I’m Goin’ to Miami

It’s official. I’ve become a WordCamp jet setter. WordCamp Miami has confirmed my spot on their program, my sponsor is on board, and my flight is booked. I could not be more excited about an event than I am about this one, and here’s why:

1. The confirmed speakers so far are already A-list WordPressers, including Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress and founder of Automattic; Jane Wells and Mark Jaquith who both work directly with WordPress development and Automattic; Scott Clark, developer of Pods CMS; and John Jacoby, a core developer for BuddyPress.
2. It’s Miami! It’s February. Not much more explanation is needed on this point except maybe that I’ve never been to Miami.
3. I’ve never flown before on a commercial airliner. The only time I’ve ever flown was a small four passenger prop plane almost 10 years ago.
4. My husband Chris is going with me. We will get there in time to enjoy Friday evening to ourselves, all day Saturday at WordCamp, and all Sunday morning and afternoon to ourselves again before flying back that evening.

I want to give a big thank you to my sponsor, Paste Interactive. They have been gracious enough to assist me in the expenses involved in traveling to Miami. I have been promoting their online app, JumpChart, in my WordCamp presentations and just in casual tech related conversation. It is a great app for working with content before a website is ready to handle it itself, and even has the ability to export to WordPress. Paste is a cool company, and I’ll be proud to wear their t-shirts, pass out their swag, and continue to talk about their awesome apps.

WordCamps Miami and Atlanta are just two of the events on my calendar this year. I am also looking for a way to BlogHer, WordCamp Toronto, WordCamp Romania, and Web Directions North. I want to expand my horizons and experience more than I can reach from my bedroom office. If you’d be interested in helping me attend any of these events, or if you have ideas on how I could reach these goals, comment here, or get in touch with me. Twenty-ten is my year of “look what I can do”, and I can’t wait to see what it has in store.