If you haven’t already heard, WordCamp Birmingham is coming up on September 27 & 28, 2008. And for those of you not in the States, that’s Birmingham, Alabama, not England. If you are in, or can travel to, the Southeast U.S., you won’t want to miss the first WordCamp in the Deep South! And besides the great tech stuff at WordCamp, there are other fun events in Birmingham that weekend, too.
Oh, and did I mention that I am one of the Speakers (*gulp*)? I will be speaking on “The Future of WordPress”. This will be the first time I’ve given a presentation of this type, so I’m quite nervous about it. If anyone has any public speaking tips that don’t involve imagining people in their underwear, let me know. Or, if you have any particular points that you think I should address, I’d be interested in hearing those, too. I don’t know that I’ll be able to discuss everything that everyone wants, and I don’t claim to have a crystal ball that tells me any more about the timeline of WordPress features than anyone else. But I have some ideas of what I want to touch on, both in general and in the specific.
If you make it to the event, please feel free to find me and say hi! I’m really looking forward to meeting people and putting faces with names. I also figure I’ll be reconfiguring my blogroll, with a bunch of new XFN ‘met’ links. 
I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be there for the entire event, but I hope to have a better idea once the schedule is filled in, and I have my travel plans finalized.
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15 Comments
Hey, at least you don’t have to own up right at the beginning of your speech that you don’t actually use WordPress. If I survive the pitchfork-and-torches treatment after that, I think the rest of my presentation will be a breeze.
Good luck, and I look forward to meeting you there. Andre’s put together an impressive roster of folks.
damm i got really excited there, i thought it was in England, and im there for that time, guess i got to get my ticket for the US again hehe
For public speaking, my suggestion is don’t.
Don’t stand up at a podium and give a speech. Stand up. Sit down. Walk around. Just talk to those who are there. Just imagine you are standing around talking to 2 or 3 friends. You’re just passing along some observations or insight. You may not become the world’s best or most charismatic speaker by doing it this way but it will get your points across better and you will enjoy it more. Everyone enjoys talking to their friends.
If you have a camcorder. Record yourself, then refine yourself. But then I suppose you must be very busy for such elaborate preparation unless of course the presentation is important.
Love the Click to Edit comment thingie. Never noticed it elsewhere. So it is settled then, you ARE one of those recording and refining types.
I’m looking forward to WC B’ham and all the speakers. Hopefully it will go off without a hitch. I attend WC Dallas back in March and enjoyed it immensely.
See you there!
Cool idea. I happen to think it’s one of the best out there, but maybe that’s just me. Thanks for your interesting ideas
I’m making the trip down from Nashville to be there, and I can’t wait to meet up with those of you who are going. It’s going to be super interesting.
The dude who got trumpet solos and major parts in our high school plays needs public speaking tips?
I had to sit thru 3 sermons given by associate pastors while the senior pastor was on vacation, and this is what I’d love to tell ‘em:
1. Nerves make you talk fast; speak slowly.
2. Enjoy pieces of silence — pauses are your friends, especially when you’re being mic’ed and there’s reverb.
3. Unless you’re fluent in American Sign Language, use your hands only every 2 minutes or so. Srsly.
4. Smile! But don’t laugh at your own jokes.
TOPICS?
Um, stuff like Google’s Chrome, Gears, Webkit as it might relate to WP. Or mashups and ways to integrate Qik or Ning, Ubiquity, Weave, Prism. Gah. I dunno.
Maybe if I could put on a Neal Stephenson hat, I’d be able to envision the seamlessness between personal computing and sharing your blog/pics/life with the world — without needing a desktop computer. You know, where the browser is more important than the OS. Death to the desktop! Viva la browser!
How nice!!! I didn´t know it would be there!! I´ll got to find a way to gooo!!
Very Good!! I too will be there!!!
http://www.ezinereaders.com
Oh man! I was so dissapointed when I realised that it wasn’t Birmingham, UK!!!
I hope that you guys have a great time!
James
On tips for speaking that don’t have to do with people in their underwear…
Powerpoint is great… as long as you’re not perpetually repeating yourself. The best powerpoints I’ve ever seen have been when you put up a visual demonstrating what you’re talking about–a photo, graphic, a one liner–let the audience quickly absorb that, and then they LISTEN to what you’re saying. It engages the audience’s eyes and mind, and keeps them focused.
A highly underused design element in speeches. Takes a lot of work to find the graphics (twice as long as your bullets) but extremely useful.
Ha I saw this and throught Birmingham England, then released as you say it’s Birmingham US, much to my disappointment
I was thinking of going over to Wordpress as I currently use Blogger. I don’t really want to drop the Blogger site, just start a new Blog using Wordpress as I have heard so many good things from WP users. Still, I have forced myself to learn all the code (well some basic link stuff)to customize in Blogger. I am fearful I would have to start all over again learning a new “language” to customize in WP. I suppose the conference will cover stuff for us potential new WP folks?