Jamie's Notebook

Sponsor Highlight: Jamie’s Notebook

Jamie of Jamie’s Notebook has been involved with WordCamp Fayetteville since it began six years ago. (Her website is currently going reconstruction, which will be completed in the weeks after WordCamp so please excuse the mess).

Jamie has served on the planning committee four of those six years and this year provided an estimated 40 hours of in-kind services including media relations, website writing, blog organization and writing, speaking, attending meetings, and other organizational and writing needs.

A freelance writer since 2007, Jamie officially named Jamie’s Notebook in 2009 when she started marketing her communications services to the Northwest Arkansas region. Before that, Jamie was the education reporter for the Benton County Daily Record for eight years. Jamie’s Notebook focuses entirely on writing-related services including website copywriting, corporate blogging, news writing, feature writing and other business development copywriting.

Her tagline is “giving you a voice with the written word” because Jamie uses her writing to help businesses and organizations express their thoughts and their brand through words.

Swag alert! Village Writing School

The Village Writing School is based in Eureka Springs and they host a variety of workshops in other parts of the region. They are providing great wristbands for WordCampers this year!

From their website:

“Our workshops include an in-depth curriculum in the elements of narrative prose and we offer special workshops in blogging, poetry, playwriting, the graphic novel, inspirational writing, mindful writing, various genres such as horror and mystery, flash fiction, feature writing, oral storytelling and creative nonfiction such as memoir.”

Sponsor Spotlight: New Design School

The New Design School will be hosting the Sunday Implementation Jam Session.  Since 2006, they’ve been providing both rigorous academic training, licensed and regulated through the Arkansas State Board of Private Career Education, and community “makeshops” to enrich the lives of the people of Northwest Arkansas.

New Design School also works to bring creative entrepreneurs together for cocktails, seminars, and projects that strengthen local networks and help local creative entrepreneurs to increase both their skills and their level of professionalism.

It’s all part of their mission: “to educate the next generation of creative entrepreneurs that will shape the future of innovation in design and technology.”

The Jam Session will be a place to try out the takeaways from the sessions you attend. We’ve challenged each speaker to give participants some things they can put into practice right away, and the Sunday Jam Session gives you the chance to try those things out with support from WordPress experts. If you don’t yet have a WordCamp ticket, register now to take advantage of this opportunity!

Sponsor spotlight: WiredTree (swag alert!)

Founded in 2006 with the goal of changing the world of hosting services and providing clients with “superior” managed hosting environment,” WiredTree continues to offer customized hosting packages,, innovative network design, a unique suite of services, and the most advanced server hardware.

They also proclaim to have “unmatched” customer service.

“With years of experience in the industry, we knew what worked and what didn’t, and we used that knowledge to enhance and streamline the support experience,” according to their website. “The final result is the industry’s most reliable, advanced and secure complete managed hosting solutions.”

WiredTree offers fully managed servers, which means the people who build the server are the people who take care of it. They manage the client’s hardware, software, network and security. Not sure what all you need? They have support staff to help guide through the decisions.

Their plans are ideal for a myriad of systems including WordPress.

 

Sponsor Spotlight: Dreamhost

News flash: Dreamhost has a sale going on right now! That might not be big news, because Dreamhost often has specials. Their WordPress hosting is fast, reasonably priced even without a special, and includes automatic installation.

Dreamhost offers managed hosting on virtual private servers, with separate MySQL database hosting for maximum security. You’ll have a C-Panel as well as your WP admin area and auto-scaling RAM. SSL certificates are available.

24/7 support and unlimited email are nice touches, too.

You can also register your domains with Dreamhost, to keep everything in one place, and there are cloud storage plans available. This is a hosting company that will grow with you.

(Updated) Preparing for WordCamp Fayetteville 2015 (including what you need to do now)

Remember when you went to summer camp and your mom had a list of things to pack? We have our own list but we promise we won’t send it to your mom. We thought we’d give you a few suggestions on how to make sure you’re ready for a great WordCamp Fayetteville experience. Continue reading (Updated) Preparing for WordCamp Fayetteville 2015 (including what you need to do now)

Fulbright Building, 217 E. Dickson St., Fayetteville, Arkansas

Pre- and After-Parties, then Jam at WordCamp

This year’s WordCamp Fayetteville lists itself as a three-day event, which might worry newcomers with tight schedules. WordCamp really is just Saturday — Aug. 1 this year — three morning and three afternoon sessions with a long lunch in between.

Friday? It’s a party in the evening. Sunday? That’s the “jam,” a few hours where you bring in questions about your website for one-on-one with Saturday’s instructors. And in-between is our traditional after-party early Saturday evening.

All are included in the $35 registration fee. (That is, outside of ponying up for your own adult beverages Friday and Saturday nights.) Here’s some details.

Friday night

mermaidsFor a couple of hours or so starting at 6 p.m. Friday, July 31, will be a reception at Mermaids restaurant, 2217 N. College Ave. (U.S. 71B) in Fayetteville. WordCampers will enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres in a private room, with a cash bar. Expect some great seafood offerings, with some greener options for vegetarians, at Mermaids.

Mermaids has lots of free parking.

Saturday night

Hawaiian BriansAfter a full day braiding lanyards and canoeing — oops, novices learn WordPress basics while business managers, communicators and coders and designers learn the latest to optimize their websites — we’ll leave campus for downtown where something of a luau awaits.

Hawaiian Brian’s, a half-block off the Square at 25 E. Center St.,  is offering WordCampers “Hawaiian Style Cooking” plus a few surprises. Besides a genuine Tiki bar, the restaurant’s spacious new location offers “giant Jenga style blocks and other games.” Street parking is free around the Square at this hour. Fun!

Sunday morning

New Design School Fayetteville ArkansasStarting at 11 a.m. Sunday, we WordCampers are invited to grab a local coffee or tea on the drive and join the Jam Session. It will be at the New Design School, 217 E. Dickson St. in the noteworthy Roberta Fulbright Building, renovated by architect Marlon Blackwell. There’s plenty of on-site parking in the rear.

WordCamp 2015 instructors and veterans of previous WordCamps will be on hand to answer questions about website issues one on one.

What’s it like? Clue: Previous names for the gathering include “guru gallery” and “WordPress wizards.” Campers who just want to hang out with their new friends and continue conversations also should feel welcome as well.

What’s a better way of saying this? If you stop over midday Sunday, you just might get the best advice you were needing all weekend and plug it into your site right then and see if it works.

Startup Junkie Consulting

Sponsor spotlight: Startup Junkie Consulting

Northwest Arkansas is known as a hotbed for entrepreneurialism so it’s a perfect fit that this is where Startup Junkie Consulting calls home. Startup Junkie is also a “perfect fit” sponsor for WordCamp Fayetteville 2015 as we added an entrepreneur/business track to the schedule.

Startup Junkie “builds lasting venture communities through proven programs, placemaking, events and networking aimed at talent development, retention and attraction, and capital formation at all stages of the funding continuum.”

Their services include:

  • Global mentorship
  • Investor relations
  • Open innovation
  • Regional storytelling
  • Ecosystem roadmapping
  • Talent attraction.

Startup Junkie’s services are completely free to small business and startup clients.