WordCamp Hawaii

Matt Plans are in the works to hold a WordCamp conference right here in the Aloha State. Whether you are a hardcore WordPress hacker, a happy WordPress user, or want to know more about WordPress, this event will be for you.

The explosive growth of WordPress has been nothing short of a revolution for online publishing. It’s become a key tool for individuals, groups, and Fortune 500 companies alike. Your neighbor might use it to blog about her cats, while CNN uses it to power its immensely popular Political Ticker.

If you spend a few hours a week on the web, chances are you’ve visited a site powered by WordPress. And, of course, many of the most-read blogs in Hawaii have WordPress under the hood, including iLind.net, Poinography, Honolulu Nightlife Diaries, Homespun Honolulu, Hawaii Online Advertising, Hawaii Vacation Blog… and this blog, too, which has been around for eight years but switched to WordPress last September.

There is a massive community of programmers, designers, and marketing professionals invested in improving and maximizing WordPress. A WordCamp brings all these groups together to “learn from each other, figure out the future of publishing on the web, and have a good time.”

The 2008 Mac a’hiki Tech Fest featured a keynote presentation by Matt Mullenweg, founding programmer of WordPress.com. He gave an excellent overview of blogging software, the WordPress community, and his company, Automattic. (You can watch an archive of the live video feed from Mullenweg’s talk at Ustream.) During his talk, long-time tech-head Bob Lew floated the idea of a Hawaii WordCamp.

Mullenweg, who says WordCamps are his “favorite events,” said he’d love to see it happen and may even return to attend.

Lew is eying October for WordCamp Hawaii, and I’ve already made contact with WordCamp gurus Matt Thomas and Maya Desai to get things rolling online. The most important part, however, will be bringing together the diverse bunch of Hawaii WordPress users so that we can collectively make the most of this fantastic tool.

Are you a WordPress user, or WordPress curious? Make yourself known! Let’s do this thing.

10 Responses

  1. Crissy says:

    Sounds great, Ryan! I use WordPress, but I’m a real novice at customizing, etc., so I hope you’ll have a beginner’s section, too. :o)

  2. Flo says:

    I’d love this. I’m a Hawaii blogger that uses WordPress and would love to learn more. The hit and miss way I learn is very slow :)

  3. Beth Berry says:

    Okay, so I don’t technically live in Hawaii any longer. But I do pay income taxes there! So, you know I’m in.

  4. rox says:

    Oh yeah. Sounds like something very useful. :-)

  5. NEENZ says:

    WORD! :)

    Aloha,
    NEENZ.

  6. Evelyn says:

    Ryan, you have such a great ability to mobilize people! I’m more in debt to the person who started me off. I’m a old-school, html-from-scratch kind of person who is still suffering from WP culture shock! :)

    I have a lot to learn about the back ground workings so, I’m with Flo, I need a beginners section too! Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ryan, but I really do worry about touching it! Gulp!

  7. Brent says:

    Hey Howzit!

    Anyone up for making this a Two-Island Event?
    Maybe Big Island then Oahu one week later?

    Please let me know if you’re interested. We’ve got gear, sponsors and location available over here. aloha

  8. Judi says:

    Another wordpress beginner, longtime sporadic blogger, really well-organized. Hey if you want help putting this together, ping me! Mahalo, looking forward to it

  9. Pat says:

    Woohoo!!!

    How ’bout a hybrid conference with face-to-face and online sessions? Then participation can extend beyond one or two islands.

    Regardless of the delivery mode, I will attend (and can help plan/design/implement if I can).

  10. Hula Utah says:

    Will there be another one of these in the future? Email me if there will be, I would love to attend something like this in Hawaii…..

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