WordPress is a large and vibrant, open-source community that is fueled on sharing knowledge. Speaking at WordCamp is a great way to give back to the community by helping others learn more about WordPress. We do what we can to select talks that are interesting, beneficial and delivered by diverse presenters. But our line up is only as good as the talks submitted. Everyone, from every level of knowledge is invited to share what they know — it helps the community grow!

If you’ve never spoken at a WordCamp, or just want confirmation that you are awesome and eligible to submit a talk, here are the answers to all your questions!

Q: What are the qualifications to speak?

A: The only qualifications are that you follow the Code of Conduct and sign the WordCamp agreement (which says you follow the open source standards and only promote 100% GPL content) and A/V Release. We do not require previous speaking experience, so as long as your topic is relevant to WordPress in some way and you feel that you have new or important knowledge to impart on our attendees, you are more than qualified!

Q. Do I need to be a good programmer or designer to speak?

A. Nope! In fact, we love to see talks from people who don’t actually make their living creating WordPress. In the past years, we’ve had business law and finance professionals, mental health experts, and marketing gurus give amazing presentations that were the talk of the camp! If you have a topic that would benefit people who create things on the internet or run an internet-based business, we’d love to hear from you.

Q: Are speakers paid?

A: Because WordCamps are non-profit events and heavily driven by sponsorships, we cannot pay our speakers or offer travel accommodations. However, we do show our appreciation with social media shout-outs, a sweet VIP party, and special swag when the budget permits. Plus you get our love and adoration, and isn’t that compensation enough?

Q: Can I submit more than one talk?

A: Absolutely! We always end up with more speakers than we have time for, but some of the talks not picked are held as back-ups in the event of a last minute speaker cancellation. So we encourage you to submit multiple talks to increase your chance of being selected and also give us a good variety of topics.

Q. How long should I be prepared to speak?

A: Your talk should fit within 30-45 minutes. Plan on 5 minutes for questions. Our schedule is made up of 2 separate tracks with beginning topics directed at users and a more advanced track for builders/developers.

Q: When will I know if I was picked to speak?

A: We hope to make the decisions by the end of June and get the schedule up in the middle of July, along with ticket sales (if you’re speaking, the ticket is on us!). If you can’t make the entire day, let us know and we will try to plan your talk for an earlier part during the day.

Q: Can sponsors also speak?

A: Yes! However, speakers are chosen by the merit of their topic, not by sponsorship or affiliation with WCLVPA. Therefore, you are not guaranteed a spot to speak if you sponsor. To improve your chances, submit several talks on topics you think would be useful for a wide user base.

Q: Who will see my presentation?

A: More people than you think! All of our talks are recorded and posted to WordPress.tv where they are often subtitled in several different languages to reach more users. If you provide us with your slides, we can run them simultaneously with the video.

Apply today!

WordCamp Lehigh Valley is currently looking for speakers to inspire and inform at least 125 attendees including: designers, developers, bloggers, and content strategists.

Sessions will be 40 minutes, with 25-30 minutes allotted for your talk and 10-15 minutes for Q&A and further discussion.

The deadline to submit your application is 11 PM on Monday, June 3rd, 2019. (extended till June 7) You will be notified when a decision about your submission is made, no later than mid-July.

Now in its fourth year, WordCamp Lehigh Valley serves a widespread region of the WordPress community throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and beyond.

Sponsoring this event is the perfect opportunity to introduce your services and products to a focused community of users, developers, business owners, and more—our 2018 event attracted over 100 attendees and we are hoping to grow even more this year!

Are you looking for a great opportunity to get involved with the WordPress community?

We are in search of WordPress enthusiasts eager to lend a hand! WordCamps would not be possible without a strong volunteer base of people like you. If you’ve been thinking about attending WordCamp Lehigh Valley and want to help out, we would love to have you join us! Volunteering at WordCamp is a fun way to meet members of the local and national WordPress community, as well as help contribute to making the event a success.

There are a variety of volunteer opportunities, each with different time commitments, experience requirements, and logistics. There are two requirements for ALL volunteers, regardless of the job or duration: be reliable and be friendly.

Look over the list to see if anything strikes a chord.  Then if you’d like to volunteer, fill out the volunteer form below to express your interest in volunteering. Our Volunteer Wrangler will get back to you and let you know which options are available and work out a schedule.

During the event

Set Up/Clean Up – Help with event set up and clean up as needed
Registration – Check in registered attendees and hand out nametags and swag. Sell walk-up tickets, take money and make change, or an iPad/Square reader.  Being really awesome with alphabetical order helps here.
Room Emcee – Introduce speakers/sessions and keep things running on time. Keep an eye on the clock and give speakers a heads up when they are down to 10 and 5 minutes, and let them know when their time is up. Brevity and wit a must.
Photography – We need your your unique vision and your photography skills to document the event with your camera.
Room Runners – Work with the emcees, video people, speakers, and everyone else working in the room to keep things running smoothly. Make sure there’s water for speakers, and provide support as needed for other event staff.
Happiness Bar – Answer questions and help WordPress users fix problems with their sites. Must be able to show a level of expertise to be selected for this gig.
Food/Beverage – This is already taken of for the most part, but it would be helpful to have a few people keeping an eye on things. We’ll especially need a couple of people to help around lunchtime.
Miscellaneous Prep – Random helping here and there that doesn’t have a category.

Remember that if you volunteer, or are sending an employee to volunteer, you must meet the WordCamp Central guidance for volunteers.

If you are interested in volunteering for WCLVPA 2019, please fill out the form below:

We’re happy to announce that WordCamp Lehigh Valley is officially on the calendar!

WordCamp Lehigh Valley will be held August 17, 2019, at the NCC Fowler Family Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Subscribe using the form in the sidebar to stay up to date on the most recent news. We’ll be keeping you posted on all the details over the coming months, including speaker submissions, ticket sales, and more!