WordCamp San Francisco is less than a month away. This year it’s one day, Saturday, August 16 at the Mission Bay Conference Center.
I’m putting together a genius bar for WordCamp where people will have their questions answered one-on-one. Are you able to volunteer your WordPress expertise? You don’t even have to be physically there, but then no brisket for you.
Do you have a question you hope to have answered at WordCamp SF?
At last year’s amazing WordCamp (videos of most talks!) a lot of people were coming up to me and asking me questions. I really enjoyed the conversations, but it was busy and we didn’t have a chance to look at the issues on a computer.
Looking around I noticed a lot of people with questions in their mouths, but hesitation in their movements, not knowing who to ask or not wanting to bother the busy WordPress experts catching up with friends.
There wasn’t a great space to do it in.
This year I’d like to create a space for it, inspired by Apple’s Genius Bar. We’ll have an area specifically for people to discuss their WordPress challenges. I plan on rounding up some of the experts I know, and post a schedule of when they will be available, but the space will also be for you to get technical if you’re having a conversation with someone about a problem you’re having.
This is an experiment, so if have any experience with similar initiatives — what works, what doesn’t — please let me know. In February, I hosted “WordPress and your Problems at MooseCamp“, it was successful, but there are a lot of ways for me to improve that format.
Here I want to have one-on-one help, quality over quantity. No pre-booked time slots. One or two experts on a schedule for first come first served. Plus, possibly one remote expert over iChat . There will be a 15 minute time limit with a hard cap at 20 minutes if anyone else is waiting for help.
I’m thinking I’ll need a table that sits/stands 8, reserved power supply and internet access, and a mac computer with built-in camera and a headset for chatting with our remote experts. Oh, and a couple kitchen timer that do 15 minute count downs and water put aside for the experts. Anything else?
What do you think? What types of questions do you have? Upgrading? Theming? Performance? SEO? A particular plugin causing you grief?
We did a very similar session to this at WordCamp UK last weekend but in a presentation slot which just didn’t give us enough time to fix enough problems – it’s definetly something i will be encouraging for the next WordCamp UK.
I would volunter if I was able to make WordCamp SF this year but I can’t maybe next year!
Lloyd sounds like a great idea. I’m happy to volunteer and share what knowledge I have of WordPress, theme creation/customisation and writing plugins.
I can possibly help over iChat.
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Such a cool idea.
Good idea Lloyd. I’m not exactly a WordPress genius but I tend to be able to answer the “simple” questions. I’ll be there (probably posting away like usual), But I’m sure I could help out for a bit.
I could help over iChat. Let me know if there is still room for me.
This is brilliant. I did this with a couple people at WordCamp Dallas… took 10 minutes and fixed something on their site that had been bugging them for months. It was quite rewarding.
Hey Lloyd – love the idea. Let me know if you have room for me – not that I’m a genius, but love people and love working with WordPress. You know how to get in touch!
I’ll be there and I’ll be there. You know I’ll be there. Whatever you need. I’m there.
This is fabulous.
Lloyd, I’d love to [try and] help with design-related questions if Marianne’s not available!
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You can slot me in somewhere to help out with bbPress/WordPress integration problems if you like. There are probably one or two people who could use that help.
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Hi Lloyd, I’d like to help out with this as well. I can offer some support in scaling/performance, plugins, themes etc. I’ve also worked with WPMU a lot (http://mybabyourbaby.com) so I can offer some tips there, including integrating with bbPress.
I’ll come find you tomorrow and help out
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