WordCamp US, one of the largest and perhaps most anticipated WordPress events of the year, is just nine days away. On December 2nd thousands of WordPress enthusiasts from all over the United States (and likely the world) will descend on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for two days to learn, share, and celebrate WordPress.
In this post, we’re going to share with you (a prospective attendee) what you can expect if you decide to join us.
Which you definitely should!
What to Expect at WordCamp US 2016
WordCamp US is, for lack of a better term, the WordPress world’s “main event” each year. It’s the natural evolution of the first WordCamp event that used to happen in San Francisco every year. Now it moves around the country, staying in the same city two years at a time before moving on to a new city for two years.
It’s at this event that many of the world’s leaders in all sorts of WordPress categories gather to conclude and reflect on yet another year of making and using WordPress–full of lessons learned, milestones achieved, and visions for the future imagined.
Nothing represents this mentality more than the annual State of the Word address delivered by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.
This address has become a staple of WordCamp US and a guide to professionals and users alike as to the direction WordPress (as a software and as a movement) will take in the coming year or years to come.
In short, if you’re into WordPress, it’s kind of a big deal.
Which is why we’d like to encourage everyone in our community who can make it out to join us. As big of an event as this is, it’s far from inaccessible. Tickets are just $40! And if you can work out lodging close to the convention center then most everything is within walking distance.
It’s a great opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the smartest and most passionate WordPress folks in the world.
For example, some of the other speakers this year will include:
- Troy Dean of WP Elevation
- Joost De Valk of Yoast
- Pippin Williamson of Pippin’s Plugins
- Chris Lema, product strategist extraordinaire
- Andrew Nacin a lead developer of WordPress
- A guy named Taco!
- And many more
We really hope you can make it out. If you do, we’ve got some Divi goodness planned just for our community.
Divi Nation Extras & Hangout Opportunities
Members of the Divi Nation Meetup Group attending WordCamp US will get a free Divi Nation T-Shirt. Pictured: Josh and Emilee Hall, WordCamp Columbus attendees.
For two days the WordCamp schedule itself is quite packed. Starting bright and early at 8am Friday Morning and going into the early evening on Saturday (not to mention a killer after party!) there’s always something to do.
But that doesn’t mean we aren’t planning a few special things just for the Divi community! The primary one being a special Divi Nation meet and greet at La Colombe Coffee a short walk from the convention center.
Starting at 8:30am until 10am (we might go a bit longer depending on how things are going) myself, Mitch Skolnik our Operations Director, Andy Tran our frontend developer, and Nick Roach our founder and CEO will be slinging free coffee, pastries, and Divi freebies. Including our bright purple Divi Nation t-shirts!
This will be an excellent time to gather together with other Divi Nation community members, chat with the Elegant Themes team, and gear up for an excellent weekend of WordPress.
For full details and updated information throughout the weekend on where and how to hang out with other Divi Nation community members, join our Meetup Page and RSVP for the WordCamp US event.
As of this writing we have 60 people who have RSVP’d, let’s see if we can hit 100!
Regardless of Attendance You Can Stay Connected to the Action Online
While we’re really hoping to see a lot of you in person at WordCamp US, we know that getting there is simply not possible for everyone. Thankfully, there are many ways you can not only track what’s going on but actually participate from anywhere in the world.
The event itself will have a live stream of various segments of the conference. We will be publishing multiple live broadcasts throughout the event on our Facebook page. And to top it all off, community member Leslie Bernal has kept up her site Divi Nation Does WordCamp which will be tracking social activity across multiple platforms via the #divinationwc hashtag. So if we don’t see you in person, we look forward to seeing you online throughout the event!
Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter and YouTube channel so that you never miss a big announcement, useful tip, or Divi freebie!
I’ve never heard of this conference before! Guess what just went on my 2017 bucket list?? ?
HI,
I will be there, best of luck..
Have been using Divi more and it has some really neat functions. Would love to meet you guys, and I’ll be at WCUS. Is the Meet & Greet on Friday or Saturday?
See you there!
The meet and greet is Friday morning.
Hi Mark, Elegant themes have a plugin for all these social platform.
It’s called Monarch:
https://www.elegantthemes.com/plugins/monarch/
Maybe you could try it out.
Dan
Love Divi and would like to come to Philadelphia but cannot make the trip. It would be fantastic if you can bring it to WordCamp Toronto 🙂
I’ll look forward to seeing your coverage and hearing what you all learn! I’m so excited that we can watch some live stream this time… have fun!
When will Divi add other social media icons?!!?? only having FB, twitter and google is not very social media friendly. We should be able to add Instagram, Pinterest and other main primary social media services.
I know we can hack the code to get them, but not everyone wants to edit code. These should be in the settings. Im shocked with how popular divi is, that you have not added them yet.