If you’re a ‘Presser, there’s no better excuse to see the world than travelling to WordCamps. Right now, according to central.wordcamp.org, there are over 50 camps coming up between now and the end of the year! You could spend your whole year travelling from camp to camp, meeting fellow WordPress enthusiasts all over the globe.
While WordCamp Nashville is – like all WordCamps – definitely a celebration of local WordPress talent and resources, we welcome and encourage folks from out of town. Southern hospitality is a thing, y’all. We’ll sit you down, hand you a mason jar of sweet iced tea and talk your ear off! Nashville is growing by leaps and bounds, with new talent arriving daily. If you’re new to town, thinking about moving here, or just want to make a connection to our city, there’s no better way for a ‘Presser to get to know our city than through the weekend of WordCamp.
Of course, we all know travel is not cheap. You might have all the time in the world to hop from camp to camp, but last we checked, Delta doesn’t barter a site build for tickets and Hampton Inn doesn’t accept a plugin license in exchange for a hotel room. Plus, when you get to a new city, there might be a friendly bunch of ‘Pressers gathered at camp, but making fast friends isn’t always easy.
The Ann Arbor, MI WordPress MeetUp has started a site that aims to break down barriers to feeling at home when you’re travelling to a far-off WordCamp… or just travelling, period. WordCrash.net is a way for ‘Pressers around the world to easily connect in a low-key, low-commitment way. WordCrash makes it easy to start a conversation with someone in your destination city, whether you’re looking for a friendly place to stay or just interested in finding out more about a city. And it is allows locals a way to let travelers know they’re willing to help, without having to post their name and contact info up for every bot out there to crawl all over. There’s no commitment required; it’s just a way to connect people who love WordPress!
WordCrash is basically couch surfing for the WordPress community. It allows willing hosts to anonymously list themselves in a place where others with travel intentions and common interests will be able to reach out to them and start a conversation. The purpose of WordCrash is to start that conversation.
WordCrash is completely free to use and is extremely simple. It allows anyone who has an interest in traveling somewhere to connect with friendly folks in the area of their destination who might be able to provide accommodations or at least guidance and friendship.
Nashville already has one host listed. For those travelling into the city for the weekend of camp, there’s at least one friendly person who can offer up accommodations & advice. For all of us locals, let’s take this opportunity, if it appeals to you, to get listed on the WordCrash site! Whether you’ve got an air mattress or a bus-turned-guest-house, being a resource for folks travelling to Nashville is a chance to show off our town, forge new friendships and maybe even meet your next business partner. Of course, you should only do this if you feel comfortable, and you’re not required to host someone. It can be used as a simple conversation starter!
Sign up as a WordCrash host
(WordCrash is a group project of the Ann Arbor, MI MeetUp group. They’re currently having some issues with the user activation emails, but they do answer inquiries through their contact form, so don’t hesitate to follow up with them)
DISCLAIMER: Use WordCrash, and services like it at your own discretion. WordCamp Nashville cannot ensure the safety or availability of any of WordCrash’s hosts and assumes no liability for distributing information about the service. Be smart 🙂
