Born in Texas: South By Southwest 2014 Is Here!
Are you heading to Austin over the next few days? Come say “Howdy” at one of our SXSW events.
Another SXSW is upon us, which means a whole bunch of WordPress team members will be heading to Austin later this week. Since the official schedule is packed full of events, we want to make sure that you have the inside scoop on what we’ll be up to and where you can find us. If you’re in town, we hope you’ll stop by and say hello!
Speaking of WordPress…
Keep your schedules open for a couple of exciting panels taking place over the SXSW Interactive weekend.
Starting things off on Saturday, March 8, our founder, Matt Mullenweg, will be looking at The Open Source Revolution: From Blogs to Homes. The panelists will discuss how open source is affecting the tech industry and what the future of technology looks like for those shaping the open source revolution (Saturday, March 8, 3:30pm at the Radisson).
Then, on Sunday, March 9, Automattic HR Lead Lori McLeese will discuss How to Build Culture in a Distributed Company. This panel will address the benefits of (and misconceptions about) working in a remote environment, and Lori will be thrilled to field questions from the audience, too (Sunday, March 9, 3:30pm at the Courtyard Marriott).
Live from the Austin Convention Center
We’re excited to unveil our new booth at the SXSW Trade Show this year! As part of the booth, we’ll be bringing back both our Happiness and Swag Bars, which will be staffed by the WordPress.com team as well as by WordPress community members from Austin. Be sure to stop by the Swag Bar to pick up the 2014 edition of our Born in Texas t-shirt, plus other goodies to show off your WordPress pride.
At the Happiness Bar we’ll be serving up support and advice. If you have a question about an existing WordPress site or you’re keen to start a new blog, stop by and we’ll be happy to lend a little assistance. This year we’ll also be trying out something new at the Happiness Bar. We’ll be running casual mini-sessions on various hot topics, from blogging best practices to development frameworks. These intimate, 30-minute mini-sessions will be limited to 15 people on a first come basis. Check out the schedule below.
Sunday
- 2pm: Supporting your WordPress Site (a how-to session on starting and maintaining a WordPress site)
Monday
- 12pm: Getting started as a WordPress Developer (an overview of ways that you can develop with WordPress, and how to get started in the community)
- 2pm: Getting Social with WordPress (a tutorial on connecting social networks to WordPress using Jetpack Publicize and Sharing)
Tuesday
- 12pm: Managing a Collaborative Website with WordPress (a talk about an easy, one-plugin way to incorporate your entire editorial workflow into WordPress)
- 2pm: The Two Flavors of WordPress (an overview of the differences between WordPress.com and self-hosting using WordPress.org, and how to choose which is the best fit for your site)
More mini-sessions to come! Keep an eye on the WordPress.com Twitter account (@wordpressdotcom), comments on this post, or stop by the booth for schedule announcements.
Childish Gambino’s Deep Web Tour
In case you haven’t heard, we recently announced that WordPress.com will be presenting Childish Gambino’s Deep Web tour! The tour includes dates across the US in support of his new album, Because the Internet. In the midst of several shows around the nation, he’s heading to Austin for a free performance on Saturday, March 15 at Butler Park. Check out SXSW.com for full details and ticket information!
We hope to see you in Austin — or at another upcoming event!
- March 5, 2014
- Community, Events, WordCamp, WordPress, WordPress.com
WordPress.com News 
Looking forward to seeing you in Austin! Thanks for being part of SXSW. Excited to ask some questions about my WP site and hsare my latest blog series titled “South-BIKE-SouthWest: Enjoying it all from atop two wheels”
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This sounds so great and I really wish I could go! Have a fun and safe time! (Someone should jut send me a shirt! I really was born in Texas too!)
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Very informative, but will be in Ilinois but thanks!
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I hardly dare to ask this, Rebecca … but I shall, anyway: what does ‘SXSW’ stand for? [blush]
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Hi M.R., SXSW stands for “South by South West.”
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Oh! – thanks, Krista! I’m sure I should’ve known that. Sighh … But I feel much happier knowing it NOW. 🙂
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SO EXCITED. Definitely will be dropping by the booth!
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Going to try to be at every event you have!
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So SAD to be missing another year. I swear when the kids are old enough to enjoy it, we are so there!! mom life
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No. What do you do if you live in Canada and can’t make it? Why can’t events happen in Toronto? NO!!!!!
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NXNE, or “North by North East” takes place in Toronto in June: http://nxne.com/
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Okay. Thank you. I will be excited to see NXNE
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This sounds so great and I really wish I could go! Thanks
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I live in Austin, but I’m not braving that traffic. Enjoy SXSW.
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This is great who gonna join with me…!
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I would love to be there!
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kerbey – traffic isn’t so bad if you know where to park and don’t mind walking. I suggest parking west of downtown and walking in. That’s what I do and it’s rather enjoyable. Austin is so walkable that I don’t mind it at all. Good luck!
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This Texas Business {The Fitness Menu Method™ a fitness and wellness co.}
Likey that Texan run Business
WordPress!
Can I get a hell yeah?
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I’d love to go.. Anyone want to pay my ticket? I’ll do your social media!
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