While you’re gearing up for the end of the summer and plotting out those last few beach days before the weather turns, there’s one more weekend to put into your calendar: WordCamp NYC.

WordCamp NYC is New York City’s local WordPress conference organized by the WPNYC Meetup Community. It’s an inclusive weekend-long event featuring speakers on a variety of different WordPress topics for all skill levels. WordCamp promises to be an event chock-full of learning, fun, and most likely oodles of tech humor.

If you haven’t decided on whether or not you’re attending WordCamp NYC, here are 5 reasons that should pretty much make the decision for you:

#1 — Have you SEEN that Lineup?

There’s so much learning to be done in so little time! Whether you’re itching to get prepared for Gutenberg or want to learn more about how to make your websites more accessible, there’s a talk here for you.

No matter your WordPress experience level, everyone is welcome! WordCamp NYC content is specifically geared towards using and developing WordPress, but there are also related sessions on GDPR, remote team planning, and lead generation.

Head on over to the Schedule page to select your favorite sessions and then email them to yourself to put in your calendar. Sessions happen three at a time with Lightning talks and Workshops scattered throughout, so planning is essential.

#2 — It’s Not About the Money (Money, Money)

If you’re looking for a elite, fancy, high-falutin’ conference, this isn’t it. WordCamp is a low-key gathering for folks of all backgrounds to attend, learn, and share with one another, and the cost reflects that.

What is the cost, you ask? $500? Nope. $40.

The full cost of WordCamp NYC is covered by our incredible sponsors, so ticket prices can stay well below the average tech conference and anyone can attend. $40 for the whole conference means you’re learning from world-class experts about how to up your WordPress game for just $20 a day.

However, knowledge and memories aren’t the only thing you’ll walk away with. Your ticket also comes with a catered lunch on both days, no limit to snacks and coffee (duh), a WordCamp NYC t-shirt, and, of course, the memories of a very exciting after-party—you’re not going to want to miss this one.

#3 — You’ll Make New Friends

Tech folks know: working from your computer all day can be an isolating activity. Step away from your desk and connect with your fellow WordPress enthusiasts! WordCamp is a time of face-to-face learning and collaboration where you can foster new friendships and maybe even meet a new partner for a project!

Also, WordCamp NYC isn’t just for those crazy Big Apple folks. We’re so excited to welcome an international coalition of WordPress experts bringing their knowledge in from far and wide. You never know who you’re going to meet!

#4 — It’s in the Greatest City in the World

Whether or not you’ve been lucky enough to hear it from the stage of Hamilton, the facts are undeniable: New York City is the energetic center of the United States of America.

Our venue, Convene, is situated in the middle of the action, right between the iconic Times Square and historic NYC landmark Rockefeller Center. The gorgeous Bryant Park is only a few blocks away, and Broadway theatres and other attractions line the streets.

The last WordCamp NYC session ends at 4:30pm each day, and Saturday’s after party lasts until 7:30pm — just in time to catch the 8pm curtain of a Broadway show only a few steps away!

#5 — We’re an Open Source Community

Bottom Line: It can’t happen without you. Every single person who works on a WordCamp — from the Lead Organizer (shoutout to the incomparable Winstina Hughes) to a door greeter — is unpaid. We’re here doing this for the love of the WordPress community: contributing what we can and helping make the internet a better place.

Whether you’re attending, volunteering, or presenting, you have something to contribute to this community and we can’t wait to connect with you. Come share it with us!

What are you Waiting For?!

The clock is ticking, and time’s a-wastin’. We’ve got a top-notch location, population, and education waiting for you on Sept 15th. Head on over to our Tickets page, and grab your spot today!

We can’t wait to see you there.

Alex Raby is a member of our CSS Wrangler Team, coming to us as a WordPress freelance developer and copywriter who really appreciates free coffee. She answered the call to be the WordCamp NYC CSS Wrangler along with Casey James Perno and Victor M Ramirez. Check her out @thecurlycoder on Twitter.

A fantastic WordPress weekend! WordCamp San Jose Costa Rica #WCSJ was a success, we sold 725 tickets, and had more than 600 attendees, exceeding our goal and making this the biggest WordCamp in Latin America so far.

The organizing team was made up of 5 women and 4 men, who worked hard for 7 months to make sure everything went smooth and that the event met the expectations of all who attended. We made it!

For months, the team organized meetups and visited universities to promote WordCamp San José, where we told everyone about WordPress and what a WordCamp is like. We obtained very good results, and people increasingly wanted to buy tickets. The event ended up selling out, but additional tickets were made available in the weeks leading up to WordCamp!

The day of the event we had talks classified into three topics Basic/Entrepreneur, Design/Marketing and Developer/Advanced. Attendees could enjoy a variety of interesting topics to share WordPress knowledge and inspire others to keep learning and sharing. Each speaker put a lot of time and dedication into developing their presentations.

We also incorporated workshops with 7 topics to choose from, including: WordPress 101, UX, Design Thinking, JS, React.js, Promoting Sales with WooCommerce, and Prototyping with Figma.

With excitement, we also organized our first KidsCamp, in which 18 children enjoyed a UX Workshop. They learned how to install and create their first WordPress blog, and got a welcome pack, T-shirt and snacks. This was a unique experience, resulting in so many smiling faces, without a doubt. We hope to continue organizing KidsCamps for years to come!

On Saturday we had our after-party; socializing is something that we like a lot in our community! Since we were lucky enough to host visitors from other countries such as United States, Argentina, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, and Spain; we decided we had to do something that was memorable and fun, and that’s how the photo booth arrived. Attendees could take pictures together, using masks or crazy decorations and funny phrases — it was very entertaining, so this will not be the last time you see a photo booth!

Lastly, we are so grateful to all those who made this event possible, our sponsors: Hangar, WooCommerce, Jetpack for WordPress, BrainStation CR, Bluehost, YITH, SiteGround, Konrad Group Costa Rica, Imagely, Gravity Forms, Accenture, DreamHost, GoDaddy, Yoast, BoldGrid, Outer Space Coders, Weglot, GreenGeeks, StickerGiant and the Latin University of Costa Rica for lovingly opening their doors to us one more year!

To the volunteers and speakers, thank you very much for your commitment and dedication to make this event everything the community was hoping for.

A big hug to everyone and see you next year with more!