Joomla World Conference: a story by different storytellers!

Last week we returned from the inaugural Joomla World Conference – the first worldwide gathering for Joomla fans from all over the globe that was held in San Jose, California! As you probably know, we’ve supported and attended quite a lot of Joomla events this year, each of them absolutely fantastic and different in its own way, but this one turned out to be really special for us! Why? What really made a difference was the atmosphere and the feeling of the event – unlike the first Joomla events we attended when we felt a bit new to the community and didn’t know almost anyone, at the Joomla World Conference it was exactly the opposite – we felt like part of the community and being there wasn’t just about meeting new people, it was more like meeting friends! But most of all, it was the amazing SiteGround customers we met there and their great stories they’ve shared with us.

The conference story by different storytellers

Speaking of stories, you probably know that after each event we attend, we share our story about the conference in a quick recap. This time I’ve decided to take a different approach and give the word to other storytellers – meet Robbie and Floyd – our amazing customers whom we’ve met at the conference. They were kind enough to share with all of you not only their experience from the conference but also their inspiring SiteGround stories.

Robbie Adair – Media A-Team, Inc.

The first Joomla! World Conference in San Jose, California was a phenomenal success! Three days packed with fantastic keynote speakers, tons of educational sessions, and some serious networking events. All of this was made possible by some great sponsors like eBay, MetaScale, JoomlaArt, and the main sponsor, SiteGround, my favorite hosting company!

The conference had quite the diverse crowd of attendees from 30 different countries, and from 36 different states inside the US. The SiteGround booth was located right at the entrance area where it couldn’t be missed! It was so cool to meet some of the SiteGround crew in person, having used their hosting for years. They had some pretty nice swag, too! I love sporting my “Die-hard Joomla Fans” shirt. Also, when I spoke with Tina from SiteGround about all my clients that host with them as well, she sent me with some cool buttons to hand out to them as well.

.I felt a little pushy, but I couldn’t help but interject in the conversation they were having with someone questioning on why they should host with them. But, since it was at the Joomla conference, I thought I should let him know about the “bonus” of SiteGround for us Joomla peeps – they know Joomla… like really know Joomla. Most hosting companies out there will just say, “we only provide you with space, you’re on your own with that Joomla stuff.” SiteGround can support hosting account issues and also help with Joomla issues. In the past, they’ve not only pointed me in the right direction with Joomla fixes, but they’ve even made fixes on my configuration file for me!

So, I’m sending another thanks to SiteGround for supporting the Joomla community through sponsorships and, also, for the years of great service they’ve provided my clients and me!

Floyd Mitchell – Marin Web Design

It was really nice to be able to attend the Joomla Conference after winning free tickets for the event from the SiteGround team. My main developer Bryn Howlett and I joked a bit because we were going to attend this conference not only for ongoing education about Joomla! but also to meet our heroes at SiteGround.

As I relayed to Tina and Niki, Siteground has been a big source of our inspiration that has lead us into a world of amazing opportunities and unimagined success with our customers. I say this because we have adopted a similar culture within our organization that was learned from our experiences with Siteground.

In short, as a customer, I recognized Siteground’s stellar service and culture of highly skilled yet kind and thoughtful staff and was instantly inspired. It was a huge moment in my life. Really, it was life changing. I was able to look within and see how amazing it felt to have such a gentle support team guide me through the complexities of the web and I understood that I was important and my questions were real and what I struggled with was every day work for them. This gave me the confidence and support to take on more clients and focus on customer service and feel safe that there is a team behind me that genuinely cares about the people it serves. Siteground is the best host in the world, not only because of their servers or technology but because of the people that make up this very special company. From its leaders of each department down to it’s new hires, you can rest assured that this team is here to support you and give you their highest value whether you are a small business that needs quality hosting or a webmaster with lots of clients.

When I met Tina, Niki and Reneta it was such a warm welcome and I felt we were fast friends. We had technology, Joomla and customer service in common and that was enough. It felt good to meet our heroes. The people that inspired us to create one of the most in demand web services companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thank you SiteGround for all the support, awesome servers and for just being a wonderful group of people. You inspire us every day and have revolutionized our business.

The conference story by the usual suspects

We have our story of the Joomla World Conference too, but as this blog post is already too long, I’ve decided to share it in pictures. Click to enlarge the images and read the storyline ☺

Finally, we want to sincerely thank everyone who made that great event happen – organizers, speakers, and volunteers. And very special thanks go to the whole Joomla community for the warm reception not only at this event, but also at all Joomla conferences that we’ve sponsored and attended this year!

Now go check out the rest of the pics on our Facebook page!

Photos compliments of Jimmy Ko