Should you go to a WordCamp or not, that is the question. It’s one I certainly ask myself each time.

While the tickets aren’t expensive all the travel is costly. Even my local WordCamp in Vancouver cost me $50 in travel and food to travel.

Last time, I flew to Edmonton and stayed in a hotel for 3 days it cost around $1000 to attend a WordCamp.

Usually there are only 1 or 2 sessions that I think will be really really interesting. The rest aren’t bad, but simply aren’t the specific content I’m looking for currently.

So why do I go if it’s expensive and most of the sessions I don’t plan on attending?

The connections, and I’ve got some friends for you to meet.

Theron

I’ve talked with Theron on twitter a bunch but never met him in person and boy was I missing out.

Theron not only builds some nice sites via Think Style Studio he’s simply an awesome guy.

Guess what, his code is pretty dang clean, certainly way better than the current theme I’m working on from a ‘big’ WordPress developer that everyone looks up to. I know it’s solid code because he asked me to take a look at it, I’d be okay with running his code on my site.

You know what my favorite part about meeting Theron was, getting a coffee together. He was kind enough to take me out for a coffee and we had a good talk about life, business, and just stuff.

Not only does he build websites, he teaches about how to build awesome websites. That’s a pretty powerful combination.

Dorothy

Dorothy is a reader of my blog and we’ve met before (though I forgot as I was heading to my presentation when we talked).

Dorothy was awesome enough to find me and tell me thanks for my blog content and how much I write/give back.

Did you know that for every 1 thank you email I get at least 5 emails that tell me I have no idea what I’m doing or talking about on my site?

So that time Dorothy made sure she had, helps carry me through the week as I delete the emails that tell me I’m a fraud.

Really as long as I’m helping 1 person with my site, it’s all worthwhile.

Leanne Romak

I got to talk to Leanne at the after party. She runs SquareWave, but more than doing some awesome work with WordPress, she gives back.

She had along a friend (whom I sadly didn’t get to meet) that she mentors in business.

I don’t know about you but investing in someone specifically speaks a huge volume about your character and Leanne has it in spades.

So why do I go and enjoy it? Look at all the awesome connections I get to make and awesome people that I now have a closer connection with.

There are more people I got to talk with again like all the organizers and other designers/developers I know in Vancouver, but it’s the new connections that I particularly love.