Learning from the other 78%

My lightning talk from WordCamp San Francisco has already been posted to WordPress TV! See the embed below.

In trying to cram a longer discussion down into a lightning talk, of course I left out much of what I’d hoped to get to.

A few positive examples of conferences that bring together multiple platforms:

  • CMS Expo in Evanston Illinois, which brings together open source and proprietary systems. (Recently changed to an every other year schedule, so the next will be May 2015).
  • New England Regional Developer Summit, which grew out of (largely) the Western Mass Drupal Camp

Some of the podcasts which I listen to regularly for good perspective (in addition to my WordPress focused ones of course):

  • Karen McGrane and Ethan Marcotte‘s Responsive Web Design podcast. Two of the smartest folks thinking about a multi-device world doing a podcast where they interview real practitioners on the challenges they faced? Yes please.
  • Jeff Eaton‘s Insert Content Here. Jeff’s a Lullabot, with great depth in the Drupal community but also a broad interest in and knowledge of content strategy. (“Cheeky conversations about content strategy, riveting tales of projects gone off-the-rails, and reflections on life in the trenches of digital publishing”)
  • CMS Chronicles – found this when they interviewed 10up’s Rachel Baker about WordPress, so only started listening more recently, but they’ve had episodes on Statamic, Expression Engine, CraftCMS, Drupal, and Jekyll.
  • The Web AheadJen Simmons‘ podcast on the 5by5 network, including an occasional series on “The Web Behind” tracing the history of how we got here. Smart guests, long conversations about web design and development broadly.
  • The Big Web ShowZeldman‘s show which started on 5by5.ty, then was on mule radio, and now is back with 5by5?. Whatever, just find the podcast feed and subscribe.
  • CMS Myth – blog covering the CMS space generally, of which I’m a proud emeritus contributor. Does an excellent job of putting the content and the people first, and not letting the platforms and vendors get away with running the show.

It’s also a great idea to explore other conferences and local conversations and meetups, including:

  • Confab Events – Confab Central, Confab Higher Education (I’ll be speaking there this month), Confab Government, and Confab Intensive. Kristina Halvorson has assembled an amazing team that puts on really high quality events focused on content strategy
  • Creative Mornings – my favorite time for events is actually before work, rather than after. Creative mornings happen in many different cities, with a focus on design and innovation: “a breakfast lecture series for the creative community.” Lots of their talks are recorded and can be watched after the fact online, but get up on time and go see them in person.
  • Refresh Boston – check out all the Refreshing Cities
  • Build Guild – “a friendly, monthly gathering for all web folks that enjoy chatting over drinks. High-fives encouraged. Mustaches optional.” Many local options in smaller cities / secondary markets, including Salem MA where it all began.
  • BarCamp Boston, and BarCamps in many other cities

Where do you find your best ideas come from, outside the community where you spend the majority of your time?