I’ve received several inquiries from folks who want to pick my brain on event organization and planning. I’m producing a series of short videos; each one will address a particular area of event organization.
In this video, I talk a bit about facility selection and considerations:
Stick around; future videos will discuss finance, sponsorships, ticketing, registration, speakers, A/V, and more.
Why have I run WordCamp Portland for the last couple of years? Perhaps it’s because I’m crazy. Or perhaps it’s because it’s a chance to bring together and get to know a whole bunch of really smart people. In our first year we tapped into a lot of local talent that was mostly unknown to many of the PDX tech scene “regulars.” We also had the UX lead for Automattic show us a preview of the next version of WordPress. RSS guru Marshall showed some of his power tools to an overflowing-into-the-hallway room.
This year, we’ll have Matt in attendance, along with Micah who is quickly becoming one of the most-known speakers on trust and influence. We’re going to have an e-commerce expert from Texas. Oh, and one of those Cheezburger guys. But those are all out-of-towners. I’m equally excited to feature local folks like performance expert Jason Grigsby talk about optimization and designer Tyler Sticka show how to make beautiful portfolios using WordPress. And with a title involving bondage, I’m curious to see what Cami and Dr. Normal have up their sleeves…
Sure, WordCamp is a ton of work. But there’s something to be said for the connections and inspiration.
Earlier this year, I wroteseveralposts about Facebook’s crappy terms of service (specifically the portion of their terms related to photo licensing). Shortly after I blogged about it, Facebook’s terms made national news and there was quite a bit of discussion.
Amongst those who thought I was making a big deal out of nothing, one of the consistent themes was that although the terms of service allowed for Facebook to use your photos for any purposes including advertising, they wouldn’t really do that, would they?
When I gave a talk at Ignite Portland surrounding this topic, I commented that people probably wouldn’t want their photos to be used for a dating service (in the video of my talk below, I make that comment if you start watching at 4:40). Guess what: Facebook is now doing just that. You can opt out, but the default setting on Facebook allows them to use your photos as advertisements to meet “Hot Singles in Your Area”. Lovely.
