Book soon for a limited number of rooms at the WordCamp $129 rate.

If you don’t live in the Atlanta area, you’ll find a comfortable bed, some great views, and fun gathering spots at the Hilton Atlanta Downtown.

The central Hilton reservations number is 800-445-8667. Tell ‘em you want the WordCamp Atlanta 2017 Room Block at Hilton Atlanta Downtown. Or, you can make and access your reservations online here.

The cut-off date for the discounted WordCamp rate is February 22. After that, bookings will be based on availability. Atlanta is going to be busy that weekend and hotel rates will generally be high, if you can find a room at all.

Other options for local overnight accommodations are here. Last year, some WordCamp attendees also found places to stay through Airbnb.

The Hilton’s local number is 404-659-2000. The address is 255 Courtland St. NE, Atlanta GA 30303. Their website is here. Self-parking is $28 a day and valet parking is $36. Check-in is at 4, and check-out at 11.

The hotel is just four blocks north of WordCamp Atlanta at Loudermilk Center (see map). And it’s about four blocks from the MARTA Peachtree Center train station in the heart of downtown.

To get from the Atlanta Airport to the hotel, you can take any MARTA train to that station for $2.50, or you can go with Uber, Lyft, a taxi, or an airport shuttle.

See you at the Hilton. 

There’s going to be a rainbow over Atlanta from Friday, March 17 to Sunday, March 19. Simply follow it to the end, and you’ll find yourself at downtown’s Loudermilk Center. There, you and 600 of your smartest, friendliest colleagues will be amply rewarded.

In the meantime, sign up for WCATL emails in the sidebar, and bookmark this page, to stay in the loop. Otherwise, you might miss announcements about tickets, which tend to sell out pretty quickly.  Next, apply to be a speaker, a volunteer, or a sponsor. Or maybe all three. Because, frankly, we can’t do this without you. Then, let’s get social with Twitter (#WCATL), Facebook and Slack (sign up here; join the conversation here)

Everyone’s looking forward to seeing your face for a bright and shiny lineup of design, development and business sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Friday – St. Patrick’s Day! – will be a bonus Workshop day; stay tuned for details.

Gold comes in many forms

Everyone attending will fill their pockets with golden nuggets of information and insight. That investment in new skills, ideas and resources will continue to pay off, with fresh ways to grow, and profit from, our businesses.

WordCamp volunteers have the opportunity to dig deeper into the Atlanta WordPress community’s inner circle. It’s a wonderful way to give something back, truly connect with other committed people, and perhaps even develop leadership skills.

Sponsors will have a wealth of options for getting the word out to their perfect audience. Lots of folks here would love to know how your products and services can enhance and expand their own capabilities.

And finally, speakers are the bright golden stars of WordCamp. There’s no better way to contribute to  the WordPress universe than to share your unique approach, so others may grow, and build upon it, in a continuous upward spiral of knowledge.

The golden age of WordPress

Can you believe that WordPress has only been around for 14 years? No other publishing platform has done more to give people around the world a voice, a purpose, a canvas, and a chance to make a living doing what we love.

The highly engaged world-wide community that has grown out of WordPress has no precedent. Here, ‘open source’ is not just a technical term, but a very human launching pad for even competitors to contribute, share and grow together. Now, that’s golden.

Nowhere else has the WordPress spirit been embraced more than in Atlanta. With a rich, active and productive WP community, there are more WP meetup groups here than just about anywhere else. Maybe that’s why WordCamp Atlanta is such magnet for people all over the Southeast.

Atlanta’s second gold rush

In 1828, years before the famous California Gold Rush, there was a gold rush right here in Georgia. Veins of the precious metal extended from North Georgia down to what is now Metro Atlanta.

Once again, we’ll get to pan (for knowledge), dig (for insights), and enrich ourselves in all kinds of ways at WordCamp Atlanta 2017. In addition to the fascinating variety of educational sessions, we’ll all be learning from each other, establishing new relationships, and planting the seeds for potential partnerships.

And that’s worth its weight in, well, you know.