As part of the core WordCamp UK committee, it is our responsibility to ensure everything goes smoothly each year the conference is held. It all comes down to a small group of individuals, who split-up the required tasks and volunteer their time to make sure we have a great WordCamp in the UK!
I created the conference site in the first year (2008) and took up the challenge again for WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011. I actually enjoyed building this site, working closely with Jonathan Harris who created the visal styleways. It was also great to be using the Wonderflux theme framework, which I have developed to rapidly create a completely custom-built theme for the event.
One of the challenges was integrating the Event Expresso plugin which we are using to sell tickets this year – and thanks for a-little support from the developers we had it tweaked to almost perfection in no-time!
Budgets (none!) and time meant that I didn’t have the resource to include some of the features that I’d normally include in a theme for a client – however, I still built some custom widget areas and a custom control that allows the display of various widgets on a per post/page basis to allow for flexibility. Apart from the WordPress stats, the Event Expresso plugin and a simple contact form, the site runs no other plugins basically – which really goes to show the power of the Wonderflux theme framework!
Don’t forget to book your ticket for WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011 – the conference is on 16-17th of July 2011 and I hope to see you there! If you have any questions regarding the theme build or Wonderflux, please don’t hesitate to catch me at the conference where I’ll be more than happy to have a chat.