WordCamp Whistler

Last modified on October 30th, 2008

Yes, that’s right people. How does going up to Whistler and spending a weekend boarding/skiing and talking about everyone’s favourite blogging engine, WordPress, sound? I suggested this briefly on Twitter tonight, and immediately got a message from Rebecca along the lines of “hell ya!”

I emailed a hotel already tonight at the heart of the village to see what kind of group rates we could get in December or January. I think it would be awesome to go up for a weekend, hold a WordCamp during the day, and do afternoon/night skiing in the off time, or on the second day.

Rebecca and I helped organize the last WordCamp a few weeks ago, and it was a ton of fun. Given that it was a great experience and everyone learned a lot, I’m definitely interested in helping get this event off of the ground. What better way to talk about WordCamp then up at North America’s number one ski result, surrounded by awesome people, great scenery, and of course, a bunch of Canadian beer.

I really need to get some numbers to give a hotel for some rates, so please drop a comment if you’re interested in heading up for a weekend. Also, if you’d be interested in talking about something, drop me a comment as well. Any help getting the word out for this event in the planning stage (i.e. right now) would be great.

Updates:

  • Whistler official opens on November 27, 2008. So I’m thinking January might be a good time.
  • I added a wiki page WordCamp Whistler. If you want to edit it, the password is “c4mp”. Please add yourself to the list if you think you might attend.
  • There’s also a Facebook event for the wiki-challenged people out there. check it out here.
  • The RSS feed for this event is here. Feel free to subscribe to it to keep up with the updates.

36 responses to “WordCamp Whistler”

  1. raincoaster says:

    I’m in. If you need someone to talk specifically about why to choose WP.com vs WP.org, that’s my field. I’ve got blogs of each kind.

  2. tyfn says:

    Great idea. I can’t attend, but I will be promoting it like crazy. Who can resist Boarding & blogging?

  3. Duane Storey says:

    Don’t forget drinking.

  4. Hi Duane,

    I’m in! (for everything but the alcohol) Sounds like a fun idea. I have a friend who has a friend at one of the hotels – I can ask them as well.

    What else needs to be done?

    -k.s.

  5. Duane Storey says:

    Spread the word! There will be more for people to do once we get the dates set and some idea of who will attend.

  6. Also a tweet from Colleen:

    “@kulpreetsingh @miss604 @duanestorey I’m working on getting us a good rate at a new resort. Give me till tomorrow. 😀 (PS – I’m in w plannin”

  7. Don’t you think end of Jan is too late? I was hoping we could have the “big” WordPress event in end of Feb. Won’t they be too close together?

  8. Anya says:

    sounds like a great idea! As long as it’s held sometime after the first week of January I will try my best to make it. The last WordCamp was awesome.

  9. Gregg says:

    You make me wish my dad still owned a room in the Westin…

  10. Rebecca says:

    I’m in but preferably for January or something. November is right around the corner and December is holiday fun time.

    And um… I will require the ability to snowboard as well. Can we get like a hyper-mega pack that includes a resort, meeting rooms, lift tickets, and beer? That would be DREAMY! 😛

  11. […] but the best ideas are always those that just organically emerge. Duane thought of organizing a WordCamp Whistler and I’m SO in for that! I am not a winter sports guy, but I definitely love the WordPress […]

  12. Dave S. says:

    Sweet, I’m in. WordPress is fun, and boarding is funner.

  13. Tyler says:

    The girlfriend and I will be there! W00t For Whistler!

    We’re going up dec20-22 for some skiing/snowboard action too and we’re always game for going to the BigW!

  14. Duane Storey says:

    @Kulpreet – email me offline and let’s discuss. Problem is December everyone is in the middle of holiday stuff so it’ll be hard to get everyone together. But we can move dates around, or maybe merge them somehow or something? I’m totally open to ideas.

  15. Jen says:

    Sounds interesting!
    FYI there’s no night skiing at Whistler, and the hill closes at 3:00 in January.

  16. Duane Storey says:

    Good to know. But we can work around that for sure as well, either by reserving the Sat for WordCamp and everyone boarding on Sunday, or doing the WordCamp session at 4pm or so.

  17. Andrea says:

    I’m definitely interested, though I’ve only tried skiing once in my life. Maybe I’ll stick with the WordPress and beer…

  18. Lisa says:

    I have gone to skiing villages before but never had the chance to learn how to ski. There are some beautiful sceenery to just take in. Wish that I could attend, just to close after the holidays to regrow the money tree.

  19. Raul says:

    I don’t want to ski or snowboard. But I’m happy to look at hot skiers/snowboarders 😉

    Oh.. right…

    And learn WordPress 🙂

  20. Tyler says:

    Raul just hang out at the Longhorn and watch them come off the runs there in the Village.

    Yum the Longhorn….

    I’m up for a day of boarding and a day of WordPress or an afternoon/evening of WordPress.

    I should be able to keep up to most of you on the mountain by then too!

  21. Sounds like fun, I really need to learn WordPress.

  22. Duane Storey says:

    If people are interested in attending, please go to the wiki (listed up above at the bottom) and add yourself to the attendee list. Thanks.

  23. VancityAllie says:

    I’m really interested in going and I’d love to go, but I’m sort of wondering what it’s like. I’ve been blogging for a long time, but am a total noob in the WordPress land since I started up my new blog. Is this only for veterans?

    Would I feel left out going with a whole bunch of bloggers who seem to know each other? :S

    But I love snowboarding and blogging, so it sounds like something for me. Let me know what you think..

  24. Amanda says:

    Hook me up so I can go…..:)

  25. […] Wiki for WordCamp Whistler Duane Storey’s Blog Facebook […]

  26. Duane Storey says:

    @VancityAllie The people are great, and WordCamp’s typically appeal to all types of users. So if you’re interested, you should definitely come up.

  27. kk+ says:

    go duane. great idea. count me in pls! i’d really love to tag along a photocamp with this too if you’re keen. lemme know. 🙂

  28. Raul says:

    @VancityAllie – I used to be a total n00b w/WP and now I’m fairly comfortable, so no worries! come along

    @kk+ – Kris, it’s awesome you’re doing PhotoCamp too! 🙂

  29. Chris Heuer says:

    KK – with you on the photo camp – want on the bus ride too – we are hosting a Social Media Club event / contest at Sundance right before this – details to come… so we will gladly come to Whistler and get some boarding in (per my FB comment)

    Was also thinking we should do a WordCamp Tahoe… right Matt? Perhaps for the beginning of spring skiing in late March – always seems like a good time. Will gladly help organize that and contribute to this one.

    Would love to do a session on the non-programmers configuration tips for users not developers. Why I choose certain plugins and widgets, which one’s we like, etc… In that I can’t really code, but i know some HTML, I want to share what I am doing now with a few of the different blogs we run and how I managed to do (most of) it myself.

  30. Andy P says:

    Missed this before – I’m in. We might even be able to entice Matt up for it.

    Mid to end of January would definitely be best from my perspective.

  31. Duane Storey says:

    I pinged Matt about it. I think he’s double booked that weekend. But that’s ok, we’ll MMS him photos all weekend of hot ski bunnies and fun WordPress people drinking beers!

  32. Hey, sounds great. I’d love to participate, and if you need help with the planning, I’m so in for that, too! Let me know!

    @KK… That sounds awesome, too!

  33. David says:

    It sounds great! I’d love to attend. Hope I have some funds by that time to be able to do it.

  34. Jeanne says:

    Two of us interested 🙂

  35. Patti Kelly says:

    If there is such a thing as inexpensive accommodation at Whistler – somewhere around $100/night – most of it has now been taken. Does anyone have any suggestions or offers to squeeze another WordPress person into their room? It would be a shame to miss this event.

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