WordCamp US is supposed to happen this year after a seven year run as WordCamp San Francisco. But it is June and there is no host city. There is no organizer. There is no WordCamp. And it’s supposed to be the biggest event (or at least the most important) event of the year for WordPress — where the top WordCamp speakers from the year previous will converge and we’ll also get the State of the Word from Matt Mullenweg.
Matt posted on his blogging asking for host city applications — for 2015 — and then deleted the post for some reason. I am not optimistic that WordCamp US can be pulled together in such a short amount of time, still be in 2015, and be of the quality that folks have come to expect due to WordCamp SF.
The call for host cities should’ve happened six to eight months ago. A diverse team of volunteers should be plugging away by now. That’s what Europe has done for multiple years running now.
I think the best shot for WordCamp US is to hijack an existing big city camp, and there happens to be one that’s a great candidate to be hijacked.
WordCamp NYC is planned for the weekend of Halloween, October 30th — November 1st.
- New York City is an appropriately large city to handle the scale of the event.
- The end of October is well timed, late in the year — and far enough out for people from all over the world to be able to plan attendance — but before some huge holidays.
- New York City is accessible from anywhere in the world.
- The Brooklyn Marriott venue is big enough, and in a terrific location (just over the bridge from Manhattan).
- Planning for NYC is already set, and they had a big camp just last year in the same venue.
WC US needs a date, a venue, a big city, and a head start. WC NYC checks these boxes.
With an influx of organizers to help take NYC from being WordCamp NYC to WordCamp US, a great event could happen.
I’m sure there are other options. It could stay in San Francisco. It could go to another city where a big camp has existed for a while and we know they can handle it (like Phoenix). But it’s late in the game and something needs to happen fast. I think NYC would be a great option.
