 My name is Shada Taravi and I'm going to be talking today on how giving back to the WordPress community can help grow your network It's done so much for me And it's become a huge part of my life that I'm really grateful to be able to be here today with you and talk a little bit about it So when I was doing research on communities and thinking of ways to tell the story to you guys I came across a quote by Audrey Hepburn. It was this idea that you have two hands one is to help yourself and one Is to help others? She kind of grew up in a wartime era and thought that by giving back It was able to kind of provide some way for her to connect back to her human side And for me WordPress is that way for me to connect back to my human side the community is so dynamic and and Growing and it encompasses so many different people in places and countries and it's important for you guys to kind of recognize That we're all experiencing something right here, which is very intimate in a In a conference setting, but those of you watching wherever you're sitting you're helping make WordPress what it is today So who am I? My name is Shada. I've been using WordPress for about nine years I've been a part of the WP engine team for about three and a half years And it's part of being a part of WP engine that I've gone to over 30 word camps So thank you for that not of being word camp mayor. I'll have to use that for my next talk But it's by going to all those word camps that I've really begun to Get to experience the many things that make WordPress so unique from the people to the places to the languages to the ideas We're also different and special and for me Being able to be a part of it until my story is just part of telling that thread of WordPress And so I'm hoping that I can help give you some inspiration That makes you feel that you can also do do something to give back to WordPress to make it better I also feel that it's a little important to share that I was actually in a car accident two and a half weeks ago And I wasn't sure I was going to be able to be here today But I'm so grateful that I was able to be here and part of it really is because of WordPress it's because of the people who are honestly sitting in this room today who I mean so much to me who rallied behind me who Send me messages and flowers and thank you notes And I wouldn't have those people in my life if it wasn't for WordPress if I didn't open myself up to that community and allow Myself to be transformed by it So I want you guys to think about a time when you were a child Maybe you were like me and you grew up thinking that you could do anything and conquer everything But as we grow up some of those Abilities kind of fade away and reality begins to set in and we let ourselves get caught up in In the know in the blinders that we put on and we just show up every day and we come in and we sit in the same seats and we talk to the same people and We don't allow ourselves to actually embrace the reality the present and so just for the next, you know five to seven minutes I hope you guys can really with me embrace the present And I'm sure that you all walked in here with expectations. I think that's also something really important to point out You came here expecting to meet somebody who's going to give you a job opportunity Or maybe you are expecting to learn something new that was going to transform the way that you use interact with WordPress But if we can just begin to Slowly, it's not easy but slowly think of Being open to strangers being open to the power of the people sitting in the seats next to you today Maybe you'll begin to see something that you might otherwise not have seen I'm sure some of you have seen this image before it's of a Left brain and a right brain and sometimes we associate the left side of our brain with being more analytical And the right side of our brain with being more creative, but I think that we all Bring something unique to the table Whether or not you realize that or not there is perspective in each and every one of us And so I personally sometimes find myself very comfortable Coming and going and hanging out with the same people that I am familiar with or who think very similarly to me and I I Don't allow myself to To be open to the people who might be able to teach me something new and it really has been through being open to that and the WordPress community that I've really been able to meet people who have challenged me who have pushed me to doing Something better to be able to get up here on this stage even though it's a little scary and Share a little bit about myself with you in the hopes that maybe it will inspire you to share a little bit about yourself with somebody new today It's also important to note that we all started with zero knowledge of WordPress Whether it's your first time at a word camp today or it's your tenth time at a word camp You were once somebody new sitting in a chair at a meet-up right a word camp Not knowing anybody and didn't you want somebody to come up to you and say hi to you and ask you what you were Doing here. It's important for you to extend that same kindness to somebody else So let's start thinking by what we're great at. I'm really fortunate my company has Created opportunities for us to begin to think about who we are and what makes us tick And so recently we did a strengths finders test and there's other things that you can do to like Myers-Briggs But basically there's tests that you take that allow you to understand ways that your wire They give you words and ways to associate Who you are and what makes you unique and so for me one of my skills or one of my strengths rather is communication And so it's important for me to be able to take that strength in myself And be able to put it back out into the community and leverage it by standing up here and saying that you can do it, too I have some friends who you know are very analytical And I'm very quick and fast and creative and don't want to take the time to think of all the little details and the reasons that things you know Follow through and why they're the way that they are but that's what makes you unique And so whatever it is that you carry you're special and you're important and you have to share that with the world because I'm not like you, but I have something that I can learn from you And I think that you have something that you can learn from me So this is a fun little campy fact a hundred percent of the people at WordCamp US use WordPress But I think that it's thank you for laughing the The campiness Is there but the quote remains true you guys all have one thing in common So whether or not you come from a different background a different community a different language a different Experience in life. You're all here because you all have one thing in common. It's WordPress So the hard part is done I challenge you guys to go up and interact with each other because You have something that you have a common interest with so Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and just say hello to somebody new today But it gets me thinking just because we're putting ourselves out there And we're thinking of who we are and what we can give back to the WordPress community Do we actually give back are we actually committing to giving back? And so I think that a big part of my talk of course is not only recognizing who we are and what we're great at But what we can actually do for WordPress WordPress is now responsible for 25% of the internet And I'm sure that Matt's gonna share some amazing profound new stats with us later today But that's a really big deal. There's a lot of people who help make WordPress what it is and you are those people and You are impacting people whether you know it or not And so I just challenge you to really think about that the things that you're doing with the WordPress project the things that you're Doing at word camps by volunteering by helping out you're helping make a difference not only in in your life But in somebody else's life too, and it really I believe starts with you So I believe that if you put yourself out there You're going to make WordPress more awesome And I also believe that people do business with people that they know if I have a friend who asked me about making a Recommendation for a project in Phoenix. I'm most likely going to recommend somebody that I know in Phoenix versus just telling them to go Google somebody so if this is something that you're looking to get more exposure for your business It might be in your best interest to put yourself out there Maybe by participating in your local meetup giving up and giving a word camp talk Just by being friendly to those that you're meeting around you in the community because those are the people who are going to remember you Who are going to want to interact with you who are going to want to show up to your talk at 9 10 in the morning Whether or not, you know, they really wanted to be here, but I appreciate everybody who is anyways So don't just show up and do the same thing show up and try to make a difference every day of your life You're going to improve the platform not only for yourself, but for others you're going to make it better for you and for me For me The really magical part that I'm about to share with you This is just a few of some of my friends in the WordPress community I can't even put a number on it because it's just it's overwhelming I mean, I literally have people who I couldn't imagine my life today without Because of WordPress because I said hello to them because I responded to a tweet because I showed it to a meetup when I was really nervous And didn't really know what WordPress was and was just looking for a way to get involved and be a part of something a little bit bigger than myself These are friends from teachers to WordPress core contributors From Seattle to San Francisco to New Jersey And they're all the people who inspire me every day of my life to continue being a part of this community They're the ones pushing me to do better to do more to get up here again and to give a word cam talk And so I challenge you guys to go out today. There's actually a booth. It's a get involved to booth and it's going to cover There's people there who are manning the booth who can talk to you about all these different things But these are the ways in which you can help begin to give back to the WordPress project Whether you're a designer a developer you build plugins or themes your communicator like me And you feel compelled to give up and give a word cam talk There's people who can talk to you about it more But if you're curious you can also go to make dot WordPress dot org And I think a fun quote that I found from Christopher Reeve is success is finding Satisfaction and giving a little more than you take and I really believe that it's true. So what if you said hi to a stranger today? What do you think they're gonna do to you? They're gonna say hi back So I'm gonna leave you with three simple rules for life. It's not easy. It's something that I have to constantly urge myself to To be disciplined in taking care of and paying attention to but one if you do not go after what you want You will never have it to if you do not ask the answer will always be no and three if you do not step forward You will always be in the same place So real generosity towards the future lies in giving it all to the present Thank you. I'm Shada Tarabi