About half way through her session she talks about “T-Shirt First Development (Guy Kawasaki)”. I have about 7 WordPress shirts. Occasionally, the ones with the WordPress logo will lead to a conversation — even here in quiet Victoria — with a blogger or web developer, but the ones that spark the most conversations are the WordCamp ones.

Here are some photos from Flickr of people rocking each year’s WordCamp SF shirts:

Joshua Wiltshire in WordCamp 2006 Tee

Chris Heuer in WordCamp SF 2007 Tee. Photo by Laughing Squid.

Alan Levine in WordCamp SF 2008 Tee.

Although WordCamps are happening all over the world, understandably, for most, shirts are not in the budget.

Shirt not in the budget for Dane Hurtubise. Photo by Michael Cummings.

I have found only one photo of a WordCamp tee from another WordCamp:

WordCamp South Africa 2008 Tee

When wearing a WordCamp shirt, conversations with strangers often start, “WordCamp, do you do spelling bees?” After I get over my initial little bit of embarrassment, I explain “WordCamps are WordPress conferences. WordPress is the blogging software that I use and contribute to.” It’s a great ice breaker, and lets me pimp the Press.

I haven’t had any particular funny conversations or found myself in any strange situations, but I like to imagine that others have.

Kris Krug captured what looks like master of creating conversations Francine Hardaway giving everyone a flash of WordCamp during her Gnomedex session:

Jokes. Kris’s next photos reveal that Francine was doing an on stage costume change, or maybe transforming from mild mannered Francine (can’t imagine) to part of Generation Y (which her session was about). I can’t wait for the video!

Has a WordCamp shirt taken you to any strange places?

Photos Used (because WordPress captions feature doesn’t yet support links):

1. Joshua Wiltshire self-portrait.
2. Chris Heuer photo by Scott Beale.
3. Alan Levine self-portrait.
4. Dane Hurtubise photo by Michael Cummings.
5. Photo by Flickr member StrategyOnline.
   
6. Francine Hardaway photo by Kris Krug.

Thursday Update: Aiza sent me a link to “WordCamp [Philippines] Preparation”

WordCamp Philippines 2008 Tee.

So, one of the WordCamp SF sessions that I was eagerly awaiting the video being available to share is Kathy Seirra’s “Kicking Ass and Creating Passionate Users”:

Kathy Seirra is one of my favorite speakers, because she makes me feel like I can kick fleshy parts you sit on too!

WordCamp San Francisco

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?