WordCamp US kicks off in St. Louis on Friday, and we want everyone to be ready. Here are some updates regarding our venue and ways to make your trip easier and more enjoyable.
Registration and Badge Pick-Up
When you arrive at the America’s Center, 701 Convention Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63101. Enter through the doors at the corner of N. 8th St. and Washington Ave. The St. Louis Marriott Grand (official hotel) will be across Washington Ave. from the entrance. Look for our feather flags outside the doors.
After you enter, come on over to the registration area, which opens at 8:00 am, and we’ll give you your attendee badge and lanyard. From there, we recommend checking out our hallway track area to grab a refreshment, check out what our sponsors have to offer, and then head to room 220 for opening remarks at 9:00 am.
Your registration entitles you to one of our commemorative event t-shirts and special surprise swag item (1 per attendee) which will be available in the rear of the sponsor hall starting late morning on Friday. To ensure attendees who registered before the t-shirt size cutoff receive their preferred shirt size, we ask attendees who purchased their tickets after the October 1st deadline to please wait until Saturday to pick up their swag items when the swag table re-opens that morning.
If you wish to trade in your t-shirt for a different size, please wait to do so until Saturday afternoon.
Early Registration option: Want to beat the lines in the morning? Swing on by to the convention center Thursday between 1:00pm and 3:00 pm. We will have a station set up right outside of Hall 1. You can get your badge early so you can walk right into our main areas on Friday morning.
Sessions and Workshops November 1-2
Your badge gets you entrance to any of our sessions and workshops. It is not necessary to have pre-registered to attend a workshop. If the material in a room is not the right fit, no worries, feel free to change rooms.
Our presenters will take questions from the audience, but please do the following so that everyone gets the greatest benefit for the Q & A:
- Keep your question brief and to the point.
- Please ask only one question so that others in the room may have an opportunity to ask theirs. If no one else has a question, feel free to ask another.
- Please frame your question as a question, not as a comment.
- Here’s some additional info on how to be a great audience member.
Contributor Day November 3
On Contributor Day, you can help give back to the WordPress Open Source project. Newcomers are encouraged and welcome. You don’t have to know how to code to participate.
We’ll have workshops during the first two days (November 1 and 2) to help walk everyone through more specifics around each Contributor team, help you get set up and ready to go, and we’ll even have people available on Contributor Day (November 3) to do the same. We look forward to seeing you there!
You can also swing by the “Get Involved” community table in the hallway track on Friday or Saturday to find out more about all the ways you can participate.
The “Hallway Track” aka the Sponsor Hall November 1-2
Aside from having our regularly scheduled workshops and speaker sessions, there is also what is commonly known as “The Hallway Track.”
The Hallway Track consists of:
- WordPress Support Desk: Need help with something WordPress? We can assist.
- Get Involved Table: Learn how to contribute to WordPress.
- Swag Area: A place to pick up your free WordCamp US commemorative swag
- Coffee, Water, and Snacks
- Job Board: Postings for those seeking and offering employment
- Unconference Board: Suggest a talk
- Sponsor Area: Diamond, Platinum, Gold, and Silver sponsors there all day
- Shared Swag Table: Info from Bronze Sponsors
Lunch and Snack Break
We will have hot, buffet lunch each day. Omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free items will be clearly labeled.
Kosher and halal meals or unique dietary meals to accommodate specific allergies that were arranged for ahead of time may be picked up asking any uniformed member of the catering staff, and they will get you your meal.
If you have a dietary concern, please reach out to an organizer. We will do our best to assist you.
Snack break will occur in the Hallway Track and will include vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and lactose-free options.
Coffee, tea, and water will be available throughout the day in the Hallway Track.
There will be cups, but we recommend bringing a water bottle with you so you can fill it up at the various water stations.
If you bring personal snack items with you, please make sure they are peanut free. We have several attendees with life threatening peanut allergies.
WordFest: Party at the City Museum November 1
The annual WordCamp US party (now called WordFest) will be on Friday, November 1st, at the City Museum from 7:00 pm – 11:30 pm. City Museum is less than a mile away from the America’s Center Convention Complex. We suggest wearing sneakers/comfortable shoes to safely access areas that involve climbing if you so desire.
We will have beverages (non-alcoholic beverages included, alcoholic beverages for purchase 21+ with ID), light hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. We advise attendees to eat dinner first. Remember, you need to have a badge in order to attend this event, no plus ones please. If you need to purchase an additional ticket, please do so online, and then visit the registration area before 4:00 pm to pick up the badge for this new purchase.
Needing Assistance/Contacting Organizers
If you need to be in touch with us during the event, the best place to do this is via Slack or Twitter (we monitor these channels consistently during event hours). You can use the contact form, but we will not be checking this as regularly. Here is how you can join us on Slack if you are not familiar with the process.
Volunteers wearing red shirts can help direct you to the correct person on site for any matters of urgency or emergency. We have tried to make the event accessible to all, but if there is something else we can do for you, let us know. Organizers will all be wearing black lanyards with the word “organizer” on them. We take our Code of Conduct seriously, so do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions or concerns.
For Parents with Kids
There is a nursing pod at the venue on the first floor across from Hall 1. For those who registered ahead of time for childcare, please see your email for specific details.
ChildCare Registration
If you have not done so already, please register your child/ren before October 30th at 10pm.
A Helping Hand will be providing onsite event childcare for Word Camp US 2019 on November 1, 2019 – November 3, 2019! A Helping Hand is asking that everyone “Pre-Register” their children for the event, to ensure a smooth and time-saving check in process. Please follow the instructions below to register your children for your event:
Visit: http://www.ahelpinghandevents.com and log in or register for a new account.
If it’s your first time visiting, you will be prompted to fill out a profile with your child(ren)’s information
Go to your Event Registration tab and enter our GROUP ID NUMBER: H9NV
Event Pre-Registration for childcare will close at 11:59pm on October 25, 2019, so please be sure to pre-register your children as soon as possible! If you have questions, please feel free to contact A helping Hand directly.
For safety, please make sure that your child has a badge (ages 12 and under are covered under their parents’ badge, 12+ need their own badge).
KidsCamp
If your child is 6-12 years of age and wants to participate in KidsCamp on Sunday please do not forget to purchase their ticket to the event on Sunday. It is an all day event. We are offering our Childcare kids and their families a discount using code CHILDCARE at checkout.
Please bring a laptop and a smile to participate.
Allergies
PEANUT FREE EVENT
We have several children that have severe peanut allergies (along with other attendees) Please do not send ANY peanut or nut products in your children’s bag. We want to ensure a safe environment for everyone.
If you have any questions, concerns, or just need to chat you can email us@wordcamp.org or kids@wordcamp.org to reach an organizer who can assist.
Hotel Wifi
Anyone in our official hotel block at the Marriott St. Louis Grand gets complimentary wifi. You should get instructions at check in. (please ask if they forget to offer). You will connect to the Marriott_GUEST network. You will choose the basic option. It will ask for room number and last name. It will look like you are being charged $14.95, but it will be taken off the bill.
This only applies to rooms booked under our block. If you choose instead Enhanced Internet option, you will be charged!
Items to Bring (and Not to Bring) for Networking
We understand that folks want to connect at WordCamp US, but we also want to be fair to the sponsors whose generous support makes the event possible at only $50 a ticket. By all means bring things along the lines of business cards, stickers, or postcards to hand to someone you meet and have a conversation with. It’s totally okay to exchange personal gifts with other attendees!
If you’re not a sponsor, other promotional swag/giveaways are reserved for official WordCamp US sponsors. Please do not hand those out in the hallways or leave them on tables, coat racks, bathroom counters, etc. If you’re not a sponsor and you bring bulk swag to give away at WCUS, you’ll be asked to remove it, and yourself, from the venue.
Daylight Savings Time Ends on Sunday
Daylight Savings Time ends at 2:00 am on November 3. You get an extra hour of sleep on Sunday, huzzah! Your phone will likely set the time automatically, but you’re probably going to want to fix your watch.
Unofficial Events
Various attendees and sponsors will have unofficial get-togethers outside of the event official hours. This can range from folks looking for morning jog buddies, to Pokemon traders, to pre-event co-working, to you name it. The best way to find out about these unofficial events is to check out the #WCUS hashtag on Twitter. This is a great way to meet other members of the WordPress Community, but please remember these are unofficial events and not organized by the WCUS team, or covered by our Code of Conduct.
Note: The below was also sent to all attendees on Wednesday, morning October 30.