WPCampus 2018 is the third annual in-person conference for the WPCampus community, a gathering of web professionals, educators and people dedicated to the confluence of WordPress in higher education.
This year’s event will take place July 12-14, 2018 at Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. We’re excited to head west this year and add a third day to the event.
Visit the WPCampus conferences page to learn more about our previous conferences: WPCampus 2016 (in Sarasota, Florida), WPCampus 2017 (in Buffalo, New York), and our annual virtual conference, WPCampus Online.
What to Expect
This three-day conference event will be filled with sessions, networking, and social events, covering a variety of topics, all focused on the growth of higher education, WordPress, and its people.
The schedule isn’t finalized but we want to make sure you know what to expect, especially for those who will be joining us for the first time in St. Louis. For those who can’t make the trip, we expect to continue our tradition of streaming the event for free.
Thursday, July 12
We’re excited to try some new things this year, like add a third day (Thursday) to give workshops their own day. This will allow us to dive deeper and spend even more time on important topics.
We’ll probably start right after lunch, around 1 p.m., and go until 5 p.m. We’ll provide snacks. After we break for the day, don’t forget to join us for the first social event, our welcome gathering, Thursday night. All are welcome to attend.
Friday, July 13
Friday will be the first full day of the conference.
We usually get started around 8 a.m. with registration, a light breakfast, and opening remarks. Each session is 45 minutes with 15 minutes in-between, so you have time to use the restroom, stretch your legs, talk to other attendees, and chat with our amazing sponsors.
We will provide lunch and usually close the first day between 5 and 6 p.m.
After sessions, meet up with some new friends for dinner before joining us for another social event and fun evening together, networking and making new friends in the community.
Saturday, July 14
Saturday is another full day and the last day of the conference.
We usually get started around 8 a.m. with a light breakfast before sessions. Again, each session is 45 minutes with 15 minutes in-between, so you have time to use the restroom, stretch your legs, talk to other attendees, and chat with our amazing sponsors.
We will provide lunch and usually end the day between 5 and 6 p.m. with closing remarks. Be sure to stick around for closing remarks for the chance to win some awesome door prizes.
After sessions, meet up with some new friends for dinner before joining us for the after-party. Karaoke is the name of the game at the WPCampus after-party so be sure to warmup those vocal chords. If singing isn’t your forte, no worries. It’s not required and there’s no pressure whatsoever.
Sunday, July 15
We leave Sunday open so that attendees can be tourists and enjoy our host city.
On Sunday, there’s a Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals at 1:15 p.m. We’ve bought a block of tickets and will organize a group trip to the ballpark.
Why WPCampus?
Thus far, there have been numerous niche WordPress conferences aiming toward for-profit initiatives and geared toward businesses, marketers, or eCommerce site owners. The concept for WPCampus is an education focused, non-profit event which will allow people to share and learn about WordPress in the world of higher education.
Much like online businesses or blogging, higher education is a world of its own with unique challenges, content, stakeholders, and target audiences. Higher education is WordPress at enterprise level but we don’t worry so much about which e-commerce plugin is best. Instead, we’re more concerned with managing large-scale networks of faculty blogs, abiding with FERPA and accessibility regulations, and implementing tools to promote research data.
WPCampus members are using WordPress to power learning management systems, intranets, large university websites, and whatever else is needed to support their institution.
The world of higher ed is a great great candidate for utilizing WordPress to its full potential, whether it’s using the powerful CMS to stretch limited resources or using its API capabilities to share information and break down silos.
How WPCampus Began
This conference (and community) is the brainchild of Rachel Cherry, a web engineer with a passion for all things WordPress and higher education. She loves going to WordCamps but there was never content focused on the topics she wanted to discuss as a higher education web specialist. The idea for the conference all started with a tweet in August 2015…
Ooh. Dream with me: "#WordCampus: A WordCamp for folks using #WordPress in Higher Education." I like it. #heweb https://t.co/m1zEkpkP4B
— Rachel Cherry (@bamadesigner) August 3, 2015
… and has since formed into a widespread community of over 800 members and 4 conferences.
Who Will Be There?
Members of the higher education and WordPress communities from all over the United States, Canada, Europe, and more.
All WPCampus events and resources are open to faculty, staff, students, and professionals from outside higher education, from all over the world.
How to Get Involved
If you are not already a member of the WPCampus community, we invite you to follow @wpcampusorg on Twitter and visit the main WPCampus site to learn more on how to get involved. We have a thriving Slack channel and would love to have you join the conversation.
WPCampus events are not WordCamps and are not affiliated with the WordPress Foundation.