7 Highlights from the First-Ever WordCamp for Publishers
One of my favorite things about working for the VIP team is the incredible community of clients, agencies, partners, and core contributors I get to work with every day. It’s a powerful and thoughtful group. When a bunch of us get together to address shared challenges, it’s especially rewarding and always memorable.
Over the last year, I’ve been collaborating with a group of publishers passionate about WordPress and open source to put together the first-ever WordCamp for Publishers. It was an incredible 3-days focused in the beautiful Denver Post building, thanks to VIP client Digital First Media.
Amazing space for a WordCamp! Loving being at @denverpost for #wcpub . pic.twitter.com/22vlSVGffG
— Anne Steen (@_AnneSteen) August 17, 2017
For those of you who couldn’t be there, I wanted to share with you a few highlights from the event:
#1 Distributed Content
Jake Goldman, president of 10up (a VIP partner agency) presented on the changing distribution channels for publishers, and how WordPress can remain the hub in an evolving ecosystem.
What does it mean for your tools when your CMS is a content hub? @jakemgold of @10up explains at #wcpub pic.twitter.com/ysCzSSQCPR
— Steph Yiu (@crushgear) August 18, 2017
#2 Newsletters make money
Both Rebekah Monson, co-founder of WhereBy.Us, and Jake Spurlock, software engineer at WIRED, highlighted the importance of capturing emails and sending newsletters as a key way of making revenue.
"Let's use the thing [editors] are familiar with." @rsm on why @WhereByUs built newsletter tools in #WordPress. #wcpub pic.twitter.com/dZgXfCAED7
— WordCamp for Publishers (@wcpublishers) August 17, 2017
"Newsletters make money." – @whyisjake #wcpub pic.twitter.com/Znn5Or4c8z
— Meagan Kelleher Ball (@meagan383) August 18, 2017
#3 Get involved with Gutenberg
Many attendees suggested Gutenberg, a new block-based content editor for WordPress, as a topic for one of the unconference sessions. The takeaway: “Lot of unknowns but best way to figure those out is getting involved.”
https://twitter.com/aschweig/status/898596275624460289
Gutenberg and Publishers: unconference notes from WordCamp for Publishers https://t.co/gkIXOqM5MX
— Aaron Jorbin (@aaronjorbin) August 23, 2017
#4 Introducing a newsroom to WordPress
Both Meagan Kelleher Ball from Tribune Broadcasting (a VIP client) and Kevin Koehler from Automattic shared tips on how to help a newsroom get acquainted to WordPress. Will Davis from The New York Times (a VIP client) and Meagan also led a packed session on editorial dashboards.
Tribune Broadcasting chose @WordPressVIP for their CMS, they support 1800 editorial users and produce 42,000 stories a month. #wcpub
— Steph Yiu (@crushgear) August 17, 2017
Closed source amounts to "Security through obscurity" – Care and Feeding of #OpenSource Skeptical Colleagues @kev097 #wcpub pic.twitter.com/1ShskOrBFQ
— Taylor Hansen (@tayhansenxo) August 18, 2017
WordPress isn't “just for blogs”: “If it's good enough for Bey, it's good enough for you.” https://t.co/0DIzaMVr51 –@kev097 #wcpub
— Courtney P.K. (@courtneyp) August 18, 2017
Tribune Broadcasting chose @WordPressVIP for their CMS, they support 1800 editorial users and produce 42,000 stories a month. #wcpub
— Steph Yiu (@crushgear) August 17, 2017
#5 We love Denver
Between lunch at the food trucks at Civic Center Park, the brewery tour at Ratio Brewing, and the after party at Wynkoop Brewing, WordCamp for Publishers was packed with activities that encouraged our attendees to get to know the beautiful city and each other.
Thank you @ratiobeerworks for hosting #wcpub and giving us brewery tours tonight! What an awesome space. pic.twitter.com/vy99YwbFFt
— Steph Yiu (@crushgear) August 18, 2017
Nice view from the patio on the 11th floor. #wcpub pic.twitter.com/uvluAaL9f1
— Matt Kopala (@mkopala) August 17, 2017
#6 Exploring Publisher Tools
We hosted a number of hands-on workshops to help attendees learn tools to make their day-to-day lives easier Tools that were introduced included wp-cli (a command line interface for WordPress), WPGraphQL (a query language for your WordPress API), VoiceWP (create voice apps for WordPress content), and Largo + plugins (a news framework for WordPress sites).
.@jasonbahl from @digitalfirst is blowing my mind with GraphQL at #wcpub right now.💥
— Drew Jaynes (@DrewAPicture) August 18, 2017
Slides from the WPGraphQL workshop at #wcpub https://t.co/BZ2XkziiU3
— Aram Zucker-Scharff (@Chronotope) August 18, 2017
WP-CLI workshop with @McDwayne and @danielbachhuber. https://t.co/g3nTdhIVYO #wcpub pic.twitter.com/ntuLi5s5xX
— Matt Kopala (@mkopala) August 17, 2017
Stoked for #wcpub! Time to finish up my lightning talk on ‘Voice Apps for Publishers’.
Alexa, write my lightning talk.
— Tom Harrigan (@TomHarrigan) August 16, 2017
It's WordCamp for Publishers contributor day. I'm in a group working w/@INNnerds to improve their Largo WP news framework. Very cool. #wcpub pic.twitter.com/IbWwwzKaII
— Douglas Arellanes (@dougiegyro) August 19, 2017
#7 Let’s do this again next year
We ended the conference at a Rockies game on Saturday, and as all the organizers gathered we began talking about next year’s conference. Planning is already underway, so if you’re interested in volunteering or have a venue you think you could donate, please get in touch with me!
A special shout out to the organizers, we could not have done this without you! From left: Aram Zucker-Sharff (Salon), Christie Wright (Automattic), Adam Schweigert (Mother Jones), Ryan Kanner (Digital First Media), Taylor Hansen (Linchpin), Matt Johnson (Alley Interactive), Davis Shaver (Alley Interactive), Chris Hardie (Automattic), Alexis Kulash (Automattic), Bradford Campeau-Laurion (Alley Interactive), Jared Cobb (Alley Interactive), Aaron Jorbin (Some Spider), Ben Keith (Institute of Nonprofit News), along with Hughie Devore and Jason Bahl (Digital First Media, not pictured).
