Month: March 2020

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Attending WordCamp San Antonio 2020?

Due to a certain pandemic, some things for WordCamp San Antonio 2020 will be different (and some will be the same) this year. The biggest change is that we have the pleasure [and challenge] to be the FIRST 100% virtual WordCamp! Not only that – we’re doing it LIVE and for FREE.

And let me tell you, pivoting from in-person to virtual in just 2.5 weeks is nothing short of a miracle. (BIG shout out to all my fellow organizers, volunteers, WordCamp Central, and our sponsors. You all rock!)

Requisite tl;dr

  • Register for WordCamp San Antonio already!
  • All the action happens on the WordCamp San Antonio website.
  • Test Links
  • Install Zoom package
  • Get Comfortable
  • Be Patient (it’s our first time!)
  • Follow the Code of Conduct
  • Optional – Use Chrome, Create Crowdcast + Zoom accounts

How are we going do it?

All sessions will be streamed on the WordCamp San Antonio website and links to all the extras will be here, too, arranged into Tracks that you can easily move between. We will have Hallways where you can go chat with your fellow Campers, just like a live event and Sponsors will have Tables where you can talk to their reps and learn more about their offerings. Some of them are also holding contests, Happiness Bar sessions (help with your WordPress questions), and other goodies. Be sure to check them out!

We’ll be using Crowdcast.io and Zoom.us to deliver the virtual video goodness. Each WordCamp Track will have its own page with the Crowdcast stream and Hallway (Zoom) links, along with links to our Campmaster and Glamper Sponsors’ Tables which will also be Zoom meetings. We promise it will be easy to navigate!

And YES! The sessions will be recorded and available for playback later on the WordCamp San Antonio website and WordPress.TV. We do not have a date for those to be ready, but will get them up as soon as possible.

Do I need to do anything special?

Not really. The biggest prep I’d do is to test all the links we’re sending you today (we’ll send it out as soon as the web pages are ready) and tomorrow (as a reminder) and make sure you can use Zoom.

Now Zoom likes to install a package, so make sure to do that the night before so you don’t walk into the hallway sessions late. (If you’ve never used Zoom before, the Zoom Client for Meetings download will pop up, requesting an install. It’s legit. You can do it the day before and /or choose from their other options here.)

PROTIP: phones are not your friend for something this long; use a computer or tablet when possible.

If you’ve really never used Zoom before, here is a handy cheatsheet of the controls, divided up based on your device.

Settings. I highly recommend making sure your setting are set to “mute” and “video off” upon entering a meeting. Actually, I believe our setup will force this. DO NOT PANIC if you can’t see or hear yourself, just use the cheatsheet link above to un-mute + show what you want (more on camera stuffs below).

Then tomorrow, bring your patience hat (bc 1st time usually = glitches), a favorite beverage, hole up in a cozy corner, and get ready to learn, laugh, commiserate, and fall in love with WordPress all over again!

Optional items.

Software.

Chrome
They are both browser-based and both state they work best on Chrome (I only use Chrome for dev testing, but hey, when in Rome…).

Apps
I have a Mac and use it to speak with potential clients so I have + use the Zoom app. You can see other options on their download page.

No app for Crowdcast.

Accounts.

Creating accounts are not required, but doing so will allow you to customize your profile and experience. (It’s free to create an account.)

Crowdcast
Your face won’t be live in this one – just an image in the registered and chat areas.

Crowdcast will pull in the gravatar image associated with the email you registered with (If you have not created a gravatar, go here).

The gravatar image is a bit grainy, which works fine in the chat, but not so much if you are a profile stalker like me. 😆 So I added one (it’s the same as my gravatar but higher res; I shouldn’t have to remind you but I’m a mom and a moderator who’s been instructed to allow banning for inappropriate conduct + content, so – make sure to keep it G/PG!)

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WPGameShow Coming To San Antonio

After a day of education and networking with the virtual WordCamp Antonio, it’s time to relax and participate (or watch) some entertainment and well deserved distraction. That’s where the WPGameshow comes in! Your host David Bisset (sorry, he is the only person we had available) will take you through two exciting game experiences – and you can play and participate.

Trivia: We will be using Kahoot for WordPress and random trivia. How well do you know the WordPress community, plugins, its history, etc? Time to find out! Correct and speedy answers earn you more points to win some exciting rounds!

QuipLash: A gut-busting battle of wits and wittiness! Just use your phone or tablet (no controllers needed) to answer simple prompts like these:

Something you’d be surprised to see a donkey do
A double rainbow doesn’t have gold at the end of it. Instead, it has ______.
A better name for France

…but we are preparing WordPress themed prompts. Only the funniest, wittiest, and clever answers will be voted highest… audience also participates!

The WPGameshow starts after the panel on Saturday, March 28th… officially at 5pm CT. Please check our schedule. Stay tuned for more information and get ready for some fun with your friends in the WordPress community.

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WordCamp San Antonio 2020 Now a Virtual Event

The past two weeks have felt like a roller coaster, trying to deal with emerging news about the Covid-19 virus and deciding how to handle WordCamp San Antonio. Today, the decision was made for us when UTSA made the decision to cancel or postpone all events for the next few months (at a minimum.)

Thankfully, we were already planning on live streaming the event to those who preferred to not attend in-person. We will now move to fully live streaming. If you purchased a ticket, it will be refunded. Make sure you sign up for a virtual ticket if you have not done so.

KidsCamp and the Beginner Workshop are cancelled for now. We may try to hold KidsCamp later in the year and will look at options for a Beginner Workshop sometime in the future.

Things are still changing, so keep checking back to learn all the details about how WordCamp San Antonio 2020 moves forward!

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WordCamp San Antonio Going Forward with Virtual and Live Components

Dear WordCampers,

We have great news! WordCamp San Antonio 2020 is happening on schedule, March 28-29, 2020 at UTSA Downtown! With coordination from our awesome team, our speakers, our vendors and venue, and WordCamp Central, we have come up with a solution that will allow our local community to meet in-person while also ensuring remote participants get to be involved without having to travel.


“How?” you ask? We will have live speakers at UTSA Downtown and will have a live audience, but will also have remote speakers and all three tracks will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in-person. The best news? WordCamp Central is helping us present the livestream component for free! You will need to register, but there will not be a charge. We’ll let you know when we have registration set up.

Remote participants will be able to ask questions of our speakers and our speakers will continue the conversation on Twitter if needed. Our live audience will also be able to ask questions of our remote speakers. (Details on how this will all work have not been worked out in full yet, but we are confident it can all be done.)

We know this is a hard time for conferences which are having to make some hard decisions and this type of solution will not be the right one for every one. We are able to do this because:

  • WordCamp San Antonio is primarily a local event—most attendees will not need to travel
  • NOWCastSA, which was already contracted to video the event, is fully on-board and working with us to make this happen
  • The event is being held on a university campus, giving us access to resources others might not have.

If you already purchased an in-person ticket and wish to attend remotely, you may request a refund for your purchase and then signup for the virtual ticket (or, if you want to donate your purchased ticket to help offset the costs of the virtual conference, just signup for the virtual component and let us know your ticket is a donation.)

We are excited to be able to go forward with WordCamp San Antonio 2020 and look forward to putting on a great event for everyone, whether you attend in-person or join us through your computer.  The schedule will be updated to indicate which speakers will be presenting remotely as those decisions are made.

Join us March 28-29, 2020 at UTSA Downtown for a unique WordCamp designed to work for everyone. You’ll be glad you did!

The WordCamp 2020 Team

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Mentoring The Next Generation of WordPress Users

KidsCamp is not only an opportunity to share what we do with our children, but it is also the best place to teach your child how to create and publish content with WordPress. The Austin WordPress Meetup has been hosting KidsCamps since 2011. We’ve introduced kids to WordPress at official WordCamps, Scout meetings, and Boys and Girls Clubs.

Kids love the simple to use, intuitive WordPress interface to publish their thoughts and interest online. Some of our very first Campers have taken their early introduction to WordPress from a fun, interesting pastime to a livelihood that helped pay for college and the foundation of a successful career.

  • Toyin Akinmusuru and Annika at her first KidsCamp in 2015
  • by 2017 they were discussing site structure

I think it is pretty safe to say that Annika’s first KidsCamp in 2015 was all about spending time with her Dad, Toyin. She enjoyed learning the types of things her Daddy did on his computers. She was full of questions that started with “How to.. and why.”  

One of our takeaways from that KidsCamp experience was it was easier for a child to learn WordPress with their parent’s help and continued encouragement. Our other takeaway was to ask our KidCamp participants to think about what they want to write about before camp so they are ready to start building their ideas into websites during class.

 During a WordPress KidsCamp, your child will learn WordPress basics, creating pages, creating and maintaining a blog, and building a site navigation structure. We will also discuss internet safety. As much as we enjoy teaching valuable technical tools, KidsCamp Coaches have noticed kids improve their writing and communication skills simply because they were eager to share their thoughts with others. Having their very own WordPress site gave them a sense of gravitas and offered them a new way to connect with others of like interests.

  • Opening the beta-test book
  • Book design as specified
  • Matching pen

Learning the basics of WordPress can not only help prepare your child for today’s fast-changing tech environment, but it might also inspire an entrepreneurial venture or two.

Annika built her first client site in 2018. Last year she approached her Dad with a Dropshipping idea — AnyDay Books – notebooks with custom-designed covers. Annika and Toyin worked on the design together and developed a beta product, Last year Annika took delivery of her first books. With proof of concept, she and her Dad are onto their next step — to build Annika’s AnyDay branded dropshipped books into a business.

  • Online Safety Presentation
  • Camper Tech Support

In 2019 Annika volunteered to be a training assistant for the DFW KidsCamp. She helped lead the KidsCamp Blogging Brainstorm Session, presented the Online Safety Guidelines, and acted as tech support for our Campers. Annika enjoyed working with the younger kids so much, she volunteered to help with the 2020 San Antonio KidsCamp.

For most of us, WordPress is a major part of professional lives. KidsCamp is a fun way to invite our kids into that community. KidsCamp is a way to give them not only an appreciation of what we are doing at our keyboards but show our kids all that is possible for them to accomplish with WordPress. The organizers of the 2020 San Antonio WordCamp hope to see you and your kids at WordCamp this year.

Purchase a Ticket for KidsCamp
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Why We Are Inviting You and Your Child to KidsCamp

KidsCamp Morning Session

Our goal for the San Antonio KidsCamp is to promote a love of learning, mastering new WordPress skills, and to support the personal growth for every child attending. By learning how to blog, our Campers will practice their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. It is our hope that KidsCamp will be the venue to encourage each child’s creative potential. This is a great opportunity for kids to start developing their own voices, discover who they are, and understand how their “voice” might be different from their friends and classmates.

Blogging can be a personal journal of insights about unfolding events. Bloggers start forming and voicing opinions, and writing about things that interest them. Student bloggers build strong typing and spelling skills.  Blogging can also be a highly creative endeavor involving original art, or photography. During KidsCamp we will show Campers how to access images for their Blogs from online sources. We will explain how the creative commons license allows them to use these photos by following the sharing rules of the owner.

Online Safety

The internet is omnipresent in our children’s lives. It provides encyclopedic information at the touch of a finger. One of the goals of KidsCamp is to introduce the basics of online safety. We encourage parents and guardians to work with their children in KidsCamp to review some best practices for their Campers. WordPress allows you to set access levels so nothing can get published without your approval. Parents can set-up comment preferences to review comments with their kids, offering an opportunity to discuss what might be an appropriate response and what might not be.

Blogging can be an entertaining, engaging and educational experience for kids and their parents. We look forward to seeing you at the 2020 San Antonio  KidsCamp. the KidsCamp tickets include lunch and snacks and please remember to bring a laptop and get ready for a fun, creative day with your Camper. We look forward to seeing you there.

Purchase a Ticket for KidsCamp