Post Status Happiness Hour Session One

Transcript ↓

In this podcast episode, Michelle Frechette and Drew Griswold discuss the upcoming Stellar Spark event, a free gathering featuring 15 speakers on various WordPress-related topics. Highlighted speakers include Josepha Haden, Tammy Grant, and Nestor Angulo, covering subjects like WordPress security, SEO, and content creation. The event will have two tracks, with all sessions recorded for later access. Michelle and Drew emphasize the importance of registration for accessing recordings and networking opportunities. They also announce a 40% off sale on Stellar products for registrants. The episode reflects their enthusiasm for connecting with the WordPress community through this event.

Top Takeaways:

Stellar Spark details: The event is completely free.Videos will be recorded and available for viewing after the event.Registration encouraged for easy access to post-event materials.
Networking Opportunities: Hallway track Zoom room staffed by the Customer Success team for networking and speaker interactions.
Brief 5-minute interviews with various Stellar WP team members will be conducted between sessions, introducing attendees to the people behind the curtain.

Mentioned In The Show:

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🐦 You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:

Drew Griswold (Director of Outbound Marketing, Stellar WP )
Michelle Frechette (Director of Community Relations, Post Status)
Olivia Bisset (Intern, Post Status)

The Post Status podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

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Transcript

Michelle Frechette (00:00:02) – Welcome to the first ever post Status Happiness Hour, which is going to be a weekly live discussion with people in the WordPress space about what they do, what’s going on, events, happenings, launches, all of the above. Getting to know more people in the WordPress ecosystem and community, and also being able to highlight some pretty cool things that are happening in everybody’s world. So with that said, today’s my first guest, Drew Griswold. Full disclosure. I work with drew and we are on the same team. Technically, he’s my boss, but, you know, the however that works, we’re team members, right? We’re colleagues. Drew.

Drew Griswold (00:00:41) – Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Michelle.

Michelle Frechette (00:00:43) – It’s my pleasure. I’m excited because we have an event coming up on Friday and.

Drew Griswold (00:00:49) – We sure do. A big one and.

Michelle Frechette (00:00:50) – A big one. And, why don’t you. I’m gonna bring it up on the bring it up on the page. Why don’t you tell a little bit about what Stellar Spark is and why we decided this was a fun thing to do this year.

Drew Griswold (00:01:02) – Yeah, absolutely. So Stellar Spark is, our own little love letter event type thing to to WordPress and all the people building things with WordPress. We thought that there is an opportunity to tell some really cool stories and give people a lot of resources that they could use to build their own, you know, dream, whatever. It’s a business or a project or something like that. We’ve just found that Stellar customers have so much cool stuff going on that this is a really interesting way of bringing together some resources that could help enhance that. So we have 15 different speakers that are coming to do a completely free event on Friday. You can watch it on YouTube. You could RSVP on StellarWP.com. Talking about all different things from, you know, content marketing to website security and lots of stuff in between. There’s not a single Stellar WP speaker. It’s all people outside of the Stellar business realm. we’re not just trying to pitch our products necessarily to folks. We are just trying to give people, content that will be helpful for them as they build whatever it is that they’re building.

Drew Griswold (00:02:09) – And we think that we’re a great solution to help with a lot of those things. But, the people that we’re bringing in just are experts in their field that the specific things they’re talking about. So it should be a really neat event. And like I said before, completely free. So I’m going to keep hammering that.

Michelle Frechette (00:02:24) – I like that we made it free. I like that since it’s our own event. We don’t have to have sponsors. We didn’t have to go after funding and all of that stuff that some, you know, external, events have to do just to be able to survive. So I love that we’ve been able to kind of keep that part of it in-house so that we’re not really having to, you know, tout everybody else’s products and everything else and, and incorporate that into the day. Instead, we have 15 really highly qualified speakers. I’m very excited. We’re going to talk about the schedule in a minute. And also we do have we’re going to have how many did I say 12.

Michelle Frechette (00:03:00) – Just five minutes Meet the Team interview scheduled in between our other our other speakers. So you finish it, you finish a session and then we throw and meet the teammate. And I’ve got some really, I love that it’s diverse. Right. So it’s not just all the marketing team. We’ve got people from across Stellar that were going to be doing this five minute interviews with, so that people can get to know who the people are behind the, the, the products that we have under the Stellar WP umbrella. You’re one of them.

Drew Griswold (00:03:30) – I am one of them. Girl you better pack in some really tough questions to that five minutes. I’m ready for them.

Michelle Frechette (00:03:35) – Well you and I talk all the time. So I put you on the other team. So you’re you’re somebody else’s problem. I mean, somebody else’s interviewee here. We talk all the time. But anyway, I thought it would be great to have some other people do that. So it starts at 9 a.m. Eastern time. So I am time zone challenged.

Michelle Frechette (00:03:55) – So if you actually, go to World TimeBuddy.com, you can see what that looks like in your own time zone. That is, even with that, I still struggle with time zones, but at least there’s tools to help. And actually, like, on my phone, I don’t know about you. I’ll add another city if I know I’m going to be in that city so that I can on the weather app, so I can look at the time and the weather in there too. So a little little tricks to help people like me. I love traveling within my time.

Drew Griswold (00:04:22) – Also, it’s probably worth mentioning right up top that you don’t have to necessarily watch it live. All of the videos and the sessions are going to be recorded and repackaged for all of our different brands. Will be distributing those widely well after the event. So while we’d love to have folks there live, definitely be on the lookout if you’re not able to make it. If you do, figure out the time zones and realize that it’s at four in the morning. You can watch it the following week.

Michelle Frechette (00:04:48) – So absolutely.

Drew Griswold (00:04:50) – Widely available.

Michelle Frechette (00:04:51) – I would I would urge you to register anyway, because when you’ve registered, that means next week when I’ve got those packaged out, we could email you the links to those and make it a little bit easier for you to find them. So even if you can’t attend live, please go ahead and register so that we can share that information with you. Also, we will have a hallway track Zoom room open throughout the whole day that our Customer Success team is going to be staffing for us. So if you want to meet other people, do some networking. If you want to talk to our speakers after their talks, they’ll pop in there, if their schedule allows. So you have an opportunity to ask more questions, and you’ll have an opportunity to meet some of the people behind Stellar WP, Customer Success Team and other of our team members that will pop in and out throughout the day.

Drew Griswold (00:05:38) – I’ll be in there too. So if anyone wants to hang out with me, I will be in the green room.

Michelle Frechette (00:05:45) – He’s pretty cool to hang out with. I mean, Drew and I always have a good time when we’re out with the team, so I would suggest everybody go ahead and sign up and get all that information. It’s going to be emailed out to everybody on Friday morning with that Zoom link as well. So, should we talk about the schedule a little bit, Drew and who’s coming and who’s doing what?

Drew Griswold (00:06:04) – Yeah, I mean, I think we start with the cherry on top, which is our keynote, which Michelle, I’m going to let you talk about this one because this is awesome. I’m so excited for this one. And I feel like it’s going to start off the event on such a great foot.

Michelle Frechette (00:06:19) – I am very excited. I first of all, Josepha Haden Chomphosy is our keynote speaker with a talk called Surprising But Inevitable. Where she takes us on an exploration through how the surprising interconnectedness of the WordPress community has helped us make it this far, and how a belief in a better future can move all open source into a better future.

Michelle Frechette (00:06:45) – If you’ve ever heard her speak very eloquent. This woman knows her stuff. She is, she’s. It’s sure to be a very good talk and so.

Drew Griswold (00:06:54) – So engaging and so fun to watch. I’ve had the privilege of watching a few of her talks with different WordCamps throughout the past few years, and I always leave it with my jaw wide open, just in shock at how smart and eloquent and wonderful she is. So I’m really looking forward to her talk for Stellar Spark.

Michelle Frechette (00:07:13) – Yeah. Me too. When I, DMed her and I said, would you be interested? She said, anything for you, Michelle. Which of course made me feel special. I’m sure she says that to all the WordPressers, but it was kind of nice that she wanted to jump right in and help us out with that. So that’ll be 9 a.m. Eastern time in track one. We’ll have two tracks running throughout the day. So make sure you tune in to hear Josepha, if again, these will all be recorded, so you’ll be able to see them later time as well, then.

Drew Griswold (00:07:42) – Yeah, jump forward to the 10:00 track. I’ll jump in here. We have Tammie giving a talk about Customer Success. At Stellar WP Customer success is a huge part of our ethos and the way that we work. I’m really interested to see the insights that Tammy’s bringing to the table, why customer success is so important. Strategies for actually getting it implemented, things like that. So I think that’s going to be an excellent one. And then, Nestor, forgive me if I’m pronouncing it clumsily, but Nestor will be giving a talk about, you know, WordPress security. And is WordPress safe? Is the the the rumors out there that WordPress makes you vulnerable or something like that? He’ll be tackling some of those and giving some insights there. Obviously, being WordPress insiders, we have very strong opinions on these topics, but it’s really interesting to get outside perspectives on these types of things. So.

Michelle Frechette (00:08:38) – Right. And both Tammie Lister and Nestor Angulo have been contributors to the open source project.

Michelle Frechette (00:08:45) – So and also work with clients themselves. And so I think both of these people are going to have a lot to bring. I love that Nestor’s is The Trial of developers and web designers Against WordPress Begins. Join us to reach a verdict. It sounds like it’s going to be like a courtroom drama. The way he worded that. So that should be a lot of fun. At 11:00. Do you want to jump in?

Drew Griswold (00:09:09) – Yeah, sure. You know, we have two pros from Yoast coming to talk about SEO. I would imagine that a lot of the folks in post status have been having these conversations. Anyone in marketing has had the SEO conversation this year about what the future of SEO looks like. With the development of AI and the Google tools that are coming out that have kind of turned everything on its head a little bit. So really looking forward to seeing the insights that they have about future proofing SEO, because it couldn’t come at a better time. And I think it’s a topic that has been hammered home in every single marketing department around the country that’s seeing organic traffic changes.

Drew Griswold (00:09:48) – or wondering, how do we utilize the new Google tools to make sure that our content is being featured? All different kinds of things. So that will be a really, really awesome talk that couldn’t come at a better time for our marketing team, too, because I know it’s been a hot topic.

Michelle Frechette (00:10:03) – They’re also going to talk about the recent Google leak and documentation leak. And so with that, how that impacts and what that means for all of us.

Drew Griswold (00:10:11) – Yeah, we get to see behind the curtain a little bit on how Google has been operating and having experts there to walk me through it, because it’s definitely not something that I’m the most well-versed in. Will be really cool. So I feel like that one I’m going to absolutely be recording and watching the recordings over and over again.

Michelle Frechette (00:10:30) – Well, and the fact that Xaver is at the same time talking about the future of email and newsletters and WordPress means thank goodness for recording them, because I want to hear both of these.

Drew Griswold (00:10:39) – Yeah, absolutely.

Drew Griswold (00:10:40) – My title is Director of Outbound Marketing, and email’s a big part of what we do have some really bright email experts on my team. And I’m really, really curious. You know, we have really great newsletters for all of our brands. And I think that Xaver will bring some insights that’ll just level up everybody’s email marketing game.

Michelle Frechette (00:10:59) – Absolutely. And moving on. At the noon hour we have, this was the top. The talk of the left by Lana was the one that the title intrigued you the most. So why don’t you talk about that one.

Drew Griswold (00:11:10) – This is the one. When I saw the application come through, I was like, I absolutely adore the concept of that. So I am going in completely, not necessarily blind, but I’m going in with a blank slate and ready for her to paint a picture for me, because what the weird internet of early 2000 can teach us about profitable content in 2024. I can’t really think of a better title, and I’m really interested to see where Lana goes with it.

Drew Griswold (00:11:38) – It’ll be really, really surprising and wonderful and I can’t wait. But that talk just jumped off the page to me and just seemed like it will be perfect, because it also just made me think about how weird the internet was in the early 2000’s, and where it’s come and where we are right now. So really interested to see how we bridge that gap and how she’s going to put that puzzle together.

Michelle Frechette (00:12:02) – I built my first website in 2001 as part of my MBA program, and it had an animated GIF. And really email and the internet were the invent. Like, that’s one of the animated GIFs. Where were they going to be otherwise? Right? So I remember how proud I was that you could go to the site and there was movement on the page. So that’s how long ago, the early 2000’s were.

Drew Griswold (00:12:24) – Out of respect for you, I’m not going to tell you what I was doing in 2000.

Michelle Frechette (00:12:29) – You were. You were a youngster. I know, that’s okay.

Drew Griswold (00:12:33) – And I won’t make this conversation like.

Michelle Frechette (00:12:37) – I know I’m old enough to be everybody’s mother. It’s okay. at the same time as Lana’s giving hers, Ivailo is going to be talking about supercharging your WordPress site, with the central strategies for speed optimization.

Drew Griswold (00:12:52) – Yeah, absolutely. Really straightforward, but important. Maybe one of the most important talks that we’re going to be having just, site speed is just a huge, huge, huge thing. So really looking forward to the insights in that one as well.

Michelle Frechette (00:13:07) – Absolutely. And then at the 1:00 hour, again, two talks that I want to hear. So I’m super glad that we are recording all of these. But we have Alex Sandiford who is talking about how to create an affiliate program to sell, to sell expensive, not just any services, but expensive services.

Drew Griswold (00:13:25) – Yeah, absolutely. And that’s going to be really interesting because not necessarily just expensive services, but I think all of the insights could be extrapolated out to any product. Right.

MIchelle Frechette: Of course. Yeah.

Drew Griswold: The the tactics of building trust and the things that I’m sure Alex is going to talk about.

Drew Griswold (00:13:41) – And that nurture process can be extrapolated out for any type of product. So I’m really interested in the affiliate program is also something I’m relatively involved with here at Stellar WP, so I’m looking forward to bringing some of those insights back to the team and sharing that recording in our affiliate channel as well.

Michelle Frechette (00:13:57) – I will say that Alex’s is the only one that’s going to be pre-recorded. he is having emergency, dental surgery tomorrow. Oral surgery. So he will be there live for the Q&A. But we are going to run a video for his and only his. Everything else will be a live session. at the same time that he’s speaking Bud Kraus, who is actually a friend of mine, is going to be speaking to and I love that he’s talking about teaching WordPress.

Drew Griswold (00:14:24) – Yeah, definitely. I know you know Bud and this talk, I was I’m really intrigued by it, too. So really looking forward to that.

Michelle Frechette (00:14:33) – Yeah, which is using Low vision as his tool to help teach WordPress, which I think is is a very interesting.

Michelle Frechette (00:14:39) – He doesn’t drive any longer. He, you know, need some help with things that are small, print those kinds of things. Super sweet. Salt of the earth guy. I’m really looking forward to hearing what he has to say about how he does use low vision to teach. It’s one of those things we don’t think about accessibility all the time if we are perfectly abled and so are typically abled, I should say. And so having somebody talk about how they teach with it when they have low vision, I think is going to be very intriguing for sure. At the 2:00 hour. Okay. Two more of my friends, how can I I can’t help but everybody I know.

Drew Griswold (00:15:14) – I have nothing, I have nothing to say because you’re friends with everybody and nobody knows who I am. So I feel like I should let you talk about them, but.

Michelle Frechette (00:15:21) – Well, I love that you can read the fine print and I can’t see it right now, so we’re all good that way. Lindsay Miller is coming.

Michelle Frechette (00:15:27) – Lindsay Miller is the owner of both Content Journey and my Marketing Assistant, and we did have her on the Stellar Constellations podcast earlier this year as well. She’s going to be talking about smart outsourcing. When and why outsourcing for marketing works so well. What do you think about that topic?

Drew Griswold (00:15:44) – Yeah. It’s really interesting. It’s kind of a taboo topic sometimes where people when you hear outsourcing, it’s like a very visceral reaction to it. So I think approaching it from like a way that it could be productive and healthy and collaborative rather than just, you know, going on Fiverr and getting a logo or something like that, like it’s just much different, much more involved. Really looking forward to Lindsay’s insights. I think I’ve said that about every single talk because I’m genuinely excited. and I’m a creature of habit, so I’m going to keep saying the same thing over and over.

Michelle Frechette: That’s okay.

Drew Griswold: Lindsay’s talk is going to be really great. And figuring out ways that you can do outsourcing the right way and not use it as a tool rather than something that’s,

Michelle Frechette (00:16:27) – Absolutely.

Michelle Frechette (00:16:28) – It’s not. And I think she’s going to explain that it’s not always good to go with the lowest bidder, because you want to make sure you go with somebody who will learn your product and your business. And so she’s going to talk about that a little bit too. And then at the same time she’s talking David Wolfpaw will be talking about monetizing your passion, WordPress for content creators. Now as the outbound marketing team, we’re all about the content.

Drew Griswold (00:16:50) – Yeah for sure. Also, I just love the description in here, the proponent of art for art’s sake. But late capitalism demands that you turn your passion in the profit. That’s just a great line that makes me want to watch it? So that’s that’s going to be it sounds like it’ll be really funny along with being really educational. As someone who has a tendency to have low sense of risk and start silly businesses and chase my passions. Really looking forward to what David brings to the table to talk about how you profit on your passion.

Michelle Frechette (00:17:23) – Yeah, they’re a really good speaker, too. I’ve been at several WordCamps and had the opportunity to hear them speak, so I’m very, very much looking forward to that as well. Then at the 3:00 hour we have I’m David. I can hardly see it. David Afolabi I believe it’s how you say it.

Drew Griswold (00:17:39) – Yes, I believe, I think David Afolabi designing courses for student success. Excuse me. Obviously, course creation is something that’s an integral part of Stellar WP’s fiber. Having LearnDash that in our in our stable. So having someone come from outside to talk about designing courses rather than being on the inside, designing software for people to create courses is going to be a really cool flip of a switch to kind of be the students and hear how people are actually practically using courses and all of the different things that come along with that.

Michelle Frechette (00:18:13) – Yeah. And on the opposite side, at the same time, on the opposite track is Corey MAss picturing success maximizing image engagement in WordPress. We know a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Drew Griswold (00:18:24) – And you’re the resident photographer, so you’re going to be the one that has to describe this one because. I’m looking forward to it for sure.

Michelle Frechette (00:18:33) – Yeah. So, photos obviously for people who are sighted, are something that really can capture attention and really helps with storytelling. And so how you use your images on your site, whether it’s with products in your blog or on your home page, can really make a difference. And then also, you know how you use your alt text for people who aren’t sighted, to be able to understand what your site is showing to them? But also there’s this thing called open graph image. And I think that Corey is going to delve a little bit into what open graph image means, which, as I understand it, means I can have a really nice thing show up when I share across social media because it’s part of the open graph search. And so we want to we want to tune in to that one or watch it in replay to make sure that you understand how you’re using the images on your site, and that you’re using them to your best advantage. And then to round out the day, we have Bet Hannan is going to be speaking European Accessibility Act.

Michelle Frechette (00:19:31) – It’s coming whether you like it or not. And it doesn’t just affect people in Europe.

Drew Griswold (00:19:36) – Yeah, absolutely. It affects the entire internet. And also it takes accessibility from something that’s incredibly important to making it a legal requirement. So it’s it’s going to be very interesting to see how it’s enforced, how that’s all unveiled, what the requirements are going to be, how websites can get ready for it. And I can’t really think of a better person to walk us through all of that than Bet, because she’s just an amazing, amazing person that’s been involved with all kinds of different Stellar projects, and that one will be another one that is worth sharing with our entire team, and hopefully for other teams as well.

Michelle Frechette (00:20:10) – Absolutely. And, recently, and I’m not sure if it’s been enacted yet, it’s been enacted. I don’t know if it’s actually running yet, but Ireland has already got a law on the books to jail you for 18 months if your website is not found to be accessible. So they’re taking it really seriously over there.

Michelle Frechette (00:20:30) – And so we should too, for sure. And then to round out the day, we also have Adam Weeks who’s going to talk about credibility marketing.

Drew Griswold (00:20:40) – Yeah. And I’m really interested for this one to see how it ties in with SEO. And some of the other conversations that are happening earlier in the day. credibility is a huge part of SEO now, or always has been to a degree. But now, you know, expertise and credibility are two factors that are determining and your success with organic SEO. So that’s going to be one of the questions that I have for Adam. It’s like credibility marketing, SEO, how do those work together and then how credibility marketing outside of SEO is? Is it a topic I’m sure can fill, you know, multiple hours, but really looking forward to asking Adam some questions about that one.

Michelle Frechette (00:21:17) – Absolutely. Now we do want you to register. That would be a great thing if you could register. It gives us a way to keep you on track for Friday morning, and to be able to send you those replays.

Michelle Frechette (00:21:30) – Can you go to our, our YouTube channel and see it without that? Of course. we’re not going to gate keep it that that far. But we do want to be able to share information with you. Also, if you just want to know what it is, you could go to stellarwp.com/stellar-spark. And it’ll bring you to this registration page that you see on the screen now. We’d love to have you register for that. Now, we also have a bunch of people that we’re going to be interviewing in between time. So I’ve put together five minute interviews with different teammates. So we’re going to have let me list them out for you. Matt Cromwell and I don’t know if I’m going to remember everybody’s last name, so bear with me. Matt Cromwell is, who was one of the founders originator owners of GiveWP and is now working for. These are all Stellar WP people. So at Stellar now. Gustavo Bordoni or Bordoni? I’m not. I’m sorry, Gustavo, if I said your name wrong. Zach Terrell, David Johnson, Devin Walker, Sterling Chase, Tanner Record, James Wellbace, Drew Griswold, Kasha Zukowski Zukowska, Jason Adams, and Jennifer Schram. So we’ll have just five minute little interviews, live interviews in between sessions so that we can introduce you to some of our team members and show you there are people, actual human beings behind the software that you have.

Drew Griswold (00:22:56) – Rumored. There are rumored human beings behind all of the Stellar WP products.

Michelle Frechette (00:23:00) – That’s right. so I’m excited about that. And then can we tease out what’s happening next week, Drew?

Drew Griswold (00:23:06) – Yeah, I mean, I think it’s out there in some ways. But yet another reason to register for Stellar Spark is you will get access to the Stellar sale that we’re going to be having. So we’re going to be doing 40% off. All all. not necessarily. There’s some fine print on lifetime packages, things like that, but 40% off all Stellar products, from the 23rd through the 30th. So if you sign up for Stellar Spark, you’re on the email list. You will get early access to that sale and we are really looking forward to it.

Drew Griswold (00:23:37) – The summer months are always a roller coaster. And the Stellar sale, something we’ve done the last few years to kind of showcase all that Stellar has to offer, not just individual products, but how they work well together and why everybody needs all the Stellar products. That might be a little bit marketing talk, but you know what I mean. So yeah, the Stellar sale will be coming up shortly after Stellar Spark. And if you register for Stellar Spark, you’ll get early access to that sale.

Michelle Frechette (00:24:01) – And if I might just take that marketing a step further, it’s like Christmas in July. We’re practically given the stuff away.

Drew Griswold (00:24:09) – Yeah, exactly. Christmas. I should have said that. Christmas in July. I mean, I have a Christmas tree farm. How did I not think of Christmas?

Michelle Frechette (00:24:20) – I don’t know. But I’m excited about all of the above. It’s going to be a great opportunity for people to learn more. There’s a lot of events online. There’s a lot of events throughout the year in WordPress.

Michelle Frechette (00:24:30) – We realize that you have your choice of places to attend and things to listen to. And which is why we’ve curated such an amazing group of speakers, because we think these are people that you’ll really want to hear from and learn from. And I’m really excited about the whole day. I’m one of the MCs, so I get to talk to people all day long. I’m super excited about that. And then we have, Katie and Katie Boykin and John. Why did I just forget John’s last name?

Drew Griswold: Clark.

Michelle Frechette: Thank you. John Clarke are going to be our MCs in track two. And so we’ll have, people there all day to be taking your questions. So we’ll be running it similar to this on YouTube. You’ll be able to type your questions in the chat, and we’ll be able to bring those right to our speakers, live after they’re done presenting. Then as I said, they should, if they have time on their own calendars, pop into the hallway track and be able to kind of schmooze around over there and talk to people where you can ask additional questions and, perhaps quieter, unrecorded space, which sometimes is a little bit less daunting.

Michelle Frechette (00:25:32) – But we won’t ever bring you on camera. If you have questions, you literally just put them in the chat. We will ask them on your behalf so you can still spend the entire day in your pajamas if you’d like.

Drew Griswold (00:25:43) – I’d probably change out my pajamas for my.

Michelle Frechette (00:25:45) – I mean.

Drew Griswold (00:25:45) – Five minute interview.

Michelle Frechette (00:25:47) – I mean, I kind of meant the people watching, but YouTube.

Drew Griswold (00:25:50) – Yeah, yeah. That’s fair. I’m shocked that between WordCamp Canada, this conversation and Friday Stellar Spark MCing that you’re going to have any voice at all left.

Michelle Frechette (00:26:00) – Well, you know, I mean, I’m kind of keeping it quiet in between if I can. Lots of hydration. I’ve got my, fizzy water on my desk all day long, so it should be fine. But, yes, we, we all know that Michelle loses her voice when she goes to WordCamps because it’s it’s hard to talk over the crowds. Absolutely.

Drew Griswold (00:26:20) – And I’m just at the booth schmoozing, handing out swag and stuff, so, which is a nice pitch.

Drew Griswold (00:26:26) – Please come visit me at WordCamp US. Anyone who’s listening to this and would like to, we have a little teaser of what our booth is going to be over in this corner, but we’re going to have a very cool presence at WordCamp US, and I hope you all come visit.

Michelle Frechette (00:26:38) – Yeah, I’m looking forward to that too. I’m very excited to help staff the booth at WordCamp US and see everybody there and talk about all of our cool stuff and our cool projects. And so what about when you think back over the last year, Drew, about what’s been going on at Stellar. What are some of the highlights? What are some of the products or events or anything? I mean, obviously Stellar Spark, but other things that you’re excited about.

Drew Griswold (00:27:05) – I mean. I, I kind of have the coolest job ever where I get to do two different things that I love that involve very different parts of my brain. You know, I have the advertising side where I manage all our Google and Facebook ads, but then I have the events, and the events for me, is is so important because I love connecting with people face to face.

Drew Griswold (00:27:24) – I love getting the opportunity to sit down and actually talk with folks without a screen in between. I’m way better looking in real life than I come up on camera, so I also love the events for that. You’re laughing too hard, but whatever. I’ll take it.

Michelle Frechette (00:27:37) – Only because I’ve heard it before.

Drew Griswold (00:27:41) – But yeah, when I think back in the last year, the things that really stick out or WordCamp US, WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, the WordCamps are really kind of those tent poles in my year of highs and lows. They’re always a high point. It’s wonderful to connect with folks, really love doing events, and that kind of ties into why we’re doing the Stellar Spark to, which is we love the events. We love getting people together to talk about like minded things. So it should be great. But also, the last year has been, I’ve been in a new position as Director of Outbound Marketing, and there’s been a lot of changes and a lot of excitement and a lot of new responsibilities, and it’s just been a lot of fun. How about you?

Michelle Frechette (00:28:22) – Yeah, I think so. You know, in the last year and a half, let’s say we started the podcast. We got some new episodes coming out next week for that. And the travel. I absolutely love seeing people all over the world. And, and while I do in the past I’ve seen more people from Europe who come to the US, maybe for WordCamp US traveling to Asia two years in a row actually allowed me to meet so many people in person that I already was connected with, maybe through WordCamps online or Twitter or Facebook groups, things like that. But to actually shake hands and say hello to people, get all the selfies. I love the selfies. You know, me and my selfie reel by the end of WordCamp and raise a lot of money in the in the interim by doing those selfies. Between WordCamp Asia last year to present, almost $6,000, I’ve raised and sent back out to underrepresented people who are speakers and organizers to help them get to WordCamps as well.

Michelle Frechette (00:29:19) – So the work that we’re doing by sending me places actually is helping so many more people, but also, you know, helping people learn about Give and RCP and Learndash and the Events Calendar and Solid and help me. What other ones?

Drew Griswold (00:29:34) – That’s really brave because I knew you were going to forget about one of them, and they’re going to be mad.

Michelle Frechette: (00:29:38) – I always do,

Drew Griswold: Don’t tell them you forgot.

Michelle Frechette (00:29:41) – Kadence! Kadence!

Drew Griswold (00:29:43) – The events calendar that.

Michelle Frechette (00:29:45) – The events calendar I need, I need to have the list in front of me because I start to go through it. I’m like, it’s like when you have like, you know, a bunch of cousins that I can never remember. All my like, my dad had 11 brothers and sisters. I can never only name ten because I can always forget somebody. I have.

Drew Griswold (00:29:59) – I have one sister and I forget her name half the time.

Michelle Frechette (00:30:01) – So maybe I can be forgiven then.

Michelle Frechette (00:30:07) – Awesome. Well, I’m excited about everything. I’m really excited about Friday. Looking forward to.

Michelle Frechette (00:30:11) – I use the word excited as much as you use the word whatever the other one you were saying was. But yeah, I really can’t wait for Friday to get up, get my coffee ready, and come right in to meet Josepha and have that keynote talk and then hear everybody else throughout the day. So thank you so much.

Drew Griswold (00:30:29) – Great insights. I’m really looking forward to it, which is what I keep saying over and over and over again. And thank you so much for having me, Michelle. It was nice to be able to talk about this and take a step back. We’ve been talking about it so much that it’s kind of fun to take a step back and talk about it as if, as if, people haven’t heard about it before. So, yeah.

Michelle Frechette (00:30:46) – And kind of the 30,000 foot view instead of in the weeds, like we are the day to day. Absolutely. Well, thanks for joining me for our first ever Post Status Happiness Hour. next week’s guest. Oh, let me see.

Michelle Frechette (00:30:57) – I should not have multiple things. This is not CNN. I don’t need a million things running on the screen at once. Next week’s guest is Kathy Zant. So I’ll be interviewing Kathy about what’s going on in the WordPress space and what she’s doing next week at the same time. and I hope to see everybody there again.

Drew Griswold (00:31:13) – Kathy is way cooler than me, too, so that’s going to be a really good one.

Michelle Frechette (00:31:15) – She’s blonder. I mean, I will give you that.

Drew Griswold: Yeah.

MIchelle Frechette: So anyway, we’ll see everybody next week. Thank you so much Drew. Take care.

Drew Griswold (00:31:22) – Thanks, Michelle.