My time in Milwaukee was an enlightening experience. It was my first WordCamp, and just being in the presence of so many intelligent, humble people in the WordPress community made me take a step back and re-appreciate everything I get to be involved with by proxy of working at WP Engine.
It was excellent to witness and be a part of the above-and-beyond presence that we bring to WordCamps. Our booth was always occupied, team members providing sales knowledge (from Andy), marketing consultation (from Shayda), as well as technical answers from Tony Le and myself, who were representing support. We were a truly united team immediately available for anyone at the event. We often had a line of interested people just waiting to talk to us. When I say that WP Engine makes an impact, what I really mean is more along the lines of making a crater. It was a really impressive, interactive experience from both sides.
We met plenty of great people ranging from complete WordPress beginners that came to learn more, to other sponsors and partners, all the way up to high-level developers with huge client rosters. I was excited to talk to several college representatives that came to WordCamp, having previously designed a WordPress conversion for a college back in my home state of Kansas. I left feeling that some of those representatives will be switching their CMS over to WordPress and were really engaged by our experience in hosting higher education sites.
The variety of the people we talked to was vast, but I felt we were prepared for anything. Heck, we even had a years-long customer come up to us at the booth saying he had an issue to file a ticket over once WordCamp was over. Nope! Instead, Tony and I sat right down with him and fixed his site on the spot. How’s that for live support?
The WP Engine team quickly became the group to be around because of our synergy, our professionalism, and our goofy sense of humor. I could not have felt better about the good times we had when off the clock as well. The team had plenty of great food, saw some beautiful historic sights around town, visited almost every single souvenir shop we could find (gee thanks, Shayda), and were taken care of by several neighborly Uber drivers.
Don’t let all the great pictures of our downtime fool you, though—we worked our tails off as well! 🙂 I might have lost a good 20 pounds due to the work, walking for miles, and standing well beyond my physical means, haha.
I’m definitely looking forward to more WordCamps and representing WP Engine at them. Many more of them! I feel secure in knowing that no matter how we engage our customers, clients, and partners out in the field, we always try to be the “best at what we do.” You know, like Wolverine. But with web hosting. Worderine. WordPressarine. Wolverpress. Okay, I need to stop now while I’m ahead, bub.
What are your best memories of the WordCamps you have been to? Share your experiences with us below!
You can find MadHatter McGinnis working in the Tech Support department of WP Engine. Chances are, if you’ve talked to him once, you’ll always remember his name. Previously a freelance web designer, he has an actual passion for WordPress ever since he fell in love with it around 5 years ago. In his spare time, he enjoys tabletop and video gaming, comics, strange Austin food, and adventuring with his wife and two kiddos.
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