Dev Day has kicked off just a few minutes ago. If you’re coming downtown we’re in the US Bancorp Tower at 111 Southwest 5th Avenue. It’s the intersection of 5th and Oak downtown.
Here’s the location on Google Maps:
When you walk in the revolving doors should be unlocked. Head toward the elevators on the ground floor and off to the side are a series of conference rooms that are ours for the day.
Dear WordPress Lovers,
Couldn’t get to Portland? Too hung over to get out of bed? You can watch all the action on the live stream! It’s awesome and free.
Love,
WordCamp Portland
The day after WordCamp, we’ll be holding a Dev Day. It’ll be from 12 to 6 pm at the US Bancorp Tower in downtown Portland.
“What’s a Dev Day, and why should I attend?” you might ask? Well, it’s an opportunity to explore code at many levels. We’ll have a few technical talks lined up, as well as plenty of space for you to collaborate with your peers. If you’re stuck on a plugin, need a code review, are looking for feedback on a difficult problem, or simply want to talk about the latest and greatest with WordPress, the Dev Day is your place to be.
If you think you’ll be there, we’d love to hear from you (we need a head count). Please leave a comment and let us know what you’d like to get out of the day.
Our unconference coordinator, Cami Kaos, explains:
This year’s WordCamp Portland has two unconference times in addition to the speakers we’ve chosen in advance.
What’s that? “Unconference, what?” you say? I suppose for some of you an unconference explanation may be in order, after all the first time I saw the term I was in bed browsing twitter on my laptop and thought, “An unconference? That could be anything. I’m unconferencing right now.”
But I was unconferencing by myself. It’s an entirely different experience when you’re surrounded by a couple hundred other conference-goers with interests that align with your own. So what exactly is an unconference?
It’s a meeting or conference driven by its participants. That means the conference organizers have to let go on the reins a bit so the attendees can decide what the sessions will be. For two of the time blocks (and in all of our available rooms) we’ll have unconference sessions instead of preordained speakers. What will the sessions be about? Anything. As long as it’s WordPress or blogging related. Development, design, content creation? It’s up to you because…
You give the talk. Or lead the discussion group. Or the workshop. Have something to say at WordCamp but didn’t get your talk submitted in time? It wasn’t selected? Just realized you have a burning WordPress idea you want to share with others? Well then you’re just the person to lead an unconference talk. Show up early with your talk or discussion in mind because…
An unconference isn’t unscheduled. By the time you arrive at WordCamp we’ll have an unconference board ready to go. First thing in the morning attendees will propose and select the sessions, with a little help from the unconference coordinator where needed. By the time the first talk of the day starts we’ll have everything arranged so attendees can keep all the sessions in mind while planning out their schedules for the day.
Between the carefully selected speakers, unconference sessions, and the camaraderie that always comes with WordCamp, I’m sure this year’s event will be one to remember. See you all soon!
After processing a lot of speaker applications, I’m excited to announce that we have a great lineup of speakers for WordCamp Portland. We’ll share a bit more about these folks’ background and the details of their sessions as we get closer to the event, but here’s our list of session titles and speakers:
In addition to these pre-planned sessions, we’ll have timeslots during the day available for unconference-style sessions to be organized by attendees on the day of the event. More information about the unconference will be shared as we get closer to WordCamp Portland.
You have already purchased your ticket, right?
Head over to the link above for the full details. We have tickets on sale now for $20. That’s right, a packed day of WordPress fun as well as snacks, lunch, and a free pint glass all for $20.
See you August 18th! 🙂
Update 7/1: the deadline for speaker applications has passed. Thanks to all who submitted proposals; we’ll be in touch within a week or two.
The program for WordCamp Portland 2012 will include a mixture of pre-planned speakers along with some unconference sessions. Both will cover a variety of WordPress-related topics; anything related to WordPress is fair game for a talk. This could include sessions on blogging, content creation with WordPress, developing plugins or WordPress core, themes and design, or WordPress as a content management system.
We’re interested in a program that features speakers with a variety of experiences and backgrounds.
If you’re interested in being featured as one of our pre-planned speakers, please complete our speaker submission form. Speaker applications are due no later than June 30th. You’re welcome to submit more than one talk proposal; please complete the form for each idea.
Questions about speaking, the submission process, or the program? Contact speaker coordinator Aaron Hockley at aaron@hockleyphoto.com.
It’s that time of year again: WordCamp is back for the 5th year running! This year we will hold WordCamp Portland on August 18th at Norse Hall in Northeast Portland.
Details on the schedule, registration, speakers, and sponsorship opportunities will be announced over the next week. In the meantime, if you’re interested in volunteering to help out drop us a note at portland@wordcamp.org.
We’re really looking forward to this year’s event. It’s going to be great and we look forward to seeing you there!
WordCamp Portland 2012 is over. Check out the next edition!