Thanks to our extra special guests!

WordCamp Austin 2014 was incredibly fortunate to have an all-star guest lineup at this year’s event.

First off, we had two of the best keynote speakers in the WordPress universe, Jen Mylo and Andrew Nacin. They spoke about contributing to WordPress and about recent WordPress updates and how the process for creating WordPress works. Between the two, our attendees were able to get a much deeper appreciation for how the software that they use every day comes into being. More importantly, perhaps, everyone has a better understanding of the critical importance of volunteer contributors to the WordPress project.

We also welcomed several other leaders in the WordPress open source project: Samuel “Otto” Wood, Scott Reilly, Siobhan McKeown and Sam Sidler. These folks were instrumental in helping guide folks in our Friday Contributor Day, and had lots of conversations with local WordPress users throughout the two day WordCamp.

Most of all, though, was the amazing Rose Goldman Simon. The WordCamp organizing team is enormously appreciative of Rose’s contribution to our event. Although not a member of WordPress Austin, when we found ourselves without a Registration coordinator, Rose graciously agreed to step into this role on short notice, and provided registration wrangling for all three days of our event. She also offered a lot of expert guidance to the organizing team and a list of helpful suggestions for next year’s event. While we might have been able to do things without her, there’s no question that having her on our team made everyone’s lives a lot easier and made the process run smoothly for the 400+ attendees we welcomed to WordCamp Austin this year.

The entire WordCamp organizing team thanks our visitors for their time and support of our event, and hope they all come back to visit soon.

Inaugural YouthCamp a success!!

Students from schools across Austin joined Saturday for the first YouthCamp at WordCamp Austin! We had a great turnout of excited students who not only learned about WordPress for the first time, but got to apply their new knowledge and skills on their own WordPress site during the 2-hour workshop. Kids learned everything from the basics of posts and pages, to menus and theme edits! The awesome young learners quickly picked up on a lot of the material, and left with a website and the groundwork needed to learn more and get involved with WordPress!

Here are just a few of the students’ websites from today:

http://sxnflowers.wordpress.com

http://footballtalkfree.wordpress.com

http://rme2k1.wordpress.com

http://happythingsforever.wordpress.com

http://baseball2222222222.wordpress.com

http://DerpyDoezGaming.wordpress.com

Thank you to our In Kind Sponsors

We have two amazing In Kind sponsors, one local to Austin and one a familiar name in the WordPress community.

GHGLogoKnDcNT

Great Hall Games is located at 5501 N Lamar Blvd A-135, Austin, TX 787512 and has kindly donated some games for our Board Game themed WordCamp.

They have everything from puzzles, board games, cards, dominoes, new and old games, pretty much if a game is out there, Great Hall Games probably has it.

They even have some pretty sweet Texas centric games like Texas Trivia and Texasopoly.

Please check them out for your gaming needs, they even have a weekly gaming schedule holding live game events at their shop.

sponsor-logo-stickergiant2

A big shout out to StickerGiant for donating this years WordCamp Austin stickers!

StickerGiant prints quality stickers and labels quickly. They have sponsored over 100 WordCamps all over the world. The best customer service, 24 hour turnaround, and free die-cutting are a few of the perks of using StickerGiant. The Sticker company for WordPress users. Email our StickerFairy Hailey and use the code WordCamp2014 and receive a free sticker pack at: hailey@stickergiant.com

It’s the final WordCamp countdown!

The WordCamp countdown has begun.

There are only 3 days to go until WordCamp Austin 2014!

We thought that we would get you in the WordCamp mood by sending you some information to help make your experience as fun and productive as possible!

Where is it being held?
WordCamp Austin will be held at the Commons Learning Center (J.J. Pickle Commons), 10100 Burnet Road, Building 137. You can find a map on the WordCamp Austin site.

How do I get there?
The venue is located on north Burnet Road, close to The Domain. Take Mopac (Loop 1) to the Braker exit and turn east on Braker, and south on Burnet Road. The closest CapMetro Red Line Station is Kramer which is located about 15 minutes walking distance away, or the 983, 392, or 3 bus line. Parking is free for all attendees.

Who’s speaking, and when?
Here’s our lineup of excellent speakers: https://2014.austin.wordcamp.org/speakers/ along with the schedule. https://2014.austin.wordcamp.org/schedule/
And a handy guide to the track locations during WordCamp:

How do I register?
There are still tickets available on our website https://2014.austin.wordcamp.org/tickets/.
**Please try to buy your tickets in advance.** But we will be prepared to offer walk up tickets.

After Party
Media Temple is sponsoring our awesome after party, be sure to thank them! You won’t have to go far this year since the After Party is in the same place as WordCamp! The theme for the night will be Board Game Night! The fun will start at 6:00PM to give you enough time to join us as we sit back, relax with a cold one, and play a few games amongst friends both old and new. The talented Annie Ray will be setting up a photo booth for you to get your photo taken with your favorite guys and gals. And remember, not only is this a great place to socialise but it’s also a great place to meet potential employers! Even completely by accident.

WiFi
What kind of WordCamp would we be if we didn’t have WIFI access for our attendees? Well, no need to worry – we’ve got you covered!

Hash Tags
By sharing your great experiences of the event you help us to have an even more successful event next year. You can join the conversation by using the #WCATX or by tweeting @WordCampAustin.

Volunteering and Contacts
During WordCamp Austin, you can find organizers and volunteers by the red bandana they will be sporting.
If you are interested in volunteering, then please visit https://2014.austin.wordcamp.org/volunteer/ or get in touch: https://2014.austin.wordcamp.org/contact-us/ We would love to hear from you!

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

After Party Announcement!

LOCATION: Same venue as WordCamp (Commons Learning Center)
TIME: 6pm-9pm

Media Temple is sponsoring our awesome after party, be sure to thank them!

mt-black-300px (1)

WordCamp Austin decided to do something a bit different this year as the theme for our After Party.

We were inspired by the fun and community one feels when sitting down with a group of friends to engage in a bit of friendly competition through board games.

Plus after a long day of WordCamping it up (yes I made WordCamp into a verb) what better way to end the day than getting to show off your competitive side with your local Austin WordPress community.

So if you haven’t guessed it, the theme for the night will be Board Game Night!

-We are going to have Cranium, Uno, Jenga, Chess, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit to name a few (We’re bringing tons of games for everyone to enjoy!)
-There will be adult beverages and snacks to keep you hungry as you win (or lose 😉 ) your way through the evening.
-The talented Annie Ray will be setting up a photo booth for you to get your photo taken with your favorite guys and gals.

Please feel free to BYOG (Bring Your Own Game)- the more the merrier!

We really hope you will stick around and join us as we sit back, relax with a cold one, and play a few games amongst friends both old and new.

Even if you’re not into games, we would still love your company!

May the cards be ever in your favor.

Help us get the conversation going on Twitter!

Hello there WordCamp Austin attendees,

We are a little over a week out from the event, and we wanted to remind you to be using social to engage in conversations.
You can join the conversation by using the #WCATX or by tweeting @WordCampAustin.

WordCamp’s are informal, fun, and unique opportunities to connect with people in our community. And the cool thing about OUR community is it isn’t specific to just the city limits of Austin, but that it spans globally allowing us to be connected across cities, oceans and mountains.

So please join in the conversation, tweet at one of the awesome speakers, share your favorite WordCamp memory with us, or simply just share with your followers that you will be attending!

Help us make WordCamp Austin 2014 one of the most talked about WordCamps.

We’re doing some amazing stuff to further WordPress from right here in Austin, so let’s share that with the world!

Happy tweeting!

Announcing YouthCamp!

We’re really excited to announce that this year we’ll be hosting YouthCamp, a special hands-on workshop and track of sessions designed specifically for students aged 13-18 yrs old on Saturday, April 26th. Students attending YouthCamp will have the opportunity to create a personal website using WordPress, learn the basics of web design and coding, all while working alongside other students.

The half-day workshop will run from 10:45am-2:45pm Saturday, which includes lunch! There will also be time after 2:45pm for students to continue working on their websites if they wish, or they can go check out other WordCamp Austin sessions.

The entire experience is free, however space is limited to the first 20 students, so get your free ticket today!

With most of the sessions being hands-on, bringing a laptop is highly encouraged!

Howdy, Y'all – April 26 & 27, 2014

WordCamp Austin is over. Check out the next edition!