WordCamp Birmingham — Day 2

I must confess that I did not take as active a role today as I had hoped.  Katie and I had intentions of taking part in the round table discussions this afternoon, but alas, life got in the way.  That said, I do feel like the two presentations that we did attend were very valuable.  CBS 42 even came out today and got some footage of the event (see end of post).

The first presentation was about using Windows Live to write for your blog even when you do not have an internet connection.  Brett Bumeter was the presenter and he did a great job of covering the ins and outs of the software.  It is pretty impressive how this free software allows you to see how your blog post will look in your theme even when you are offline.  Also, it makes it much more manageable to post across various blogs that you may write for.  I suggest downloading the software and giving it a shot yourself (link).

The second and final presentation of WordCamp Birmingham was Mitch Canter talking about some ways to make WordPress dance.  Mitch obviously knows his stuff about WordPress as a platform and had some great tips about how to get the most out of it.  From plugins to general tips, it was a great presentation.  It was especially useful for someone lacking in WordPress experience like myself.

I’m going to try to get a compilation of the slides so that I can use it as a reference later.  I’ll be sure to post if and when this happens.  In the meantime, here is the bit CBS did on WordCamp Birmingham.