by Veronica Louis

Photo: Jeremy Clarke

In the summer of 2013, after heeding the encouragement of a friend, I attended my first WordCamp. I was actually a volunteer, helping out where I could but still having ample time to go to these amazing presentations on all things WordPress. Two years later, one thing leading to another, I found myself being a co-organizer of WordCamp Montreal (WCMTL).

I had already been using WordPress for a few years, to manage sites for clients before attending camp in 2013. In a nutshell, WordPress(.org) is a website building tool and content management system. Yet, it wasn’t until WordCamp 2013 that I became aware of the true extent of the community behind it. Like any camp, new bonds were formed, laughs were shared and I instantly became part of a kick-ass support network. I enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones at WordPress learning events and social meet-ups. (more…)

by Veronica Louis

This past weekend, I participated in my first ever WordCamp. Because I write, one can easily assume that I attended a writer’s camp, where we all sat around in a circle telling each other compelling stories.

However, WordCamp is all things WordPress or WordPress related. But what is WordPress? Simply put, WordPress is an open source (free) content management system used to build and publish websites and blogs. In other words, it is a web-publishing platform. As a matter of fact, this website runs on the WordPress platform.

My history with WordPress began a few years ago when clients of mine had a new WordPress website and I had to quickly learn how to use the tool. I received a few hours of training from a WordPress expert, Kirk Wight, (who incidentally now works for Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com). From then on, I used WordPress every single day to manage websites and WordPress became essential to my work.  (more…)