Author: Adam Wills

WordCamp Hamilton is 1 week away – are you ready?

Posted on by Adam Wills

WordCamp Hamilton is fast approaching! We’re only 1 week away now and everything is in place for another successful year. In order to make sure that you’re ready for the event, we’ve put together a checklist of things to review before you attend!

1. Get your ticket!

Probably the most important item on the list! Tickets are only $20 and include admission to the event, some light breakfast, lunch, WordCamp swag (including a WordCamp Hamilton t-shirt… while supplies last) and admission to the after-party.

WordCamp Hamilton has a reputation of selling out, so don’t leave it until the last minute – get your tickets now!

2. Plan your day

Review the schedule and pick out the talks that interest you. Is there a time when neither talk jumps out at you? Take the opportunity to network in the atrium with other WordCampers – there are always a few hanging around. And while you’re perusing the schedule, take a few moments to review our Code of Conduct. We invite everyone to help us make WordCamp Hamilton a safe and positive experience for all!

3. Enjoy the sessions

We’re really proud of our speaker lineup this year. We have a great mix of topics that we’re sure will inspire everyone. If you’re not able to make every talk – it’s ok, we’ll be recording the sessions to be posted on wordcamp.tv.

4. Visit the Happiness Bar

The Happiness Bar is a WordCamp tradition, where volunteers make themselves available for 1-on-1 help with WordPress questions. Not sure why your theme is acting a certain way? Need some help speeding up your site? Perhaps there’s a piece of code that just isn’t quite working as you’re expecting. We’ll have people there to help.

Or perhaps helping others is something that interests you – feel free to join us to help out as well!

5. Make plans for dinner

We have a break between our talks and the after-party to give you the chance to check out some of the great places to eat in downtown Hamilton. We’ve even put together a guide of some of our favourite places! Need some company for dinner? Want some company for dinner? Jump on Twitter under the hashtag #wchamont and connect with someone!

Note that some of the restaurants downtown can get a little busy on a Saturday night. So if you have your heart set on a specific place, you may want to make reservations, especially if you’re part of a group of 4 or more.

6. Come out to the after party!

The after party, happening at 7pm over at Mills Hardware, is a great way to continue the conversations that were happening during the day. We’ll have music, some small snacks and some great local beverages – and most importantly, some wonderful people to chat about WordPress, the community or anything else that might pop up during the night… karaoke, anyone?

 

After-party fuel – where should I eat dinner?

Posted on by Adam Wills

Written by Marco Posteraro and Adam Wills

After we’re done spending an awesome day at WordCamp 2018, we’re going to need some fuel for the after-party (happening at Mills Hardware @ 7pm). So, we’ve put together a list with some of our favourite restaurants in town, and best of all, they’re super close to both WordCamp and the after-party (some within walking distance)!

Continue reading “After-party fuel – where should I eat dinner?” →

Call for Volunteers

Posted on by Adam Wills

We’re always hearing from excited people who want to help out with WordCamp Hamilton but aren’t sure how. Here’s your chance!

We need a team of people who want to help make WordCamp Hamilton 2018 as pleasant as possible. Our volunteers help with everything from ensuring that the registration process runs smoothly to ensure that we’re capturing video of all of the talks.

Apply to be a volunteer at WordCamp Hamilton 2018!

Volunteer Roles

We’re looking for a number of volunteers with a wide variety of skills to help out throughout the day. Here are some of the roles we’ll be looking at filling:

Registration/Greeters

Your role will be to help manage the registration table, ensure that attendees get registered and receive their badges and gifts. We also need people to act as ambassadors in the venue and help lost people find the rooms they are looking for.

Registration Manager

For this role, we are looking for someone to help us make sure the registration table runs smoothly during the day. For that, we’re looking for someone who is not interested in attending sessions (or not more than one) and can be at the registration table most of the day.

Room Host

Your role is to help keep speakers on time, get water or supplies they need, assist with any questions they may have, and let us know if there are problems in the room, such as A/V equipment failure. This is one of the plum positions as you get to watch the sessions while doing your task.

Video Gurus

We need a pair of video gurus for each of our two session rooms. This position is a full day position so we can keep the video quality high and consistent from one session to the next throughout the day. Having a pair of video gurus in each room will provide built-in backup when one needs a quick break. The video equipment is provided.

General Helpers

You may not have a specific role at the start of the day, but there are always things to do. Whether it’s helping to fill swag bags, helping people find the room they’re looking for and anything else that might pop up throughout the day, you’ll be there to lend a hand.

Apply to be a volunteer at WordCamp Hamilton 2018!

Tickets now on sale!

Posted on by Adam Wills

Tickets for WordCamp Hamilton 2018 are now on sale!

What’s included in your ticket (which costs a very reasonable $20)?

  • Speakers! We’ll have 14 speakers ranging in a variety of topics for all skill levels.
  • Lunch and snacks! That’s right, lunch is included in the ticket price.
  • Happiness bar! Have some specific questions about something you’re working on? Chat with some knowledgeable volunteers one-on-one.
  • After-party! Haven’t had enough fun yet? Hang out afterwards to network, chat and meet new people in the community.
  • And most importantly… the WordCamp Hamilton 2018 t-shirt!

Purchase your ticket now!

Join us for a “Creating Your Talk for A WordCamp” workshop!

Posted on by Adam Wills

Have you thought about applying to speak at a WordCamp or Meetup event, but haven’t been able to come up with a topic? Is the idea of speaking in front of a group intimidating and preventing you from taking the leap? Then this is the workshop for you.

This is a workshop for anyone who is thinking about speaking at WordPress events, such as WordPress Meetups and WordCamps. During this hands-on session, we’ll look at what has stopped you from speaking in the past — and explore how to move past your fears. We will discuss some common myths about public speaking, different talk formats, and we will focus on finding your areas of expertise (yes, you have areas of expertise!). We will brainstorm topics you can talk about at a WordCamp or other event.

Each participant will come out of the workshop with a WordCamp or Meetup talk idea — and more confidence to submit it.

The main purpose is to encourage those in underrepresented groups (LGBTQ+, Persons with Disabilities, Women in Tech, etc.) to submit talks and have our WordCamp and other events more representative of a community. While this meetup is targeted at these groups, it is open to anyone who needs help in coming up with a topic for their talk, a title and a pitch.

Just us at CoMotion on King on Thursday, April 26 – we’d love to have you! RSVP for free at Meetup.com.

Call for Sponsors

Posted on by Adam Wills

This year WordCamp Hamilton returns on June 2, 2018! This will be the 4th WordCamp Hamilton and we hope to make it as successful as it has been in the past.

Our 2015 and 2016 events were quite successful. We had sold out crowds of 200 WordPress bloggers, developers, users, educators and everyone in between. We’ll continue to bring WordPress education, inspiration, and fun to Hamilton’s WordPress community.

Simply put, without our generous sponsors, WordCamp Hamilton would not be affordable to the vast majority of the WordPress community. For just $20 our attendees have a full day to gain insight from our speakers, network with others, and learn more about the open source WordPress project whose mission is to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. All of our valued sponsors, by donating to WordCamp Hamilton, continue to make this mission a reality. Thank you both to our sponsors, and all of those who sponsor WordCamps around the world!

Continue reading “Call for Sponsors” →

Call for Speakers

Posted on by Adam Wills

We are looking forward to all kinds of talks from all kinds of folks at WordCamp Hamilton! Over the past few months at our meetup, we’ve been looking at Gutenberg, doing some show & tell sessions, helping each other with our websites, and talking about eCommerce, SEO and choosing the best plug-ins and themes. You can find out more about our monthly local meetup on Meetup.com.

Got a topic that you think our membership might be interested in hearing about? Did you learn something at our meetup and now want to show it off? We are hoping to have some great local talent, as well as bringing in speakers to our great city from all around with amazing knowledge. Over the coming months at our local meetup, we’ll be running some sessions to help people come up with their own talks to submit here and at other camps. In addition, we’ll talk diversity and your survival guide to WordCamp.

Continue reading “Call for Speakers” →

Welcome to WordCamp Hamilton

Posted on by Adam Wills

We’re happy to announce that WordCamp Hamilton is officially on the calendar!

WordCamp Hamilton will be June 2, 2018 at McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Tickets are now on sale!

WordCamp Hamilton has a history of selling out, so ensure to get your tickets sooner than later to avoid missing out!

Check out our schedule, directions to WordCamp Hamilton and our sponsors, who help make WordCamp Hamilton possible!