We had a great time at WordCamp Chicago this past weekend, where we listened to some great Speakers talk about everything from becoming a famous blogger to building online influence to using your blog for a social media hub.
Of course, Matt Mullenweg, the founding Developer of WordPress, talked about the latest innovations at WordPress, happenings at the company, and answered many questions.
We also got to meet face-to-face with some of our Moderators/Approved Designers and some of our Members that attended, which was fun to finally put a name with a face {or avatar} from the Support Forum.
Here is a team photo, pictured from left to right:
John “Daddio” Flynn: StudioPress Mod & Approved Designer, father of 8; Craig “Flames” Tuller: StudioPress COO; Brian “Biceps” Gardner: StudioPress CEO; Matt “Ouzo” Mullenweg: Founding Developer of WordPress; Chris “Hot Sauce” Foster: StudioPress Mod & Approved Designer, about to join Fatherhood; Jeff “Mister Quiet” Milone, StudioPress Designer/Developer; Rebecca “Not a Mommy-blogger” Diamond: StudioPress Mod & Approved Designer.
We also spent most of the weekend with our friends both at WordCamp & the Meetup at Morton’s Steak House on Saturday night. There was Bryan Hauer: a top StudioPress Affiliate; Jason “Video Boy” & Christine Schuller: Press75.com; Cory “Needs to drink some GPL Koolaid” & Jennifer “Gives new meaning to the term Plugin” Miller: iThemes.com; and Brian Lis, StudioPress Approved Designer & FOB {friend of Brian}.
The most amusing thing I saw and heard was when Matt “Ouzo” Mullenweg, while bantering with Cory Miller about GPL, compared GPL to women’s suffrage. I instantly saw Christine Schuller, Jennifer Miller, & my wife, Rachel Tuller raise their eyebrows. Obviously Matt had to explain that one!
All in all, an excellent WordCamp thanks to the speakers, attendees, Brian Gardner, and especially our friend Lisa Sabin-Wilson, author of “WordPress for Dummies“.
A special shout-out of Thanks goes to our Moderators who did not attend, but held down the fort and especially to John “Sozo” Wright and Debra “Spam-killer” Scott who handled the brunt of the support.
To see more about WordCamp Chicago visit the Twitter hashtag: #wcchicago.
About Craig Tuller
The event was more than fabulous Brian! You, Lisa and the team did a super fabulous job at putting it all together and it made the 14 hour drive more than worthwhile. I can’t wait to see what other WordCamp events are like and will also plan on attending next year!
Erin
Thanks Erin – appreciate the comment. You did a great job speaking, and I’ve heard many people say that!
I agree w/Brian … Erin, your session was excellent and you are a very engaging speaker. Hope to have you as a Speaker, as we briefly discussed, for WordCamp “Raleigh” next year.
After reading all the great experiences of WordCamp Chicago participants, I’ve made a decision to participate in next WordCamp. It seems that fun has been all around of WordCamp Chicago.
Yes, you are absolutely right – we had a blast, and look forward to planning next year’s event!
Thanks again Brian – it was a great time and the quality of the event exceeded my expectations. Great networking with other like minded WP users, comfortable setting, refreshments, lunch, etc.
The speakers were dynamic and I took pages of notes that I’m still trying to process.
I’m already looking forward to next year.
Jeff
I had an awesome time at Wordcamp Chicago, even if I apparently have to retire “Church Lady” in favor of ‘Not a Mommy-blogger”
It was fantastic to meet all of you and get the chance to hang out somewhere other than the forums. So much good information shared – and we saw the birth of a really awesome domain/trend, don’t forget that! Move over followfriday…in favor of the new Brian Gardner project 
Wow. Looks like fun was to be had by all who attended! Seeing all the images in the Flickr set, I think I might like to go next year. (Found out too late this year)
Scott
Yep, it was a good time, especially getting to meet the StudioPress gang face-to-face rather than in chat.