The saga continues: where and when will WordCamp Israel be?
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The Israeli WordPress community, led by three dedicated bloggers, is working hard to close on a venue and date for the upcoming WordCamp conference. Right now they have pretty much narrowed it down to two possible places in the Tel Aviv area, one an old Zionist stronghold, and the other a celebration of capitalist philanthropy. The irony in Israel never ceases.
The date will be somewhere towards the end of October, in order to take into account the Sukkot holidays, during which the country shuts down for about two weeks so that everyone can sit in wood huts (or not).
The goals of the conference have more-or-less been identified:
- Expanding the WordPress and blogging community in Israel - aside from being an amazing blogging platform, a large portion of WordPress' value comes from its community. Therefore, by strengthening the WordPress community in Israel, we will be adding value to the WordPress software. It’s a win-win situation!
- Raising the level of blogging professionalism - although there are a lot of bloggers in Israel (you know what they say - we're a country with 7 million prime ministers, so blogging was built for us!), apparently the level of blogging professionalism is not very high. People see blogging purely as a hobby, and do not realize that even though they may not see direct profits from their efforts, their blogs can pay off in many other ways, such as networking and personal marketing. WordCamp Israel aims to stress the value of blogging as a personal and business development tool.
So what’s on the menu?
A tentative list of speakers and panels has been put together, and includes some great topics and bloggers. Some potential topics are:
- Intro to WordPress
- Managing a personal blog
- Personal blogs in organizations as a network for collaboration and knowledge creation
- Freedom of speech in the Israeli blogosphere
- Why it’s worthwhile for businesses to blog
- And more…
Hands-on workshops on installing and managing a WordPress blog are also being considered. The goal is to give the participants "homework" that they'll take home and try to implement themselves.
As things become more finalized, I'll keep you all posted. In the meantime, I hope to take you on a tour of the Israeli blogosphere, and take a closer look at WordPress and its Israeli roots…
(Israeli roots? Yup, and if you want to know what I mean, stay tuned!)
To WordPress and all things bloggy,
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