Confession's of a WordPress Fanatic!

New date: Friday December 21st 2018

Venue: The Kings Arms, Salford, M3 6AN
Ticket available on Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/confessions-of-a-wordpress-fanatic-tickets-50782649271

While publicising the show I was re-tweeted by Matt Mullenweg!

Make sure to capitalize the P! 😆

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) July 4, 2018

Confessions of a WordPress Fanatic

In early 2017 I attended 'MWUG', or Manchester WordPress users group to give it it's full name. I met a bunch of lovely people including Mike Little, one of the core developers of WordPress. I was surprised. I thought anyone involved the creation of WordPress must live in some kind of sun drenched villa on a mountain side in Silicon Valley. How wrong I was.

Mike was the really welcoming chair of the group, and they were on the lookout for people to give talks at their meet ups. Despite just arriving I offered. I'd been using WordPress since 2010. Despite a terrible memory I know that because WordPress helpfully releases a new theme design named after the year, every year, and I started with 'TwentyTen'. Also being a comedian I'll take any chance to get in front of a new audience.

I was prepping 15 minutes on how I'd used WordPress to publish a podcast when I realised what I had was quite funny but not very technically hardcore. Was my knowledge of WordPress enough for a tech savy audience? Was I glossing over the cracks in my knowledge with gags? Of course it didn't have to be funny, I was probably over analysing, and on the day it was fine.

I went back a few months later and a half hour talk on my experience of building WordPress websites commercially. Again is wasn't intend to be funny, but I couldn't help it. That's when I thought there might be a show in it. Sharing my feelings on the culture of constant updates, and making it funny. I've created bucket loads of websites using WordPress for all different manner of clients, but it never occurred to me to attempt to combine that with my comedy storytelling. So in a nutshell that's the new show - Confessions of a WordPress fanatic! at the Greater Manchester fringe. Not a duffel coat in sight.

I had an amazing time this weekend at Improv Utopia in Ireland. Joining over 100 improvisers from all over the world for games, workshops and loads of fun.

An opportunity to meet an improvise with folk from the USA, Ireland and other countries all in one place. I've been to plenty of improv conventions in America over the last ten with my comedysportz troupe, and honestly didn't know what to expect from this - but it was every bit as cool as I'd hoped.

We took over Newgrange Lodge just North of Dublin with some expert teachers including Nick Armstrong, Katy Schutte, and Neil Curran as well as the lovely Craig and Carla Cackowski From L.A.

Watching improv people together in large groups is quite a thing to behold, and probably quite curious to the outside world. We played 'diamond dance' outside in the blistering sunshine. It's a game about dance moves, but also leadership...but really - dance moves! I could see the staff of Newgrange Lodge watching us, clearly a little bewildered and amused by what they were watching.

Each workshop covered a different discipline. From group work to using emotion, character and selling yourself. The weekend reaffirmed my love for improv and how it's a great tool for connecting and building relationships. Improv Utopia has been running for many years in the US, but this is the first time they have organised a residential outside of the US - and it proved to be a great success. Big thanks to all the guys who put it together, it felt like being in America without actually being in America.

Sell it! - workshop with Craig Cackowski

Links:

About John Cooper

He’s performed in hundreds of theatres around the UK and internationally as part of the CSz Manchester improv troupe. He has delivered workshops on how to use humour and improv in business, taking part in the BBC2 series ‘The Speaker’ and the BBC New Comedy Awards. John is author of Present Yourself! – An illustrated guide to speaking in public and building confidence.