WordPress Meetups and State of the Word Watch Parties

BobWP (00:00):
We are here with a special WordPress Event Talk, BobWP. And I’m actually in the podcast, which is very unusual, but I just had to do this one because it’s exciting. Not only because we’re gonna be talking about Meetups, day of the word, all that good stuff, but I get to introduce Devin, who is going to be a new host here. Do the Woo, gonna be doing a monthly show on WordPress event talk starting in January or so around that time. And wow. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the team. Welcome to the Everything Do the Woo Devin.

Devin (00:39):
Hello, Bob. Hello everyone. I’m Devin, and thank you for the welcoming message. It’s really warm, and I feel it. I mean, despite that I’m in Jakarta and you’re over there in Europe, but here we are.

BobWP (00:54):
Yeah, here we are. So for those that don’t know you, and I’m sure they’re gonna learn a lot more about you over the next several months, but tell us a little bit what you do at Automatic and, um, yeah, just anything you wanna share about, you know, all the fun stuff you’re involved with.

Devin (01:14):
Sure. So, um, I know some of you probably have heard my name, um, when you’re reaching out to support@webcam.org, so I will be one of the person who is probably replying to your messages. So yeah. Um, I’m a full-Time sponsored contributor. Um, Automattic is my sponsors, but I work with community across the globe. And so my daily work would be, um, triaging the support@wordpress.org, but also connecting, chatting, um, supporting all WordPress community, um, especially the events organizers. And I think that’s the reason why I’m here. Right, Bob? So we’re gonna talk about WordPress events, um, why we wanna have events, um, throughout these, these, um, um, end of the year we are gonna have State of the Word, you mentioned it earlier, but it’s actually more than that. We can have as many events as we want, weekly, monthly, yearly. Um, yeah, let’s talk more about that.

BobWP (02:26):
Yeah. Let’s, um, so let’s focus a little bit on, uh, state the word. So that’s coming up, uh, on, uh, December 11th, I believe. And it’s, it’s in Madrid, which is for, fortunately for me is like a little over an hour flight away. So that was very convenient compared to the last couple times when I was in the, the States. Um, so a little bit about, I, um, well, I, I know you wanted to, uh, ask me a couple questions about my experiences, but from your perspective, what is State of the Word, just kind of to let people know how you, how you view it or how you share about it. And then we’ll talk about Meetup, watch parties, and all that good stuff too.

Devin (03:14):
Sure, yes. Well, I haven’t been to actually, uh, a real State of the Word event, um, in person, um, because I’m always here in the other side of the world of where, uh, State of the Word usually, um, took place. So, um, I, yes, I wanted to hear from you, um, how it was when it was part of the webcam us, um, for so many years. And then after Covid, um, 19, um, it has become a annual event at the end of the year, right? So it’s always in December, I think, since 2020, if I’m not mistaken. Um, and this year is the first time we’re gonna do it in, um, Europe, in Madrid, Spain. So, um, it’s, it’s, I feel like it, it will be like a, a tour. So I’m hoping, as I mentioned to you, uh, before, who knows, one day state of the world will come to Asia or Africa or Australia, we never know.

(04:26):
But for now, um, it’s a community event. So it goes to Madrid. And I see this as an opportunity. I mean, we had, uh, the WordPress 2020 anniversary celebration in May earlier this year. Um, so usually we have only, um, State of the Word as the global community annual, um, event. I mean, other than the flagship events, we have Chem us, we came Europe, and also we came Asia. Um, this is a momentum I would see, um, because it’s, you, you are ending a year, um, you wanna have a reflection of what we’ve done as a community in the past. Right. And, um, then we wanna know what we are looking forward to. Um, 2024, probably not only 2024, um, we are looking at projects that would last years. Um, so 20 25, 20 26. And I think, um, as an individual or a company you want, you would wanna hear this so that you can get prepared, you can allocate your resources, you can manage your resources better, you can be hopeful.

(05:38):
That’s the most important thing I would say. And you wanna see yourself, where you going to be in this, um, whole projects moving forward, right? So yeah, I see this as a momentum to get together, to also have a reflection together. I mean, you can always have your own reflection individually at home, if you like , but I think we are human being. We’re a social being. Um, we get bigger, stronger, happier probably when we connect with one or two more people. That’s fine. And you can resume, uh, and come back to yourself when you’re at home, that’s fine as well. But this is the beauty of our community, right? It’s open source, collaborative, um, and you need some friends that you can rely on. That’s how I see it.

BobWP (06:24):
Yeah, I totally agree. And it, it is interesting when you said about, uh, comparing it or looking at it when it was part of us and then it moved to an independent event. And yeah. So I’ve been fortunate to not only go to both of the State of the Words in the us, uh, the first one I actually did a big, I don’t wanna say kind of campaign around it, but I traveled across country in a train on the very first day of the word. So I did for a three, four hour event. I think I traveled like eight or nine days. And it was, it was interesting. It was, it was fun. It was just something kind of a little bit crazy to do. But going back to WordCamp us, I’ve been, again, I’ve been fortunate to go to every WordCamp US and I should point out people say, wow, that’s great.

(07:17):
But I was also sponsored at some of those. I remember my very first WordCampUS GoDaddy paid for my entire way and everything. They sponsored me. So there’s been people that have helped me attend these, you know, I haven’t always had the ability to be able to do that, which is, I’ve been, you know, very grateful for. I, I think that looking at the flagship WordCamps now, and that Matt usually will have some kind of end of the second day session or Josepha and him will, or, you know, they’ll do something a little bit different, or they might talk about a specific more around the future, and those are good for that. But I felt like the State of the Word one thing is it was always at WordCampUS, which, you know, is kind of like, okay, well that’s great, but for all of us attending that, but you know, what about everybody else?

(08:13):
And secondly, it kind of got lost in the event. I mean, it was at the end and it was the thing, but you know, at the end you’re like, ugh, you know, everybody’s tired. I mean, you go to it, but it’s like everybody’s brain is, you know, overloaded. And I love the fact that they took it as a independent event because what two things, one is it gives more focus to it, and I think it also gives more focus to where we are with WordPress and we are growing up in WordPress, and now we have this event that we’re, you know, even people outside can see that this is the event that is by Matt and is, um, pulls together some people that intimate audience there. I know that maybe this year it might be a, a bit bigger, but it’s, you know, it’s not always gonna be some huge event.

(09:08):
And that was, especially for me, that social part, you said, being able to really have conversations. Matt makes himself available before and after he’s just hanging around. So I noticed how many people were able to go up and have a little bit of a conversation where, you know, at WordCamp there’s thousands of people and everybody wants to talk to him or say hi at least, or get a selfie or whatever. But, you know, he was just strolling around and you could easily go up and start a little conversation. So there was a lot more intimacy about it and a lot more connection there. And, and, you know, I know it’s also something that, that everybody can attend, you know. But, um, fortunately I think this will, or this is showing us that, yeah, it’s okay, it’s in Madrid, it’s in Spain this time, Europe, where will it be next year?

(10:04):
Where will it be next year? It’s given him the chance to recognize all these other communities that are putting so much into WordPress and not just making it, you know, centric around the us, which wasn’t done intentionally, but, you know, in the beginning that was probably it. So, so that said, uh, yeah, I like you. I also think that, you know, if you can’t attend, if you are, you know, if you’re close enough and you’re able to get an invite, that’s great. You know, that, that experience I think is very special. But also the fact that it will be televised, you know, around, I mean, it, you know, people are gonna be able to see it livestream, like you said, you can, instead of, oh, at the end of a WordCamp you can say, okay, end of the year, this is the event that happens.

(10:57):
I can tune in, I can hear, you know, a bit of what has happened over the last year. It just brings that more cohesive community to a shorter event and really focuses on that. Which brings us to the ability that, uh, watch parties watch parties. Yeah. So tell us, you know, how that’s going and a little bit about it and people that are still interested in doing it. I know I, uh, last Friday I had a shared just a little clip on one of my, um, my end of the week podcast, but let’s dive into a little bit more. So talk about that.

Devin (11:36):
Sure. So let me just share you, um, share with everyone here. Um, my experience, so when, um, State of the Word, um, health in New York, so that is always around midnight my time, my Jakarta time. Um, fortunately as well, my husband and I are a bit of a night owl sometimes when we really wanna do or something. Um, so we were doing our best to stay away so that we get to see, um, uh, real time of course, livestream, you know, from the bed. You know, we got the tv, um, on the wall. Um, that’s how excited, um, we were usually, um, when this State of the Word is going to be livestream, um, on YouTube, right? Um, and so I thought, right, this is coming to Madrid, so the time driven would be actually shorter. So it’s gonna be, uh, December 10:00 PM Jakarta time.

(12:45):
So it’s, it’s doable. It’s a little bit more mobile. So I’m, I’m totally gonna do that. Um, stay awake, have my snacks, and, um, probably tea. And then, um, watch the live stream. But I’m also a meetup organizers in Jakarta and B and I’m based in Jakarta at the moment. So what I’m going to do is, because December 11 is gonna be on Monday, um, and I will, uh, I’ve already actually, um, created this event page on meetup.com that in Jakarta, we are going to meet in person on the Saturday after, uh, the event. And we are gonna meet together like the usual meetup event. But this time we are gonna watch the recording of the State of the Word, um, together. Um, so we got questions such as like how soon the recording’s going to be available. It’s actually right after the state of the world finished, it’s going to be ready on YouTube, so you can, um, do this, um, the watch party or even one hour or two hours after the event if you’re not in Madrid or in not in Europe.

(14:02):
Um, so that’s, that’s the thing. Um, if you are in Spain or in the area where you can actually watch the live, um, um, the livestream watch party, uh, state of the world, I would recommend you to do that. Um, create a WordPress event meetup event, um, titled State of the Word, so that we can see your event coming up on the map. ’cause on our new landing page, we have the State of the Word landing page. Um, so it’s on WordPress dot org, WordPress dot org slash State of the Word. Um, then there’s gonna be a map, and we wanna see a lot more red dots, the red WordPress dots there. Um, I’m not quite sure how many we have now, because what I know is there are people who are organizing, but they don’t use State of the Word as the title. So that number might not be, um, a, a valid number.

(15:05):
So we probably have more, um, events, but it’s just they don’t show up on the map. So make sure you have the State of the Word as the title of your WordPress, uh, meetup event. And, um, if you are lucky enough, you can do, um, um, you can get, uh, venue sponsored so that you can allocate other resources to get some snacks, some soft drinks, whatever. Um, uh, make it it nice and warm, uh, a little bit, probably more, um, uh, ma like merrier than the usual press meet up where you probably bring some, um, um, homemade cookies or you get some, uh, games or quizzes that you can share with the, the members. So that’s what we want. Uh, it’s a party, it’s a celebration of, um, our, uh, beloved, um, WordPress, um, software. Um, and then after, after the, uh, State of the Word, um, remarks, um, by Matt Mullenweg, you can actually have a discussion as well.

(16:16):
You don’t have to be the person who knows everything, what Matt is going to talk about, but you can be the host, you can be the moderator, you can have a fruitful discussion and just ask, what do you think about this? Um, what’s your plan after hearing about, probably we’re gonna talk about Gutenberg phase, um, um, four, about, uh, no phase three, I mean, about the collaboration, right? Or in fact, soon enough we’re gonna talk about the Multilinguals, Gutenberg phase four. So all of these things, I think it’s exciting, um, and you can always, like, I’m guessing, um, you can come up with more ideas, more opportunities to learn together, more opportunities to, you never know, you probably start a new project with whoever showing up in, on that event. Um, so yeah, that’s how excited I see, uh, the state of the world 2023 going to be, because we are in that transition as well. Gutenberg the collaborative, um, phase, the multilingual phase. So yeah, let’s see.

BobWP (17:32):
I am looking forward to being there. I just, um, actually got my invite, my official invite. So, um, woo woo, I’ll be, um, going there and doing some fun stuff. And, um, I always enjoy, I I know that we, at the last one in New York, uh, there was about, uh, a dozen of us that had a dinner afterwards. We went out and we had this nice dinner at a, I believe it was an Italian restaurant, and I ended up kind of making it a do the woo dinner. And yeah, we had a great time. And then afterwards we all went down, about six of us went down to the Rockefeller Center in New York City to look at the, um, ice rink and the big Christmas tree and stuff. So, you know, in person, obviously you can do some other stuff around, but I think it’s very cool what you said about the watch parties.

(18:21):
I mean, it’s wonderful to enjoy it live, like you said, especially, you know, relaxed, having what, you know, having tea, having some snacks, whatever you want. But also it is fun to get together and have that interaction at the meetup, have that discussion. There’s something about watching something like that with other people around, and even even hearing, you know, um, reactions from it, or it is just, it is just that. So you, you’re still getting that nice piece of, of, um, community there with other people enjoying it, and whether it’s live or it’s, you’re doing it afterwards, I mean, it’s, you know, still the same. You’ve got that event going on. I know that looking at this, um, looking at the map here, and there is a couple, I’m sure you know, you just mentioned Indonesia. There’s one in, I’m gonna probably butcher some of these names, um, Jakarta, and there’s one in the Mach. I’m not sure if that’s Yes,

Devin (19:28):
Exactly. That’s how you pronounce

BobWP (19:29):
It. And then, um, let’s see, let’s see where else. I’m, I’m just in case you happen to be in. Okay, I see something going on, uh, um, in India, there’s Nagpur. And, uh, let’s see what else we got here. Close that one. We have one, one in Ajmer. And let’s see what we got here. We got, um, WordPress, Sophia Meetup in Bulgaria is gonna be doing one.

Devin (20:15):
Yeah, they actually the first group who, uh, created the event.

BobWP (20:20):
Oh, okay. Oh, cool.

Devin (20:22):
Yeah, they’re very early.

BobWP (20:24):
Yeah, the meetup in Rome is gonna be doing one. I mean, at least they, these are people that at least, you know, committed to starting it. I’m sure there’s gonna be some other, let’s see what’s going on in the us. We’ll see that. Um, Tampa and Orlando looks like they’re having one and Oh, who else? It looks like there was somebody over here on the other side.

Devin (20:48):
There’s five in the,

BobWP (20:49):
What? Somebody on the west coast? Santa Cruz. Yeah, Santa Cruz is gonna be doing one. Nice. Um, so there’s that. And then there’s up in, it looks like in Canada, we got one going click on that. Rochester, is that, no, that’s not Canada. It’s close to it. So Rochester is going to be doing one. And then down here we have, um, oh, it looks well, there’s a few down here.

Devin (21:17):
You also have West Orlando

BobWP (21:18):
There. Yeah. Looks like in, um, I’m gonna look here. This looks like Costa Rica. Yeah, Guanacaste. Um, then there’s three here, which is amazing. Yeah, three of them real close. One in San Jose, one Cartago, which is right outta San Jose. And another one up a little ways here. This is fun. Um, San Carlos, so that’s pretty cool. Mm-Hmm, . So, so those are the ones I see on here so far. And I’m, you know, we got time to, there’s,

Devin (21:53):
There’s also a two in Africa.

BobWP (21:55):
Oh, okay. I was going, oh, there they are. Okay, let’s go over here. Um, I, I, it’s almost too in Nigeria, uh, Warri, W-A-R-R-I. Mm-Hmm. . And then it looks like over in, I believe this is, oh, Uganda, um, Jinja or Jinja?

Devin (22:14):
Jinja,

BobWP (22:14):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. It is, oh, sorry about that. Africa, I, I skipped right over you. I, I’m moving this map around and zooming in and zooming out. So I think I covered them all. So cool. Yeah, that’s excellent. So yeah, that was kind of fun. I just, to see all this, and this is something that, I mean, with meetups and I, I, in, in, um, Friday show, um, that I did my little woo bits, I called at the end of the week and we shared just a little bit, kind of a teaser about this because we didn’t want to give it all away. I mentioned that somebody had, um, and I’m gonna just repeat it in case you miss that, that somebody in the, uh, WordPress, uh, the community Slack had mentioned how many meetups were starting, were either being, you know, applied for, or, um, accepted how they seem to be, things seem to be coming alive again a lot.

(23:11):
And, and what I’d love seeing is it’s, you know, it’s internationally, it’s not just one specific area, but there’s a lot of, um, yeah, there’s a lot of activities starting to happen. And I think, you know, a lot of that has to do with all the reach that everybody’s been doing through these, um, you know, through the make WordPress and the, um, the, the actual teams, because they’ve been spending lots of time. I know. ’cause I just, I sit in there and watch and listen to what everybody’s doing, and sometimes it just tires me just listening to what everybody’s doing, . But it’s amazing. They’re, they are really starting to, uh, people are starting to get back into it. And I know that I was, I hadn’t been to a meetup for quite a bit, and when this earlier this year, I went to two, I went to the portal meetup here in Porto.

(24:06):
Uh, when I got here, I’ve been bad. I haven’t gone back to it. And I was, um, I, I ran into Carlos and he said, you know, we missed you. So I, I need to get back into it. But it was fun to get back into it. And then, um, Lisbon, I was asked to talk about podcasting right before WordCamp Lisboa. And so the night before they did a meetup and we had about 25 people show up, and then we all went out and had this big dinner, which is very traditional in Portugal, is you have a meetup and then you have, you have a meetup that lasts an hour and you have a dinner that three hours. And it’s, it’s amazing. And almost everybody went to this dinner. We had this room and it was like a family style, you know, food. And we just had a good time.

(24:51):
So it was, it became quite the event from the meetup onto the dinner. So, so, and I guess the reason I bring those that up is I hadn’t been, you know, because of Covid and stuff and where we had lived, I hadn’t been to a meetup in a long time, and I kind of forgot that flavor and excitement of the local just sitting down and chatting with people, talking WordPress, meeting new faces and stuff. And that really, and even the WordCamp Liz Boa, I felt that way. I hadn’t been to a small WordCamp, I mean a local WordCamp, I should say, for quite a while. And that was just a blast. I just loved it. And I was able to go to WordCamp Madrid a couple weeks ago. And again, that was just wonderful though, you know, I don’t know, Spanish. And they put up with me, bless their hearts, you know, they were very kind to me, and, and they were patient with me .

(25:46):
And even some of them would talk to me. No, I shouldn’t say that. They were, they were such a, uh, a warm and inviting community that I really had a great day there. So, but yeah, there’s just events, events and I’m, you know, I’m really looking forward to, uh, having you, you know, what you pull in. I mean, we have these next gen events, so we’re gonna be having a podcast come out soon with, uh, Rome community. They did one, and they’re gonna be talking about that and how that went. So, so we’ll be doing, you know, sharing the, um, love of all these different events and getting different people on through these shows. I know that Devin will be doing a show and, but we’ll be doing other shows. We’ll be doing stuff like we’ve done from Word camps, you know, WordCamp Asia coming up, and we’ll be doing some podcasts there and be, um, putting those out. So, um, a lot of great stuff. So yeah, events, what, you know, before we, you know, is there something else you wanna kind of add to this, um, whether State of the Word or more general in the whole event world?

Devin (26:52):
I would go back to the State of the Word, um, events, um, organizing a little bit, because you mentioned it, um, you know, you mentioned about how valuable it is to have that connection, you know, meeting in person. So I talked earlier about watching State of the Word with my husband from that, um, having my tea, my Kapa and buying my snacks next to me. But the beauty of meeting in person, the beauty of gathering is just so huge. And so that’s why for the, for this year’s, uh, State of the Word, we actually provide, um, venue support. If you are planning to do or to organize the State of the Word watch party in person, then please, um, submit the venue support request. This is the same venue support request for, uh, meetup events. So if you are a meetup organization, just go on the, uh, go to make dot WordPress dot org slash community slash handbook, and then you can just search venue support.

(28:01):
Then you will get to this page with a form where you can fill up, um, uh, and that is something that you can, um, um, use as a support for you to make it easy, um, to hold this gathering. And if you feel like, oh, it’s just, um, too much, you don’t have time to do that, um, it’s easier to do online. You can also, uh, request for, uh, zoom, because we have a professional, uh, zoom account that we can, we also usually, um, uh, give it to Meetup organizers who wanna use, um, the Zoom for their regular meetup event. So this still applies. So whether it’s online or in person, we are here to support you. We have the handbook for organizing State of the Word. Um, there’s so many IDs there, what you wanna do, what you can do, um, the resources that we have, the poster that you can use for your social media or your, um, meetup.com, uh, featured image, um, and let us know, um, we are looking forward to hear, uh, your creativity, what you can make, um, out of this State of the Word, um, event.

(29:18):
And who knows what you do with your community will inspire other communities and inspire us to probably organize, uh, more creative, more engaging state of the world in the future, right? So this is all about collaboration and we need you, uh, everyone to be on board in this. So that’s something that I wanted to, um, share, um, extra. And if you actually, um, had to meetup.com, um, back then when you create, um, the event, you don’t have to actually write up. I mean, if your, um, language is English, we have templates in English, and if your language is, um, different, then you can just copy and paste it in Google Translate, adjust a little bit and use it, um, for your meetup, um, event. So we have two templates. If you do online event or if you do in-person event, both templates are available on meetup.com, uh, event, uh, backend page. Yeah. So that’s the thing. We try our best to make things easy for you to create an event for your community. That’s the thing.

BobWP (30:35):
Wonderful. , yes, , yeah. And that, those are, um, huge because I mean, first of all, the resources are great because a lot of people, you know, what do I do? You know, they need some ideas. That’s fantastic. And the support of the venue, I know we all know how tough it is to get venues. And yeah, if you can get that support, that’s amazing. And the online support as well, you know, because we don’t, not everybody hey, has a Zoom account that works. Yeah.

Devin (31:06):
Yeah. One more thing just to add, before I forget. You may reach out to your local, uh, businesses, WordPress businesses, sponsors to be part of this, um, celebration. So they can also sponsor the venue. Um, they can also share probably some snacks or soft drinks for your event. Um, or anything else. I mean, our, uh, businesses, they’re very creative. Um, they have a lot of resources as well to share, um, with the community. So, um, don’t hesitate to try to reach out to them. If they’re not aware of State of the Word, then probably you are the person who would open that door of opportunity, um, and, um, more connection to them with the community through the State of the Word.

BobWP (31:50):
I would encourage you to do that for sure, because when I took that train trip back in the very first day of the word in New York City, I had three or four sponsors that helped me get across because I had to buy a train ticket for a cross country trip. And, and I was, you know, able to, uh, promote them and give them some love as I was going across the country in the train. So, yeah, definitely reach out. ’cause there’s a, this is an opportunity for some of these businesses to get a little bit of, um, yeah, a little bit of piece of the stay the word. And I, I would highly recommend, uh, looking for sponsors. Also, if you are going to be doing a State of the Word event, uh, let me know, you know, on Twitter at do the Woo, that’s our Twitter handle, and I’ll share it out.

(32:43):
I’ll help you get the word out about your State of the Word event. I usually try to keep my eyes open and help promote that stuff, but I don’t catch everybody. So if you’re doing one or plan on doing one, uh, let me know. And also probably post date of the word, I will, uh, likely put together a episode. And I’d love to have a variety of people on that, their perspective of actually being at the event, maybe doing an online event and somebody doing a meetup just for, we can hear how those three different, uh, mediums went for you, you know, as far as doing a watch party or attending the vet. So I plan on doing that, and I would love to have a variety of, um, you know, a a nice group of people just sharing, uh, also giving a little bit of a recap of it and what’s going on. So if that’s something you’re going to be added or you’re going be at one of these meetups and you’d like to be involved with, you know, just go to do the woo.io and um, or anywhere else Slack, you’ll find me Bob WP, and you can say, Hey, you know, if you do that show, I’d love to be on it because I’m gonna be doing a watch party, or I’m gonna be listening to it. So, um, wonderful. Well, this has been fun.

Devin (33:59):
I’m definitely gonna attack you, Bob, for the State of the World Jakarta event.

BobWP (34:03):
Okay, good, good. That’s okay. I got one spot full, so you better get in there. We’re already filling up .

Devin (34:10):
Okay.

BobWP (34:12):
So yes, this has been fantastic. Kind of diving into this, I’m really looking forward to, uh, as you probably maybe know or don’t know, do the Woo Now has all these different shows, and one of them is called WordPress Event Talk. As I, that, that’s what this is on. Uh, soon you’ll be able to subscribe. If that’s the one particular show of Do the Woo that you love hearing about, you’ll be able to subscribe on, you know, your podcast app or wherever, and you’ll just get those, you’ll be notified of those when those come out, so that that’ll be set up very soon. And I just wanna say, first of all, thanks to Devin for coming in and sharing all this. I’m excited about what’s going on, and then also how excited I am about having her be part of the Do the Woo team now moving forward. And I, you know, that’s worth it to subscribe to WordPress Event Talk right there. ’cause I, she’s gonna be bringing in all sorts of different, you know, event who knows what, who knows what we will see. That’s all I can say or hear, I should say . So thank you Deon for one. Um, all you do for WordPress, two for joining the team and for today’s show.

Devin (35:31):
Thank you for everything. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share. This is actually my first, uh, podcast, um, with the WordPress community. I’ve heard you your name do the Woo. Um, and it’s, uh, really, uh, honor to me to be part of this initiative. Um, I see this an opportunity to, uh, connect with more people, to really understand, to hear more your stories. And if, I mean, I think I mentioned this to you, if I can be of help, if I can connect people, if I can help people, I mean, this is not about me working with the community team or, um, at Wet Central, um, or being sponsored by, um, automatic, but it’s just generally I love, um, connecting people. I love, um, connect. Um, I, I love to connect with people and I love connecting people. And yeah, I’m looking forward to our 2024, um, project, um, joining the team. Um, yeah, thank you so much. And I will see you on the livestream, Bob. ’cause you said you’re gonna be in Madrid, right? So

BobWP (36:40):
Yeah. I’ll, I’ll wave to everybody. Please, please. , I’ll, I’ll right in the middle. I’ll walk in front of Matt, you know, I’ll pretend I’m, I’m leaving to go do something and I’ll look at everybody. Give a grid. No, I won’t do that. I won’t , I won’t photo bomb that during that

BobWP (36:58):
Alright, well thanks again. And I do have to say for your very first podcast, you did a fantastic job, so, um, kudos to you. You’re, you’re a natural at it.

Devin (37:08):
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Bob.