WordCamp Vancouver 2014 was a great success this weekend.  We want to give a number of thanks and share a few things with you as a way to recap the event.

First off, we’d like to give another huge thanks to all of our sponsors. Without their generous support, WordCamp simply wouldn’t be possible.

WordCamp Pillars: Bluehost and Wiredtree
WordCamp Champions: Code Poet, DreamHost and PlanetHoster
WordCamp Accomplice: WPML
Venue sponsor: BCIT
English Bay sponsors: Forge & Smith, Jukebox Print, Lynda.com, KIMBODESIGN, Washington State University, Creative Mornings and Sparkjoy Studios
False Creek: Swanton Design, iWitness Design, IvyCat and Checkfront

Additionally, a huge props to all of the volunteers and speakers. Their involvement is crucial to making WordCamp Vancouver the quality event that we’ve had since we started a few years ago.

Finally, we’d like to thank everyone who attended WordCamp Vancouver 2014 over the weekend. Without your presence and enthusiasm, we, the organizers wouldn’t be putting this together. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

Our volunteer photographer Wendy Crumpler took a series of great pictures. You can find them here: https://plus.google.com/photos/104922361296609891454/albums/6040770007690005441?authkey=CJmhx8G6yLKnvwE — thank you Wendy!

If you missed a talk you really wanted to see, or just wanted to take another look at a code example or another detail, we’re pleased to let you know that all of the talks were recorded and will be published on WordPress.tv within the next few weeks. We’ll send everyone an email once those videos are available. In addition, all of our speakers have shared their presentation slides with us. You can grab them here:

Getting Started With Unit Tests
CURTIS MCHALE
http://slides.com/curtismchale/getting-started-with-unit-testing#/

App-ifying WordPress
MANDI WISE
https://cloudup.com/c9_Y8uVfT1h

How To Build A Custom Widget
MEL KARLIK
http://karlikdesign.com/wordcamp2014/slides.pdf

Tips for writing secure plugins and themes
BEN LOBAUGH
http://ben.lobaugh.net/uploads/writing-secure-plugins-and-themes/#/

Functions.php And How To Quit It
TABBY CHAPMAN
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YZDRvQjEp5AjdJe5fzsN8MNU0wFxpsNOcrgPJaJ-3yA/edit#slide=id.g34b7ab49d_034

Future Responsive Today – Embracing mobile-first with <picture> and FlexBox
MORTEN RAND-HENDRIKSEN
http://mor10.com/presentations/flexbox/

WP <3 Elasticsearch
XIAO YU
https://speakerdeck.com/xyu/wp-elasticsearch

WordPress Single Page Web Apps
ALESSANDRO BIAVATI
https://alebiavati.github.io/presentation-wp-single-page-apps/#1

Advanced Custom Fields – Beyond the basics (lightning talk)
MERRILL MAYER
http://www.slideshare.net/MerrillMayerKoolKatW/acf2-36394611

Introduction to the command line (lightning talk)
TANNER MOUSHEY
http://tannermoushey.com/2014/07/25/fear-command-line/

Responsive web development made easy with CSS and the mobble plugin (lightning talk)
CHRISTINE RONDEAU
http://bluelimemedia.com/wcyvr-2014/

How to create your own robot (lightning talk)
ROBERT DALL
https://cloudup.com/cEc9zSuP3Kf

So you still cowboy code your infrastructure…
ZACK TOLLMAN
https://speakerdeck.com/tollmanz/so-you-still-cowboy-code-your-infrastructure-dot-dot-dot

Magic with CSS Pseudo-Selectors
MORGAN KAY
https://wpalchemists.com/2014/07/wcyvr/

Accessibility with CSS: Making websites better for everyone
STEPHANIE HOBSON
http://stephaniehobson.ca/2014/05/14/accessibility-with-css-making-websites-better-for-everyone/

wp.awesome! WordPress JS helpers
LUKE WOODWARD
http://lkwdwrd.com/slides/wp-awesome-wordpress-js-helpers/wp-awesome/

Finally, since WordCamp Vancouver is run as a non-profit event under the WordPress foundation’s umbrella, we’d like to share our final budget numbers with the community. This is just another step by which the WordPress community demonstrates its openness and transparency:

Please let us know if you have any questions here in the comments or email us at vancouver@wordcamp.org.

We’ll be holding another WordCamp Vancouver in 2015 — no plans yet, but we’ll keep you posted!

Howdy all!

Every year we welcome members of the WordPress community who travel from out of town to attend our WordCamp. We try to make it easier for everyone to attend so here is our annual run down of advice and recommendation for accommodation and transportation within Vancouver.

Arriving in Vancouver

If you are arriving via air, it’s inexpensive and easy to get from the airport to any Downtown destination taking the Canada Line rapid transit rail link from the airport. In almost all cases the cost from the airport is about $9 and $3 on the way back. Ticketing machines accept bills, coins, debit and credit cards. It takes about 30 minutes to get from the Airport to Downtown. Cabs from the airport to Downtown usually cost about $40 and take about the same time, sometimes longer when there’s bad traffic. Public transit in Vancouver is offered by Translink. Google Maps offers reliable public transit directions.

If you are traveling via train or bus you will arrive at Pacific Central Station which is adjacent to the Main Street Skytrain station. There is construction on that station right now but you can still catch trains to get you downtown.

Hotel Recommendations

We’ve gathered a few hotel recommendations for you:

Sandman Hotel, rooms starting around $160 per night
St Regis Hotel, rooms starting around $179 per night
Rosedale on Robson, rooms starting around $170 per night
Holiday Inn Vancouver, rooms starting around $175 per night
Hotel Le Soleil, rooms starting around $186 per night
Opus Boutique Hotel, rooms starting around $270
Fairmont Vancouver, rooms starting around $360 per night

All of these hotels are within walking distance of the WordCamp venue.

There is also a number of great apartments/rooms for rent on AirBnb, raging from $45 to $250+ per night. While we cannot recommend specific rentals, we’ve heard great things about using AirBnb and do recommend the service as a whole.

Transportation information

As a reminder, the venue for WordCamp Vancouver 2014 is BCIT Downtown Campus located at 555 Seymour Street – Vancouver, V6B 3H6. The venue is in the heart of Downtown Vancouver and within walking distance of several hotels.

We recommend walking, biking or using public transit to get to BCIT Downtown Campus. If you use public transit, please get off at Granville station (using expo/millenium line) or Vancouver City Center (using Canada line).

If you are arriving by car,  please note that the BCIT parking lot will be closed on July 26th. There are other public parking lots nearby, notably on Seymour St. Parking on the street may be difficult and/or costly.

Use these tools to help plan your trip to the BCIT Downtown Campus:

• BC Translink
• Google Maps

Map

We’ve prepared a helpful map of many key and recommended locations around Vancouver. Including the airport, venue, the after party location and all of the recommended hotels from above. We’ve also added a number of recommended activities, restaurants and attractions for out of own attendees. Please note that BCIT, the WordCamp venue is indicated by the blue WordPress logo whereas the after party location is indicated by the grey logo.

This year we received over 55 speaker applications for WordCamp Vancouver. It took several hours of deliberation and a lot of difficult decisions. We are very grateful to all the amazing people who submitted talks. They really made our job hard but in a good way.

Take a look at our speaker line-up. https://2014.vancouver.wordcamp.org/speakers/  You will find that there is something for everyone, of all levels and many interests. We wanted to provide talks that would prove to be engaging to long time developers but also be accessible to people new to using WordPress or developing for the web in general. We also wanted to highlight some of the technology and tools that are available to everyone and how they can be used within WordPress infrastructure.

Schedule: https://2014.vancouver.wordcamp.org/schedule/

Have you bought your ticket yet?  https://2014.vancouver.wordcamp.org/tickets/