Category: News

We’re less than a week away from WordCamp for Publishers! We wanted to share some details about Contributor Day, which will be held Saturday, August 19 at The Denver Post, the same place as the rest of the conference.

Contributor days are in-person opportunities to give back to open source projects. At WordCamp, it’s only natural we work on WordPress-related efforts. This is not just a “developer thing”  – open source needs people from all different backgrounds and disciplines.

Doors open at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. WordPress Core contributor Aaron Jorbin will kick off the event at 10:30 a.m., followed by brief presentations from two projects that’ll be ready to welcome volunteers of all skill levels:

• WordPress Core. It’s kind of a big deal, and there’s a whole lot going on. Joe McGill and Jeffrey Paul are Core volunteers in different focus areas, media and project management, respectively. Join them in a quick talk about volunteering with Core and then jump into some #GoodFirstBugs.
• INN’s Largo. A theme crafted specifically with the needs of news publishers in mind. Lead developer RC Lations will host a short discussion of the project followed by work towards making theme standards-compliant for hosting on WordPress.org.

Aaron, RC, Joe, Jeff, and other volunteers throughout the event will be able to assist with local development setup, using PHP CodeSniffer, submitting patches, etc. Non-developers can help groom tickets, check for accessibility, and work on design and UX research.

Other projects/maintainers will also have a chance during the opening to pitch what they’re working on, so that folks can connect and collaborate.

Around 2:45 p.m. we’ll gather and share what we worked on. Afterwards, we’ll keep the conversation going in Slack.

Conference tickets are required for Contributor Day. Remaining tickets will be available for a limited time here.

We’re excited to see you in Denver next week! As part of preparations, you’re probably asking if you need to do anything to prepare, besides pack your bags. We’ve got some things for you to look forward to, including workshops, the schedule, and travel directions.

Workshop Prep

Along with our main presentation track, we will also be offering five hands-on workshops. If you’re interested in a workshop, workshop leaders can tell you about any prep you’ll need to do, like setting up a local development environment. If you’re not sure which workshop you’ll attend, you can still decide day-of, but plan on showing up a bit early to catch up on any prep work.

Here are the workshops:

• The Complete Introduction to WP-CLI – Dwayne McDaniel (mcdwayne.com), Daniel Bachhuber (Hand Built)
• Designing for Customization: How to Build a Modular News Theme – Julia Smith (Institute for Nonprofit News)
• The Project Scope Will Change. Here’s How You Make It a Tolerable – If Even Pleasant – Experience. – Whitney Yadrich, Jay Moore (10up)
• Syndicating Content with the WP REST API and WPGraphQL – Jason Bahl (Digital First Media)
• Prototyping in the Browser with WordPress – Owen Stowe, Pattie Reaves (Alley Interactive)

Schedule

Here’s our complete conference schedule.

Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. and presentations begin at 9:30 a.m. each morning. We have a fantastic mix of workshops, presentations, and panels. We’ve also created space for unconference sessions, so if there’s a conversation you’d like to facilitate, let us know.

We’ll have three breaks throughout the conference day including a longer lunch break, and we hope you all take advantage of the “hallway track.” To keep the conversations going, on Thursday night we’ll be heading to Denver’s RiNo district for a brewery tour, and on Friday we’ll have an afterparty at Wynkoop Brewing. Saturday is all about Contributor Day, where folks will be collaborating on discussions and open source projects that benefit publishers. Once the conference wraps, we’ll all be heading to a Rockies game at 6pm on Saturday night.

Getting Around

Lucky for us, Denver is an easy city to get around. You can get into the city from the airport for $9 using the A-Rail. Once you’re downtown, you can use the free MallRide or MetroRide (limited hours) to get around to various destinations, including our conference venue, The Denver Post (it’s right next to Civic Center Park). We’ve created a handy guide to transportation for the conference, we hope it’s useful!

If you have any questions, please email journalist@wordcamp.org.

See ya in Denver!

If you reside in Denver or if you’re lucky enough to be able to stay for awhile, you’ll have the opportunity to attend two WordCamps being hosted in the city in August. Our friends over at WordCamp Denver talk about the differences between the two events:

If you manage a publication, you should go to WordCamp for Publishers. Then if you’re still in town, we’d love to have you at WordCamp Denver! Don’t manage a publication but still use WordPress? Come to WordCamp Denver!

Check out the full post on the WordCamp Denver website.

We’re pleased to announce that the event schedule has been finalized. Be sure to check it out so you don’t miss your favorite talks, demos,  or activities! Note that registration begins early on August 17th and that there’s a post conference outing each day.

Also, today is the last day to buy tickets and be guaranteed swag and a spot at events. We hope to see you all in Denver for this amazing lineup!

We’re thrilled to be hosting WordCamp for Publishers in as cool of place as Denver, Colorado. If this is your first time visiting the mile-high city, or even if you’re a local, be sure to take some time during the week to check out everything the city has to offer. Here are just a few things we’ll be doing:

Continue reading “Our picks for exploring Denver”

Today is the last day to apply for a travel scholarship. Apply by midnight ET today if you’re interested!