Hey everybody, I can’t believe we’re finally here!
Today marks the first day of WordCamp Atlanta – woot! We can’t wait to see you and connect with you so please introduce yourself and make yourself available to everyone else who’s coming!
Countdown to WordCamp #2 – Who’s Coming?
One of the best things that you can do before you come tomorrow is get to know your soon-to-be friends!
Check out our “Who’s Coming” page and take a look at who you might run into. Check out their Twitter page as well as their blog. Make note of the people you really want to spend some time with and make sure to drop them a line (again, via Twitter perhaps).
Countdown to WordCamp #3 – Get Your Questions Ready!
One of the best parts of WordCamp is the ability to network with other knowledgable folk who may have been around WordPress longer than you have.
That’s ok! We’ve all started from square one at some point and this is your opportunity to learn as much as you possibly can about WordPress. Consequently, make sure you have your list of questions ready before you get to WordCamp this Friday and Saturday.
Your mission? To get all of your questions answered! Sure, it might be a long list but it’s your responsibility to get them asked as no one’s going to know what you’re questions are until you’ve asked them!
Countdown to WordCamp #4 – Slides Templates? We Got Slides!
Looking for Keynote or Powerpoint Slide Templates for your talk (or just because you’d like to have them)?
We’ve got both generated by our community for you to use! Get them here.
You are not required to use these, by the way – but they might help you out!
Countdown to WordCamp #5
There are 5 days to go until WordCamp Atlanta open the door to a weekend of excitement, great content, and WordPress mayhem!
Ok, so maybe not “mayhem” but tons of fun to be had by all! We’re excited that you’ve chosen to be a part of the event and we’re upset that not everyone will be able to attend. There’s a bitter-sweet feeling of being “sold out” of tickets as we’re glad we’ve been able to financially put the camp together but sad that not everyone who expressed interest in being there can actually be there
C’est la vie, as they say.
Open Letter to Campers
Are you all getting excited about WordCamp Atlanta 2013? I know we are!
First, we are sorry that there are a lot of people out there who did not get a ticket before we sold out. We sold 450 tickets and will not be releasing anymore nor will will be able to take walk-ins who did not pre-register.
If you need a ticket or have a ticket that you don’t need, please go on Twitter using #WCATL and find each other. The original ticket holder can go to our site and change the name to that of the new ticket owner.
If you have a receipt from Paypal then you can know your registration went through and you do not need any further confirmation at registration.
Registration: We will open registration at 8:15 on Friday morning and will have coffee, tea and muffins available. Announcements and Keynote will begin at 9:00 AM.
Parking: When you arrive at the Loudermilk Center, there is parking in the deck behind the building. On Friday, there will be a 7.50 charge for parking but Saturday parking will be free.
Happiness Room: Be sure to stop into Happiness Room with your WordPress questions. It will be staffed by some great WordPress talent and for those of your who have been around a bit, we invite you to take some time to offer your help to others.
Internet: We will have Internet available, but this is a new location for us and one never knows just how well it will work. That said, please refrain from live-streaming or doing anything that is resource intensive. We suggest that you put your computers away during the sessions so you can interact with the other campers. If you have specific needs for excellent, internet access while you are at Camp, you might want to bring your own personal WIFI, just in case.
After Party Time: Each day after camp, people are going to meet up about a mile away at The Drafting Table. Wear you name badge to receive a 15% discount on food and look for some beer specials. Directions to the pub are on the website.
Sponsors: We want to give a shout out to all of our 2013 Sponsors. One of our Platinum Sponsors, ORBITR is actually using this opportunity to launch their WordPress Marketing Platform. Our other Platinum Sponsor, vLink is doing all of our video post-production from last year and this year’s sessions.
Volunteers: We want to acknowledge all our volunteers. WordPress itself is an Open-Source platform, which means it is non-proprietary and anyone can use any part of it at no charge. People who have taken part in its design, development or documentation, do so as volunteers!
Along these sames lines, WordCamps are are also non-profit endeavors, backed by the WordPress Foundation and run entirely, 100% on volunteer power. Our organizing committee, the organizing team, the speakers, as well as the minions of volunteers working on the committees to produce this event, are the heart and soul of our Atlanta WordPress community and make WordCampAtl possible. We are truly appreciative of everyone’s involvement in creating this event.
And finally campers, we want you to know a secret. . . the best things that happen at WordCamps actually happen before, after or between the sessions. If what you want to know is not being covered in a session, go seek it out in the Happiness room. Get out from behind your phones or computers and take the time to meet people and find out what they are up to. Go hang-out afterwards at the Drafting Table and make some new friends. You will not find a more open and available community anywhere.
Welcome to WordCamp!
Keynote by Cody Benson
We are happy to announce a very exciting Keynote address by Cody Benson, Manager of Application Engineering at Georgia State University and a member of our Atlanta WordPress Meetup Group. Cody’s team at Georgia State team is presently in the process of migrating the entire Georgia State University Website to WordPress.
The story of how this decision was made and how the project is progressing is going to knock your socks off. Cody is looking forward to sharing the awesome work his team has been doing within a public organization, with local private partners, using WordPress as their the Open Source CMS. The choice to go with WordPress according to Cody, “has allowed Georgia State University to improve efficiency and provide more time for people to inspire others”.
After Camp: The Drafting Table
Each day when Camp is over, we are heading on over to The Drafting Table to meet up with friends old and new. They say the best things that happen at WordCamps happen in the times out of sessions. This is definitely one of those times, so we hope you take advantage of this great opportunity.
The Drafting Table is located just short of a mile from camp, in the Old 4th Ward Neighborhood. It will be the perfect place to have a beer and then order some of their amazing farm to table food to share with your new friends. And not to worry, there is lots of free parking in a deck right behind the pub and a rear entrance from the parking deck into the building.
I hear tell that owners, Gordon and Doug will round up a few specials for our hungry and thirsty campers.
Tickets Sold Out
With two weeks before WordCamp Atlanta 2013, we have sold out of our tickets. Thank you all for jumping in and joining us. This year we had everyone purchase a ticket; organizers, speakers and volunteers included. This group came to about a quarter of our attendees and with a $40.00 ticket price we need every penny to keep it that low. Thanks for understanding and helping to put on the most economical, two-day conference ever.
Now What?
There are no more tickets. If you want to go or if you have a ticket and can’t go, please put a request out on Twitter with #wcatl at the end of the Tweet and hopefully you will find each other and can work out the details of a ticket exchange between yourselves.
The original owner of the ticket can then go into the registration and change the name of the ticket holder, but the new ticket holder will not have your name printed on the badge as they have gone to press. We will have labels to place over the printed names that you can write your name on at registration.
The Schedule is Up
Just a quick update to let everyone know that we’ve posted the schedule for both day. Of course it is subject to change.
If you’ve been waiting to get your tickets until the schedule is posted, I encourage you to get one right now. We only have about 100 tickets left.