The conference is only ten days away, which means we’re in the final few laps of preparations. There should be a pile of posts in the coming days, and hopefully another podcast or so. We’re also going to do an update with regards to our social media strategy for the event, and revisit things such as the Twitter and Flickr tags we’re hoping everyone can use during the event.

The conference is at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, which is a really luxurious hotel located in Whistler village. If you are looking to stay there make sure you let them know that you are with “WordCamp Whistler” — if they have the room available, they’ll do their best to honour our group rate.

In addition, The Alpine Chalet Whistler Bed & Breakfast (rated #1 on TripAdvisor for B & B’s in Whistler) has extended a low rate for anyone wishing to come up for the 23rd and the 24th of January. So if you’re looking for a great deal, make sure you check them out and show them some support.

If anyone has any other questions, please drop us a line. If you call either of those places, please let them know you are with the conference! See you guys up in Whistler soon!

We’re less than two weeks away from the very first WordCamp Whister ever, and we’re all getting super excited around here. I just had a meeting with Rebecca in downtown Vancouver, and we went over some of the last little pieces.

Tickets are on sale until approximately Tuesday of next week, after which time we’ll be shutting registration down so we can finalize our numbers with the Fairmont, and also start working on badges and what-not. As of Thursday, tickets will be going up to the $50 mark, so if you are still planning on getting tickets, now would be a good time.

We’re also putting together a PDF of all the announced speakers along with the schedule, so look for that in the next few days. I’ve also been told there should be a bit of local press surrounding the event this week, so if you’re up in Whistler, hopefully you’ll see it. We’re also expecting a last minute push of attendees over the weekend once that press hits, and hopefully we’ll finalize at somewhere just shy of 100 people for the final count of attendees.

We’re also still looking for a few more sponsors for the event. Sponsorship is a great opportunity for companies to gain exposure and be an integral part of a social media conference. There will be a ton of photos generated from the event, along with a few live blogs, so sponsoring is a really powerful and exciting way to reach a larger audience. WordCamps have historically had low entry prices so that the conference can be attended by not only companies, but also individuals as well. As a result, corporate sponsorship is an extremely important aspect of WordCamp, and we’re grateful to all of our current sponsors (6S Marketing, Molson, Automattic, and RideBooker.com) as well as any future ones that sign on. If you’re interested in becoming a corporate sponsor, please check out our sponsorship page. We have packages ranging from $100 all the way up to the $2000 mark.

If you’re still interested in booking at the Fairmont, then please make sure you mention “WordCamp Whistler” when you call them. If they have room left, they’ll do their best to accommodate our group rate. We’ll also post a few more links to other places where people can potentially stay if they are on a budget but really want to attend.

As we previously announced, the social on the Saturday night will be at the Longhorn saloon, which is one of the trendiest pubs in the Whistler Village. Molson is sponsoring the event, and has been instrumental in helping up put the social together at their premiere establishment. We also want to thank the manager of the Longhorn, Chris Badyk, for helping us put this together. It should be a really great evening of socializing.

Stay tuned for a few more announcements soon. We’ve basically finalized the audio/visual aspect of the conference, and are in the process of committing to lunch as well (which is included in the price of your ticket). Given that there are social events happening on Friday and Saturday, it’s going to be a really great weekend up in Whistler! We’re also hoping to sneak in a photo walk at some point, so if you’re into photography, make sure you bring a camera or two!

In the grand tradition of social media conferences, there will be many opportunities to get out from behind your laptop and mix, mingle, and be social with tons of interesting folks. Thanks to Reachd and Ubertor, those arriving in Whistler Friday night (the day before the WordCamp Whistler conference) will have a place to whet their whistle.

A chance to connect in a relaxing setting with other bloggers before WordCamp Whistler begins. The agenda for the evening is simple networking with other Wordpress users, share some stories, and have a beer. [Reachd]

You will need to RSVP for this event in order to get directions to the private location. WordCamp Whistler fires up the next morning and we also have the official social of the conference taking place at the Longhorn Saloon thanks to Molson, on Saturday night.

**Reminder** today is the last day of early bird pricing! Sign up today for WordCamp Whistler to take in all of the WordPress fun, geekery, and networking.

We’ve been looking for sponsorship for WordCamp Whistler (on many levels) and thanks to a shout out on Twitter, I began talking with the good folks at Launch Gum.

“A sugar-free gum crafted from energy drink ingredients. Chews like a gum, tastes like a gum, but gives you the charge of an energy drink.”

Launch has offered up a case of their product to be handed out to our attendees at WordCamp Whistler along with our other very special swag items.

Should you be interested in sponsoring a swag-bag item or full sponsorship of our unique event, just give us a shout!

Our block of rooms at the Fairmont won’t be available for more than a day or two, so if you’re attending and want a really great rate in one of North America’s nicest hotels, then this is your last chance. Many of us are already staying both nights, and it sounds like there are going to be opportunities on both nights for social activities.

The Fairmont Group rate link can be found here, so please use that for booking. You can also mention “WordCamp Whistler” when you call the front desk, and you’ll receive the same rate. After Friday the 9th, the rooms are on a first come first serve basis, and may no longer be available at the conference rate.

Lorelle actually sent this to me a while ago, but I’ve been backlogged on updating the site — so apologies. That said, we’ve all decided on the keynote topic which will be centered around WordPress Power Blogging Tips. Her talk will focus on the various tools beyond WordPress that work with WordPress that power bloggers use, such as Greasemonkey Scripts, powerful text editors, integrating WordPress into social media and vise versa (posts appear on Twitter and such). It’ll provide a detailed look at what you can do to blog better with WordPress beyond just the WordPress Plugins and Themes, opening up minds to the possibilities.

We’re really excited that Lorelle is coming up from Oregon to attend this event. Her last Twitter message said she was boarding a plane for Las Vegas, where she’s attending WordCamp Las Vegas. Lorelle is practically a legend in the WordPress community, and gave a really amazing talk down at WordCamp San Francisco when I was there last year.

If you haven’t already done so, grab your tickets ASAP. This is the very first WordCamp Whistler, and the speaker list and attendee list (which encompasses several of Canada’s social media elite) are both stellar.

We’re pleased to announce another great WordCamp speaker, Morten Rand-Hendriksen. Morten is an expert in all things WordPress, and will be talking about various ways to use WordPress in alternate configurations.

We’re pleased to have Morten on-board, and are looking forward to his talk.

Here’s a brief BIO for Morten:

Born and raised in Norway, Morten moved to Vancouver in 2002 and founded Pink & Yellow Media – a design company providing services to small business and broadcasters. Since 2007 he has been working almost exclusively with WordPress as the CMS for his client sites and he is currently working on a series of articles as well as a foundation theme (with the humble working title “The God Theme”) to make the process of using WordPress as a CMS available and accessible for people with limited programming skills.

Morten is the author of Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Expression Web 2 in 24 Hours, a regular contributor to the Microsoft Expression Newsletter and a 2009 Microsoft MVP. He writes extensively on WordPress, CSS and Expression Web on his blog Design Is Philosophy (www.designisphilosophy.com).

We’re pleased to announce another speaker for WordCamp Whistler, Tris Hussey. Tris will be discussing various ways of using WordPress are a generic content management system (CMS) as opposed to thinking about it as simply just a tool for blogging.

Here’s a little BIO about Tris:

Long-time blogger and social media expert, Tris got his start in tech running laboratories and doing tech support. After years of launching websites for the pharmaceutical industry, Tris jumped into blogging on a whim and hasn’t stopped yet. One of Canada’s first professional bloggers and recognized as a leading expert in both social media and business blogging, Tris continues to charge ahead pushing the edges of social media with whatever new technology catches his eye. Tris is sought after as a guest blogger on leading blogs including ZDNet and is writing an introduction to blogging book due out in mid-2009.

We’re happy that Tris will be making the trek up to Whistler and helping make this event great!

Photo by Kris Krug.

Podcast: Download (duration: 13:34 — 16.1MB)

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The WordCamp Whistler Podcast is here with its inaugural episode! As we go along and get things all in line for this event, which is shaping up amazingly, this podcast is here to help keep you informed and in tune with what’s going on with WordCamp Whistler, what you should know, and a refresher of things to keep in mind once your there on January 24th. And if you are still not sure about purchasing your ticket, take a listen and see if we can convince you to join us in the beautiful landscape of B.C.

In this quick episode, Rebecca and I hit the main points about the event as well as give you a sneak peak at the overall schedule for Friday and Saturday. Details are still finalizing, and we will blog and podcast about them once it’s all solid. In the meantime, check out the podcast and tell your WordPress friends to come to Whistler!

(Music in this episode courtesy of Derek Miller)

Our dedicated block of rooms at the Fairmont is only on hold until this Friday, after which point the rooms will be put back into the general populace. If you’re wanting to stay at the Fairmont (and I recommend it, as it’s one of North America’s nicest hotels on the hill, and many speakers and organizers are staying there), now is the time to book.

The Fairmont Group rate link can be found here. You can also mention “WordCamp Whistler” when you call the front desk, and you’ll receive the same rate. After Friday, the rooms are on a first come first serve basis, and may no longer be available at the conference rate.

Also, after Friday the early-bird ticket discount will no longer be available, so make sure you sign up ASAP to be a part of the first WordCamp Whistler!

Also, thanks to our newest Rope Tow sponsor, RideBooker.com. RideBooker.com is an online ground transportation booking company with extensive experience moving clients between Seattle, Vancouver, and Whistler. They specialize in arranging airport and resort transfers for small and large groups.

Thanks RideBooker!