In early November I had the privilege to attend, sponsor, and speak at WordCamp Cape Town. I had a great time, and got to spend time getting to know some wonderful people in the South African WordPress community.
I traveled with my friend Chris Lema, who did an incredible talk about Lost Profits that captivated the audience. I’m sure you’re shocked. The trip was an excellent opportunity to spend time with Chris and learn from him, and also to spend time with much of the WooThemes team, who really are a fantastic bunch. I even got to interview WooTheme co-founder Mark Forrester, which I hope you’ll listen to if you haven’t already.
I was asked by the organizers to speak about my WordPress story and that of Post Status. It was difficult speaking about myself this way, but I hope that I was able to encourage others, regardless of industry, on the benefits of blogging within your industry and niche.
The talk is not technical, but rather a story about how I wedged my way into the WordPress ecosystem by blogging – to the extent of literally using blog posts on my resume for my first WordPress job interview. Furthermore, I advocate the benefits of seeking authority in a niche and how blogging has both directly and indirectly contributed to my success.
Giving a talk to an unfamiliar and diverse crowd (this was a single track WordCamp) of about 400 wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve done. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll watch it, and I’d love your feedback or for you to tell me about how blogging has benefited you and your career.
Also, I hope that (for those of you interested) the talk can give a bit of insight into how I view Post Status myself and what my goals are with this website.
And here are my slides:
By the way, having emcees for the conference was really awesome. Derick Watts and the Sunday Blues are really funny, and they were great for offering humor and breaks for the single track setup, which was a fascinating structure. It turned out that almost everyone stayed for each session and there were very few hallway lurkers, making for a very attentive audience.
Blogging for personal benefits of sorts is already great but when it can open a career with opportunities it’s even better! I think today there’s too many bloggers hoping for affiliate link clicks, etc, rather than sharing their true opinions and experiences. I wish there were more bloggers like you that are genuine and honest.
(the link to the WooThemes team isn’t right)
I often wonder about people that speak so much. Not you in particular, but I see a group of amazing speakers repeatedly talking at numerous conferences throughout the world. The thing I wonder is how they have time to implement the material they talk about in real world scenarios? I don’t doubt that they do, and have…I just find it astounding they have the time. This is why I’m convinced Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert are robots. They just never sleep, and their artificial brains are connected to AWS for incredible processing power.
Thanks for posting this up, Brian. There are some great tips in your presentation! I’m personally trying to get started with blogging, but have been experiencing some roadblocks as to how I will communicate my passion to the WordPress community (and further).
Whilst watching your video I actually wrote down something that popped into my head, which I think I can build something valuable around – so it’s a start! Thank you very much for the inspiration!