Photography and Bingo Contest Winners!

First, our apologies for the delay in announcing the winners of the WCPune 2017 Photography and Bingo contests! 🙏

Photography Contest Winner

I would like to thank each and every attendee of WordCamp Pune 2017 who captured some of the great moments during the event.

We found a LOT of pictures on our Twitter and Facebook streams. It took us some time to get through all of them and choosing a winner was complicated!

So, without further ado, our winner is Abhishek Deshpande.

Abhishek took so many photos during the event and captured some of the best & most memorable moments. Thank you very much, Abhishek, for your efforts with the camera. You will soon receive an email with a surprise gift 😉

All the pictures captured by Abhishek can be found on his Facebook album

Bingo Winner

In order for you to get to know our generous Sponsors better, we asked you a few questions. You needed to write the answers and tweet or let us know as soon as they finished with all the questions.

Here are some of our WCPUNE Bingo tweets. Thank you all, for participating in the game.

Based on who answered all the questions promptly and correctly, we have our winners:

  1. Varun Pailwan
  2. Bharat Parsiya

Our winners will soon receive an email from us with the surprise gift 🎁

Thanks for your participation!

Our thanks goes out to each one of you who participated. Your participation helped make WCPune an exciting, energetic place to be.

See you next year! 🙂

Paging all bathroom singers for the WCPune After-Party! 🎙

Where: Classic Rock Coffee Co. (Maps)
When:  7:30PM onward
Tweet: #WCPune #WCKaraoke

Get your WCPune name badge along!

WordCamp is going to be a day full of sessions, networking and Fun! After all that mental workout, you’ll want a place to relax. The WCPune After-Party  is that place 😀

We have tied up with Classic Rock Coffee Co. yet again to bring you a great venue with tons of space, great music and a dance floor.

Most importantly, they have agreed to set up a karaoke playlist with popular Hindi and English songs for all our pocket pop stars!

Use the #WCPune & #WCKaraoke hashtags to show us that you are having a great time! 🎤

First round’s on us!

That’s right, if you are a WCPune attendee, your first drink (alcoholic / non-alcoholic) is on us! All you need to do is get your WCPune name tag along.

The Venue

Credits: Zomato listing

Classic Rock is only about 20 minutes away from the venue, though that can depend on the traffic on North Main road.

Maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/GQZgok1Ugdy

Auto rickshaws should be available outside the venue. Taxis from Uber and Ola should also be available. (Remember to carpool!)

Image credits: https://www.zomato.com/pune/classic-rock-coffee-co-kalyani-nagar

All you need to know about WordCamp Pune 2017

WordCamp Pune is tomorrow, Sunday the 15th January 2017. This post has most of the information you need to know at a glance.

Topics:

Venue

Where is the venue?

Ness Wadia College of Commerce,
V.K. Jaog Path, 19, Bund Garden Rd, Sangamvadi, Pune, Maharashtra 411001, India

Map Link http://ow.ly/9dSS307WiS9

How do I get there?

Jehangir Hospital is a well-known landmark, down from the road of the venue. There are also three bus stops (Ruby Hall, Dhole Patil Chowk & Wadia College) around the venue.

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Any accommodation/Hotels near the venue?

This list of hotels we published earlier might be useful.

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Registration Process and Time:

The registration desk will open at 9:00 am and stay so until 11:00 am. You will require your name and email address to complete the process.

If you are planning on attending any of our Pre-WC events today, you can register there too.

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What about breakfast?

We want to make sure that your Sunday morning is as relaxed as possible. Just get to the venue, and we will provide you with steaming hot poha and chai.

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Swag

The swag counter will start at 10:00 am. It is located near the Registration desk. We will need your name and email ID to identify your pre-selected T-Shirt size.

#WCPuneSwag includes:

  1. T-Shirts – “A Day in Pune
  2. Water Bottle (sipper) – Use through the day
  3. Wapsara Badges (Puneri Wappu)

Also, there will lots of swag from our awesome sponsors. All you need to do is visit their desks and say hi 🙂

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Sessions & Schedule

We are having 4 parallel tracks -“Users”, “Developers”, “, “Community”- in different rooms. We encourage you to jump between sessions, depending on what interests you.

All tracks will commence at 11am. 

Check out the complete schedule.

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What if I want to Network?

Sure! There are opportunities for networking at the following areas:

  1. Happiness bar – If you have any questions related to WordPress, want to discuss your ideas, etc. Our organizers and volunteers will be there to help you.
  2. An open air space – If you wanted to sit on the green grass and discuss  WordPress over a cup of tea/coffee. I am sure you will enjoy this place. 🙂
  3. Our Sponsors’ desks – Discuss with our sponsors their products, services and job openings!

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Other fun activities?

We have few activities after registration (9:00 am) and before sessions (11:00 am):

  1. Bingo with Sponsors  We will ask few questions, you answer them and win goodies!
  2. Speaker quiz – Get to know our speakers better!

#WCPune Photography Contest – Capture a photo, and use the #WCPune hashtag.

Buddy system- Find and connect with another person at WCPune. No prizes for this one, just opportunity to meet some cool new people!

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I’m hungry / Where’s the food?

We will serve PohaBhakarvadi (from Chitale Bandhu), Shrewsbury Biscuits (from the famous Kayani bakery), Sandwiches and Til Ladu (made from jaggery and sesame seeds).  

Tea and Coffee will served throughout the day. 

Our meal venue will look something like:

Time Time Menu
Breakfast 9 to 10 am Poha, Bhavarkvadi, Biscuits, Banana, Tea & Coffee
Lunch 12:10 to 1:30 pm  Sandwich, French fries, Banana
High Tea 3 to 3:30 pm  Vada Pav, Bhakarvadi, Tea/Coffee

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Do’s and Don’ts

No Smoking (🚭 ) or alcohol at the venue. Being a college, it’s not only prohibited but is also a legal offense.

Also, refer the complete code of conduct for WordCamp Pune.

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After party

Relax and have a good time at the After-Party.

Where: Classic Rock Coffee Co. (Map)
When: 7:30PM onward
Tweet: #WCPune #WCKaraoke

Don’t forget to get your WCPune name badge along!

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See you at WCPune! 🙏

LinksSchedule | Venue | Code of conduct

WhatsApp WCPune Helpline

Announcing the quickest way to seek any WCPune assistance- our WhatsApp Helpline. Feel free to use this group for any questions related to the venue, travel or accommodation.

WCPune WhatsApp group link post

Please note that due to the way that WhatsApp works, your number will be visible to all those present on the group. If this is an issue, we suggest you use Twitter to get in touch with us.

Thanks to the WCUdaipur team for introducing us to the idea!

Looking for your next gig? Check out the job board at WCPune!

WordCamps are a great place to network and meet new people who have similar passions as you. Attendees not only include freelancers and interesting individuals, but also representatives from different companies in the ecosystem.

People who attend WordCamps potentially already have a lot in common. This makes it so much easier for freelancers to find future collaborators and organizations to find talent.

With this intention, we will be setting up a job board at WCPune. We invite you to post job listings and opportunities for collaboration.

And we don’t mind you getting creative with your listings either!

Image credit: https://twitter.com/PerfectDashbrd/status/805091287590379520

As with any element of community, the board is dependent on collective goodwill. It is not meant to be vector for affiliate or product marketing.

Look for the job board in the common networking area of WCPune. All the best!

Announcing the Session Schedule for WCPune 2017

With WordCamp Pune just around the corner, we are excited to release the official session schedule. Head over to the Schedule page and have a look!

WordCamps have more to offer than sessions, though, and WCPune is no different. Here are some points to help you navigate the event.

The WordPress Lounge

Just like last year, we’re hosting a WordPress Lounge in the central Networking area of the venue.

In case you are not familiar with the concept, the lounge is an informal area designated for discussion about anything WordPress. You can seek advice for your WP site, discuss your next great blog post or gush about why you love a plugin.

Lots of activities!

Our Buddy Program, Photography Contest, Sponsor Bingo and Speaker Quiz will give you a bunch of opportunities to have fun, meet new people and maybe even win some goodies.

Keep your eyes (and ears) open for more information!

Multiple tracks

We are expecting >400 participants this year, with varying levels of expertise and background. It would not be fair to have a single track with a one-size-fits-all approach to topic selection.

WCPune2017 will have four parallel tracks for most of the day:

User – For individuals who use and work around WordPress for any amount of time.

Developer – This track is for all the code poets out there!

Business – Are you looking to start your own agency now or in the future? Unsure about which business pastures are greener? This is track is for you!

Community – Giving back to the WordPress community. Ways to improve events and more!

Choose where you want to go

With anywhere between 2-4 sessions running in parallel, we suggest you attend sessions that interest you the most. You are free- and encouraged- to jump between sessions in different tracks at any point.

Don’t worry, your track selection when buying your ticket does not commit you to any session. That was just so that we could make an initial estimation while working out the logistics.

Links: Schedule page | Photography Contest

Last 48-Hours to Help WordCamp Pune as a Sponsor

WordCamp Pune will be closing “Call for Sponsors” by Thursday, Jan 5, midnight (IST). If you are considering sponsoring WordCamp Pune, please hurry up!

Call for sponsors is now closed. Thank you for your interest. You can consider sponsoring other WordCamps such as WordCamp Udaipur and WordCamp Kochi.

During Last WordCamp Pune, we closed “Call for Sponsor” before the event.

Thanks to all WordCamp Pune sponsors, we manage to reach our minimum sponsorship goal for this WordCamp too.

So we will be closing “Call for Sponsors” by Thursday, Jan 5, midnight (IST).

If you are planning to sponsor WordCamp Pune, please send your Sponsorship requests before deadline.

If you have already sent a request but did not hear back from us, please bump the email thread or contact us.

We have replied to each sponsorship inquiry already. So no sponsor should be waiting to hear from us. In fact, it’s we who are waiting to hear from some of the sponsors! 😉

Why close call for sponsors?

You may wonder why any event needs to close call for sponsorship!

Isn’t more sponsorship better? Why not accept sponsorship even on last day!

The fact takes days for a sponsorship application to full process. Following is a rough overview.

Every Sponsorship Application…

First, every sponsorship application is reviewed manually where we verify if the sponsor is in line with WordCamp guidelines, the key being if they love and respect GPL as we do!

Once it passes moderation, there are emails exchanged; invoices sent and payments wired. See WordCamps has always been cashless!

Finally, approved sponsors get some benefits. Organizers need time to pass on benefits like blog posts, social media mentions, free tickets and much more.

As you see, there is a lot of work to do with sponsorship applications itself! So even fastest application will take minimum two days.

On another end…

A WordCamp needs many things!

The venue being biggest requirement gets sorted first. But things such as food, swags, and wifi are kept open ended.

We as organisers maintain a list of plans/quotes for such things, but the final decision is often based on funds available for the event.

Now as you can imagine, we can’t place orders for everything on last day; we need to make decisions as early as possible.

In our case, we are planning to close all such decisions by this weekend. That would be exactly one week before the WordCamp Pune 2017.

So we are requesting all prospective sponsors to contribute as early as possible, so we can utilize your funds in best possible way!

It’s still not late!

We are yet to place final orders few things including foods & refreshment, wifi plan.

So if you send your sponsorship within next 2-days, it will help WordCamp Pune.

What about the surplus fund?

Yep. There is a possibility that we might end up with the surplus fund. But that will be passed to the next WordCamp in India as per guidelines.

So your sponsorship will help a WordCamp in India and WordPress community as a whole.

Have A Question?

Please get in touch with us via our contact page.

Link: Call for Sponsors (will close on Thursday, Jan 5, midnight – IST)

(image source)

Call for sponsors is now closed. Thank you for your interest. You can consider sponsoring other WordCamps such as WordCamp Udaipur and WordCamp Kochi.

Last 48-hours to Contribute to WordCamp Pune as a Volunteer

WordCamp Pune will be closing call for volunteers by Wednesday, Jan 4, 2017, midnight (IST). Please apply before.

As WordCamp Pune gets closer by another day, we are wrapping up our volunteer’s team.

We have already received many applications and have more than a dozen volunteers for WordCamp Pune. But it never hurts to have more helping hands when you are planning such a large multitrack/multi-activities event!

Deadline for volunteer application

We will be closing call for volunteers by Wednesday, Jan 4, 2017, midnight (IST). Please apply before in case you like to join.

You no need to volunteer for the full or whole event. You can help for an hour on a task you like.

Existing volunteers (shortlisted)

Most importantly, we have scheduled a Volunteers’ Workshop on coming Saturday (Jan 7). This workshop is very important for all volunteers, including the one who is already shortlisted.

If you are a volunteer, but not from Pune, you can attend the workshop remotely. Please get in touch with Premanshu on the slack team (#volunteers  channel). If you do not have access to

If you do not have access to the slack team, then contact us immediately.

Existing volunteers (applied)

If you are awaiting a reply from the organizing team, then it would be better to bump up the email thread.

Look for a mail thread with:

[WC Pune Organisers] [<random-number>] WordCamp Volunteer Application

Ignore  <random-number>  part. You can search for strings like “[WC Pune Organisers]” or “WordCamp Volunteer Application”.

Have a question?

If you have any other questions, please contact us.

Link: Apply to Volunteer

(featured image credit)

Last 48-hours to Submit Your Speaker Application for WordCamp Pune

Speaker Application Deadline for WordCamp is Tuesday, Jan 3, 2017 midnight (IST). Last 48 hours left.

We are less than two-weeks away from the WordCamp Pune 2017! ⌛️

There are many things pending on our to-do list. One of the key task is to publish the schedule for the WordCamp.

As WordCamp Pune is a multi-track conference, it will need a lot more efforts to get a right schedule compared to single-track event. We are already planning four main tracks in addition to other activities.

We surely wish to avoid git pull situation in speakers schedule as it happened last time 😐

Last date for speaker application

We need minimum 3-days to process any application, atleast in theory! 😉

As we are planning to publish WordCamp schedule by Friday (Jan 6) evening, we need to close speaker applications by Tuesday midnight.

So please submit speaker application by Tuesday, Jan 3, 2017 midnight (IST).

Already Applied?

If you have already submitted an application, then you can wait for a followup from our side till Friday morning.

If we have sent a followup earlier, asking for more details or a sample video, or anything else, we won’t be sending another followup to followup.

You are free to reach to organiser team by bumping the email thread in your mailbox. The subject line for email should look like:

[WC Pune Organisers] [<random-string>] WordCamp Speaker Request

Please ignore the the random sting part. You can search your mailbox for “[WC Pune Organisers]” or “WordCamp Speaker Request” strings.

If you do not see a mail thread, then you may apply again.

Link: Speaker Application Form

(image source)

WordCamp Pune is over. Check out the next edition!