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.