I’m spending a good part of my weekend at BU with several hundred others at WordCamp Boston – lots of developers and designers but also lots of folks like me; marketing and bloggers are not in short supply.

As someone who runs events, I applaud the organizers for a well-run event that is more than worth the (small) price of admission.  The helpful emails pushed information to those who might not visit the website between sign-up and day-of the event.  The kick-off was a logistical overview, an amusing and cheerful review of where the rooms were, where to find information and how to get to the evening’s reception.  The name badges are impressive – a double-sided folded sheet of paper, they contain everything from the schedule to the aforementioned map.  My name, company name, Twitter id and (discrete) shirt-size provide my registration information.  Very efficient and I am not carting around a bag of stuff.

Meanwhile, from a content perspective, the three tracks allow easy hopping between the rooms and while I am not a developer, I decided to sit in on some of the developer sessions.  (I had started the day with a beginner level course and feeling like I knew most of this, I was emboldened to move on.)  With one of my business partners (Developer Dan) now in CA (and a different time zone), I feel the need to be more self-sufficient on the programmer and tech end of things.  Immediately, I am immersed in a conversation about custom post types, access rights, and taxonomies.  Oops.

But wait a minute.  I actually know some of this stuff already, and while I wouldn’t want to attempt some of it on my own, I now know it exists and can ask for it.  As a marketer, do you know what’s possible on the sites you are working with?  A little time spent on the other side of the fence might benefit you too.