Live blogging from the first ever WordCamp US

I just got back from Philly where I spent the past few days at WordCamp US, the biggest WordPress conference of it’s kind. I was in attendance with Torque Magazine and WP Engine, who I’ve been working with for the past year, and I had a blast interviewing people and writing silly tweets from Philadelphia. It was lot of hard work, and I feel like I just finished my second 24hr comic challenge of the year, but the end result is a bunch of short interview videos and other things from the conference.

A fortuitous background moment during our quick interview with @bobWP at #wcus https://t.co/MJUAouuaWN #HugADev pic.twitter.com/w84rLFIAAI

— Torque (@TheTorqueMag) December 4, 2015

The work really started a month before WordCamp, when I started laying out our Ultimate Guide To WordPress Plugins book. We’ve shared the digital version of the eBook (available for free here), but we managed to get 100 printed copies at the event too, and they look awesome. I love the feeling of holding a physical copy of a book after working on it for so long.

Swing by the @wpengine booth and ask for a physical copy of our Ultimate Guide To WordPress plugins! #WCUS pic.twitter.com/1GxOtvWmbO

— Torque (@TheTorqueMag) December 4, 2015

Once I got to WordCamp, I started hitting up influential WordPressers for short video interviews. I kept the questions short, each interview lasted about 3 minutes, and I tried my best to edit them down to a minute and a half. These were all shot and edited on my iPhone, using the iMovie app. For a little polish, I like to use a wide angle lens and a lavalier (which really makes these videos shine). I’m all about the “get it done” method of video production and try to get each video up within a few hours of shooting.

Two of my favorites where with Jason Cohen (WP Engine) and Anthony Bubel (Akismet):

WordCamp US wrapped up with Matt Mullenweg‘s “State of the Word” keynote, which was packed full of surprises and stunning numbers. I live tweeted the whole thing, which resulted in extremely silly gifs like this one:

"An API is the key of an open web." says @photomatt at #wcus pic.twitter.com/Z6WeMnwJUa

— Torque (@TheTorqueMag) December 5, 2015

Although I’m absolutely wiped out, I’m so happy to have chances to do fun and creative things like this for a week. I’ll be there again next year!