Maybe WordCamp Portland will be your first WordCamp. Perhaps you haven’t been to a WordCamp say, I don’t know, the last WordCamp Portland. You might be wondering what it will be like, what you should bring, and so on. Here a few tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your WordCamp experience:

The Agenda/Format

WordCamp Portland is using a hybrid model of a traditional conference that has pre-announced speakers along with an unconference, where attendees can suggest their own sessions and the schedule is made up as the weekend progresses. If you want to come and only see the speakers we’ve announced, think of that as one “track” that will take up the entire weekend. We’ll also have an unconference open grid on the wall starting on Saturday morning, so that other sessions will be held throughout the weekend. The goal is that at any given time, we’ll have a variety of topics for a variety of interests. If our featured speaker is very technical, my expectation is that there will be some less technical unconference sessions at the same time, and vice versa.

Learn About the Speakers

If you have a bit of time, take a look at our group of speakers and learn a bit about their background. We’ve got a diverse set of speakers coming at WordPress from a variety of positions, and if you’re interested in a particular topic you’ll probably gain more from the experience if you’ve read a bit of background on the speaker.

What to Bring

Here are some suggestions on what to bring to WordCamp Portland:

• Comfortable clothes: the event will run from 9-5 on both Saturday and Sunday, and there’s a good chance you might end going out with some old or new contacts afterwards. Don’t worry about dressing up; t-shirts, shorts, and crocs are just fine.
• Camera, video camera, Flip camera, etc: Bring recording devices. Take as many photos as you like. Record some video. We’ll be streaming some of the event but we won’t be able to have cameras in all of the rooms.
• A way to take notes: Perhaps this is your laptop; perhaps this is your moleskine; perhaps you really like to write on the back of your hand. It’s ok, we won’t judge you.
• Business cards, moo cards, or the like: You’re probably going to be meeting some interesting new people. Make it easy for them to keep in touch.

After the Event

Don’t forget to do a bit of followup after the event. If there were some topics that were really interesting, check out your resources, visit the URLs that you jotted down in your notes, or follow up with the speakers. If you met some interesting attendees and got their business cards, visit their websites or send them an email.

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Note that an email will be sent to all WordCamp Portland attendees in the next couple of days with final logistical information including parking, transportation, building entry, and a few other topics.

Tags: featured

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• Changes to Saturday’s Speaker Lineup
• Attendee Email – 9/13/09
• Attendee Email – 9/6/09