WordCamp for Publishers is Coming to Columbus, OH, August 7-9, Call for Speakers Now Open

The third edition of WordCamp for Publishers will be held in Columbus, OH, August 7-9, 2019, at the Vue Columbus. This unique event is a niche-specific WordCamp for professionals working in the publishing industry. Previous locations include Denver and Chicago. In looking for a host city for 2019, organizers had a preference for cities that are “underrepresented media markets” where attendees may not see as many of these types of events. Columbus certainly fits the bill.

The call for speakers and workshop facilitators is now open. Organizers are looking for presentations from all types of professionals across the publishing industry, including writers, journalists, editors, designers, developers, data journalists, project managers, product managers, and program managers. The event will feature three types of sessions:

45 minute presentations (inclusive of Q&A)

90 minute workshops

5 minute lightning talks

Applicants may submit up to three proposals until the deadline on Monday, May 6th at 11:59 EDT.

Last year’s event brought controversial and thought-provoking presentations, such as “Why we ditched AMP, and other UX choices we made for launching membership” and “Reader revenue and the less open web,” an interesting exploration of the implications of paywalls on the open web. All 2018 presentations are available on WordPress.tv, if speaker applicants need any ideas about the types of presentations that are relevant to the event. Last year’s theme was “Taking Back the Open Web,” but organizers have not yet announced a theme for 2019.

The first batch of tickets is already on sale. Previous years have sold out fairly fast, so make sure to follow @wcpublishers on Twitter for all the latest information.