Wow, the wait is almost over! WordCamp NYC is less than 48 hours away, and the excitement is building. Here are some final details we think you should know before the big day. This is a lot of info, so pay attention:
Wifi:
There’s been a lot of buzz about this on Twitter, so let’s clear things up. As in years past, Wifi access for attendees will be limited due to venue constraints. The network can’t handle a huge amount of traffic, so please exercise restraint when using the internet. If possible, bring your own internet; if you have one of the many smartphones that have a Personal Hotspot feature, do us a favor and use that instead of the college Wifi. Or better yet, leave the laptop, pay attention to the speakers you came to see, and network with the hundreds of other attendees who come to WordCamp.
Transportation:
As of right now, there is no maintenance scheduled by the MTA that should affect WordCamp, but a constant in the city that never sleeps is that everything can change. Be sure to keep an eye on the MTA’s Website for up to date information. We’ll post information on this site as well as on our Twitter account if anything changes.
Registration:
Registration opens at 8am on Saturday morning, so why not get there early to avoid the crowd? The day officially begins at 9am, and you don’t want to be stuck waiting for your badge while sessions are going on. If you are late, Registration will be open all day Saturday, just in case. Baruch College is located at 55 Lexington Avenue @ 25th street. The actual entrance is on 25th street (which would be the side of the building that isn’t covered in blue scaffolding).
Badges:
Due to venue security, all attendees must wear their WordCamp badge at all times while in the secured area of the college. We started printing the badges yesterday, so if you didn’t register (or fill out your attendee profile) by Tuesday, June 5th, we will not have a pre-printed badge for you. We will have blank badges for those attendees. Please take care of your badge, as you will need it to last for two days (and to get admission to the after party).
T-shirts:
Every attendee will get a t-shirt. When you will be able to receive it depends on when you registered. If you registered (and completed your attendee profile) on or before Tuesday, May 29th, you will be able to receive your t-shirt in the size that appears on your attendee badge at registration. If you registered after that date, you will need to wait until after lunch to get your t-shirt.
Saturday Sessions:
We have 13 rooms of sessions going, so there will be plenty to see. Most of the sessions will be taking place in the Vertical Campus (the same building as registration), but the WordPress 101 track will be across 25th Street in the Newman Library building on the 6th floor.
Saturday Lunch:
Just like the t-shirts, there was a deadline to be guaranteed your meal preference. If you registered on or before Tuesday June 5th and completed your attendee profile, you will be guaranteed the meal that you chose (omnivore, kosher, vegetarian, or vegan). If you did not complete your registration by then, we assumed that you are an omnivore. Please stand by your meal choice, as we didn’t order a lot of extra food.
Saturday Night After Party:
What would WordCamp be without an after party? This year, we’re holding the after party at Slate, an awesome club on 21st Street between 5th and 6th avenues. The party begins at 7pm, two hours after the final session of the day, so you have plenty of time to get some dinner before partying the night away. In fact, Slate has a pretty good food menu, so you can eat there if you want to get in early. Please have your WordCamp badge with you to ensure you will be admitted to the party.
Sunday Sessions:
Doors open at 10am on Sunday, so don’t party too hard. There will be a few more planned sessions, but most of the sessions will be repeat sessions from Saturday (so you can see something you missed) or Unconference sessions that any attendee can propose. We’ll be opening proposals tomorrow, so if you’d like to present, get your thinking cap on now. We’ll take a vote during the day on Saturday, so keep an eye on this site (and on Twitter) for more details. There will also be a room for hacking plugins, themes, core WP, and even working on the Codex. If you want to contribute to WordPress, this is the place to do it.
Sunday Lunch:
There will be a lunch period on Sunday, but sadly, a second free lunch wasn’t included in our budget. There are a lot of great places to get lunch in the area, mostly on 3rd avenue.
Sunday WordPress.com workshop:
The full-day WordPress.com Beginner workshop will take place in the Newman Library Building on Sunday. This is the only session that required pre-registration due to the fact that we will be using the computer lab (and thus need computer accounts for all of the attendees). We will be doing a separate check-in for this workshop, so please make sure you received a confirmation email saying that you are on the list to go.
Sunday Q & A with Mark Jaquith and Andrew Nacin:
As our big finale of the weekend, we’ll be hosting a Q & A with two of the guys that help make WordPress. Get your questions in now by filling out this form. We’ll pose as many questions as we have time for.
Wow, that’s a lot of information! Thanks for reading all the way through. We hope you have a great time at WordCamp!
