Austin 2013 WordCamp FAQs

What is WordCamp?

WordCamps are casual, locally-organized, non-profit conferences covering everything related to WordPress, the free and open source personal publishing software that powers over 71 million sites on the web.The Austin 2013 WordCamp is very much a community event, being organized by the members of Austin WordPress Meetup Group.

WordCamps include sessions from basic WordPress tips to development. WordCamp presentations and discussions are led by people who are passionate about WordPress, and everyone from casual end users, all the way up to core developers, show up to these events. The types of sessions typically seen at WordCamps can be viewed at the WordCamp channel at WordPress.tv.

Is WordCamp for Me?

Yes. If you use WordPress in any capacity, you must experience a WordCamp. There is something for everyone. The Austin 2013 WordCamp will be split into separate “tracks”, WordPress Content  and WordPress CMS with two concurrent sessions in each track, meaning at all times you’ll  have 4 different speakers/sessions to choose from. Ranging in skill level from Beginning Users to Designers/Power-Users to full on Developers, this year’s WordCamp has it all. Austin Wordcamp 2013 is in a state-of-the-art education campus. We have been blessed with excellent venues – both this year and last year. … extra outlets, wi-fi and other magical features.

When is WordCamp Austin 2013?

May 18th, 2013 – 7:30 am Registration check-in
Plenary session to start at 8:30 followed by session tracks
Lunch Break 11:30 am -1pm
Followed by session tracks
Camp closing session at 5 pm
Followed by an After Party @ 6:30PM

Where will the Austin 2013 WordCamp be held?

Austin Baptist Church Campus
7016 Ribelin Ranch Drive, Austin, TX
(see details under LOCATION)

What is the capacity of the venue?

The venue can accommodate 450-total attendees
380 WordCamp Attendees (approx.)
+70 Volunteers and Sponsors

This year thanks to generosity of our hosts, The Austin Baptist Church, we will be able to offer a Plenary and a closing session for all attendees. We have four state of the art classrooms that hold from 80 -100 people each available for our session tracks. Additionally we have one room set aside for the Happiness Bar Engineers to help attendees with specific WordPress site issues and another space for ‘un-conference’ get-togethers.

With the exception of the Plenary and Closing sessions, we will have four presentations going simultaneously during every time slot. If you can’t get into your presentation of choice, please be cool and go to another presentation or go visit the Happiness bar room and get or give some personal attention.

When will tickets go on sale?

The first week of April (As soon as WordCamp Central gives us the official OK)

How much are the tickets for the Austin 2012 WordCamp?

Due to the generosity of our sponsors, this year’s event will be only cost you $20!  This is an insanely, great deal that includes a tee shirt, lunch, snacks and beverages.

Do WordCamp Volunteers need to buy a ticket?

Yes, you cannot volunteer or go to WordCamp without a buying a ticket.

How will I know when tickets are available for sale?

When WordCamp Central gives us the OK to open ticket sales, the Organizing Team will send out an eMail announcement to the Austin WordPress Meetup group and post it to the Austin WordPress Google Groups Forum. The announcement will also go to the WordCamp Austin 2013 Facebook Page.

How do I buy my ticket?

All Austin 2013 WordCamp tickets will be sold online through the Austin 2013 WordCamp website using WP Event Ticketing. Ticket payments will be processed through the WordPress Foundation PayPal account. If you went through our registration ticketing process and paid by PayPal you should have a badge waiting for you at Registration. You do not need to bring a receipt, but your PayPal receipt wouldn’t hurt if a problem pops up.

Will there be Walk-in ticket sales available the day of WordCamp?

No. To facilitate faster check-in the day of WordCamp Austin 2012, registration will be closed on Tuesday, May 14th. That will give the volunteers time to organize things like the attendees lists, name badges and registration packets in advance, rather than doing it the night before WordCamp. (It’s going to be a big day — we need our rest.) Based on previous level of community participation for any Austin WordPress event, we anticipate all available tickets will be sold within a few weeks after ticket sales opened.  So Do Not procrastinate if you want to go to this years Austin WordCamp

A cautionary tale for Would-be Walk-ins

Please don’t show up the day of the WordCamp hoping to get in without being registered because we will just hate to have to turn you away. We cannot take any walk-ins. And all people who are registered will be wearing large badges throughout the conference.

The only way you may be able to get a ticket at this point, is to get one from someone who isn’t going to use their ticket. You are welcomed to do this, but understand that t-shirts and meals have already been ordered and the orders can’t be changed, so you will get the t-shirt and meal choice with which your your ticket came.

If You Bought a Ticket You Don’t Need

Last year, the WordCamp Austin FaceBook page become a peer-to-peer ticket exchange to accommodate last minute attendance changes. If you have a ticket but can’t come, the WordCamp Austin FaceBook page is the best way to hook you up with someone looking for one

There are so many folks in the Austin WordPress Group that want to go to WordCamp, why didn’t you get a venue with a bigger capacity?

Time, Talent and Treasure would be the fast answer. This is our second year working under the WordCamp Central rules. The Austin WordPress organizers thought is would be best to take the mentoring advice from WordCamp Central and grow our WordCamp expertise incrementally.

Our first WordCamp was held at CoSpace and could only accommodate 60 attendees. Last year we tested our organizational wings by growing that to 250 attendees. This year, with solid community support and a great volunteer turnout we have expanded that number to 450 attendees.

Next year — we will see if the 450 number is a good ‘quality-of life’ WordCamp size, or if we feel our merry band of volunteers has grown in numbers and expertise enough  to take on the challenge of a bigger WordCamp.

Will the sessions be videotaped?

Yes. All sessions are professionally recorded and will be available on WordPress TV and viewed worldwide. And in the meantime, you can visit WordPress TV and catch wonderful presentations from other WordCamps.

What’s For Lunch?

Lunch is included and delicious – you can choose from BBQ, Vegetarian and Vegan.
Last year people tweet’d pictures of our food because it was just that good.

How can I give back to the WP community and make Austin 2013 WordCamp a great experience?

Sharing the WordPress Love

We have a lot of people coming to WordCamp who have categorized themselves as Beginners. We have presentations that cover most everything someone needs to know to get started with WordPress. Our badges will identify people by their indicated type: Beginner, Blogger, Designer and Developer. We did this so you can reach out and meet others and so you can show our newcomers some extra special attention.

Also, when you see an attendee with a sponsor tag, THANK THEM!

This WordCamp would not be possible without the financial support of our Sponsors. The Austin WordPress community is incredibly fortunate to receive the level generous support from our Sponsors that make our WordCamp events possible. The commitment and ongoing support of our Sponsors have contributed  to making 2013 the best Wordcamp Austin ever!

For general inquiries about WordCamp Austin 2013 please contact us by using the form below: