a successful event, especially to David Bisset (Twitter: @DimensionMedia). I was also thrilled that one of my new coworkers, who recently started a blog of her own, attended the event and was able to get a lot of ideas.
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Comments ( 17 )
[...] led to an awesome brainstorming session between a few of us chicks in the group. Lori Todd wrote a fantastic wrap-up of what we took from that session and our goals moving [...]
WordCamp Miami lights a fire - Mallory Colliflower added these pithy words on Feb 20 10 at 9:41 PM[...] Lori Todd (“Lightning bolts at WordCamp Miami”): http://www.lorimarietodd.com/2010/02/20/wordcamp-miami-2010/ [...]
WordCamp Miami | Blog | WordCamp Miami Feedback added these pithy words on Feb 21 10 at 6:44 PM[...] led to an awesome brainstorming session between a few of us chicks in the group. Lori Todd wrote a fantastic wrap-up of what we took from that session and our goals moving [...]
WordCamp Miami lights a fire | YesWordpress.com added these pithy words on Feb 22 10 at 7:01 AM[...] Ileana Ortiz (Country Cuban) has “Reflections of WordCamp Miami”, with notes for each session she attended. Chelsea Duran has her impressions of her first ever WordCamp. Jane Wells’ comments during a Q&A sparked a few lighting bolts for Lori Todd. [...]
WordCamp Miami Wrap-up - Roger Theriault - Inside T/S Tech - True/Slant added these pithy words on Feb 22 10 at 9:43 PMStories like this make it definitely worth it. Keep us up to date, and thanks for chatting with me on Twitter.
Jim "Genuine" Turner added these pithy words on
Feb 20 10 at
6:47 PM
Thank you for putting this on your blog Lori! I love camps like today’s for many reasons. I attend without assuming I’ll learn any tangible hands-skills and am always blown away simply by the wave of motivation that overcomes me when I leave them. Camps and geek weekend down in Miami are the perfect vehicles for getting the brain cogs working. I hope many geeky journalism girls read this post and would be interested in anything we come up with.
Mallory Colliflower added these pithy words on
Feb 20 10 at
7:57 PM
I;ve also talked to Jane about getting more women involved, and have a grass-roots action in my own home. (I have 3 girls)
I also started a wordpress-women twitter list here:
http://twitter.com/andrea_r/wordpress-women
Andrea_R added these pithy words on
Feb 20 10 at
8:22 PM
Lori it was really great seeing you today at the Wordcamp event!
John Sternal
@sternalpr
John Sternal added these pithy words on
Feb 20 10 at
8:47 PM
one of the key benefits of conferences and gatherings like these are the energy and vibe they generate. They inspire mental muscles to start flexing in new ways. You might sit in a presentation, thinking you’ve known all this stuff before, but there is that 1 tiny nugget that inspires you, thats what makes these things worth it to me.
Best of luck on this endeavor, and as always, I will be happy to promote/help you guys however I can.
Brian Breslin added these pithy words on
Feb 20 10 at
9:25 PM
well i have three daughters so i see them working on Wordpress X (10) in the future…
David Bisset added these pithy words on
Feb 20 10 at
10:24 PM
Thanks forthe support, everyone. I hope something concrete comes from our future brainstorming sessions.
Andrea_R: I will take a peek at what you’re working on. Best of luck!
Sternal: Nice meeting you as well!
Brian: I don’t know if I should be more thrilled about this or your cookie recipe.
David: I hope your girls take to tech, but don’t force it! Hehe. If they’re like me, they will be into it cause daddy is. I love seeing close father-daughter relationships.
Lori added these pithy words on
Feb 21 10 at
8:43 AM
At the Miami BarCamp, Tammy Camp (@tammycamp) mentioned Girls in Tech (@GITweet) camp.
tristanspill added these pithy words on
Feb 22 10 at
5:14 AM
Sounds like a great initiative. I’d love to be added to the email list for updates on this!
Jenny added these pithy words on
Feb 22 10 at
10:57 AM
Thanks, Jenny. Mallory and I will keep you updated w/ any developments!
Lori added these pithy words on
Feb 24 10 at
12:15 PM
Thanks, Tristan. I am going to contact Tammy about this.
Lori added these pithy words on
Feb 24 10 at
12:15 PM
Ahahaha. Lori, both are exciting I hope. p.s. I plan on giving you akward hugs every time I see you. just letting ya know.
Brian Breslin added these pithy words on
Feb 24 10 at
2:40 PM