All posts by Jeffrey Zinn

Lady Tshirts

We understand this is totally after the fact, but we are going for it anyway. Lady Campers, we are now offering women’s shirts this year. These will also be Next Level brand shirts. If you’ve already purchased your ticket, no problem! To update your ticket information:

  1. Click on the edit link that was included in the confirmation for your ticket. (Not the PayPal receipt email, the email from “WordCamp Orange County.”
  2. On the ticket page the link from #1 takes you to, click the yellow “Edit information” link corresponding to your ticket.
  3. On the ticket form, select “Women’s” under the Tshirt Kind form element*.
  4. Click the blue “Save Attendee Information” button to save your changes.
  5. All done!

*Special Note: There is no yellow counterpart in this shirt style. If you choose a Women’s Yellow shirt, you will get a Men’s yellow shirt. (Should not be a problem since out of hundreds of campers only 14 have chosen yellow.)

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Tshirt Colors

When you buy your WordCamp ticket this year you will get to choose what color tshirt you would like. The ticket registration form will ask Blue, Charcoal, Red, or Yellow. Here is what we mean by those colors. Also note, the tshirts will be Next Level brand, if that helps with sizing questions.

tshirt-mockup

(Don’t worry – We all still have four weeks left to get ripped and super chiseled so we can look like these fellas in time for WordCamp.)

We’ll Have Workshops Too

In addition to the 28 sessions we will be having on Saturday and Sunday, we will also be having four workshops for more hands-on on learning. The workshop room will feature round tables instead of a classroom style setting to encourage interaction and conversation. Each workshop will have an organizer, but may also have other helpers in the room for direct questions and additional assistance. The workshops will be as follows (subject to change):

  • Saturday Morning – Beginner’s Workshop led by Steve Zehngut. If you are absolutely new to WordPress, this is for you.
  • Saturday Afternoon – From HTML to WordPress led by Gregg Franklin. This workshop will help developers and designer move their HTML templates into a WordPress theme.
  • Sunday Morning – Core Contribution led by Mike Schroder. Here we will be giving back to WordPress with patches and contributions.
  • Sunday Afternoon – Business Coaching led by Chris Lema. Chris and others will be answering your business and entrepreneurial questions about running a WordPress business.

A huge thank you to the leaders to volunteered (or were drafted) to organize these workshops.

Sessions and Speakers Announced

Granted, everything is still subject to change and there are a few sessions that still need to be worked out a bit, but we are ready to show you the awesome line up we have for you this year. You can check out our list of speakers here, and the list of sessions here. (Also note that the schedule has not yet been set up, so right now it shows everything in track one. The schedule will be developed this week and announced next week.)

Remember tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon!

Speaker Submissions Closed

Speaker submissions are now closed for WordCamp Orange County 2014. We want to thank you all for so many great submissions. As per every year, you have made the selection process incredibly difficult for us. The good news is that since we are running presentation on Sunday as well as Saturday this year, we have room for a dozen more great presentations than before!

And so, we set off to the task of selecting speakers and making a schedule. We will have a tentative list of speakers and a schedule draft ready for you before tickets go on sale.

And remember tickets go on sale May 7 at NOON! (They’ve sold out the last two years, so don’t delay on getting yours.) Only 5 weeks to go. We are getting excited! Are you?

WCOC14 Speaker Submission Tips

So, you want to submit a speaker presentation, but don’t know what to submit.  If you are having trouble thinking of ideas here are some tips:

  • Go with what you are currently passionate about. One ingrediant that will always make a great presentation is enthusiasm.
  • Go with what you are currently learning. The best way to learn is to teach!
  • Go with your biggest fail. Tales of woe are always useful; let others learn from your mistakes.
  • Chat with WordCamp organizers, WordPress buddies, or folks at meetups to brainstorm ideas. The initial submission does not need to be 100% figured out. If it is a solid foundation, we are happy to work with you to iron out a presentation idea.
  • Submit more than one idea! We love it when people send multiple ideas. Make it tough for us to choose.

Here are some things to remember when developing submission ideas:

  • Remember that everything you know about WordPress, you did not know at one time. So while a topic may seem simple to you, there are scores of folks who are behind you on the learning curve who will benefit from your knowledge.
  • We are not looking for experts in all things. You don’t have to know all the answers. Present what you do know and don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something. The point of WordCamp is to share knowledge and build community, not to just have the top players in WordPress tell us how it is.

Finally, I’ll share a bit about our selection process. These are a few things we look for when selecting presenters for WordCamp:

  • Is the person passionate about the subject? If you are excited, we are excited.
  • Did the person fill everything out? If you can not take the time to fill out the bio section, how much effort will you put into your presentation?
  • Submit early, do not wait until the last minute. We are looking at the submissions as soon as they come in. The more time we have to consider and vet your proposal, the better chance it has of being selected.

Two Months Out

We are currently two months out from this year’s WordCamp. Time to start getting serious! Here is our tentative plan for the coming weeks. Mark your calendars. (All dates subject to change)

Speaker Submissions Are Now Open

Hey Southern California (and beyond)! Speaker submissions for this year WordCamp Orange County are now open. We invite you to submit and submit often. Please give us too many good ideas. Make our selection job the most difficult yet.

Submit Presentation Ideas Here (Submissions are now closed)