This past weekend’s sold-out WordCamp Minneapolis was a blast. We had beautiful spring weather (finally), brilliant speakers, enthusiastic attendees, and amazing volunteers.
And to make the very best of it we decided, as a small company, to go all out on it.
Since forming WerkPress in 2011, we’ve dipped our toes in the WordCamp thing a few times. Both as an attendee and sponsor.
This time around, it was on our turf – Minneapolis. We made the decision to participate in every way possible. We went all in as a top-tier sponsor, volunteered to design the logo, website, badges and some swag, printed our own WerkPress swag (tee shirts, pens, notebooks), applied to speak (and spoke) and hosted the after-party at our office.
All of these things were costly – in both time and money. As a completely independent shop, no venture capital, this type of commitment was not a casual, throwaway affair as it might be a to larger, financially-backed agency. It was a commitment that we (and many in the community) take with a passion.
Discussions weighing pros-and-cons and maybe a few anxiety attacks after mentally calculating the total damage definitely occurred. After many late nights, designing, printing, prepping and coordinating with other WordCamp organizers it all came to fruition on April 29th.
So the big question “Was it Worth It?” Short answer = YES. It was.
We made new friends and met like-minded entrepreneurs, including one particularly inspiring young man who at 13, already founded his own WordPress business. We talked shop, exchanged ideas and learned new insights. The wave of positive energy from WordCamp was present in our team this morning at our Monday huddle.
WordPress is rooted in collaboration, community and sharing. And though we aren’t a flashy, flush-with-cash startup, we have built a successful, profitable business because-of, and based-on WordPress.
And guess what (no surprise here) – we’re already excited for WordCamp Minneapolis 2014!
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