Word camp kenya 2011

I remember stumbling upon WordCamp Kenya on a blog about a fortnight ago. Well, honestly, the first thing that caught my attention was the venue-Cray fish camp-and I thought mmmmh…that’s a good deal. All the same in my mind i still thought this would be a good opportunity to meet up with fellow bloggers and learn a few things here and there nothing much. So come yesterday, here was Wephy on her way to a weekend getaway and what better crowd to have than the craziest people online-bloggers!!

Being the African timers we are, we started off nearly two to three hours behind schedule. Before I go on any further well let me give you a little background insight on Word Camp Kenya. Well, word camp Kenya is a camp organized by word press-one of the world’s leading content management systems-in my world what this means is that bloggers create their blogs on it. So bloggers as well as IT specialists meet up and share ideas .Back to the conference and I wasn’t in the least worried, this would be quick sessions, chapchap, we are done and hello fun!!

But when one Moses Kemibaro began to speak, all that changed and I settled comfortably in my seat and began to listen. Kemibaro is a seasoned blogger having begun blogging all the way in 2005 on his blog moseskemibaro.com. He gave an insightful experience on his Kenyan blogging journey and how focused blogging and authentic content has ensured the success of his blog. Through his blog, he is today an authority when it comes to what’s new in technology in the Kenyan market.

As if to answer my question, one Francis Waithaka of waithash.com spoke on increasing your blog visibility and ensuring that you achieve search engine optimization-simply put this is ensuring that you are more visible online using such platforms as social media which include twitter, facebook,digg.com,stumbleupon.com,google+ and such other avenues and I thought what better advice for a blogger trying to popularize his page.

Then along came Kevin, by simply looking at him, Kevin looks like just your average guy, but as often said, little is ever what it seems. Ever heard of duka press? Kevin is the brains behind it and he gave a simple yet inspiring story on how he and his friend co-founded duka press. Initially targeting the local market, duka press is today one of the best e-commerce plug-ins in the world today. And did I mention he is Kenyan?

Then of course there was Njeri Rionge, who by the way is on Forbes list of East Africa’s most successful business women. She had a very engaging talk on how to make the big bucks using our blogs and actually turn them into reputable brands again who better to speak of this than a woman who has built multi-million companies from scratch.

At the end of the session, I was only too glad that I was here, because I had taken away with me a lot more than I would have ever imagined. But trust Wephy to always catch up on some fun. They say pictures are worth a thousand words so here is my fun time in a thousand words...

amos and the ever smiling carol

arum is his name

sunset at lake naivasha

savvy n I

the poetry guru wamathai












As I write this it's early morning and am in my tent.Most of the guys are not awake yet-blame it on last night's party escapades- but the sun is aalready up so i will go watch the hippos at the lake and am sure today can only get better.