Wordcamp Chicago 2009 from Brian Artka on Vimeo.

WordCamp Chicago

Day one was amazing! I had high hopes before arriving in Chicago, but WCC ’09 has truly blown me away. The organizers did an amazing job on selecting speakers who appealed to all the developers, bloggers and designers in the room. 

At the conference

I thoroughly enjoyed Micah Baldwin‘s highly entertaining talk on Building Online Influence and Doug Hanna of Automattic’s slides from the Showcase and for letting me know about the kick-ass site I Can Has Cheezburger.

Morton's Steakhouse

After the conclusion of day one, there was an official WCC meetup at Morton’s Steakhouse, supposedly one of the best if not the best steak house in the city. After trying some of Matt Mullenweg’s steak, I would have to agree, the steak was so tender and fell right off the bone, but it was the gourmet mac and cheese that did it for me. I have a rule that if macaroni and cheese is offered on a restaurant menu, I must give it a try. I’m a little obsessive about finding great mac and cheese.

Matt Mullenweg surrounded by the WordPress fans

After meeting some new people from the Chicago area, it was time to go back to the W Hotel for some zzz’s. 

W Hotel Lobby

W Hotel Lounge

The Lobby Bar

My hotel room

Cool quote on the wall

Day Two

The second day was equally fantastic. Unfortunately I missed Jim Turner‘s presentation on Business Blogging but saw Matt’s State of the Word address. A few new announcements were made about MU, BuddyPress and iPhone apps.

Matt giving his State of the Word Speech

After the conference wrapped, I had a few hours to kill so I took a tour around the city and found myself in Nordstrom’s for their annual shoe sale and Macy’s where I couldn’t resist the urge to pick up a few Ben Sherman pieces. So much for travelling on a budget.

Chicago Skyline

Shortly thereafter, it was time to head back to the Midway Airport for my Porter flight back to T.O.. I must say, it was my first time flying with them and it was such a delight. It was such a stress-free flying experience and I highly recommend it.

That’s all I have to say about WordCamp Chicago ’09 for now. I had an amazing time, made some new friends, become better friends with some acquaintances and the weekend has made me more excited about planning another future WordCamp Toronto!

In a few weeks I will be flying Porter for the first time to Chicago for their 2009 WordCamp. To state that I am excited is an understatement. After attending WordCamp Dallas last March and planning WordCamp Toronto 2008, I am excited to once again participate in another WordCamp.

Why do I enjoy WordPress conferences over any other Web/Marketing conference? I must mention first of all that I attend quite a few local “camps” and conferences and enjoy all of them for their unique  content, speakers and participants, however WordCamps offer me something I can’t find anywhere else. The informal environment, the social aspect and the laid back personalities of the speakers and participants all add to the WordCamp experience. 

WordCamps can be as small as 50 people and as big as 200 people. It’s not that these camps couldn’t sell more tickets, they can, however most are capped at about 200 people because if your attendance list gets too big, it takes away from feeling like you are at an informal meetup of WordPress enthusiasts who want to get to know each other over the course of a weekend.

 I’m excited to see some familiar faces and watch Jeremy Wright’s presentation on The Secrets of Running a Blog Network… With WordPress MU as well as meet a new group of people including Ottawa native, Erin Blaskie. If you are going to be at WordCamp Chicago – June 6 & 7, 2009, let me know!

 Looking forward to seeing everyone there!