Prestige Conference is coming up on February 27th-28th (next week!) in Las Vegas, and yes, WDS will be there!
Like PressNomics, Prestige is a tech conference that focuses on business and career development, rather than tech itself; most of the presentations are focused on discussing how to run a business in the tech industry, rather than on improving technical skills.
One of the biggest benefits of conferences like this is, of course, the presentations from well-established professionals who know their stuff, but also, the conversations that happen in between the formal scheduling–the hallway chats, brainstorming over meals, and networking amongst other like-minded pros in the industry.
A few major WDS movers and shakers are going to be in attendance: Brad will be speaking, and Lisa and Dre will be there too, making friends (as per usual!).
Hiring Employee Number One: From Freelancer to Agency – February 28th, 1 PM
Brad Williams will be discussing the process of hiring employee number one based on his experience building and growing WebDevStudios. His presentation will cover how the company grew to the point where hiring additional employees was necessary, as well as what he learned along the way. The process was hardly seamless, and he will discuss lessons learned from mistakes made, as well as tips on how to do it right.
As per usual, we want to highlight a few other presentations that caught our eye:
Descriptions from the Prestige Conference website
More Than Just a Website – February 28th, 9 AM
John Hawkins, Founder 9seeds and Kim Schaefer, DowntownProject
Sometimes building websites isn’t just about the sites. Sometimes, it’s also about the community that those sites serve and how they help them to grow. John Hawkins of 9seeds and his client, Kim Schaefer, share the ups and downs of working together on a series of sites that exist at the center of a neighborhood and tech revitalization in Downtown Las Vegas.
Tales from the CMS Wars: WordPress and the Enterprise – February 28th, 3 PM
John Eckman, CEO of 10up
WordPress isn’t your typical enterprise CMS – and that’s a good thing. The typical enterprise CMS is expensive, complicated, and difficult to use – but the best have a strong market presence and also support robust ecosystems of implementation partners. WordPress, on the other hand, still faces challenges being taken seriously as “more than a blogging platform.”
What can the community of WordPress agencies interested in larger projects with more impact learn from other platforms aimed at the enterprise market? Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore, and even Drupal offer object lessons in how to speak to enterprise buyers.
We’ll also look at other ways the enterprise market differs from the small-to-medium business market and how WordPress agencies can more effectively break into that conversation.
Selling WordPress into the enterprise can be challenging – there are lots of assumptions and myths to be overcome – but it ultimately offers a compelling value proposition no other platform can touch.
If you aren’t going to make Prestige this time around, you can always follow them @PrestigeConf, or keep your eye on the hashtag for the event: #PrestigeConf. If you’re going to be there, make sure to catch Lisa, Brad, or Dre and say hi! They’d love to meet you.