WEBVTT

00:00:01.217 --> 00:00:02.839
Welcome to Community & Code,

00:00:02.979 --> 00:00:05.301
the podcast about the people,

00:00:05.341 --> 00:00:07.461
the human beings behind the commit.

00:00:08.723 --> 00:00:11.525
I am here today with Michelle Frechette.

00:00:11.724 --> 00:00:12.926
I'm your host, Chris Reynolds.

00:00:13.666 --> 00:00:16.027
Michelle has done a lot of things.

00:00:16.068 --> 00:00:17.669
It's hard to not see your

00:00:17.708 --> 00:00:19.949
name in anything relating

00:00:19.989 --> 00:00:21.871
to WordPress or WordPress community.

00:00:22.911 --> 00:00:25.434
I will let you introduce yourself.

00:00:26.175 --> 00:00:27.475
Michelle, go for it.

00:00:27.495 --> 00:00:27.856
The floor is yours.

00:00:28.515 --> 00:00:30.019
I'm more the community part

00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:31.503
of the community and code

00:00:31.542 --> 00:00:33.207
than the code part of community and code,

00:00:33.487 --> 00:00:34.009
for sure.

00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:35.893
Although, I do have...

00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:38.271
a plugin in the repository.

00:00:38.911 --> 00:00:40.292
It is a fork of Hello Dolly.

00:00:40.313 --> 00:00:41.152
So I know that doesn't get

00:00:41.192 --> 00:00:42.134
me a lot of street cred.

00:00:42.634 --> 00:00:45.076
But and I understand CSS a little.

00:00:45.115 --> 00:00:46.216
So there you go.

00:00:46.296 --> 00:00:47.037
I'm Michelle Frechette.

00:00:47.057 --> 00:00:48.878
Right now I am serving as

00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:50.640
the executive director of

00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:51.820
post status that's been

00:00:51.841 --> 00:00:53.082
going on for a few years now.

00:00:53.622 --> 00:00:54.904
I also have a bunch of side

00:00:54.944 --> 00:00:55.963
projects that I work on,

00:00:55.984 --> 00:00:57.665
including some podcasts of my own.

00:00:58.466 --> 00:00:59.786
And I have some things that

00:00:59.807 --> 00:01:00.868
are coming out even this

00:01:00.927 --> 00:01:02.088
week that are going to be

00:01:02.889 --> 00:01:03.670
interesting for people to

00:01:03.710 --> 00:01:04.969
learn about me and they're

00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:05.611
not public yet.

00:01:05.650 --> 00:01:06.391
So you'll have to wait and

00:01:06.430 --> 00:01:07.792
see what those are,

00:01:07.811 --> 00:01:09.292
but that'll be coming out shortly.

00:01:09.933 --> 00:01:11.352
And I'm starting to create

00:01:11.393 --> 00:01:12.873
some of my own side projects as well.

00:01:13.394 --> 00:01:16.355
Some things like it's already come out.

00:01:16.555 --> 00:01:17.936
People can go ahead and see

00:01:18.356 --> 00:01:20.578
speed network online.com,

00:01:20.597 --> 00:01:21.737
which people are making

00:01:21.757 --> 00:01:23.358
reservations for now for

00:01:23.399 --> 00:01:26.200
our first tech speed networking online,

00:01:26.561 --> 00:01:27.100
which we're going to have

00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:28.662
people in breakout rooms and zoom.

00:01:28.682 --> 00:01:31.043
So you'll get to meet up to people.

00:01:31.909 --> 00:01:32.448
During that.

00:01:32.888 --> 00:01:34.349
Seventy-five minutes of time

00:01:34.709 --> 00:01:36.010
so that you can learn more

00:01:36.051 --> 00:01:37.471
about what people do and

00:01:37.490 --> 00:01:38.611
maybe make some connections

00:01:38.652 --> 00:01:40.012
for networking for work.

00:01:41.091 --> 00:01:42.572
And then I just really love

00:01:42.692 --> 00:01:43.953
WordPress and the community.

00:01:44.013 --> 00:01:46.534
So I do a lot with the photography team.

00:01:46.593 --> 00:01:47.915
I do a lot with the community team.

00:01:48.382 --> 00:01:50.463
And I was one of the co,

00:01:50.784 --> 00:01:51.625
I forgot my title.

00:01:51.644 --> 00:01:51.944
What was it?

00:01:51.965 --> 00:01:53.927
Co-release coordinators for

00:01:53.966 --> 00:01:55.468
six point eight that came out this year,

00:01:55.728 --> 00:01:56.709
which makes me sound a lot

00:01:56.730 --> 00:01:58.552
more code than I am because

00:01:58.591 --> 00:01:59.391
you don't actually have to

00:01:59.432 --> 00:02:00.653
know code to do that job.

00:02:00.733 --> 00:02:01.433
But yeah,

00:02:01.493 --> 00:02:02.835
so I do a lot in the community

00:02:02.876 --> 00:02:03.676
and I just really love this

00:02:03.695 --> 00:02:04.277
community a lot.

00:02:05.932 --> 00:02:08.212
I also have a fork of Hello Dolly.

00:02:08.252 --> 00:02:09.652
My fork of Hello Dolly is

00:02:09.693 --> 00:02:10.573
called Hello Ziggy,

00:02:10.693 --> 00:02:12.473
and it's the lyrics of Ziggy Stardust.

00:02:12.493 --> 00:02:14.693
Oh, cool.

00:02:14.734 --> 00:02:16.514
So you're not alone.

00:02:16.574 --> 00:02:17.555
I think that's sort of a

00:02:17.615 --> 00:02:20.875
little bit of maybe a rite

00:02:20.914 --> 00:02:23.256
of passage to make your Hello Dolly fork.

00:02:24.876 --> 00:02:27.597
What got you involved in

00:02:28.056 --> 00:02:29.736
WordPress and what got you

00:02:29.776 --> 00:02:31.018
involved in the sort of

00:02:31.318 --> 00:02:32.737
community side of WordPress?

00:02:33.563 --> 00:02:36.007
Yeah, so in WordPress itself,

00:02:36.546 --> 00:02:38.528
I had forgotten that I when

00:02:38.568 --> 00:02:39.189
I tell people I've been

00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:40.951
using WordPress since twenty eleven,

00:02:41.271 --> 00:02:42.413
the truth is I had used

00:02:42.453 --> 00:02:44.514
WordPress for a few years prior to that,

00:02:44.915 --> 00:02:46.097
probably a good five years prior to that,

00:02:46.437 --> 00:02:47.778
without even knowing it was WordPress.

00:02:47.899 --> 00:02:48.058
Right.

00:02:48.098 --> 00:02:49.139
Because I was blogging for

00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:50.200
our local newspaper.

00:02:50.722 --> 00:02:52.483
And so it was it was a very

00:02:52.562 --> 00:02:53.524
early version of WordPress

00:02:53.544 --> 00:02:54.566
that they were afraid to update.

00:02:55.406 --> 00:02:56.967
It was probably always breaking as well.

00:02:57.367 --> 00:03:00.752
But I was, I say hired,

00:03:00.771 --> 00:03:02.112
but it was a no-pay job, right?

00:03:02.252 --> 00:03:03.794
I was recruited to be a

00:03:03.835 --> 00:03:04.816
business blogger for our

00:03:04.855 --> 00:03:06.396
local Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

00:03:06.777 --> 00:03:08.620
And so I was writing things

00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:10.221
and then putting them on that blog there.

00:03:10.961 --> 00:03:12.424
but in earnest started using

00:03:12.463 --> 00:03:14.866
wordpress when in my best

00:03:14.887 --> 00:03:16.027
friend and I she was a

00:03:16.049 --> 00:03:17.189
massage therapist I had

00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:18.512
helped run a massage

00:03:18.532 --> 00:03:19.973
therapy school I was the

00:03:20.193 --> 00:03:21.175
campus director for that

00:03:21.215 --> 00:03:22.175
before I got into tech at

00:03:22.235 --> 00:03:24.459
all and she wanted to start

00:03:24.498 --> 00:03:25.681
a non-profit that would help

00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:28.462
massage therapists continue in their jobs.

00:03:28.763 --> 00:03:29.903
They were taught how to massage,

00:03:30.144 --> 00:03:30.903
they weren't taught how to

00:03:30.924 --> 00:03:31.724
have businesses.

00:03:32.164 --> 00:03:33.366
And so and be good business

00:03:33.466 --> 00:03:34.546
owners and those kinds of things.

00:03:34.567 --> 00:03:35.347
They also had to have

00:03:35.967 --> 00:03:37.188
continuing education units,

00:03:37.229 --> 00:03:37.808
things like that.

00:03:37.829 --> 00:03:39.069
So we started a nonprofit,

00:03:39.469 --> 00:03:40.651
it's no longer in existence.

00:03:40.670 --> 00:03:41.771
But if you want to check it out,

00:03:41.812 --> 00:03:43.051
you can go into the archive.org.

00:03:43.072 --> 00:03:45.334
And you can type in New York

00:03:45.394 --> 00:03:46.314
State massage.

00:03:46.754 --> 00:03:47.915
I was actually Rochester

00:03:47.936 --> 00:03:48.936
Massage Alliance was the

00:03:48.975 --> 00:03:50.497
first one.org that it was

00:03:50.557 --> 00:03:52.579
New York's Massage Alliance after that.

00:03:53.399 --> 00:03:56.401
We went statewide and while we did that,

00:03:57.100 --> 00:03:58.322
we didn't know how to build a website.

00:03:58.342 --> 00:03:59.081
I didn't know how to, I mean,

00:03:59.122 --> 00:04:00.122
I knew how to like, you know,

00:04:00.242 --> 00:04:01.943
I could put something on a web on a pic,

00:04:02.123 --> 00:04:02.865
you know, on my computer,

00:04:03.425 --> 00:04:04.384
but I had no idea how to

00:04:04.485 --> 00:04:05.325
actually build a website.

00:04:05.445 --> 00:04:07.967
Her husband was a WordPress developer.

00:04:08.048 --> 00:04:11.590
So he, you know, gave, put it together, uh,

00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:13.411
using Genesis, uh, a web,

00:04:13.531 --> 00:04:15.292
a website for us and.

00:04:16.636 --> 00:04:17.396
He's showing it to us,

00:04:17.456 --> 00:04:18.617
and we're oohing and aahing

00:04:18.658 --> 00:04:19.619
and everything all over it.

00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:21.420
And this is even before

00:04:21.521 --> 00:04:22.641
mobile responsiveness, right?

00:04:22.661 --> 00:04:24.704
So it would not render well

00:04:24.783 --> 00:04:26.045
on your phone at this point.

00:04:27.206 --> 00:04:28.028
But we're oohing and aahing,

00:04:28.088 --> 00:04:29.889
and so we start sending him the content.

00:04:30.591 --> 00:04:33.153
And his response was, whoa, ladies,

00:04:33.454 --> 00:04:34.095
I built it.

00:04:34.535 --> 00:04:35.976
You have to put the content in.

00:04:36.437 --> 00:04:38.117
We're like, how do you do that?

00:04:38.257 --> 00:04:39.137
He's like, here's your login,

00:04:39.177 --> 00:04:39.757
figure it out.

00:04:39.778 --> 00:04:40.317
Basically.

00:04:40.678 --> 00:04:41.559
It's not that hard.

00:04:41.598 --> 00:04:41.858
Right.

00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:44.379
And so I logged in and I

00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:45.879
started putting information

00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:48.321
on the homepage and I did

00:04:48.461 --> 00:04:49.021
one of those things.

00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:49.742
Like, you know how,

00:04:49.762 --> 00:04:50.382
like when you put the

00:04:50.401 --> 00:04:51.742
Christmas tree up in the front window,

00:04:51.762 --> 00:04:52.603
you run outside to see what

00:04:52.622 --> 00:04:53.103
it looks like.

00:04:53.423 --> 00:04:54.783
You go back in, you adjust a little bit,

00:04:54.803 --> 00:04:55.843
you run outside, see what it looks like.

00:04:56.144 --> 00:04:57.004
So I was putting things on

00:04:57.043 --> 00:04:58.485
the homepage and then quick

00:04:58.704 --> 00:04:59.745
opening another tab to see

00:04:59.764 --> 00:05:00.425
what it looked like to the

00:05:00.446 --> 00:05:01.045
rest of the world.

00:05:01.646 --> 00:05:04.507
And I was just like, mind blown.

00:05:05.065 --> 00:05:06.466
that I could put something

00:05:06.567 --> 00:05:08.408
on the web that anybody in

00:05:08.427 --> 00:05:11.149
the world with Wi-Fi and

00:05:12.449 --> 00:05:13.509
open borders kind of thing

00:05:13.850 --> 00:05:14.831
could actually look at.

00:05:14.850 --> 00:05:16.232
I mean, not that they were,

00:05:17.471 --> 00:05:18.052
but they could.

00:05:18.093 --> 00:05:19.833
The idea was I could put words on a page,

00:05:20.233 --> 00:05:21.194
and people could be like,

00:05:21.413 --> 00:05:22.995
I see what she is doing there,

00:05:23.274 --> 00:05:24.315
no matter where you were in the world.

00:05:24.415 --> 00:05:25.536
And that was pretty heady stuff.

00:05:27.129 --> 00:05:27.971
This is pretty cool.

00:05:28.471 --> 00:05:29.630
And so I wanted to learn how

00:05:29.672 --> 00:05:31.473
to do more than just put

00:05:31.512 --> 00:05:32.312
words on the page.

00:05:32.333 --> 00:05:33.834
I wanted to learn how that happened.

00:05:34.293 --> 00:05:36.555
And he says we would buy the domain,

00:05:36.596 --> 00:05:37.776
get hosting, blah, blah, blah.

00:05:37.795 --> 00:05:39.836
I said, OK, I understand that.

00:05:40.617 --> 00:05:41.658
But I don't understand

00:05:41.677 --> 00:05:42.598
because this is before our

00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:44.420
one button right installs

00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:45.821
on sites are already just

00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:47.081
done installs on sites now.

00:05:48.194 --> 00:05:49.956
I said, I understand how to buy a domain.

00:05:50.476 --> 00:05:52.038
I understand how to purchase hosting.

00:05:52.057 --> 00:05:53.079
What I don't understand is

00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:55.401
how does the WordPress get

00:05:55.482 --> 00:05:56.983
on the domain so that I can

00:05:57.103 --> 00:05:58.526
actually put the information into it?

00:05:59.125 --> 00:06:00.668
And so he says,

00:06:00.708 --> 00:06:02.110
if you come over on Thursday night,

00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:03.230
Christine's working late.

00:06:03.942 --> 00:06:05.723
If you cook dinner for our four kids,

00:06:05.903 --> 00:06:07.766
I will show you how to build a website.

00:06:07.846 --> 00:06:08.625
And so that's what we did.

00:06:09.047 --> 00:06:09.706
I went over there.

00:06:09.788 --> 00:06:11.749
He walked me through base for basic steps.

00:06:12.170 --> 00:06:13.471
One of them included salt keys.

00:06:13.531 --> 00:06:14.172
Remember when we used to

00:06:14.211 --> 00:06:16.533
have to put salt keys in our,

00:06:16.574 --> 00:06:17.274
because he wouldn't let me

00:06:17.334 --> 00:06:18.456
run put button anything.

00:06:18.475 --> 00:06:19.956
He made me understand how to download it,

00:06:20.276 --> 00:06:21.038
how to upload it,

00:06:21.098 --> 00:06:21.999
how to use all those things

00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:22.879
so that I had a true

00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:25.182
understanding of how WordPress operated.

00:06:25.975 --> 00:06:26.857
And by the end of that week,

00:06:26.956 --> 00:06:29.338
I had created a domain, bought the domain,

00:06:29.697 --> 00:06:30.999
bought the hosting and had

00:06:31.019 --> 00:06:32.519
the start of a website for myself.

00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.021
And so that's how it kind of started.

00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:36.862
It was very like the kids

00:06:36.882 --> 00:06:38.202
were like eating spaghetti

00:06:38.242 --> 00:06:39.084
and he's showing me on his

00:06:39.124 --> 00:06:40.363
computer how to purchase

00:06:40.783 --> 00:06:42.144
hosting and how you

00:06:42.204 --> 00:06:44.387
actually get WordPress on the host site.

00:06:44.427 --> 00:06:44.947
So that was pretty cool.

00:06:44.987 --> 00:06:45.067
Yeah.

00:06:45.086 --> 00:06:47.928
And then I remember the bug bit.

00:06:49.730 --> 00:06:51.151
I remember before I started

00:06:52.172 --> 00:06:53.132
really using WordPress,

00:06:53.473 --> 00:06:56.774
I had a web blog before

00:06:56.814 --> 00:06:58.136
they were actually called blogs,

00:06:58.536 --> 00:06:59.838
and it was all in HTML,

00:07:00.637 --> 00:07:02.038
and it was running on a

00:07:02.158 --> 00:07:03.560
server that I had at home,

00:07:03.880 --> 00:07:06.041
and I used a dynamic DNS

00:07:06.543 --> 00:07:09.805
thing to give myself a URL

00:07:09.845 --> 00:07:11.586
that could be accessible to the internet,

00:07:11.605 --> 00:07:12.487
and that's what I used for

00:07:12.507 --> 00:07:13.206
a number of years.

00:07:13.708 --> 00:07:15.908
And at some point, I decided...

00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:18.130
hey it would be easier if

00:07:18.211 --> 00:07:20.932
there was some kind of cms

00:07:20.952 --> 00:07:23.074
thing uh that I mean I

00:07:23.113 --> 00:07:24.154
didn't call it a cms at the

00:07:24.194 --> 00:07:25.175
time but it would be really

00:07:25.214 --> 00:07:26.036
cool if there's some sort

00:07:26.055 --> 00:07:27.437
of script that did this for

00:07:27.476 --> 00:07:29.418
me um but I didn't that

00:07:29.478 --> 00:07:32.160
wasn't when I uh actually

00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:33.100
started using wordpress

00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:34.100
what actually prompted me

00:07:34.141 --> 00:07:35.281
to start using wordpress

00:07:35.742 --> 00:07:40.245
was um I had a site I found

00:07:40.285 --> 00:07:43.187
a I found a blogging platform

00:07:43.846 --> 00:07:46.267
on a website called hotscripts.com,

00:07:47.389 --> 00:07:48.910
and it was called Sblog,

00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:52.071
and it was just a blogging platform.

00:07:52.670 --> 00:07:57.394
The front end of the site

00:07:57.533 --> 00:07:58.533
basically looked like it

00:07:58.593 --> 00:07:59.675
had the Kubrick theme.

00:08:00.095 --> 00:08:01.115
It wasn't the Kubrick theme,

00:08:01.134 --> 00:08:03.115
but it was very, very similar.

00:08:03.476 --> 00:08:05.257
That's just sort of what

00:08:05.276 --> 00:08:06.358
blogs looked like at the time.

00:08:06.978 --> 00:08:09.379
Uh, and, um, and I was,

00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:11.279
I was using that to post

00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:13.762
pictures of my newborn son for family.

00:08:14.182 --> 00:08:16.483
And then at some point, um, similar to,

00:08:16.622 --> 00:08:18.803
to sort of Matt's own origin story of, of,

00:08:19.024 --> 00:08:19.384
you know,

00:08:19.483 --> 00:08:21.024
he was using B two cafe log and

00:08:21.045 --> 00:08:21.404
then there,

00:08:21.444 --> 00:08:22.545
the developer kind of went

00:08:22.586 --> 00:08:23.887
missing for a period of time.

00:08:23.927 --> 00:08:24.427
And he was like, okay,

00:08:24.447 --> 00:08:25.307
this isn't getting updates.

00:08:25.326 --> 00:08:26.427
So I need, I want to do something.

00:08:27.067 --> 00:08:27.709
Um, the,

00:08:27.809 --> 00:08:29.569
the lead developer of S blog kind

00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:32.171
of just was, uh, uh,

00:08:32.551 --> 00:08:34.211
you know, missing or like, you know,

00:08:34.292 --> 00:08:35.852
not responding to support

00:08:35.873 --> 00:08:37.092
requests for a while.

00:08:37.173 --> 00:08:37.734
And I was like, OK,

00:08:37.754 --> 00:08:38.413
so there's probably

00:08:38.474 --> 00:08:39.594
something else I could use.

00:08:40.174 --> 00:08:41.796
And I think a friend of mine

00:08:42.615 --> 00:08:43.596
had been using WordPress.

00:08:43.615 --> 00:08:44.216
I was like, OK, well,

00:08:44.236 --> 00:08:45.836
maybe I can I can spin this thing up.

00:08:46.717 --> 00:08:47.958
And I just migrated

00:08:47.999 --> 00:08:49.178
everything over manually.

00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.461
This was like in the, I don't know,

00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:53.921
two point something days.

00:08:55.481 --> 00:08:58.222
And and yeah, the rest is sort of history.

00:08:58.264 --> 00:09:00.865
So that was about twenty years ago.

00:09:01.304 --> 00:09:03.245
It's been a long while.

00:09:03.986 --> 00:09:06.107
I still have poetry on

00:09:06.168 --> 00:09:08.590
blogspot.com that I should

00:09:08.629 --> 00:09:09.410
probably pull down there

00:09:09.451 --> 00:09:10.951
before blogspot.com goes

00:09:10.991 --> 00:09:13.173
away and put it on my own website.

00:09:13.953 --> 00:09:15.054
So thank you for helping me

00:09:15.095 --> 00:09:16.395
remember that so that I can

00:09:16.436 --> 00:09:17.797
go and pull all those things off there.

00:09:18.096 --> 00:09:18.636
I'd be like, damn,

00:09:18.657 --> 00:09:19.998
that was such a good poem, too.

00:09:20.339 --> 00:09:22.159
I mean, who reads other people's poetry,

00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:22.519
really?

00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:23.660
I mean, if you're not Emily Dickinson,

00:09:23.681 --> 00:09:25.241
it's just for yourself.

00:09:25.982 --> 00:09:28.804
But, you know, I had my moments of angst.

00:09:31.163 --> 00:09:32.125
Haven't, haven't we all, I mean,

00:09:32.225 --> 00:09:33.806
I had a live journal at some point.

00:09:34.067 --> 00:09:34.126
Uh,

00:09:34.147 --> 00:09:35.769
I don't even know where that is anymore.

00:09:35.849 --> 00:09:37.549
And, and yeah, all, all that stuff,

00:09:37.630 --> 00:09:41.033
the early, the early days of the web.

00:09:41.053 --> 00:09:41.754
You asked me how I got

00:09:41.774 --> 00:09:42.755
involved in the community.

00:09:42.796 --> 00:09:44.118
That's an interesting story too.

00:09:44.197 --> 00:09:45.719
So I had, uh,

00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:47.221
I had never heard of meetups

00:09:47.260 --> 00:09:48.162
and I never heard of word

00:09:48.182 --> 00:09:49.123
camps and things like that

00:09:49.143 --> 00:09:51.566
when I was just working, um, on our site,

00:09:51.865 --> 00:09:52.746
but her husband.

00:09:53.187 --> 00:09:54.708
So you should come to our meetup sometime.

00:09:55.028 --> 00:09:55.690
I went to the meetup.

00:09:55.710 --> 00:09:56.971
I was the only woman in a

00:09:57.011 --> 00:09:57.812
room full of men.

00:09:58.173 --> 00:09:59.534
The room was darkened so

00:09:59.554 --> 00:10:00.375
that they like this

00:10:00.796 --> 00:10:01.918
projector could show up.

00:10:02.217 --> 00:10:03.219
And they were talking about

00:10:03.259 --> 00:10:04.880
like digital ocean and CSS

00:10:04.921 --> 00:10:06.722
and things I had no concept of.

00:10:07.183 --> 00:10:08.085
So let's just say it was

00:10:08.125 --> 00:10:09.426
several years before I went

00:10:09.446 --> 00:10:10.287
back to a meetup.

00:10:11.631 --> 00:10:12.251
At that point,

00:10:12.993 --> 00:10:14.493
they were saying things like, you know,

00:10:15.072 --> 00:10:16.393
they'd say, hey,

00:10:16.413 --> 00:10:17.394
we haven't had a meetup in a while.

00:10:17.413 --> 00:10:18.673
Is everybody available on Tuesday?

00:10:19.193 --> 00:10:20.855
Like, who thinks like that?

00:10:21.235 --> 00:10:22.674
You know, so like, not me.

00:10:23.514 --> 00:10:24.255
But then they said they

00:10:24.275 --> 00:10:25.436
needed somebody to run the meetup.

00:10:25.456 --> 00:10:26.515
And I took over doing that.

00:10:26.535 --> 00:10:27.196
And I was like, OK,

00:10:27.557 --> 00:10:28.716
first Monday of every month

00:10:28.736 --> 00:10:29.797
from six thirty to eight thirty.

00:10:29.836 --> 00:10:31.057
Go kind of thing, you know,

00:10:31.077 --> 00:10:33.278
so it was kind of some regularity.

00:10:34.097 --> 00:10:35.099
You could plan for it.

00:10:35.658 --> 00:10:38.198
And then I went to my first WordCamp,

00:10:38.239 --> 00:10:39.259
which was WordCamp Buffalo

00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:40.019
back in twenty five.

00:10:40.741 --> 00:10:41.866
Those are the fourteen or fifteen.

00:10:42.244 --> 00:10:42.764
I think I might have been

00:10:42.783 --> 00:10:46.105
fourteen and I was so like

00:10:46.365 --> 00:10:47.946
blown away by back then it

00:10:47.966 --> 00:10:48.765
was twenty bucks.

00:10:49.166 --> 00:10:49.846
You got lunch,

00:10:49.866 --> 00:10:51.626
you got some coffee in the morning,

00:10:51.947 --> 00:10:53.327
you got to meet all these people.

00:10:53.628 --> 00:10:55.067
There was an event afterwards,

00:10:55.087 --> 00:10:56.009
the after party I didn't go

00:10:56.048 --> 00:10:57.109
to because I was like too

00:10:57.129 --> 00:10:58.269
shy to do that kind of.

00:10:58.288 --> 00:10:59.590
I mean, it's hard to think of me as shy,

00:10:59.629 --> 00:11:01.470
but at the time I felt shy

00:11:01.490 --> 00:11:02.390
in that community because I

00:11:02.410 --> 00:11:03.311
was not a techie.

00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:04.831
And so the thought of like

00:11:04.892 --> 00:11:06.131
hanging out with tech people,

00:11:06.711 --> 00:11:07.793
I was already kind of at my

00:11:07.832 --> 00:11:09.653
mental limit by the end of the day.

00:11:09.673 --> 00:11:10.793
And it was in a city I had

00:11:10.813 --> 00:11:11.413
to drive home from.

00:11:12.734 --> 00:11:13.875
I wish I'd gone because now

00:11:13.916 --> 00:11:14.777
I know how great the after

00:11:14.797 --> 00:11:15.999
parties are and how great

00:11:16.038 --> 00:11:16.899
networking happens.

00:11:17.682 --> 00:11:18.462
From that,

00:11:18.722 --> 00:11:20.466
I went to WordCamp Toronto that year.

00:11:20.986 --> 00:11:22.226
brought my daughter with me,

00:11:22.567 --> 00:11:24.727
drove up to Toronto, got a hotel room,

00:11:24.768 --> 00:11:25.889
did that for the whole weekend.

00:11:26.288 --> 00:11:27.208
That was a blast.

00:11:27.249 --> 00:11:29.450
That's when I got my first WordPress swag.

00:11:29.490 --> 00:11:33.551
It was a sippy cup from GoDaddy.

00:11:33.591 --> 00:11:35.192
And I was like, I've heard of GoDaddy.

00:11:35.211 --> 00:11:36.272
And now I have their swag.

00:11:36.331 --> 00:11:38.493
I felt like I had arrived.

00:11:39.052 --> 00:11:41.933
And so I said to the guys from Buffalo,

00:11:41.953 --> 00:11:44.034
I'm like, if you ever want

00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:45.600
we could think about having

00:11:45.640 --> 00:11:47.062
like Rochester and Buffalo

00:11:47.082 --> 00:11:48.043
combined and just do

00:11:48.083 --> 00:11:49.304
WordCamp Western New York.

00:11:49.764 --> 00:11:51.407
And they're like, no, we like ours.

00:11:51.427 --> 00:11:52.388
I was like, okay,

00:11:52.727 --> 00:11:54.529
but you can help us plan one if you want.

00:11:54.629 --> 00:11:55.390
So I started,

00:11:55.431 --> 00:11:56.351
jumped in and I started

00:11:56.692 --> 00:11:57.613
helping them plan the next

00:11:57.773 --> 00:11:59.654
one and applied to speak at it.

00:12:00.515 --> 00:12:01.376
when I was really not doing

00:12:01.397 --> 00:12:02.197
anything more than just the

00:12:02.238 --> 00:12:03.999
social media for them and I

00:12:04.038 --> 00:12:05.000
played to speak at it and I

00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:06.480
I gave my first word camp

00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:08.962
talk called uh the hidden

00:12:09.024 --> 00:12:10.225
secrets of wordpress

00:12:10.625 --> 00:12:11.485
because these were things

00:12:11.505 --> 00:12:13.407
that as a new user I

00:12:13.427 --> 00:12:15.068
discovered I didn't know

00:12:15.129 --> 00:12:17.490
how to do things like um

00:12:18.011 --> 00:12:19.432
screen options right so like

00:12:19.471 --> 00:12:20.491
if you're on a page and

00:12:20.511 --> 00:12:21.673
there's screen options or

00:12:21.972 --> 00:12:23.092
you're looking at unless

00:12:23.113 --> 00:12:23.972
you're in your menus the

00:12:23.993 --> 00:12:24.972
screen options and menus

00:12:24.993 --> 00:12:25.793
allows you to put those

00:12:25.832 --> 00:12:26.673
targets and things like

00:12:26.693 --> 00:12:27.673
that on there and I was

00:12:27.693 --> 00:12:28.573
like other people need to

00:12:28.594 --> 00:12:30.114
know about these things and

00:12:30.153 --> 00:12:31.714
so I like went down this

00:12:32.134 --> 00:12:33.595
this wormhole of all these

00:12:33.634 --> 00:12:35.674
the you know alice's rabbit

00:12:35.695 --> 00:12:36.654
hole of all the things you

00:12:36.674 --> 00:12:37.495
could do in wordpress that

00:12:37.535 --> 00:12:39.135
I didn't know how to do and

00:12:39.596 --> 00:12:40.816
including one that there's

00:12:40.855 --> 00:12:42.515
no button for which was a

00:12:42.535 --> 00:12:44.756
you know um php um

00:12:45.657 --> 00:12:46.876
I don't remember what it was now.

00:12:46.897 --> 00:12:47.778
Something, something PHP.

00:12:47.918 --> 00:12:48.138
Anyway,

00:12:48.677 --> 00:12:50.197
there's where it gives you like all

00:12:50.258 --> 00:12:50.437
of the,

00:12:50.518 --> 00:12:52.318
everything you can change on one on your,

00:12:52.538 --> 00:12:53.038
on your site,

00:12:53.158 --> 00:12:53.739
which you could do a lot of

00:12:53.778 --> 00:12:54.438
damage there if you don't

00:12:54.458 --> 00:12:55.919
know what you're doing.

00:12:55.940 --> 00:12:58.520
But I, I, I was talking and I had like.

00:12:59.341 --> 00:13:01.721
Forty people in the room and

00:13:01.780 --> 00:13:02.682
it was the only time I was

00:13:02.741 --> 00:13:04.101
worried that I might be an

00:13:04.142 --> 00:13:05.142
imposter like that.

00:13:05.201 --> 00:13:05.523
I, you know,

00:13:05.543 --> 00:13:06.982
I didn't actually have imposter syndrome,

00:13:07.423 --> 00:13:08.523
but I was also worried that

00:13:08.582 --> 00:13:09.464
what if I'm wrong?

00:13:09.783 --> 00:13:11.104
What are some of the things I'm saying?

00:13:11.224 --> 00:13:11.943
Aren't actual,

00:13:12.644 --> 00:13:13.605
even though I tried them and

00:13:13.625 --> 00:13:14.345
I done them and whatever.

00:13:14.977 --> 00:13:17.119
And after I gave that talk, it's like,

00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:18.438
and I'll be out at the

00:13:18.719 --> 00:13:19.739
happiness bar if anybody

00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.379
has questions and wants to follow up.

00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:23.039
I had people lined up to

00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:24.480
talk to me for about forty

00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:25.880
five minutes afterwards.

00:13:26.581 --> 00:13:27.821
And it was none of them were

00:13:27.841 --> 00:13:28.941
saying you're wrong.

00:13:29.020 --> 00:13:30.522
None of them were saying imposter.

00:13:30.621 --> 00:13:31.302
None of them were saying

00:13:31.361 --> 00:13:32.142
like ringing the bell and

00:13:32.162 --> 00:13:32.642
Game of Thrones.

00:13:32.662 --> 00:13:33.642
Shame, shame.

00:13:33.662 --> 00:13:34.883
Like none of that happened.

00:13:34.923 --> 00:13:35.123
Right.

00:13:35.182 --> 00:13:35.702
And I was like.

00:13:36.383 --> 00:13:37.442
This is pretty cool.

00:13:37.682 --> 00:13:39.423
Instead, people were asking my opinions.

00:13:39.764 --> 00:13:40.344
They were asking me,

00:13:40.484 --> 00:13:41.144
what was that thing you

00:13:41.163 --> 00:13:42.864
said about this again?

00:13:43.724 --> 00:13:46.504
It was just options.php.

00:13:46.544 --> 00:13:48.225
That's what it is, options.php.

00:13:48.524 --> 00:13:49.326
That's the one that'll get

00:13:49.365 --> 00:13:50.046
you a lot of trouble.

00:13:50.405 --> 00:13:51.346
You're welcome to anybody

00:13:51.365 --> 00:13:52.525
who wants to actually F up

00:13:52.546 --> 00:13:55.746
their whole website, have at it.

00:13:55.866 --> 00:13:57.027
I had developers in the room, they're like,

00:13:57.187 --> 00:13:58.767
I never heard of options.php.

00:13:58.986 --> 00:13:59.447
I was like, oh,

00:13:59.506 --> 00:14:00.748
I taught a developer something.

00:14:00.788 --> 00:14:01.508
That's pretty cool.

00:14:02.488 --> 00:14:03.649
um because here I am feeling

00:14:03.688 --> 00:14:05.110
like this person who's

00:14:05.190 --> 00:14:06.390
giving a tech talk who has

00:14:06.431 --> 00:14:07.292
a background of twenty

00:14:07.331 --> 00:14:08.072
years working higher

00:14:08.111 --> 00:14:10.673
education so from there it

00:14:10.714 --> 00:14:12.095
went to I went to where the

00:14:12.115 --> 00:14:13.775
first ever WordCamp US and

00:14:13.836 --> 00:14:15.317
I sat down at the community

00:14:15.356 --> 00:14:17.599
table with um Andrea

00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:19.580
Middleton and I said you

00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.240
know we're thinking someday

00:14:21.441 --> 00:14:22.682
of having a WordCamp in

00:14:22.721 --> 00:14:24.383
Rochester she says why are

00:14:24.403 --> 00:14:25.344
you thinking about it

00:14:25.384 --> 00:14:26.684
someday why don't you just do it

00:14:27.085 --> 00:14:28.745
I was like, well, I don't really, you know,

00:14:28.765 --> 00:14:29.547
I've only been to a few

00:14:29.586 --> 00:14:30.908
myself and I don't, you know,

00:14:30.927 --> 00:14:31.948
I don't know.

00:14:31.989 --> 00:14:33.350
By the end of the conversation,

00:14:33.450 --> 00:14:34.549
I was committing to have a

00:14:34.610 --> 00:14:36.131
WordCamp in Rochester the next year.

00:14:36.611 --> 00:14:37.613
And so we had our first

00:14:37.753 --> 00:14:38.833
WordCamp Rochester.

00:14:39.313 --> 00:14:40.414
I started applying to speak

00:14:40.455 --> 00:14:41.596
at more and more places.

00:14:42.015 --> 00:14:43.256
I started getting accepted

00:14:43.297 --> 00:14:44.638
to speak at more and more places.

00:14:44.977 --> 00:14:46.639
I still was freelancing for myself,

00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:48.921
but it was at WordCamp Rochester.

00:14:50.047 --> 00:14:51.768
uh pittsburgh that I met the

00:14:51.788 --> 00:14:53.548
team from give I met jason

00:14:53.649 --> 00:14:56.311
canal and devin walker and

00:14:56.490 --> 00:14:58.111
I was just really impressed

00:14:58.192 --> 00:14:59.153
by the product that they

00:14:59.192 --> 00:15:02.894
had and so I learned about

00:15:02.934 --> 00:15:04.856
them I bought give for one

00:15:04.876 --> 00:15:05.797
of my clients who was

00:15:05.836 --> 00:15:07.557
running a non-profit uh

00:15:07.597 --> 00:15:08.599
implemented it the

00:15:08.658 --> 00:15:10.659
following year or probably

00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:11.341
later the same year

00:15:11.380 --> 00:15:13.381
actually I was talking to

00:15:13.422 --> 00:15:15.263
them again jason canal was

00:15:15.342 --> 00:15:16.423
at uh work in ottawa

00:15:17.761 --> 00:15:18.562
And I was telling them about

00:15:18.602 --> 00:15:19.562
how I implemented it on

00:15:19.582 --> 00:15:20.364
this website that was

00:15:20.384 --> 00:15:21.404
raising money for kids to

00:15:21.445 --> 00:15:22.546
have food in South Sudan.

00:15:23.005 --> 00:15:23.947
I showed them the pictures

00:15:24.006 --> 00:15:24.647
and showed them the website

00:15:24.667 --> 00:15:25.467
and they thought it was really good.

00:15:25.488 --> 00:15:27.249
So they interviewed me about

00:15:27.288 --> 00:15:28.890
that website to put on their blog.

00:15:29.451 --> 00:15:30.312
And then at the end of it,

00:15:30.392 --> 00:15:31.673
I shook Jason's hand and I said,

00:15:32.092 --> 00:15:33.073
if you're ever looking for

00:15:33.114 --> 00:15:34.414
somebody to join your team,

00:15:34.934 --> 00:15:36.216
yours is the product that I

00:15:36.235 --> 00:15:38.138
would give up my freelancing to do.

00:15:38.979 --> 00:15:40.659
And by January of the next year,

00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:41.821
I was the head of customer

00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:42.881
success at GiveWP.

00:15:44.245 --> 00:15:46.086
And then from there, I just kept growing.

00:15:46.106 --> 00:15:47.587
I was able to speak in more places.

00:15:47.607 --> 00:15:50.210
I was helping organize WordCamp US.

00:15:51.490 --> 00:15:52.312
I had my podcast,

00:15:52.351 --> 00:15:53.033
and I had done a bunch of

00:15:53.052 --> 00:15:53.673
things like that.

00:15:53.994 --> 00:15:55.534
And I created outside

00:15:55.654 --> 00:15:57.716
sources of things that were

00:15:57.756 --> 00:15:58.817
helpful to the community.

00:15:58.878 --> 00:16:01.500
Like I tweet once a week, usually.

00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:02.660
It's been a little crazy lately,

00:16:02.701 --> 00:16:03.422
but once a week,

00:16:03.501 --> 00:16:05.182
I tweet about ten companies

00:16:05.202 --> 00:16:06.244
that are hiring in

00:16:06.283 --> 00:16:07.985
WordPress so that people

00:16:08.005 --> 00:16:09.066
who are looking for jobs

00:16:09.386 --> 00:16:10.488
have some place to start.

00:16:12.004 --> 00:16:13.605
It was during COVID that I

00:16:13.625 --> 00:16:14.504
had to take a vacation,

00:16:14.524 --> 00:16:15.666
but I couldn't go anywhere.

00:16:16.046 --> 00:16:16.846
So during that time,

00:16:16.905 --> 00:16:18.927
I built WPCareerPages.com

00:16:19.288 --> 00:16:19.888
so that I wasn't,

00:16:20.067 --> 00:16:21.048
I don't know how to import things.

00:16:21.087 --> 00:16:22.068
I didn't know how to do APIs

00:16:22.109 --> 00:16:22.788
and all of that.

00:16:23.109 --> 00:16:24.190
But I knew that if you went

00:16:24.210 --> 00:16:25.971
to this website and you're like looking,

00:16:26.211 --> 00:16:27.630
I want to find a job in WordPress,

00:16:27.971 --> 00:16:29.192
all of the career pages for

00:16:29.211 --> 00:16:29.692
all these different,

00:16:29.812 --> 00:16:30.873
like a hundred different companies,

00:16:31.173 --> 00:16:31.913
you can click through and

00:16:31.932 --> 00:16:32.734
see if they're hiring.

00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:34.922
And so it was all in one place.

00:16:34.981 --> 00:16:36.163
And then I started,

00:16:36.263 --> 00:16:37.703
and then Allie Nimmons and

00:16:37.764 --> 00:16:39.605
I started underrepresentedintech.com,

00:16:39.905 --> 00:16:41.126
which was a database so

00:16:41.147 --> 00:16:42.807
that people who are underrepresented,

00:16:43.087 --> 00:16:46.169
whether it's by racial minority,

00:16:46.571 --> 00:16:50.894
by LGBTQ status, by disability, whatever,

00:16:51.053 --> 00:16:52.274
whatever makes you underrepresented,

00:16:52.294 --> 00:16:53.836
you could join that database to be found,

00:16:54.196 --> 00:16:55.356
to be an expert in your field,

00:16:55.376 --> 00:16:56.937
to be hired, to be on podcasts,

00:16:56.958 --> 00:16:57.499
things like that.

00:16:58.613 --> 00:16:59.835
And then it grew to me

00:16:59.895 --> 00:17:01.337
starting WP speakers,

00:17:01.357 --> 00:17:02.600
which I just recently sold

00:17:02.701 --> 00:17:04.864
to post status and doing

00:17:04.903 --> 00:17:05.645
those kinds of things.

00:17:05.685 --> 00:17:07.229
So I like to provide.

00:17:08.432 --> 00:17:09.192
opportunities for the

00:17:09.232 --> 00:17:11.693
community to grow without spending money.

00:17:12.034 --> 00:17:13.515
And I have fun doing those things.

00:17:13.634 --> 00:17:14.355
I like when I take a

00:17:14.394 --> 00:17:15.855
vacation and I create

00:17:15.895 --> 00:17:17.396
something that people can use.

00:17:17.896 --> 00:17:19.798
And so like WP Speakers,

00:17:19.837 --> 00:17:21.137
I started building it Monday night.

00:17:21.637 --> 00:17:22.259
Wednesday,

00:17:22.358 --> 00:17:23.338
I soft launched it at the

00:17:23.419 --> 00:17:24.538
Adorama Summit that year.

00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.339
By Friday at seventy five,

00:17:26.380 --> 00:17:27.340
people signed up and I'm like,

00:17:27.441 --> 00:17:28.760
I haven't finished building it yet.

00:17:28.800 --> 00:17:29.500
People wait.

00:17:31.801 --> 00:17:32.561
Now I've sold it.

00:17:33.742 --> 00:17:34.363
I still get to run it

00:17:34.383 --> 00:17:35.482
because it's part of post status.

00:17:35.522 --> 00:17:36.564
But those are the kinds of

00:17:36.584 --> 00:17:37.384
things I think that are

00:17:37.423 --> 00:17:38.523
really helpful to community.

00:17:39.944 --> 00:17:41.424
Yes, I work in the community too.

00:17:41.585 --> 00:17:42.724
I'm on the community team.

00:17:42.785 --> 00:17:45.105
I've been on release squads

00:17:45.125 --> 00:17:45.846
three times now.

00:17:46.326 --> 00:17:48.366
I am on the photos team and

00:17:48.426 --> 00:17:49.727
I do photo moderation and

00:17:49.847 --> 00:17:51.827
I'm table lead a lot of

00:17:51.847 --> 00:17:54.469
places when we have contributor days.

00:17:55.128 --> 00:17:55.930
And those are wonderful.

00:17:56.009 --> 00:17:57.250
And I think we all need to

00:17:57.269 --> 00:17:58.090
get more involved in those

00:17:58.111 --> 00:17:58.691
kinds of things.

00:17:58.990 --> 00:18:00.271
But there are things outside

00:18:00.332 --> 00:18:01.573
of WordPress.org that we

00:18:01.613 --> 00:18:02.973
can do to uphold and

00:18:02.993 --> 00:18:04.194
support the community as well.

00:18:04.555 --> 00:18:05.335
And those are the kind of

00:18:05.435 --> 00:18:06.375
projects that I love to

00:18:06.395 --> 00:18:07.797
spin up because I think

00:18:07.836 --> 00:18:08.557
that it's something that

00:18:08.577 --> 00:18:10.259
will help people understand

00:18:10.638 --> 00:18:12.160
how to use WordPress for themselves,

00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:13.421
how to be involved,

00:18:13.441 --> 00:18:15.541
how to really be part of the DEI.

00:18:16.162 --> 00:18:19.104
um, DEIB network of people to help, um,

00:18:19.284 --> 00:18:21.226
underrepresented groups and

00:18:21.326 --> 00:18:22.727
also feeds into the

00:18:22.747 --> 00:18:25.428
wordpress.org community as well.

00:18:25.488 --> 00:18:27.990
So it's not an and, or it's an and,

00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:28.730
and right.

00:18:28.750 --> 00:18:29.111
So that's,

00:18:29.270 --> 00:18:30.832
there's this really kind of cool thing.

00:18:30.852 --> 00:18:32.553
So to create, um,

00:18:32.633 --> 00:18:33.874
a career for myself where

00:18:33.933 --> 00:18:35.234
I've been able to be a

00:18:35.275 --> 00:18:37.296
resource to others has been really,

00:18:37.556 --> 00:18:38.497
really rewarding to me.

00:18:39.695 --> 00:18:42.936
Yeah, and you started the virtual stage,

00:18:43.357 --> 00:18:46.538
post-tax virtual stage recently, which,

00:18:46.618 --> 00:18:47.699
you know, spoiler,

00:18:47.898 --> 00:18:50.621
I was the first guest on that.

00:18:50.661 --> 00:18:51.861
You're going to be the first

00:18:51.921 --> 00:18:52.721
guest on this because

00:18:52.740 --> 00:18:53.362
you're the first one that

00:18:53.402 --> 00:18:54.842
replied when I was asking

00:18:54.862 --> 00:18:55.883
people to come on the show.

00:18:56.522 --> 00:18:58.163
Talk about, I mean,

00:18:58.304 --> 00:18:59.884
I know the story of the virtual stage,

00:19:00.085 --> 00:19:01.224
the post-tax virtual stage,

00:19:01.265 --> 00:19:03.625
but for anyone who might be listening,

00:19:04.046 --> 00:19:05.146
tell the story about how

00:19:05.186 --> 00:19:05.787
that got started.

00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:07.559
Yes, we've had two so far,

00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:08.181
then a little bit of a

00:19:08.221 --> 00:19:09.441
hiatus because I lost my

00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:10.361
job and trying to figure

00:19:10.421 --> 00:19:11.981
out how to do all these other things.

00:19:12.922 --> 00:19:13.741
But it is coming back.

00:19:13.801 --> 00:19:15.022
I've got like twelve more

00:19:15.063 --> 00:19:15.863
people that want to do that

00:19:15.903 --> 00:19:17.182
right now without even

00:19:17.343 --> 00:19:18.202
advertising it much.

00:19:18.644 --> 00:19:21.964
But I have like my bucket

00:19:22.005 --> 00:19:23.164
list of things that I want to do.

00:19:23.265 --> 00:19:24.325
And one of them is to speak

00:19:24.365 --> 00:19:26.586
at all three flagship events.

00:19:27.086 --> 00:19:27.987
And as of last year,

00:19:28.027 --> 00:19:29.788
I've spoken at WordCamp US,

00:19:30.387 --> 00:19:32.409
I've spoken at WordCamp Asia three times,

00:19:32.930 --> 00:19:34.510
and I have never once been

00:19:34.550 --> 00:19:36.551
selected to speak at WordCamp Europe.

00:19:36.852 --> 00:19:38.752
So every year I try and I'm not mad.

00:19:38.813 --> 00:19:39.713
It's not like, I mean,

00:19:39.773 --> 00:19:40.634
I know there's a million

00:19:40.653 --> 00:19:41.615
people that apply and I

00:19:41.634 --> 00:19:42.714
don't think that I should

00:19:42.734 --> 00:19:44.435
be given any special consideration.

00:19:44.476 --> 00:19:46.217
If you don't like my topics for that camp,

00:19:46.237 --> 00:19:46.738
that's fine.

00:19:47.417 --> 00:19:48.578
but the thing is I keep

00:19:48.598 --> 00:19:49.740
wanting to right and it's

00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:51.541
like oh did you see that

00:19:51.602 --> 00:19:52.663
debbie downer music like

00:19:52.682 --> 00:19:54.925
you know when you get the

00:19:54.945 --> 00:19:57.028
the letter saying thank you

00:19:57.048 --> 00:19:58.009
for your lovely submission

00:19:58.048 --> 00:19:59.609
however right we had so

00:19:59.630 --> 00:20:01.692
many blah blah blah so the

00:20:01.712 --> 00:20:03.453
the idea was there's got to

00:20:03.473 --> 00:20:04.234
be people like me

00:20:05.496 --> 00:20:06.537
who have this great topic

00:20:06.557 --> 00:20:07.577
and they want to talk about

00:20:07.637 --> 00:20:08.618
it and they think it's

00:20:08.638 --> 00:20:09.980
great for other people to hear.

00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:11.340
And the one that I had

00:20:11.381 --> 00:20:12.701
pitched over to WordCamp

00:20:12.761 --> 00:20:14.202
Europe this year was how to

00:20:14.522 --> 00:20:16.424
take your blog and turn it into a book.

00:20:16.724 --> 00:20:17.826
Because that blogging that I

00:20:17.865 --> 00:20:18.986
had done for the local

00:20:19.047 --> 00:20:20.728
newspaper is now a book

00:20:20.748 --> 00:20:21.548
called A Good Firm

00:20:21.607 --> 00:20:22.469
Handshake and Other

00:20:22.489 --> 00:20:23.950
Essential Business Tips on

00:20:24.029 --> 00:20:25.151
Amazon and other places.

00:20:26.571 --> 00:20:27.792
But I also give it away as a PDF.

00:20:27.833 --> 00:20:28.594
So if somebody really wants

00:20:28.614 --> 00:20:29.433
to read it and can't afford it,

00:20:29.473 --> 00:20:29.894
just hit me up.

00:20:29.914 --> 00:20:30.575
I'll send you a copy.

00:20:30.595 --> 00:20:31.076
It's not a big deal.

00:20:31.476 --> 00:20:33.417
It's not a revenue stream for me.

00:20:33.458 --> 00:20:34.417
It's just about getting

00:20:34.638 --> 00:20:35.699
information into people's hands.

00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:37.740
But going through the whole

00:20:37.760 --> 00:20:40.884
process of blog posts for the newspaper,

00:20:41.023 --> 00:20:41.845
they didn't want more than

00:20:41.884 --> 00:20:42.805
five hundred words because

00:20:42.825 --> 00:20:43.486
you didn't have a lot of

00:20:43.645 --> 00:20:44.527
column space if they were

00:20:44.547 --> 00:20:45.567
putting it in the newspaper.

00:20:46.248 --> 00:20:47.869
And they did put a bunch of

00:20:47.910 --> 00:20:48.730
mine in the newspaper.

00:20:49.171 --> 00:20:50.951
And so five hundred words is

00:20:51.011 --> 00:20:51.873
not really a chapter.

00:20:53.375 --> 00:20:54.395
So you have to take a blog

00:20:54.435 --> 00:20:55.816
post and you have to figure out how to,

00:20:56.537 --> 00:20:57.576
um, you know, enlarge it.

00:20:57.596 --> 00:20:58.416
You want to turn it into a,

00:20:58.836 --> 00:20:59.876
make it media or make it a

00:20:59.896 --> 00:21:01.297
whole chapter as opposed to

00:21:01.336 --> 00:21:02.317
bullet point ideas.

00:21:02.698 --> 00:21:03.438
And then you take the whole

00:21:03.458 --> 00:21:03.998
thing and you like,

00:21:04.038 --> 00:21:05.057
look at a gap analysis.

00:21:05.097 --> 00:21:06.518
Like, what am I missing in this book?

00:21:06.817 --> 00:21:08.499
How do I order my chapters in this book?

00:21:08.838 --> 00:21:10.058
How do I actually take it

00:21:10.118 --> 00:21:13.078
from like a PDF or whatever,

00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:14.559
and actually turn it into print?

00:21:14.940 --> 00:21:16.700
And how do I sell it in a marketplace?

00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.780
And so I did that whole process.

00:21:19.080 --> 00:21:19.361
And I thought,

00:21:19.381 --> 00:21:20.121
wouldn't that be a great

00:21:20.141 --> 00:21:21.461
thing for other people who are like,

00:21:21.820 --> 00:21:22.602
My blog rocks.

00:21:22.662 --> 00:21:24.083
I want this to be a book to

00:21:24.163 --> 00:21:25.503
understand and get some

00:21:25.544 --> 00:21:26.624
tips on how to do that as

00:21:26.663 --> 00:21:27.404
opposed to have to figure

00:21:27.424 --> 00:21:28.586
it out themselves like I did.

00:21:29.306 --> 00:21:30.126
And I thought other people

00:21:30.227 --> 00:21:31.087
should want to hear the story.

00:21:31.107 --> 00:21:32.648
And so I just posted it on socials like,

00:21:32.969 --> 00:21:33.148
hey,

00:21:33.209 --> 00:21:34.730
if anybody's interested in this topic

00:21:34.750 --> 00:21:37.491
that didn't get picked, you know,

00:21:37.511 --> 00:21:37.872
no tears.

00:21:37.932 --> 00:21:40.314
But if anybody's interested in this topic,

00:21:40.834 --> 00:21:41.674
let me know because I'll

00:21:41.694 --> 00:21:43.036
put it out on YouTube or something.

00:21:43.175 --> 00:21:45.096
And then forgive me for not

00:21:45.136 --> 00:21:45.817
remembering the person's

00:21:45.857 --> 00:21:47.759
name because it's been a week said to me,

00:21:47.858 --> 00:21:49.259
why don't you do it live?

00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:51.402
so that people could comment

00:21:51.481 --> 00:21:52.583
and have that conversation

00:21:52.603 --> 00:21:53.423
with you while you're doing

00:21:53.442 --> 00:21:55.325
it as though it were on a

00:21:55.365 --> 00:21:55.984
stage somewhere.

00:21:56.025 --> 00:21:56.965
And I was like, that's brilliant.

00:21:57.365 --> 00:22:00.388
And then I was talking to Jeff Betancourt,

00:22:00.429 --> 00:22:02.711
who co-works with me here

00:22:02.730 --> 00:22:03.852
in my office space once a week.

00:22:04.192 --> 00:22:05.553
And we worked together at Stellar.

00:22:06.933 --> 00:22:07.213
He said,

00:22:08.115 --> 00:22:10.037
why don't you just do that for

00:22:10.057 --> 00:22:10.676
other people too?

00:22:10.717 --> 00:22:11.938
You've got a platform, right?

00:22:12.278 --> 00:22:13.720
And so I was like, oh yeah,

00:22:13.779 --> 00:22:14.820
we could totally turn this

00:22:14.861 --> 00:22:16.162
into a virtual stage series

00:22:16.582 --> 00:22:17.462
through post status.

00:22:17.563 --> 00:22:18.824
And so that's exactly what happened.

00:22:19.243 --> 00:22:20.464
I put it out there and

00:22:20.505 --> 00:22:21.724
twelve people replied.

00:22:22.105 --> 00:22:23.226
You were the first and so

00:22:23.286 --> 00:22:24.786
you were the first one off as well.

00:22:24.865 --> 00:22:28.027
So your talk was great and

00:22:28.067 --> 00:22:29.367
people interacted and

00:22:29.407 --> 00:22:30.288
people came to watch it.

00:22:30.347 --> 00:22:31.808
And were there forty people

00:22:31.828 --> 00:22:32.429
in the audience?

00:22:32.489 --> 00:22:32.949
Not yet,

00:22:33.088 --> 00:22:34.230
but that's okay because that's how

00:22:34.250 --> 00:22:34.890
the web works.

00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:38.250
People will actually say, well,

00:22:38.432 --> 00:22:39.612
I'll catch it on the replay,

00:22:39.652 --> 00:22:40.652
which is fine too, right?

00:22:41.232 --> 00:22:43.693
And so we do that at WordCamps.

00:22:43.814 --> 00:22:44.094
It's like,

00:22:44.173 --> 00:22:45.054
I'm going to go talk to people

00:22:45.074 --> 00:22:45.693
because I can watch your

00:22:45.713 --> 00:22:46.875
talk later kind of thing, right?

00:22:47.414 --> 00:22:48.394
Uh, and so, yeah,

00:22:48.414 --> 00:22:51.457
so we have the post status and I had,

00:22:51.517 --> 00:22:52.356
I had already talked to

00:22:52.396 --> 00:22:56.199
Yostavalk about purchasing, um, uh,

00:22:56.358 --> 00:22:56.839
WP speakers.

00:22:57.220 --> 00:22:57.920
So I start,

00:22:58.220 --> 00:22:59.121
we started to combine those

00:22:59.141 --> 00:23:00.221
things together back then,

00:23:00.280 --> 00:23:01.281
even before we had done it.

00:23:01.602 --> 00:23:02.182
So it's the,

00:23:02.201 --> 00:23:04.482
it's the post status WP speakers,

00:23:04.583 --> 00:23:05.604
virtual stage series,

00:23:05.923 --> 00:23:07.023
which is very large mouthful,

00:23:07.064 --> 00:23:09.965
but you know, whatever, um,

00:23:10.026 --> 00:23:10.486
it's in print.

00:23:10.506 --> 00:23:11.105
It doesn't matter.

00:23:11.426 --> 00:23:12.747
So, yeah, so we've had two so far.

00:23:12.787 --> 00:23:14.327
We have about twelve more that are coming.

00:23:14.748 --> 00:23:15.748
I just have to coordinate

00:23:15.788 --> 00:23:16.909
which Tuesdays people are

00:23:16.949 --> 00:23:17.769
available to do those

00:23:17.788 --> 00:23:19.068
things because it is live.

00:23:19.909 --> 00:23:21.390
It's important to me that it

00:23:21.410 --> 00:23:22.430
be live because at a

00:23:22.470 --> 00:23:23.410
WordCamp it's live and you

00:23:23.470 --> 00:23:24.950
have that same kind of

00:23:25.009 --> 00:23:26.671
excitement about giving a live talk,

00:23:26.750 --> 00:23:27.490
even if you can't see the

00:23:27.550 --> 00:23:29.250
audience and having an

00:23:29.330 --> 00:23:30.330
emcee there with you.

00:23:30.371 --> 00:23:31.071
So you're not just kind of

00:23:31.092 --> 00:23:31.991
producing your own content,

00:23:32.011 --> 00:23:32.612
putting it out there,

00:23:32.971 --> 00:23:33.951
hoping people find it.

00:23:34.672 --> 00:23:35.752
It gives us an opportunity

00:23:35.813 --> 00:23:36.633
to work with people in the

00:23:36.673 --> 00:23:38.553
community and show one more

00:23:38.573 --> 00:23:39.713
way that post status is

00:23:40.273 --> 00:23:41.733
really valuable to the community as well.

00:23:43.580 --> 00:23:43.921
Yeah.

00:23:45.323 --> 00:23:47.164
And as I understand that

00:23:47.605 --> 00:23:49.907
talk about turning your blog into a book,

00:23:50.008 --> 00:23:52.309
you still haven't given that talk.

00:23:52.329 --> 00:23:54.192
I'm actually quite interested in that.

00:23:54.492 --> 00:23:55.193
I don't have the problem

00:23:55.213 --> 00:23:56.454
with writing blog posts

00:23:56.474 --> 00:23:57.496
that are five hundred words or less.

00:23:57.576 --> 00:23:58.237
I have a problem with

00:23:58.257 --> 00:23:59.478
writing blog posts that are

00:23:59.518 --> 00:24:00.940
two thousand words or more.

00:24:01.339 --> 00:24:03.340
that's exactly that that's

00:24:03.721 --> 00:24:04.882
and that's where that's I

00:24:04.922 --> 00:24:05.663
think the meat of that

00:24:05.702 --> 00:24:07.403
process right is is not

00:24:07.483 --> 00:24:09.085
only looking at what

00:24:09.125 --> 00:24:10.165
chapters do I need in a

00:24:10.205 --> 00:24:12.688
book what blog posts like

00:24:12.768 --> 00:24:13.807
of all the blog posts I had

00:24:13.847 --> 00:24:15.409
written which do I include

00:24:15.469 --> 00:24:16.549
which might exclude because

00:24:16.569 --> 00:24:18.471
they maybe are more like I

00:24:18.510 --> 00:24:19.571
wrote one they asked me to

00:24:19.592 --> 00:24:21.073
do one on predictions for

00:24:21.512 --> 00:24:23.273
what was it like what was

00:24:23.294 --> 00:24:24.174
going to happen in the tech

00:24:24.194 --> 00:24:25.476
world in the business world

00:24:25.976 --> 00:24:26.876
that does not belong in a

00:24:26.896 --> 00:24:27.737
book that's an evergreen

00:24:27.757 --> 00:24:28.857
book right so like what did

00:24:28.897 --> 00:24:29.898
you drop what did you add

00:24:30.979 --> 00:24:32.019
what areas were there real

00:24:32.059 --> 00:24:33.922
gaps where did I not have

00:24:33.981 --> 00:24:35.041
something in there that I

00:24:35.082 --> 00:24:36.123
really felt should and I

00:24:36.163 --> 00:24:37.084
added a couple chapters

00:24:37.144 --> 00:24:39.365
that way but also like okay

00:24:39.405 --> 00:24:40.946
now I have like fourteen

00:24:40.967 --> 00:24:42.489
chapters that are three

00:24:42.528 --> 00:24:43.409
hundred and fifty to five

00:24:43.449 --> 00:24:45.351
hundred words that's not a

00:24:45.391 --> 00:24:46.412
book that's a pamphlet

00:24:46.551 --> 00:24:47.833
right so like what do I do

00:24:47.853 --> 00:24:49.253
with this now and the

00:24:49.294 --> 00:24:51.435
process of really looking

00:24:51.476 --> 00:24:53.438
hard at yourself and what

00:24:53.557 --> 00:24:55.659
what you've written and thinking

00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:57.760
in the way that a reader

00:24:57.800 --> 00:24:59.041
would read it because you

00:24:59.102 --> 00:25:00.162
know the information.

00:25:00.663 --> 00:25:02.324
So you are filling in the

00:25:02.344 --> 00:25:03.664
blanks already in your head.

00:25:04.184 --> 00:25:05.806
But how could I turn this

00:25:05.865 --> 00:25:08.326
into more of a read?

00:25:08.366 --> 00:25:10.489
So it's not like point A, point B, point C,

00:25:11.209 --> 00:25:12.250
but it still walks you

00:25:12.269 --> 00:25:13.349
through a whole process.

00:25:13.730 --> 00:25:15.811
And so that's kind of that process.

00:25:15.872 --> 00:25:17.353
I think it takes a little more explaining,

00:25:17.373 --> 00:25:18.232
a little more fleshing out,

00:25:19.074 --> 00:25:20.355
really helping people look

00:25:20.434 --> 00:25:21.394
at what they have.

00:25:21.655 --> 00:25:22.955
It'd be a great workshop, quite honestly,

00:25:22.976 --> 00:25:24.017
but good work at like a

00:25:24.057 --> 00:25:25.417
weekend workshop for people to do.

00:25:26.481 --> 00:25:27.321
where you actually come with

00:25:27.342 --> 00:25:28.423
your blog posts and we look

00:25:28.462 --> 00:25:31.203
together and see how we can

00:25:31.443 --> 00:25:32.483
fulfill those kinds of things.

00:25:32.784 --> 00:25:33.865
But I think it'll be a good talk.

00:25:33.924 --> 00:25:34.505
And I said,

00:25:34.525 --> 00:25:36.125
but I created the virtual stage.

00:25:36.204 --> 00:25:37.266
Now it'd be weird for me to

00:25:37.286 --> 00:25:38.165
put myself on it.

00:25:38.786 --> 00:25:40.507
And I've had several people say, oh,

00:25:40.646 --> 00:25:42.287
I'll be your emcee for you to do that.

00:25:42.627 --> 00:25:43.688
And I will do it eventually.

00:25:43.788 --> 00:25:44.647
I want to get the people

00:25:44.688 --> 00:25:46.269
who've applied on the stage

00:25:46.308 --> 00:25:47.489
first before I throw myself

00:25:47.648 --> 00:25:48.430
on the same stage.

00:25:48.769 --> 00:25:49.490
So it will happen.

00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:50.269
It will be coming.

00:25:50.309 --> 00:25:51.151
And if you, Chris,

00:25:51.191 --> 00:25:51.871
if you want to work on your

00:25:51.891 --> 00:25:53.310
book in the meantime, hit me up.

00:25:53.330 --> 00:25:54.951
I'm happy to answer any of your questions.

00:25:56.663 --> 00:25:58.785
I'll stick on this for a little bit.

00:25:59.046 --> 00:26:01.288
I'm interested in the point

00:26:01.307 --> 00:26:02.689
that you made about taking

00:26:02.729 --> 00:26:03.328
something that's five

00:26:03.369 --> 00:26:05.510
hundred words and then making it meatier.

00:26:06.231 --> 00:26:07.133
That implies to me that

00:26:07.153 --> 00:26:10.756
there's a lot of... You

00:26:10.776 --> 00:26:11.916
have to go through and

00:26:12.258 --> 00:26:13.739
really intentionally...

00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:16.621
look at the the details of

00:26:16.641 --> 00:26:18.522
the original post and then

00:26:18.782 --> 00:26:20.744
like figure out like frame

00:26:20.785 --> 00:26:22.066
it in such a way that like

00:26:22.165 --> 00:26:23.467
it's not just a moment in

00:26:23.527 --> 00:26:24.667
time like blog posts are

00:26:24.708 --> 00:26:26.630
kind of like even even if

00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:27.790
they are kind of evergreen

00:26:27.830 --> 00:26:29.071
post they are just a

00:26:29.132 --> 00:26:31.233
snapshot of that moment of

00:26:31.314 --> 00:26:32.095
like whatever you were

00:26:32.134 --> 00:26:33.115
thinking whatever was going

00:26:33.215 --> 00:26:35.317
on in the world at the time

00:26:35.357 --> 00:26:36.278
that the blog post it's

00:26:36.317 --> 00:26:38.800
kind of set and and turning

00:26:38.840 --> 00:26:40.402
that into something that's

00:26:40.442 --> 00:26:42.222
a little bit deeper is a is a is a

00:26:42.983 --> 00:26:43.943
interesting sort of thought

00:26:43.983 --> 00:26:47.465
experiment that is probably valuable to,

00:26:47.546 --> 00:26:47.766
I mean,

00:26:47.905 --> 00:26:50.226
anyone who's like serious about writing,

00:26:50.266 --> 00:26:50.527
you know?

00:26:52.207 --> 00:26:53.007
But if you could look at one

00:26:53.027 --> 00:26:53.807
blog post and think,

00:26:53.907 --> 00:26:54.907
how could I turn that into

00:26:54.948 --> 00:26:56.208
a three part blog post?

00:26:56.969 --> 00:26:59.288
Now you've got it into, you know,

00:26:59.328 --> 00:26:59.970
now you've got it into

00:26:59.990 --> 00:27:01.609
fifteen hundred words and

00:27:01.630 --> 00:27:02.810
that's more of a chapter, right?

00:27:02.851 --> 00:27:04.530
So like, how do I expand on it?

00:27:04.990 --> 00:27:05.872
Instead of just saying,

00:27:06.311 --> 00:27:07.912
here's an idea and a concept,

00:27:07.932 --> 00:27:09.593
which is a lot of what a blog post is,

00:27:09.653 --> 00:27:09.913
right?

00:27:10.653 --> 00:27:11.334
um you've got knowledge

00:27:11.374 --> 00:27:12.314
based articles that are

00:27:12.355 --> 00:27:13.996
more how to's if you really

00:27:14.016 --> 00:27:15.457
think about it that way but

00:27:15.517 --> 00:27:16.376
if you think about blog

00:27:16.416 --> 00:27:17.377
posts and the interest in

00:27:17.397 --> 00:27:18.439
the way that we Storytell

00:27:18.479 --> 00:27:20.019
with them how could I turn

00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:21.601
that into something that's

00:27:21.621 --> 00:27:23.122
a little bit meatier that

00:27:23.501 --> 00:27:24.722
it takes it from being like

00:27:24.762 --> 00:27:25.644
here's a concept and an

00:27:25.723 --> 00:27:26.724
idea and a little bit about

00:27:26.785 --> 00:27:28.766
it here's a concept an idea

00:27:28.826 --> 00:27:29.886
and let's really talk about

00:27:29.946 --> 00:27:31.188
it and that's this I think

00:27:31.208 --> 00:27:34.410
the difference yeah that's

00:27:34.450 --> 00:27:36.432
really that's really it's a

00:27:36.451 --> 00:27:38.113
really cool thing um

00:27:41.473 --> 00:27:41.753
Yeah.

00:27:41.874 --> 00:27:49.419
Let's switch gears a little bit.

00:27:49.439 --> 00:27:52.121
Your executive director at Poststatus,

00:27:52.141 --> 00:27:53.422
what does that mean?

00:27:54.323 --> 00:27:55.143
How would you describe

00:27:55.182 --> 00:27:56.163
Poststatus to somebody

00:27:56.203 --> 00:27:57.424
who's maybe listening to

00:27:57.464 --> 00:27:58.786
this and doesn't know much

00:27:58.826 --> 00:28:00.027
about the ins and outs of

00:28:00.067 --> 00:28:01.067
the WordPress community?

00:28:02.489 --> 00:28:03.368
What do you do in your

00:28:03.710 --> 00:28:05.151
executive director role?

00:28:06.154 --> 00:28:06.434
Sure.

00:28:06.934 --> 00:28:07.075
Well,

00:28:07.095 --> 00:28:08.536
the WordPress community is a very

00:28:08.576 --> 00:28:10.817
large community and it is just,

00:28:11.537 --> 00:28:12.458
I always tell people like

00:28:12.518 --> 00:28:15.199
community is defined in so

00:28:15.239 --> 00:28:16.038
many different ways,

00:28:16.078 --> 00:28:17.299
but it really has to do

00:28:17.339 --> 00:28:18.660
with people that are

00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:20.141
like-minded about something

00:28:20.520 --> 00:28:21.781
or have something in common.

00:28:22.142 --> 00:28:23.803
Like I live in Hilton, New York,

00:28:23.823 --> 00:28:24.722
that is a community.

00:28:25.083 --> 00:28:26.683
the common factor there is

00:28:26.703 --> 00:28:27.884
we all live in the same

00:28:27.923 --> 00:28:29.924
geographic location so we

00:28:29.944 --> 00:28:31.346
are widely and vastly

00:28:31.405 --> 00:28:32.767
different but we have that

00:28:32.846 --> 00:28:34.748
pride in in local whatever

00:28:34.827 --> 00:28:36.868
right our football team or

00:28:36.909 --> 00:28:38.269
those kinds of things when

00:28:38.308 --> 00:28:39.390
you look at a global

00:28:39.410 --> 00:28:40.309
community it's very

00:28:40.349 --> 00:28:41.131
different I think about

00:28:41.191 --> 00:28:42.711
jeep owners I often compare

00:28:42.731 --> 00:28:44.673
to jeep owners jeep owners

00:28:45.232 --> 00:28:46.773
are a very special breed of

00:28:46.794 --> 00:28:47.394
people there are jeep

00:28:47.453 --> 00:28:48.653
owners who don't care that

00:28:48.673 --> 00:28:49.555
there's a jeep community

00:28:50.443 --> 00:28:51.124
And then there are your

00:28:51.183 --> 00:28:52.243
diehard Jeep owners that

00:28:52.263 --> 00:28:53.464
are putting rubber ducks on

00:28:53.484 --> 00:28:55.785
each other's cars that are doing meets.

00:28:56.765 --> 00:28:58.806
I have a friend who has so

00:28:58.846 --> 00:29:01.066
much into her Jeep ownership that during,

00:29:01.425 --> 00:29:02.605
during the lockdown,

00:29:02.747 --> 00:29:03.646
they were given an

00:29:03.686 --> 00:29:05.846
opportunity to drive on the

00:29:05.886 --> 00:29:08.488
Watkins Glen speedway on

00:29:08.508 --> 00:29:09.627
the race course itself.

00:29:10.067 --> 00:29:11.327
And so I opted into that and

00:29:11.367 --> 00:29:12.367
I got to drive,

00:29:12.489 --> 00:29:14.489
ride with her in her Jeep on the,

00:29:14.588 --> 00:29:15.028
on the speedway.

00:29:15.348 --> 00:29:16.648
That's a Jeep club kind of thing.

00:29:16.689 --> 00:29:17.890
And those people are like

00:29:18.309 --> 00:29:19.430
decking out their Jeeps.

00:29:19.450 --> 00:29:19.670
They're,

00:29:19.977 --> 00:29:21.877
putting eyelashes or I know

00:29:21.978 --> 00:29:23.238
all kinds of different things, right?

00:29:23.557 --> 00:29:24.679
Taking their doors off,

00:29:24.699 --> 00:29:26.338
taking their roofs off, putting different,

00:29:26.778 --> 00:29:27.298
the whole thing.

00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:29.559
It's absolutely a culture.

00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:32.000
And WordPress is the same thing.

00:29:32.320 --> 00:29:33.602
We have a global community

00:29:34.021 --> 00:29:35.821
in that we are all using WordPress.

00:29:36.061 --> 00:29:37.883
There are, and even if you don't know,

00:29:38.242 --> 00:29:39.023
that there's a community

00:29:39.044 --> 00:29:40.045
community you're part of it

00:29:40.065 --> 00:29:40.984
because you are using

00:29:41.025 --> 00:29:42.826
wordpress when you discover

00:29:42.846 --> 00:29:43.948
that there are other people

00:29:44.067 --> 00:29:45.548
and there are meetups and

00:29:45.568 --> 00:29:46.950
there are word camps and

00:29:46.970 --> 00:29:48.211
there are podcasts and

00:29:48.250 --> 00:29:49.412
there are all of those

00:29:49.451 --> 00:29:50.332
things that draw us

00:29:50.372 --> 00:29:51.593
together you either still

00:29:51.613 --> 00:29:52.413
don't care and you just do

00:29:52.433 --> 00:29:53.255
your own thing which is

00:29:53.295 --> 00:29:54.576
fine nobody cares you're

00:29:54.596 --> 00:29:56.217
allowed to do that or

00:29:56.297 --> 00:29:56.936
you're like this is

00:29:56.977 --> 00:29:57.998
intriguing I want to be

00:29:58.038 --> 00:29:59.940
part of this culture that

00:29:59.980 --> 00:30:01.280
is this community of wordpress

00:30:02.537 --> 00:30:04.257
Then there are sub

00:30:04.277 --> 00:30:05.678
communities in WordPress.

00:30:06.018 --> 00:30:08.298
So there are people who are,

00:30:08.397 --> 00:30:10.838
and some of those are meet groups, right?

00:30:10.858 --> 00:30:12.278
So our meet groups on WordPress.

00:30:12.298 --> 00:30:13.999
So some of those are the developer groups.

00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:15.019
Some of those are the marketing groups.

00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:16.740
Some of those are the photography group.

00:30:16.779 --> 00:30:19.340
And we have those even smaller interests,

00:30:19.461 --> 00:30:19.681
right?

00:30:19.701 --> 00:30:21.560
So subcultures are that.

00:30:22.280 --> 00:30:25.321
Post status is a community for WordPress.

00:30:25.701 --> 00:30:26.422
We have a website.

00:30:26.501 --> 00:30:28.402
I was just writing a blog

00:30:28.442 --> 00:30:29.502
post that's gonna go out today.

00:30:29.542 --> 00:30:30.742
Our newsletter will go out tonight.

00:30:31.423 --> 00:30:33.444
and there is also with that

00:30:33.545 --> 00:30:35.207
a slack community and it is

00:30:35.227 --> 00:30:36.267
for people who are really

00:30:36.387 --> 00:30:38.650
into the whole culture and

00:30:38.670 --> 00:30:40.391
community of wordpress but

00:30:40.411 --> 00:30:41.711
it's a subculture it's a

00:30:41.791 --> 00:30:43.213
sub community because

00:30:43.634 --> 00:30:44.954
although anybody could join

00:30:45.174 --> 00:30:46.596
they don't right and so you

00:30:46.656 --> 00:30:48.238
have this it kind of has

00:30:48.397 --> 00:30:49.638
microcosms down a little

00:30:49.659 --> 00:30:51.040
bit into people who are

00:30:51.080 --> 00:30:52.000
just really driven

00:30:52.821 --> 00:30:54.262
not only to do their thing

00:30:54.282 --> 00:30:55.324
with wordpress and be part

00:30:55.364 --> 00:30:56.746
of the big community but

00:30:56.766 --> 00:30:57.405
want to have some of those

00:30:57.425 --> 00:30:59.107
deeper conversations want

00:30:59.127 --> 00:30:59.868
to be involved in the

00:30:59.909 --> 00:31:01.369
day-to-day and and know

00:31:01.390 --> 00:31:02.090
what's going on in

00:31:02.131 --> 00:31:03.932
wordpress and so that is to

00:31:03.952 --> 00:31:04.853
that's how I describe what

00:31:04.873 --> 00:31:06.674
post status is it's a a sub

00:31:06.714 --> 00:31:07.836
community of the greater

00:31:07.855 --> 00:31:09.657
community of wordpress and

00:31:09.678 --> 00:31:11.500
as executive director I am

00:31:12.461 --> 00:31:14.422
And charged with, and charged,

00:31:14.481 --> 00:31:15.143
is that a word?

00:31:15.502 --> 00:31:16.963
And trusted with the

00:31:17.023 --> 00:31:18.845
day-to-day operations of that.

00:31:18.944 --> 00:31:21.547
So I'm not, we don't spend a lot of money.

00:31:21.586 --> 00:31:23.167
I mean, we have money that we spend,

00:31:23.228 --> 00:31:23.627
trust me.

00:31:23.768 --> 00:31:24.769
I have a pay, you know,

00:31:24.788 --> 00:31:25.449
we all get payroll.

00:31:25.469 --> 00:31:26.130
Like I'm,

00:31:26.150 --> 00:31:27.730
this is not a volunteer job for me.

00:31:28.171 --> 00:31:29.132
I do get money to do that.

00:31:30.192 --> 00:31:31.012
We pay our writers.

00:31:31.053 --> 00:31:31.814
We pay things, you know,

00:31:31.834 --> 00:31:32.653
we pay people that are,

00:31:33.335 --> 00:31:34.234
my behind the scenes people

00:31:34.255 --> 00:31:35.215
that are doing all the tech

00:31:35.236 --> 00:31:37.237
work on my podcasts and

00:31:37.416 --> 00:31:40.038
blog and videos and things like that.

00:31:41.786 --> 00:31:43.127
And then we also have to pay

00:31:43.147 --> 00:31:43.868
for hosting and all those

00:31:43.888 --> 00:31:45.050
things that other people do as well.

00:31:45.612 --> 00:31:47.634
But it's more than that.

00:31:47.875 --> 00:31:49.577
I am the one who's having

00:31:49.597 --> 00:31:51.721
conversations with people who are maybe

00:31:52.625 --> 00:31:53.905
being bad players in the community.

00:31:54.026 --> 00:31:55.385
Those are not my favorite conversations.

00:31:55.405 --> 00:31:56.366
What I have to say to somebody,

00:31:56.787 --> 00:31:58.227
I deleted your post because,

00:31:59.188 --> 00:32:01.088
or if this keeps up,

00:32:01.148 --> 00:32:02.249
I'm going to have to remove

00:32:02.288 --> 00:32:04.609
you from Slack and those kinds of things.

00:32:05.390 --> 00:32:06.250
It's few and far between,

00:32:06.391 --> 00:32:07.111
but it does happen.

00:32:07.871 --> 00:32:08.531
More likely,

00:32:08.692 --> 00:32:10.112
I'm answering questions of how

00:32:10.132 --> 00:32:11.472
do I get somebody else in here?

00:32:11.633 --> 00:32:13.233
And I'm like, here's the coupon code.

00:32:13.273 --> 00:32:14.653
They can join for fifty dollars a year,

00:32:14.794 --> 00:32:14.973
right?

00:32:14.993 --> 00:32:16.954
Like it's people want to

00:32:16.994 --> 00:32:17.996
invite people in all the time.

00:32:18.036 --> 00:32:18.375
Great.

00:32:19.036 --> 00:32:20.176
They have to pay their fifty dollars.

00:32:20.196 --> 00:32:22.180
This is a membership community,

00:32:23.260 --> 00:32:24.323
which is not a big deal, right?

00:32:25.403 --> 00:32:26.525
It's really worth the fifty

00:32:26.545 --> 00:32:28.106
dollars that you pay or get

00:32:28.126 --> 00:32:28.928
your company to pay for it.

00:32:28.968 --> 00:32:29.709
If you're not freelancing,

00:32:29.769 --> 00:32:30.289
that's even better.

00:32:30.768 --> 00:32:32.388
But there are things there

00:32:32.409 --> 00:32:34.009
that I have to do on Fridays.

00:32:34.151 --> 00:32:36.271
I do a fairly new feature.

00:32:36.412 --> 00:32:37.972
I do freelancer Fridays

00:32:38.394 --> 00:32:39.253
because freelancers feel

00:32:39.294 --> 00:32:40.494
like they don't like nobody

00:32:40.515 --> 00:32:42.316
knows who they are because

00:32:42.356 --> 00:32:43.616
they're agencies of one or

00:32:43.676 --> 00:32:44.538
small agencies.

00:32:45.018 --> 00:32:46.519
And they want people to know like, Hey,

00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:47.319
if you're looking for

00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:48.340
somebody to run social

00:32:48.381 --> 00:32:50.301
media or to do SEO on your

00:32:50.342 --> 00:32:50.962
site or whatever,

00:32:51.603 --> 00:32:52.584
I am available for that,

00:32:52.604 --> 00:32:53.484
but they're not going to

00:32:53.505 --> 00:32:54.385
post that they need a job.

00:32:54.405 --> 00:32:55.185
They're not going to post in

00:32:55.266 --> 00:32:56.686
gigs because they're just

00:32:56.727 --> 00:32:57.827
constantly available for

00:32:57.867 --> 00:32:58.608
those kinds of things.

00:32:59.028 --> 00:32:59.509
And so we're doing

00:32:59.549 --> 00:33:00.690
Freelancer Fridays now just

00:33:00.711 --> 00:33:01.490
to kind of give people an

00:33:01.530 --> 00:33:02.751
opportunity to say, this is who I am.

00:33:02.771 --> 00:33:03.472
This is what I do.

00:33:04.554 --> 00:33:04.794
You know,

00:33:04.814 --> 00:33:06.634
we post the newsletter on Tuesdays.

00:33:06.674 --> 00:33:07.655
So we glean through what

00:33:07.675 --> 00:33:09.577
people post about what they're doing,

00:33:09.877 --> 00:33:10.738
the self-promotion.

00:33:11.558 --> 00:33:13.300
Part of that is absolutely a

00:33:13.340 --> 00:33:14.582
feed into our newsletter,

00:33:14.982 --> 00:33:15.663
things like that.

00:33:16.104 --> 00:33:18.026
And we also post socially and things.

00:33:18.046 --> 00:33:20.028
So I'm hopefully by this

00:33:20.067 --> 00:33:22.150
fall going to have a reiteration.

00:33:22.190 --> 00:33:23.570
We did this a few years back

00:33:24.152 --> 00:33:26.974
of a career summit for WordPress.

00:33:27.654 --> 00:33:28.596
We'll be coming back and

00:33:28.615 --> 00:33:31.096
we'll have two tracks for that,

00:33:31.237 --> 00:33:32.958
one for career seekers and

00:33:33.077 --> 00:33:35.138
one for people who are in

00:33:35.318 --> 00:33:37.058
HR and employing others to

00:33:37.078 --> 00:33:39.119
give them best use cases

00:33:39.299 --> 00:33:40.280
and give them tips and

00:33:40.300 --> 00:33:41.942
tricks on how to do hiring

00:33:42.261 --> 00:33:44.282
and how you should go about

00:33:44.323 --> 00:33:44.982
searching for a job.

00:33:45.527 --> 00:33:46.207
those are the kinds of

00:33:46.227 --> 00:33:48.288
things that we provide and

00:33:48.327 --> 00:33:49.548
when people have ideas like

00:33:49.587 --> 00:33:50.748
somebody said hey we we

00:33:50.768 --> 00:33:52.449
need a channel for music I

00:33:52.848 --> 00:33:53.769
was like oh I made that

00:33:53.788 --> 00:33:54.849
three weeks ago so here's

00:33:54.869 --> 00:33:56.390
the music channel like

00:33:56.410 --> 00:33:57.410
because it doesn't all have

00:33:57.450 --> 00:33:58.651
to be just about wordpress

00:33:58.990 --> 00:34:00.250
we are human beings who

00:34:00.310 --> 00:34:01.431
have wordpress at the core

00:34:01.451 --> 00:34:03.352
of how we're connected but

00:34:03.372 --> 00:34:04.311
we also have a lot of other

00:34:04.332 --> 00:34:05.532
things in common so there's

00:34:05.553 --> 00:34:06.333
a lot of different slack

00:34:06.353 --> 00:34:07.633
channels in there like what

00:34:07.653 --> 00:34:08.632
are you reading it's the

00:34:08.652 --> 00:34:10.634
book channel you know and and uh

00:34:11.273 --> 00:34:12.114
your music tastes.

00:34:12.195 --> 00:34:14.036
And I started a foodie

00:34:14.056 --> 00:34:15.137
channel because I was tired

00:34:15.157 --> 00:34:15.619
of reading about

00:34:15.659 --> 00:34:17.119
everybody's sandwiches in

00:34:17.139 --> 00:34:17.800
the main channel.

00:34:18.141 --> 00:34:18.942
And then they were like, hey,

00:34:18.981 --> 00:34:20.202
can we have a vegan channel too?

00:34:20.222 --> 00:34:20.764
I'm like, sure.

00:34:21.184 --> 00:34:22.585
So all of these different

00:34:22.606 --> 00:34:25.889
things that allow even when

00:34:25.909 --> 00:34:26.650
you get it down to the

00:34:26.670 --> 00:34:28.090
granularity of things that

00:34:28.130 --> 00:34:29.733
pull even smaller

00:34:29.793 --> 00:34:31.235
microcosms of people together.

00:34:32.266 --> 00:34:33.007
to allow people to have

00:34:33.027 --> 00:34:34.268
those common communities.

00:34:34.588 --> 00:34:35.248
So those are a lot of the

00:34:35.288 --> 00:34:36.608
things that I do is keep an eye on,

00:34:37.668 --> 00:34:39.208
feel like the mother hen of the group,

00:34:39.248 --> 00:34:40.050
if you will, right?

00:34:40.070 --> 00:34:41.369
So making sure everybody's

00:34:41.409 --> 00:34:44.351
happy and fed and warm in our community,

00:34:44.411 --> 00:34:46.271
welcoming new members, things like that.

00:34:46.411 --> 00:34:47.771
But also if you're the mom,

00:34:47.791 --> 00:34:48.952
you're also the one who has

00:34:48.972 --> 00:34:51.574
to uphold the rules and

00:34:51.653 --> 00:34:52.833
make sure that people are

00:34:53.534 --> 00:34:54.295
staying on the up and up

00:34:54.375 --> 00:34:56.414
and for the by and large they are, right?

00:34:56.735 --> 00:34:58.115
It's really few and far between.

00:34:59.398 --> 00:35:01.682
Um, where there's a little bit of, um,

00:35:01.804 --> 00:35:02.385
animosity.

00:35:02.664 --> 00:35:04.329
And so, but when that does happen,

00:35:04.528 --> 00:35:05.652
you know, I keep an eye on it.

00:35:05.891 --> 00:35:05.931
So.

00:35:06.072 --> 00:35:06.193
Mm-hmm.

00:35:07.681 --> 00:35:10.083
Yeah, I think of post status,

00:35:10.623 --> 00:35:12.164
I've been a member for a really,

00:35:12.204 --> 00:35:13.664
really long time since back

00:35:13.684 --> 00:35:14.644
when I was at WebDev,

00:35:14.684 --> 00:35:17.047
which was in the twenty

00:35:17.467 --> 00:35:19.168
fourteen ish time.

00:35:19.907 --> 00:35:23.088
I think I left WebDev in twenty sixteen.

00:35:24.869 --> 00:35:27.391
And so I've been in post as

00:35:27.552 --> 00:35:29.112
I wasn't active in the

00:35:29.152 --> 00:35:30.333
Slack channel for a really,

00:35:30.393 --> 00:35:31.052
really long time.

00:35:31.092 --> 00:35:32.054
But I always like

00:35:32.614 --> 00:35:36.978
would look at Post Addis for the job stuff,

00:35:37.038 --> 00:35:38.358
like the aggregating

00:35:38.539 --> 00:35:40.059
WordPress jobs is one of

00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:40.880
the best sources.

00:35:40.940 --> 00:35:42.981
I still kind of feel like

00:35:43.922 --> 00:35:45.824
that's an easier aggregator

00:35:45.925 --> 00:35:48.106
if I'm looking for what's

00:35:48.126 --> 00:35:49.407
available in the WordPress

00:35:49.427 --> 00:35:51.429
space than other things.

00:35:51.489 --> 00:35:52.329
It's more central.

00:35:55.411 --> 00:35:57.934
rejoined post status a couple years ago,

00:35:58.074 --> 00:36:00.175
or not rejoined, but rejoined the Slack,

00:36:01.235 --> 00:36:02.436
re-logged in, I guess,

00:36:03.177 --> 00:36:05.018
to the Slack a couple years ago.

00:36:05.259 --> 00:36:06.139
And since then,

00:36:06.579 --> 00:36:08.460
I've been more active in there.

00:36:08.601 --> 00:36:09.782
And I see it, like,

00:36:09.802 --> 00:36:12.224
I'm also in the WordPress core Slack,

00:36:13.304 --> 00:36:15.186
but I feel like, like,

00:36:15.746 --> 00:36:17.407
because it's a subset,

00:36:17.686 --> 00:36:19.547
but it's also a broad subset,

00:36:20.347 --> 00:36:21.708
and it's also a subset of

00:36:21.907 --> 00:36:23.128
people that are largely

00:36:23.489 --> 00:36:24.949
doing the business of using

00:36:25.070 --> 00:36:26.210
WordPress and building

00:36:26.250 --> 00:36:27.550
sites on WordPress and whatever,

00:36:28.650 --> 00:36:30.992
that my experience has been

00:36:31.012 --> 00:36:32.472
that it's an easier place

00:36:32.512 --> 00:36:35.434
to connect with actual

00:36:35.494 --> 00:36:37.114
people doing the work than

00:36:37.833 --> 00:36:38.614
the WordPress core.

00:36:38.775 --> 00:36:40.054
There's so much going on,

00:36:40.394 --> 00:36:43.036
and it's very focused on

00:36:43.076 --> 00:36:44.356
either core development or core

00:36:44.617 --> 00:36:46.117
projects or, you know,

00:36:46.498 --> 00:36:47.878
events like very specific

00:36:47.898 --> 00:36:48.760
sort of like silos,

00:36:49.739 --> 00:36:52.322
whereas the post status

00:36:52.362 --> 00:36:55.244
community feels more like a community.

00:36:55.304 --> 00:36:56.864
Bringing that back to the

00:36:56.905 --> 00:36:58.105
title of the podcast, the interest,

00:36:58.164 --> 00:36:58.965
I think, of both of us,

00:36:59.425 --> 00:37:01.367
of this idea of like

00:37:01.407 --> 00:37:02.507
bringing people together

00:37:02.588 --> 00:37:04.869
and giving them space more

00:37:04.929 --> 00:37:07.931
so than the core slack.

00:37:07.952 --> 00:37:10.072
And I actually feel like as

00:37:10.092 --> 00:37:11.393
I'm thinking about it now, like

00:37:12.173 --> 00:37:14.699
I was in the WordPress IRC

00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:17.543
channels way back in the day.

00:37:18.164 --> 00:37:19.507
I'm sure you remember those two.

00:37:20.548 --> 00:37:22.934
And even that, I feel like, was...

00:37:24.065 --> 00:37:25.505
there was, it was more,

00:37:25.965 --> 00:37:27.927
it felt more welcoming or, I mean,

00:37:28.527 --> 00:37:29.708
in as much as IRC is

00:37:29.748 --> 00:37:30.907
welcoming and easy to use,

00:37:31.088 --> 00:37:34.670
which is not really, um, like I,

00:37:34.710 --> 00:37:36.210
I feel like it's, it's the,

00:37:36.251 --> 00:37:38.311
the core Slack channels are,

00:37:38.391 --> 00:37:39.572
are kind of more sterile

00:37:39.592 --> 00:37:40.672
than maybe they once were.

00:37:40.693 --> 00:37:41.773
And maybe that just, uh, the,

00:37:41.974 --> 00:37:42.813
the product of,

00:37:42.974 --> 00:37:44.155
of WordPress getting bigger

00:37:44.215 --> 00:37:45.295
and it's a bigger project

00:37:45.335 --> 00:37:46.596
and there's lots of things going on.

00:37:47.195 --> 00:37:50.737
And, uh, post status feels to me more like,

00:37:51.257 --> 00:37:53.199
like sort of the vibe of, of

00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:55.320
what those old IRC channels

00:37:56.420 --> 00:37:59.061
were like back in the day.

00:37:59.181 --> 00:38:00.800
Yeah, I've never been on IRC,

00:38:00.820 --> 00:38:02.581
but I know about them and I

00:38:02.762 --> 00:38:03.842
didn't join WordPress

00:38:03.882 --> 00:38:05.262
really the community at all

00:38:05.302 --> 00:38:06.143
or know anything about it

00:38:06.182 --> 00:38:08.023
until like twenty fourteen.

00:38:08.103 --> 00:38:09.963
So that was probably before

00:38:09.983 --> 00:38:11.284
my time as far as WordPress goes.

00:38:11.644 --> 00:38:12.844
I was an AOL instant

00:38:12.864 --> 00:38:17.407
messenger back in the day, but.

00:38:17.427 --> 00:38:17.507
Yeah,

00:38:17.527 --> 00:38:19.027
I gave myself a give myself a thumbs

00:38:19.086 --> 00:38:19.806
up on the computer.

00:38:21.936 --> 00:38:22.617
Uh, yeah,

00:38:22.637 --> 00:38:23.836
I was on all the things back in

00:38:23.856 --> 00:38:27.318
the day there is ICQ and, and I didn't do,

00:38:27.858 --> 00:38:29.918
I had an AOL instant messenger account,

00:38:29.938 --> 00:38:31.958
but I'd never used, uh, AOL really.

00:38:32.438 --> 00:38:33.179
My parents did.

00:38:33.800 --> 00:38:35.900
Um, but yeah, back, back in the olden,

00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:38.940
olden times, um, of, of,

00:38:39.541 --> 00:38:41.302
of communicating with

00:38:41.342 --> 00:38:42.161
people on the internet.

00:38:42.181 --> 00:38:43.161
Yeah.

00:38:43.262 --> 00:38:44.541
I'm probably old enough to be your mother.

00:38:44.561 --> 00:38:47.163
So that, that, that, that, that tracks.

00:38:50.878 --> 00:38:51.699
So tell me about some of the

00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:52.641
new stuff you have coming up.

00:38:52.661 --> 00:38:53.802
You mentioned the Speed Network Online.

00:38:53.822 --> 00:38:54.362
How did that come to be?

00:38:54.382 --> 00:38:54.463
Yeah.

00:38:54.483 --> 00:38:55.483
So June Liu is a friend of mine.

00:38:55.503 --> 00:38:56.224
She and I are the co-leads

00:38:56.244 --> 00:38:56.925
for the marketing team for

00:38:56.945 --> 00:38:57.346
WP Accessibility Day,

00:38:57.365 --> 00:38:58.045
which is coming up October, October,

00:38:58.085 --> 00:38:58.706
October, October, October, October,

00:38:58.726 --> 00:38:59.367
October, October, October, October,

00:38:59.387 --> 00:39:00.047
October, October, October, October,

00:39:00.088 --> 00:39:00.748
October, October, October, October,

00:39:00.768 --> 00:39:01.409
October, October, October, October,

00:39:01.429 --> 00:39:02.050
October, October, October, October,

00:39:02.070 --> 00:39:02.771
October, October, October, October,

00:39:02.811 --> 00:39:03.592
October, October, October, October,

00:39:03.612 --> 00:39:04.373
October, October, October, October,

00:39:04.393 --> 00:39:05.092
October, October, October, October,

00:39:05.112 --> 00:39:05.773
October, October, October, October,

00:39:05.793 --> 00:39:06.514
October, October, October, October,

00:39:06.534 --> 00:39:07.255
October, October, October, October,

00:39:07.275 --> 00:39:07.916
October, October, October, October,

00:39:07.936 --> 00:39:08.597
October, October, October, October,

00:39:08.617 --> 00:39:08.777
October.

00:39:09.197 --> 00:39:12.518
But she is a freelancer and

00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:14.139
she really does a lot of it

00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:15.621
with accessibility and she

00:39:15.681 --> 00:39:17.521
loves doing social media

00:39:17.621 --> 00:39:18.802
and that's really her niche.

00:39:19.822 --> 00:39:20.722
And she wants to be able to

00:39:20.762 --> 00:39:21.682
do that for companies who

00:39:21.722 --> 00:39:22.824
don't want to manage their

00:39:22.864 --> 00:39:23.844
social media and she does

00:39:23.884 --> 00:39:24.844
accessible social media,

00:39:24.905 --> 00:39:26.885
make sure there's always alt descriptions,

00:39:26.925 --> 00:39:27.266
et cetera.

00:39:28.498 --> 00:39:29.378
And she said to me one day,

00:39:29.438 --> 00:39:31.539
I don't know how to network

00:39:31.579 --> 00:39:33.121
in WordPress as easily

00:39:33.161 --> 00:39:35.141
because if I go to an in-person meetup,

00:39:35.701 --> 00:39:36.581
everybody's there to talk

00:39:36.601 --> 00:39:37.362
about their websites.

00:39:37.402 --> 00:39:38.442
Nobody's really there to do

00:39:38.541 --> 00:39:39.643
networking for that.

00:39:40.103 --> 00:39:41.543
Online meetups are sometimes

00:39:41.603 --> 00:39:42.724
even harder if they're not

00:39:43.003 --> 00:39:43.943
focusing on that.

00:39:44.563 --> 00:39:46.204
I said, yeah, it is really hard.

00:39:46.244 --> 00:39:47.405
I went to speed networking

00:39:47.545 --> 00:39:49.686
once at the local –

00:39:51.436 --> 00:39:52.717
Rochester Chamber of Commerce,

00:39:53.057 --> 00:39:53.699
there was like a hundred

00:39:53.719 --> 00:39:54.239
people in the room.

00:39:54.278 --> 00:39:55.019
So you only got to meet,

00:39:55.059 --> 00:39:55.820
you didn't get to meet them all,

00:39:55.980 --> 00:39:56.721
everybody for sure.

00:39:57.041 --> 00:39:57.882
There's the outer circle and

00:39:57.922 --> 00:39:59.842
inner circle and just like speed dating,

00:39:59.862 --> 00:40:00.764
like every five minutes

00:40:00.784 --> 00:40:01.925
they'd bring the bell and use,

00:40:02.445 --> 00:40:03.266
everybody'd swap to the

00:40:03.286 --> 00:40:04.286
right or the left and you'd

00:40:04.487 --> 00:40:05.606
be talking to somebody new.

00:40:06.547 --> 00:40:09.110
I said, we could do that with Zoom rooms.

00:40:09.510 --> 00:40:10.811
We have thirty people,

00:40:11.192 --> 00:40:13.072
fifteen stay stationary in the room,

00:40:13.112 --> 00:40:13.994
the other fifteen cycle

00:40:14.014 --> 00:40:15.034
through those fifteen rooms.

00:40:15.795 --> 00:40:16.775
I said, we could do this.

00:40:16.896 --> 00:40:19.938
And as we're chatting on Zoom, I'm like,

00:40:20.139 --> 00:40:20.398
okay,

00:40:20.478 --> 00:40:23.081
I just registered speednetworkonline.com.

00:40:23.121 --> 00:40:24.501
She's like, wait, we're really doing this?

00:40:24.541 --> 00:40:25.842
I'm like, I'm doing it.

00:40:25.963 --> 00:40:27.043
I want you in on it if you

00:40:27.063 --> 00:40:27.903
want to come in on it.

00:40:28.005 --> 00:40:29.244
And so she actually did the

00:40:29.585 --> 00:40:30.867
majority of the work on the site.

00:40:30.907 --> 00:40:32.447
I got it all registered and hosted and

00:40:32.889 --> 00:40:34.532
She made the front page look beautiful.

00:40:34.612 --> 00:40:36.215
I made the forms and you

00:40:36.235 --> 00:40:37.157
could already RSVP.

00:40:37.177 --> 00:40:38.000
We are charging twenty

00:40:38.019 --> 00:40:39.682
dollars a person because

00:40:39.744 --> 00:40:41.588
I've learned if you don't charge enough,

00:40:41.708 --> 00:40:42.670
people will just skip.

00:40:43.547 --> 00:40:43.867
Like, oh,

00:40:43.887 --> 00:40:45.047
I don't really feel like doing it today,

00:40:45.347 --> 00:40:46.367
which lets down everybody

00:40:46.427 --> 00:40:47.768
else that shows up and paid

00:40:47.809 --> 00:40:48.548
that money because they

00:40:48.568 --> 00:40:49.750
were told there's going to

00:40:49.769 --> 00:40:50.670
be X number of people.

00:40:51.570 --> 00:40:53.311
And so we thought, let's give it a try.

00:40:53.490 --> 00:40:55.092
We'll do it after WordCamp Europe.

00:40:55.112 --> 00:40:56.192
So Michelle has some time to

00:40:56.211 --> 00:40:58.072
recover before we go and

00:40:58.092 --> 00:40:59.353
try to figure this whole thing out.

00:40:59.914 --> 00:41:02.295
And so it's June twenty sixth.

00:41:02.454 --> 00:41:04.056
It's at, I believe, one p.m.

00:41:04.155 --> 00:41:05.657
Eastern in the United States here.

00:41:05.677 --> 00:41:07.117
So you can always figure out

00:41:07.137 --> 00:41:08.498
what that is in your local time zone.

00:41:09.177 --> 00:41:10.878
We've already got people all

00:41:10.918 --> 00:41:12.621
over the world registered for it.

00:41:12.721 --> 00:41:13.400
I say all over the world

00:41:13.621 --> 00:41:14.362
outside of the United States.

00:41:14.501 --> 00:41:15.143
I will say we have people

00:41:15.163 --> 00:41:15.702
outside of the United

00:41:15.722 --> 00:41:16.864
States also registered for it.

00:41:17.224 --> 00:41:17.925
Everybody is English

00:41:17.965 --> 00:41:19.065
speaking because it is an

00:41:19.126 --> 00:41:20.086
English speaking event.

00:41:20.786 --> 00:41:23.530
And what we've asked people

00:41:23.590 --> 00:41:24.570
on the intake form when

00:41:24.590 --> 00:41:26.192
they register is

00:41:26.251 --> 00:41:27.132
information that we are

00:41:27.152 --> 00:41:28.233
then and they know this

00:41:28.273 --> 00:41:29.054
when they sign up for it,

00:41:29.333 --> 00:41:30.355
going to make available to

00:41:30.494 --> 00:41:32.016
only that group of people.

00:41:32.056 --> 00:41:33.797
So if we when we have another one in July,

00:41:34.217 --> 00:41:35.358
they will not have access to

00:41:35.398 --> 00:41:36.438
the people's information

00:41:36.478 --> 00:41:37.840
from june but the people

00:41:37.860 --> 00:41:38.659
that you meet the people

00:41:38.679 --> 00:41:39.340
that have signed up for

00:41:39.380 --> 00:41:40.900
your networking event you

00:41:40.920 --> 00:41:41.842
will get their networking

00:41:41.882 --> 00:41:42.922
information afterwards so

00:41:42.942 --> 00:41:43.443
you don't have to be

00:41:43.463 --> 00:41:44.583
writing fast and furious

00:41:44.822 --> 00:41:45.503
you don't have to be like

00:41:45.523 --> 00:41:46.483
taking screenshots of

00:41:46.523 --> 00:41:48.385
people's business cards if

00:41:48.525 --> 00:41:49.204
people still have business

00:41:49.226 --> 00:41:51.547
cards I do um but I'm old and then

00:41:52.786 --> 00:41:53.628
But those kinds of things.

00:41:53.708 --> 00:41:54.849
And so we want to make it as

00:41:54.889 --> 00:41:55.648
easy as possible.

00:41:56.148 --> 00:41:57.210
It's only five minutes.

00:41:57.250 --> 00:41:57.989
You only get two and a half

00:41:58.010 --> 00:41:58.931
minutes to really say who

00:41:58.951 --> 00:41:59.851
you are and what you do.

00:42:00.132 --> 00:42:00.911
And the other person gets

00:42:00.931 --> 00:42:01.632
that two and a half minutes

00:42:01.652 --> 00:42:02.873
to say who they are and what they do.

00:42:03.213 --> 00:42:04.213
But let's say that you and I

00:42:04.233 --> 00:42:05.775
are in that room and I do

00:42:05.894 --> 00:42:09.157
social media with attention

00:42:09.177 --> 00:42:10.697
to accessibility.

00:42:10.737 --> 00:42:11.177
And you're like,

00:42:11.518 --> 00:42:12.559
I just launched this new

00:42:12.599 --> 00:42:14.059
product and I need social media.

00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:15.019
And you're like, all right,

00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:16.161
let's talk afterwards, right?

00:42:16.201 --> 00:42:17.061
And now we've got each

00:42:17.081 --> 00:42:18.181
other's contact information

00:42:18.202 --> 00:42:19.583
because we share it with you afterwards.

00:42:20.182 --> 00:42:21.505
and then you are able to

00:42:21.545 --> 00:42:22.405
make those connections on

00:42:22.425 --> 00:42:23.246
the outside because you

00:42:23.266 --> 00:42:23.947
made that connection

00:42:23.967 --> 00:42:24.809
through speed networking.

00:42:25.409 --> 00:42:26.451
That's the big one that's

00:42:26.471 --> 00:42:27.373
coming up right now.

00:42:27.873 --> 00:42:28.733
I'm also working on a

00:42:28.775 --> 00:42:30.036
project with Corey Moss,

00:42:30.076 --> 00:42:30.717
which is going to take a

00:42:30.737 --> 00:42:31.757
little bit more time.

00:42:32.659 --> 00:42:33.880
I have owned the URL

00:42:34.101 --> 00:42:36.304
wpwiki.org for a very long

00:42:36.585 --> 00:42:37.085
amount of time.

00:42:37.606 --> 00:42:38.387
And we're actually going to

00:42:38.407 --> 00:42:40.608
start building a WP Wiki

00:42:40.628 --> 00:42:42.489
that anybody can add articles to,

00:42:42.509 --> 00:42:43.570
anybody can edit articles.

00:42:44.170 --> 00:42:44.851
And you can,

00:42:45.150 --> 00:42:46.231
I'm hoping that it'll be more

00:42:46.311 --> 00:42:47.112
than just like, hey,

00:42:47.132 --> 00:42:48.532
this is me or this is my business.

00:42:48.932 --> 00:42:50.534
I'm hoping it'll be articles on like,

00:42:50.914 --> 00:42:51.715
what are APIs?

00:42:51.755 --> 00:42:52.454
What are webhooks?

00:42:52.755 --> 00:42:54.297
How do I, you know, what's CSS?

00:42:54.556 --> 00:42:55.197
Things like that,

00:42:55.217 --> 00:42:56.657
that will be a one-stop

00:42:56.677 --> 00:42:57.539
place that people won't

00:42:57.559 --> 00:42:58.639
have to search everywhere

00:42:59.019 --> 00:43:00.000
to learn what we do in

00:43:00.039 --> 00:43:01.240
WordPress and some of the things,

00:43:01.260 --> 00:43:02.442
the terminologies that we use,

00:43:02.802 --> 00:43:04.103
some of the how-tos that you might need.

00:43:05.641 --> 00:43:07.242
Um, and also like people are like, well,

00:43:07.262 --> 00:43:08.304
how are you gonna monetize that?

00:43:08.324 --> 00:43:08.503
Well,

00:43:08.583 --> 00:43:09.485
I know exactly how we're gonna

00:43:09.505 --> 00:43:11.407
monetize that because there

00:43:11.447 --> 00:43:12.588
will be companies who will

00:43:12.608 --> 00:43:13.469
want their pages,

00:43:13.869 --> 00:43:15.231
wanna have like a vanity page in there.

00:43:15.612 --> 00:43:17.855
So let's say that GoDaddy, um,

00:43:17.934 --> 00:43:19.175
wants to have a vanity page in there.

00:43:19.195 --> 00:43:19.856
They should have one.

00:43:20.322 --> 00:43:22.284
But the, the,

00:43:22.344 --> 00:43:23.764
the basis of how Wiki works

00:43:23.824 --> 00:43:25.867
is that I could then go in and edit it.

00:43:25.967 --> 00:43:27.829
And let's say that I had a bad experience,

00:43:28.429 --> 00:43:30.512
um, with any company, not just GoDaddy.

00:43:30.552 --> 00:43:30.711
Right.

00:43:30.992 --> 00:43:32.514
But, but I have a bad experience.

00:43:32.554 --> 00:43:33.054
I'm going to go in there.

00:43:33.074 --> 00:43:33.715
I'm going to edit it.

00:43:33.914 --> 00:43:34.615
And I'm going to,

00:43:34.635 --> 00:43:35.416
because I can do that

00:43:35.456 --> 00:43:36.418
anonymously or whatever,

00:43:36.478 --> 00:43:38.159
I can be nasty and be like,

00:43:38.579 --> 00:43:40.322
go don't buy GoDaddy or whatever.

00:43:40.382 --> 00:43:40.601
Right.

00:43:41.057 --> 00:43:41.518
Well,

00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:43.219
if I gave you the opportunity to pay

00:43:43.239 --> 00:43:44.300
to lock that down,

00:43:44.961 --> 00:43:46.063
you could now have a vanity

00:43:46.362 --> 00:43:47.344
page on there.

00:43:47.443 --> 00:43:48.465
That's good for your SEO

00:43:48.485 --> 00:43:49.385
because it's one more place

00:43:49.405 --> 00:43:50.927
on the Internet that's talking about you.

00:43:51.807 --> 00:43:52.728
Use the keywords you want.

00:43:52.789 --> 00:43:53.708
I'm not going to police all

00:43:53.728 --> 00:43:54.449
that kind of stuff.

00:43:54.849 --> 00:43:56.112
It's yours to figure out.

00:43:56.911 --> 00:43:57.733
But then you'll pay an

00:43:58.253 --> 00:43:59.875
annual fee to lock that

00:44:00.114 --> 00:44:01.275
page down so that others

00:44:01.315 --> 00:44:03.717
cannot edit your page about you.

00:44:04.059 --> 00:44:05.000
You won't be able to do that

00:44:05.059 --> 00:44:05.980
on an article like

00:44:06.800 --> 00:44:08.141
What are APIs, right?

00:44:08.161 --> 00:44:09.202
Because that is not specific

00:44:09.242 --> 00:44:10.543
to a business or a person.

00:44:11.384 --> 00:44:13.746
But there will be an article

00:44:13.766 --> 00:44:14.525
about Matt Mullenweg.

00:44:14.545 --> 00:44:15.246
How do you not have an

00:44:15.286 --> 00:44:16.407
article about Matt Mullenweg?

00:44:17.088 --> 00:44:18.148
He's been somewhat

00:44:18.248 --> 00:44:19.329
controversial this year.

00:44:19.769 --> 00:44:20.951
I will automatically lock that.

00:44:20.971 --> 00:44:22.231
I'm not going to charge Matt to do that.

00:44:22.492 --> 00:44:23.192
But I'm going to lock that

00:44:23.211 --> 00:44:23.893
down because I don't want

00:44:23.932 --> 00:44:25.554
my wiki page to be just

00:44:25.614 --> 00:44:27.394
like people arguing about

00:44:27.855 --> 00:44:29.175
Matt's role in the community.

00:44:29.235 --> 00:44:30.016
I want that to be a

00:44:30.056 --> 00:44:31.757
historical description of

00:44:31.777 --> 00:44:32.838
what he's done for WordPress.

00:44:32.918 --> 00:44:34.239
And so that will be a locked page.

00:44:34.579 --> 00:44:36.061
So that's one of the projects.

00:44:38.141 --> 00:44:39.282
This will be dropping soon, too.

00:44:39.342 --> 00:44:40.262
So if you look at any of

00:44:40.282 --> 00:44:42.105
these sites and you don't see anything,

00:44:42.144 --> 00:44:43.204
it's because they are very,

00:44:43.264 --> 00:44:44.565
very much still in the infancy.

00:44:45.005 --> 00:44:46.527
And some of them are just an ideation.

00:44:47.367 --> 00:44:48.168
I'm working with Marcus

00:44:48.208 --> 00:44:50.570
Burnett on Sponsor Me WP,

00:44:51.411 --> 00:44:52.170
which will be a place that

00:44:52.210 --> 00:44:52.952
if you are like me,

00:44:52.992 --> 00:44:54.112
who is doing all of this

00:44:54.152 --> 00:44:55.253
free work in the community,

00:44:55.893 --> 00:44:56.813
companies like Kinsta,

00:44:56.833 --> 00:44:57.775
who is now sponsoring me

00:44:57.815 --> 00:44:58.655
five hours a month,

00:44:59.436 --> 00:45:00.876
can look and see who else

00:45:00.896 --> 00:45:01.597
is in the community that's

00:45:01.637 --> 00:45:02.597
looking to be sponsored.

00:45:02.958 --> 00:45:03.958
It'll be a directory of

00:45:03.998 --> 00:45:05.079
those kinds of those people.

00:45:05.179 --> 00:45:06.601
You won't be charged to use it at all.

00:45:06.661 --> 00:45:07.702
We are doing it as a gift to

00:45:07.722 --> 00:45:08.262
the community.

00:45:08.784 --> 00:45:10.465
It will tie to WP speakers.

00:45:10.525 --> 00:45:13.407
It will tie to the WP world.

00:45:13.487 --> 00:45:15.170
If you have links in both of those places,

00:45:15.190 --> 00:45:15.851
you can include them.

00:45:16.170 --> 00:45:17.371
But it's a place to kind of

00:45:17.391 --> 00:45:18.293
talk about who you are.

00:45:18.612 --> 00:45:19.574
It's really a lot about like

00:45:19.813 --> 00:45:22.336
what Aruba Ahmed is doing in GitHub.

00:45:22.737 --> 00:45:23.577
But people like me in

00:45:23.597 --> 00:45:24.817
marketing don't necessarily

00:45:24.836 --> 00:45:25.978
understand how GitHub works.

00:45:26.117 --> 00:45:27.117
I'm just going to be honest, right?

00:45:27.157 --> 00:45:28.418
Like if you're a graphic

00:45:28.498 --> 00:45:29.677
artist who works in WordPress,

00:45:29.697 --> 00:45:30.898
you don't want to have to have a GitHub,

00:45:30.938 --> 00:45:31.159
right?

00:45:31.478 --> 00:45:32.318
You want to just be able to

00:45:32.338 --> 00:45:34.518
fill out a form on a website and be like,

00:45:34.539 --> 00:45:35.338
boom, there it is.

00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:37.280
There I am with my Gravatar, et cetera.

00:45:37.320 --> 00:45:39.599
So Marcus has done some great,

00:45:39.639 --> 00:45:40.980
the homepage looks phenomenal.

00:45:41.019 --> 00:45:41.519
I will say that.

00:45:41.579 --> 00:45:42.920
He's texted it to me over the weekend.

00:45:44.001 --> 00:45:44.601
And so those are some

00:45:44.641 --> 00:45:45.601
projects that I'm working on.

00:45:45.641 --> 00:45:47.340
And then the last one, well,

00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:47.820
there's two more,

00:45:48.101 --> 00:45:49.061
but one of them is going to

00:45:49.081 --> 00:45:50.061
be Michelle Reviews It.

00:45:51.681 --> 00:45:52.443
Michelle reviews it.

00:45:52.623 --> 00:45:54.023
And then I'm going to be

00:45:54.284 --> 00:45:57.085
building a blog where I review plugins,

00:45:57.125 --> 00:45:59.746
themes, services, things that you have.

00:46:00.007 --> 00:46:02.447
And I will be monetizing that, of course.

00:46:02.907 --> 00:46:03.548
And then as well,

00:46:03.608 --> 00:46:04.869
I'm going to do some courses.

00:46:05.369 --> 00:46:06.530
I've done a pretty good job

00:46:06.630 --> 00:46:09.431
of branding myself in our community.

00:46:09.552 --> 00:46:11.452
And people have come to my

00:46:11.492 --> 00:46:12.512
sessions to learn about

00:46:12.813 --> 00:46:13.554
personal branding.

00:46:13.974 --> 00:46:14.534
And so I'm going to do a

00:46:14.574 --> 00:46:15.295
course on branding.

00:46:15.315 --> 00:46:16.277
I'm going to do a course on

00:46:16.336 --> 00:46:17.838
how to do affiliate

00:46:17.858 --> 00:46:20.121
marketing properly so that

00:46:20.161 --> 00:46:21.362
you and the company can

00:46:21.402 --> 00:46:22.583
make money and you can both

00:46:22.623 --> 00:46:24.344
be happy because you're doing it right.

00:46:24.826 --> 00:46:25.867
And so those will be courses

00:46:25.907 --> 00:46:28.610
that will be offered at I

00:46:28.630 --> 00:46:29.331
think I have

00:46:30.411 --> 00:46:34.135
takecourses.online is the URL for that.

00:46:34.195 --> 00:46:35.838
So that'll be developed shortly as well.

00:46:36.701 --> 00:46:40.543
How do you do all the things?

00:46:40.583 --> 00:46:41.983
There's so many things.

00:46:42.023 --> 00:46:42.985
That is so many things.

00:46:43.005 --> 00:46:44.585
It's not a small list of things.

00:46:45.927 --> 00:46:47.427
Not all of them are available yet,

00:46:47.668 --> 00:46:50.329
but also I'm not a developer,

00:46:50.369 --> 00:46:51.590
so I use tools, right?

00:46:51.610 --> 00:46:52.990
So when I build a website,

00:46:53.130 --> 00:46:54.992
like when I built WP

00:46:55.012 --> 00:46:56.172
Speakers in two days and

00:46:56.193 --> 00:46:57.414
people were already signing up for it,

00:46:57.733 --> 00:46:58.393
I use cadence.

00:46:58.474 --> 00:46:59.335
I use WS forums.

00:46:59.394 --> 00:47:00.835
I use things that were at my

00:47:00.876 --> 00:47:01.876
disposal because I'm not a

00:47:01.896 --> 00:47:03.056
developer and I'm not trying to

00:47:03.947 --> 00:47:05.449
figure out how to do it my way.

00:47:05.509 --> 00:47:06.489
I'm trying to figure out how

00:47:06.530 --> 00:47:08.771
to do it in the easiest and

00:47:09.170 --> 00:47:10.152
most efficient way that

00:47:10.192 --> 00:47:11.132
still looks pretty, right?

00:47:11.172 --> 00:47:12.612
Like I still make pretty websites,

00:47:12.813 --> 00:47:13.753
because I'm using themes

00:47:13.793 --> 00:47:14.653
that people know how to

00:47:14.673 --> 00:47:15.514
develop and look good.

00:47:16.094 --> 00:47:18.135
And so I'm doing a lot of that.

00:47:18.215 --> 00:47:18.836
And then lately,

00:47:18.876 --> 00:47:19.817
it's partnering with people

00:47:19.856 --> 00:47:20.737
who can help me get it over

00:47:20.777 --> 00:47:21.858
the over the finish line,

00:47:22.179 --> 00:47:23.159
because I do have a lot of

00:47:23.199 --> 00:47:24.260
things in the works right now.

00:47:26.072 --> 00:47:28.193
Well, thanks for coming on, Michelle.

00:47:28.592 --> 00:47:29.733
Do you have any,

00:47:30.873 --> 00:47:32.614
what are your summer plans?

00:47:32.695 --> 00:47:33.494
I imagine that you're going

00:47:33.514 --> 00:47:35.795
to be going to some events.

00:47:36.195 --> 00:47:37.077
Are there places where

00:47:37.097 --> 00:47:38.257
people can meet you in person?

00:47:38.277 --> 00:47:41.739
Yeah, I will be at WordCamp Europe,

00:47:41.759 --> 00:47:42.579
which is next week.

00:47:42.619 --> 00:47:43.920
So I'm not sure when this is coming out,

00:47:43.940 --> 00:47:44.980
but I'll be at WordCamp Europe this year.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:45.521
Coming out,

00:47:45.661 --> 00:47:48.121
I think at or right before

00:47:48.141 --> 00:47:48.822
WordCamp Europe.

00:47:48.942 --> 00:47:49.141
All right.

00:47:49.161 --> 00:47:49.282
Well,

00:47:49.302 --> 00:47:50.643
if you're listening to this and

00:47:50.663 --> 00:47:52.003
you're at WordCamp Europe, come find me.

00:47:52.322 --> 00:47:53.384
I'm the girl on the scooter.

00:47:53.824 --> 00:47:55.043
And then I will also be

00:47:55.063 --> 00:47:56.945
going to WordCamp US in August.

00:47:57.565 --> 00:47:58.545
And I will be going to

00:47:58.565 --> 00:48:01.126
CloudFest in Miami in November as well.

00:48:01.586 --> 00:48:03.027
You can find me every

00:48:03.086 --> 00:48:04.907
Wednesday at ten a.m.

00:48:05.228 --> 00:48:05.967
Eastern time.

00:48:06.088 --> 00:48:07.768
I have open hours, open office hours.

00:48:08.128 --> 00:48:09.748
You can just hit me up.

00:48:09.768 --> 00:48:10.710
I'll give you a link to that.

00:48:10.949 --> 00:48:12.530
I also post about it on my

00:48:12.931 --> 00:48:14.471
Twitter account and as well

00:48:14.490 --> 00:48:16.632
as my Mastodon and

00:48:17.056 --> 00:48:19.157
Blue sky, cuz I wanna make sure that I,

00:48:19.277 --> 00:48:20.298
I'm available for other

00:48:20.318 --> 00:48:21.599
people and LinkedIn.

00:48:21.619 --> 00:48:22.400
I think I put it there too.

00:48:22.981 --> 00:48:23.920
And that's just an open hour

00:48:23.940 --> 00:48:25.222
where people get to talk to one another.

00:48:25.802 --> 00:48:27.204
And if you wanna, you know,

00:48:27.284 --> 00:48:28.224
pop in and talk with us,

00:48:28.324 --> 00:48:29.425
otherwise you can find me

00:48:29.505 --> 00:48:30.947
on any other places online

00:48:31.447 --> 00:48:32.967
and you can find all of my links,

00:48:33.188 --> 00:48:35.751
anything that is currently available.

00:48:35.911 --> 00:48:37.351
So you won't find the ones in development.

00:48:37.856 --> 00:48:39.577
at meetmichelle.online.

00:48:40.056 --> 00:48:41.237
I built my own link tree

00:48:41.277 --> 00:48:42.018
because I didn't want to be

00:48:42.039 --> 00:48:42.858
able to hold into somebody

00:48:42.898 --> 00:48:43.478
else's account.

00:48:43.820 --> 00:48:44.739
So I built my own link tree,

00:48:44.780 --> 00:48:45.820
meetmichelle.online,

00:48:45.940 --> 00:48:46.961
and you can find all the

00:48:47.001 --> 00:48:49.503
links to all the things right there.

00:48:49.623 --> 00:48:49.902
Awesome.

00:48:50.043 --> 00:48:50.563
Well, again,

00:48:50.603 --> 00:48:53.204
thank you for coming on and I

00:48:53.244 --> 00:48:55.447
will see you at WordCamp US

00:48:55.547 --> 00:48:56.347
if not before.

00:48:57.168 --> 00:49:00.068
And yeah, thanks for being here.

00:49:00.789 --> 00:49:01.349
It was my pleasure.

00:49:01.369 --> 00:49:02.451
Thank you so much for having me.