It’s finally here! WordCamp Cincinnati 2017 will take place this weekend, November 11th and 12th, at the Tangeman University Center on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. We want to make sure you have all of the information necessary to make it the most enjoyable experience possible. With that in mind, this blog post will serve as an exhaustive resource for the details of this weekend’s event.

Directions to Campus

WordCamp Cincinnati will take place at the Tangeman University Center on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.

Click to View Driving Directions

Parking

If you are driving, we recommend that you park in CCM Garage, an underground garage located next to the Tangeman University Center. To access the garage from Jefferson Avenue, turn onto Corry Blvd. At the end of Corry Blvd. you will pass halfway through a roundabout to enter the underground garage. Parking on the sides of the garage marked “Electronic Media” on any floor will put you closest to the venue. Once parked, take the elevator to the fourth floor exit of the garage. The weekend rate for parking in CCM Garage is $5 for an entire day. There is a pay machine on the ground floor of the parking garage, or the automated exit gates accept credit card.

Venue / Registration

Registration begins at 8:00AM on Saturday. Once you’ve parked and have exited the parking garage, you should see signs pointing toward the Tangeman University Center entrance. It is a very large slate-grey building with four floors. Registration can be found on the main floor of the building (this is actually the second floor of the building). Upon entering the main doors of the building, you should see the registration and information area directly in front of you. Registration is simple – simply tell our volunteers your name. They’ll locate your name badge and t-shirt, give you a printed schedule, then point you in the right direction.

Sessions

All of the sessions will be located in one of two areas. The cinema is located immediately next to the registration and information area. This is where opening remarks and the keynote session will take place. Two other tracks are located on the fourth floor of the building in rooms 400A and 400B. You can either take the stairs in the atrium of the building, or find an elevator in the corner opposite the food court restaurants and main entrance.

Coffee and refreshment stations will be available in both of these areas: outside the cinema and outside of the classrooms on the fourth floor.

Click to View the Building Map (noting that you will arrive on Level 2 from the main entrance)

Happiness Bar

We will have our very own “Happiness Bar”, a common staple of WordCamps. Bring any and all questions you have related to managing your website and our dedicated experts will be happy to offer their advice. You can find the Happiness Bar in the dining area tables outside the second floor cinema, near the coffee and refreshments station.

After-Party

At the end of a long day of learning, why not wind down by enjoying drinks and chatting with other passionate members of our local WordPress community? Best of all, you don’t even have to leave the building! Our after-party will take place immediately after the last session on Saturday, at the Catskeller pub on the first floor of the building.

Sunday

Don’t forget, we have two jam-packed days of sessions! All of the information above applies for both days, except that you will not need to re-register on Sunday (unless you are not able to attend Saturday). Simply bring your name badge you received on Saturday for entry.

Register to Attend

It’s not too late to register! Tickets are still available, so head on over to our Tickets page to get yours. We look forward to seeing you there.

Should you be traveling to Cincinnati from out of town for the WordCamp in November, you may be starting to consider accommodations for the weekend of your visit. We have an entire section of the website dedicated to location information, including a list of recommended hotels detailing convenient and/or unique hotels around the venue and in Cincinnati.

Of note, we have arranged special room pricing with Hampton Inn located just off the university’s campus. To receive the discounted rate, you will need to book your reservation using the link below:

Click here to book your room and get the discounted rate through the Hampton Inn website

Many of the other recommended hotels on the list are similarly located close to campus. Both the Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn & Suites are a short 10 minute walk from the hotel to the venue location at the Tangeman University Center. If you choose to stay at a hotel further away from campus, there is convenient parking located adjacent the venue.

What’s an avatar and who is Gravatar? According to the Gravatar website, “An “avatar” is an image that represents you online – a little picture that appears next your name when you interact with websites.”

WordCamp Cincinnati uses Gravatar to produce WordCamp Cincinnati name badges. These badges are multipurposed:

• They show other conference attendees that you are part of the conference
• Friends, old and new, can quickly steal a peek at your name (lest, in the excitement of the conference, your name slipped from top of mind…)
• People who are interested in getting to know you, and who discovered you online prior to WordCamp Cincinnati, will be a tad more brave at approaching you at the conference because they already recognize who you are

WordCamp Cincinnati name badges are printed with the Gravatar profile picture associated with the email address of your ticket registration. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to make sure that yours is configured or up-to-date.

Getting started with Gravatar is easy; you’ll need to have a WordPress.com account and then authorize that account to connect to Gravatar. On the Gravatar home page, click on the Sign In button at the top-right of your browser window.

If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, register for one using the same email address that you provided when registering for WordCamp Cincinnati. If you do have a WordPress.com account and used a different email address when registering to attend, you can Add a New Email Address after signing in to Gravatar.

Once you’ve made sure your email address is associated with your Gravatar profile, follow the link to Add a New Image. You can upload an image from your computer, or using a URL from another website. If necessary, you can then crop the image to only the portion of what you uploaded.

Finally, after finishing the process for uploading a new image, return to the My Gravatars screen, where you can associate the image with your email address. Select the email address, then under “Pick an image”, select the image you’ve uploaded in the previous steps.

And that’s it! When you arrive at WordCamp Cincinnati, we’ll have your name badge ready at the registration sign-in with your new Gravatar front-and-center. Friends, new, old, and those you haven’t met yet will be glad to see you in person so they can connect the digital you with the flesh and bones you. Register now so you and your Gravatar can be recognized by friends at all of the WordCamp Cincinnati festivities.