WordCamp Phoenix 2024 was a blast! I love the WordPress Community in Phoenix, they are so warm and welcoming and I feel lucky to be able to attend every year.
Arrival for WordCamp Phoenix 2024
My short flight from Los Angeles was delayed an hour due to a ground stop in Phoenix as it was raining quite a bit there. That didn’t stop me from being excited and happy to be on the road to camp.
As I was checking into the hotel, I ran into it Marcus Burnett from GoDaddy, who was also staying at the same hotel. I hadn’t seen Marcus since last year’s WordCamp Atlanta, so it was nice to catch up quickly.
After settling into my hotel room, I went down to the lobby to meet with my team, Erica Barbosa and Marco Berocal. By then, it was already time to head over to Arizona Wildness Brewing Co., where the speaker-sponsor dinner was taking place.
Marcus was in the lobby together Courtney Robertson also from GoDaddy. I had never met Courtney in person, but we knew each other through community social media, so we were officially introduced.
Since Marcus and Courtney were also headed to the speaker-sponsor dinner, they offered to share a ride with us.
Speaker-Sponsor Dinner
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. located in Downtown Phoenix, a very popular area of the city full of restaurants, bars and nightlife.
Since it was a cold night in Phoenix (rare for this time of year), dinner was held indoors. When we walked in, the WordCampers were already there drinking drinks and eating delicious tacos.
We all participated and had great conversations with many people, including Perry Collinswho was to speak on the last day on a social media issue.
After enjoying drinks and tacos, Raquel Manriquezthe WordCamp Phoenix 2024 Lead Organizer, turned all the tables and gave some thank you gifts (cute paint sets) to each speaker.
I tracked down Matthew Clancy who was the main organizer last year and we got caught up as well. Everyone in this community is so wonderful!
First day of camp
WordCamp Phoenix 2024 was held at Phoenix College which is one of the oldest community colleges in the country.
Erica, Marco and I went in and got our registration badges. The first thing we did was to thank the volunteers for all the work they do at these camps.
After setting up the booth, we started talking to people and giving out loot. Let the fun begin!
I went around the sponsor tables to say hello to the other sponsors I had known for a long time. This is included Chad Beatty with Rocket.net, Chris David Miles with Bluehost, Jen Swisher with Jetpack and many others.
I also met a new sponsor that I hadn’t seen at other camps, CommercialNoise, led by Bruce Holland. We had a nice discussion about hosting services and what they are.
On the first day, I was able to attend several presentations, starting with the “Remote Work Survival Guide 2024” by Cathy Zandt. I have known Kathy since 2019 and it was a pleasure to hear her presentation.
According to Kathy, it seems that even though some large companies are moving employees back to the office, remote work isn’t going away. That’s a good thing for a lot of people, especially in this community.
Another interesting presentation I was able to attend was the “AI Crash Course for WordPress Users” by Keanan Koppenhaver. I like that he kept saying that AI tools will still require human involvement.
After Keanan, Robbie Adair talked about “Using AI to Speed Up WordPress Builds”. It seems that AI has a huge interest in the WordPress community.
Time for lunch
At lunchtime, we enjoyed delicious taco bowls on the college patio and I had the opportunity to catch up with Kathy Zant in her new position with Motivations AI. She talked about how happy she is to work with great people such as Chris Lema and Jennifer Bourne whom I have known for a long time.
After the first day of camp was over, Erica, Marco, and I decided to have a casual and delicious dinner at The Compass, which is a well-known revolving restaurant located on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix.
As always, the food was delicious, as was the wine, and the view of Downtown Phoenix was amazing. It was great to be able to share a special dinner and private time with my team.
I reminded them again how important they were to me and that I couldn’t do my job without them.
Second day of camp
On the second day of the Camp, I was also able to attend several presentations.
I saw Alicia St. Rose speaking on ‘The Story of a Custom Post Type Lost in a Word of Pages’ and Chris David Miles on ‘Understanding Your Customer Using Persona and Empathy Maps’.
I then listed in Raquel’s fireside chat Jenny Poon and Odeen Domingowho founded the largest coworking community in Arizona, CO+HOOTS in downtown Phoenix.
Later, I stumbled upon it Jen Miller who I haven’t seen in a while and just started a position at WebDevStudios. It was nice to catch up with Jen.
I also met with Bet Hannon with AccessiCart and talked about a possible partnership with GreenGeeks.
All the presentations were really interesting, but suddenly it was time for the closing remarks! Raquel thanked everyone, especially the sponsors and volunteers who are an integral part of the camps and really deserved our appreciation.
Marcus Burnette gave away a Nintendo game on behalf of GoDaddy and the lucky winner was Perri Collins who had just given the last presentation of the day about Social Media.
The After Party
The After Party was also held at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. on the outdoor heated patio of this European-style brasserie. It was a very cold but clear evening but the patio heaters and fireplace really helped.
We sat down and had drinks with the A2 Hosting Team and then had a great conversation about WordCamps with Julia GlobeCommunity Group Organizer who lives in Northern California but travels the world for camps.
We talked to a lot of people that night, unfortunately it was late and we had to go back to the hotel and rest. It had been a long and busy two days and Erica and Marco were going to make a long trip back to Costa Rica the next day.
The next morning, Erika, Marco and I met in the lobby for breakfast and to say our goodbyes.
But wait, it’s not goodbye, see you later, as I’m sure we’ll meet again at WCUS in Portland in September!
Another WordCamp Phoenix is in the books!
A huge thank you to the organizers, speakers, sponsors, volunteers and of course the Phoenix WordPress community. We love them.
Until next year!
