In 2014, we discovered how much WordPress.com bloggers want to connect with each other and do more with their blogs — tens of thousands of you have participated in Blogging U since it began a year ago!
This year, we’re starting an in-person event series called Press Publish for people who want to take their blogs even further, starting with two conferences this spring in Portland, OR and Phoenix, AZ. These events will focus on inspiration and tools from WordPress.com, though people blogging on any platform will be welcome. Speakers will be a combination of awesome WordPress.com bloggers and staff members including folks from the Happiness Team, Blogging U, and the Theme Team — in short, the WordPress.com experts. 🙂
We’re at the “Save the Date” stage: March 28 in Portland and April 18 in Phoenix. We’re putting together the program now, and will start announcing speakers, schedule, and pricing later this month. To get announcements when we start posting this information, head over to the Press Publish site and subscribe to/follow it.
In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you about bloggers/speakers or topics that we should have on our radar. Are there WordPress.com blogs that you can’t live without? Are there any subjects you would really want to see addressed at an event like this, either in terms of creating great content or in terms of using WordPress.com (or Jetpack)? Sound off in the comments, and if mentioning favorite bloggers, please link to their blogs. Thanks, and hope to see you at an upcoming event!
WordPress.com News 
Omg….this sounds amazing!
I’m new and really hope i can get this to take!
shame i’m in Australia… sigh
These two are events are being done as a kind of pilot. If all goes well we’d plan to roll out events around the world, including Australia. 🙂
Awesome! i will keep my eye out! 🙂
That’s what I just thought!
Really need to have one of these in the “Sunshine State” plus…Mickey Mouse…what can go wrong! Please come to ORLANDO!
We considered Orlando as one of the pilot cities, but when we had to narrow it down to two Portland and Phoenix made a little more sense logistically. If the Portland and Phoenix events do well, I have no doubt that Orlando would wind up hosting a future conference.
Glad to hear that! Can’t wait!
Would it be possible to allow the events to be available (in some fashion) online for those of us who will be unable to attend in person?
Will there be an opportunity to “attend” selected sessions / topics virtually (during or after the conference?
Also, will there be a “FAQ” or knowledge database of the tips and techniques, best practices, and issues that we can submit questions for answers by WP experts / mentors? I am sure some of us are “recreating the wheel” and would benefit
Will there be content or a track for business related non-fiction blogs?
These are all good questions, but are coming a bit too soon for answers to all of them. These two pilot conferences will only be in person, not streamed, though we are looking into possibilities for a virtual event down the line. As for the FAQ/tips you mention, there are tons of resources here on wordpress.com, from the support pages to the Blogging U content to the community forums, that probably offer the same tips and tricks we’ll have in person. Developing an in person conference is more about creating face to face community than reinventing the wheel when it comes to tutorials.
Oh I’m in Argentina. Maybe in the future you will plan a meeting in South America 🙂
Yes, if the pilot events go well, we hope to bring events to South America for sure.
I’ve wanted to attend a blogging conference for some time now, and I’m thrilled you’re bringing it to my city!
For once I am actually in the right place at the right time! Cost depending, I could attend the Portland one! Looking forward to more information!
Portland? Awesome! Not bad timing, I would look forward in attending as I’m not that far away from Portland and in Eugene, so that makes it good timing between travels! Would be nice to see something in Eugene as well, if it’s ever considered?
Unfortunately, given the amount of work and planning that goes into an event like this, it’s not likely that we’d do one so close to Portland vs. bringing the event to other parts of the country/world first.
Shame that we in the rest of the world can’t attend. Since I started blogging in October 2013, I haven’t seen anything happening in Sydney, Sighh …
As mentioned in reply to another comment, if these pilot events go well we’ll look at bringing the conference to other cities around the world. In the meantime, there is a pretty active WordPress meetup in Sydney (http://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Sydney/) and a locally-organized WordCamp (the conference series for the WordPress open source project) was held in Sydney in September. You might try getting involved there to meet other WordPress users near you.
Thank you. I’ve contacted the meetup group …
Awesome! I’d love to come to the one in Phoenix! Keep me posted.
The best way to keep posted is to subscribe/follow the blog at http://presspublish.events, as that will be the primary announcement mechanism moving forward. Hope to see you there!
Ohh! I hope it goes well and you could bring it to the east coast – Philly perhaps? (:
Philly would definitely be on the radar!
Oh wow! I would loooovvvvveeee to speak at this event! Im a blogger and yotuber and very into social media 🙂
Thanks for your interest! We’re mostly looking for people to suggest other bloggers, rather than themselves — this post isn’t a call for speakers, though, we’re just seeing if there are any names that pop up repeatedly.
Michelle Phan
Without a link, we can’t really check out suggestions. 🙂
Any thoughts of visiting Minnesota for a conference?
As mentioned, we’re starting with Portland and Phoenix to test the idea and see if it’s successful. If so, we’ll look into bringing the event to more cities.
Can’t live without? This blog is an example to us all, is always fun and has a huge interactive fellowship of followers: http://thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com/
And Nigeria? We’ll be glad to welcome you over here!
A WordCamp specifically geared to WPcom bloggers? Welcome news indeed!
To be clear, this is *not* a WordCamp. WordCamps are non-profit, locally-organized, volunteer conferences aimed at the whole of the WordPress project, and run under the umbrella of the WordPress Foundation. Press Publish will be a more traditional conference put on by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.
Let’s hope you come to Scotland one day
wow that sounds like a great event, i wish to attend.
Hey Jen? When is the website going to be updated for the event in Portland in March?
We hope to start announcing speakers and opening ticket sales within the next couple of weeks. Subscribing to the Press Publish site is the best way to stay informed.
Sound a really good idea and I am sure it will be a great success, There are millions of us bloggers out there and would be great to have the opportunity meet other bloggers face to face and exchange ideas
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the events in Portland and Phoenix because I live in England, but hopefully you’ll be able to put on an event in Europe in the near future.
The Science Geek
Sounds exciting! Come to Pittsburgh! 🙂
Portland continues to impress me. 🙂
Darn! I’m in Montana on March 28th and live in Oregon. 😦
This is a great idea! Get some bloggers out from their computer screen lights and into some real sunlight.
Personally, I live in the Toronto, Ontario area and, if these events take off, it would be a great city to branch in to. It has many universities and college in the immediate area, many of which have the best writing programs in Ontario. In particular, Humber College (Lakeshore and North York) are large campuses that host writing events throughout the year. I’m sure if you contacted them, they’d be more than willing to host yours.
Thanks for the tip!
Not a problem =)
Canada, specially in Ontario, has some amazing writing and publishing programs. It would probably be a good idea to have events close to or on those campuses.
Perhaps a scan of newly added “wordpress recommended blogs” will turn up some blogger/speakers? People mixing two mediums/art forms such as poetry and photography?
Yes, we have been working with the editorial team on surveying all the blogs we currently recommend. 🙂
Great idea. Hope it goes well and you can roll it out to other countries. Can I make a bid for Scotland? 🙂
Thanks for highlighting the distinction, Jen. Still great news for WPcom bloggers. I’d be glad to volunteer for the help desk in either location. 🙂
There is a great WordPress blog called: longawkwardpause.com. It’s a humor collaboration blog that I truly can not live without. It has some of the top humor talent on WordPress currently.
Wow! Sounds terrific. Please have a panel of Humor Blogging!!
This sounds amazing! I hope the pilot goes well so we can see you all in Philly!!! 😃
Sounds awesome! This blog is worth checking out: http://www.finelinebooks.wordpress.com for get up and go!
My day isn’t complete without a review of David Kanigan’s posts for the day on his blog “Live. Learn.” http://davidkanigan.com It’s alternately humorous, humbling, and thought-provoking–in my opinion, a “must read.”
I would like to see something like this in Houston. Both of the pilot programs sound awesome. They are just too far for me.
How about featuring blogs which manage to be successful without spending a penny (Ok, aside from domain name)? There’s so many themes, widgets and other possibilities to tweak a WordPress.com blog, it’d be fun to see how people make the most out of it without any upgrades.
Also, +1 on Blogging U, and this Press Publish event sounds fabulous!
Thanks for showing WP.com users some ❤ 🙂
http://punkprincess04.wordpress.com
Is a great blog to read, I suggest as a speaker!
Great idea! I’m excited.
This is exciting news. I can’t attend this year but if it continues yearly I would definitely try to make it next year. Coming from the Caribbean I would love to see events like these in my region in the near future however I’m not sure what the statistics are like for Caribbean bloggers.
Anyway, I wish you success with this venture and hope it continues and grows in future.
Very interesting; I’ll be watching for more details. At BlogHer this summer, I really appreciated the WordPress station, where bloggers could go get help with their blogs, ask questions and learn more. The tutorials were brilliant. I’d love to see more of that, possibly at these conferences?
Reblogged this on Karen Alma and commented:
So excited about this!
Hi Jen, I signed up for the new year new blog event and I haven’t seen any emails on it and I have several blogs with WordPress and I’ve been checking my email since the 5th.
Is it still happening? Thanks much.
http:// askaboutworkerscompgravytrains.com http:// lucyoccupy.com http:// askaboutworkerscompgravytrains.com
Thanks. I was really looking forward to it.
L
Love the enthusiasm, but it’s only been 2 days! 🙂 The dates of the conferences are at the end of March and mid-April, so announcements probably won’t start rolling out for another week or two as we confirm speakers and get the site (vs. the save the date placeholder card) launched. By the end of the month we should have complete schedules and be opening ticket sales, but don’t worry, you haven’t missed a thing so far.
I’m a stroke survivor that defied all odds by staying alive and regaining use of my memory. I’ve posted and retweeted several inspirational quotes @nolimitsguru. Now I will blog on WordPress about my life which has been a series of overcoming great obstacles. I’d love to present at your conference as I’m sure many will gain strength from my experiences.
Stop by the 206 if you have a chance 🙂
I’ve been thinking about how to get fellow bloggers together in Australia- for both inspiration and practical help. I see that these conferences will do exactly that and I’m glad to see that you will continue them if they’re successful- I’m sure they will be.
Meanwhile Australian bloggers is there a way we can get together to workshop, compare notes, ask questions….