I’m currently at WordCamp UK in Edinburgh, Scotland, so its appropriate to write about why its important to attend your local WordCamps or one either close to you or in a city you are visiting.
I’ve been going to WordCamps for a few years now, showing up in Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA and Victoria, BC Canada plus a local WordPress meetup in Portland, OR.
So how does one get started? Start your WordCamp search at the Wordcamp Central Web site. This is where all the Camps that are being held worldwide are listed. The destinations are as diverse as the Australia, South Africa, Sweden and the U.S. plus more. So perhaps you can incorporate a WordCamp in your next trip.
At the current Conference I am attending in Edinburgh, Scotland I’ve met some very passionate people who helped me out. As it turns out my Hosting Company had turned off my Website (too much traffic they say and I’m on a shared offering) and the local UK folks at the Camp were able to help me make the site load faster and now more efficient. Totally 
unexpected at the Happiness Bar. I’ve also made some great contacts who knows where to get travel advice if they ever need it and now I’ve got some WordPress resources as well.
They also had a session that deconstructed your Web site (Site Doctors); so they basically look at your site and tell you what they think you can adjust to improve it. Very, very useful as everyone can learn from this one.
I also got a chance to take Megabus.com’s uncomfortable overnight bus from London Victoria Coach Station to Edinburgh, spend a 26 GBP night in a local Hostel, the Caledonian Backpackers [affiliate link], see one of my favorite cities again, check out two local pubs with the WordCamp Delegates (fun, fun, fun) and spend a night with a friend
of mine who is a local. The sessions were also quite good and very diverse. There was a conflict with two of the better sessions I attended; one on creating a magazine online and another about awesome WordPress Plugins. So you get an idea of how cool this conference was; You can get a flavor of it all by going to the hashtag #wcuk on twitter.
All this directly related to attending a WordCamp. Put one on your next trip calendar. Off to the Standing Order for drinks with my new WordPress friends in the U.K.
Have you ever attended a WordCamp? If so, please let us know what you thought of it? Or maybe you plan on attending one coming up.
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