I am very glad to see that WordCamp Raleigh – which I am so excited about going to – has their schedule and speaker line up posted.

It looks like Thomas Griffin Media (really interested in the work this guy does with Thesis themes) is there as a small business sponsor. Hope to be able to chat with him as I really like his work. But the most exciting thing to see every WordCamp is the speaker list, and this year at WordCamp Raleigh does not disappoint.

I am most excited to hear:

  • Ryan Duff of Fusionized Technology
  • John Ford of Automattic
  • Andy Stratton of Sizeable Interactive
  • Tony Zeoli of Reese Felts Digital Newsroom
  • Jayvie Canono of One Fine Jay

Some of these guys were there last year and just gave great presentations and had really useful Q&A sessions after their talks. That is the best part-getting to pick their brains.

This WordCamp is presenting on a range of topics from social media to security to plugin development.What I really like about WordCamp weekends is that they tend to break the sessions out into Users Track (somewhat like a beginners track, although sometimes you can really get a lot out of these even if you have been using WordPress for a while); The Power Users Track (more advanced); and the Developers Track. Although the Developers track tends to be the most technical, I will be going to the sessions dealing with security and filters. I know those will be super helpful.

The thing I like the most about the schedule is that items don’t tend to overlap, but if you do find that a track isn’t what you thought it may be from the description, you can quietly sneak out and head to the next room which has the next level track going on at the same time. I really appreciated this. Usually the descriptions are good enough that this doesn’t happen, but I did find myself doing this one time last year. It’s not that the speaker wasn’t good or interesting, but it is a weekend to learn as much as you can from people who really know WordPress and I want to get the most out of the experience.  It’s going to be a great weekend and I hope I have time after it is over to write about its awesomeness.