One of last years WordCampers Lucy M from EstateofFlux , (now Sydney based) is part of this exciting project.  To quote.

“Be In The Room curates the leading online services that are changing they way we experience events – Twitter, Foursquare, Google Wave and live streamed video.

We provide a platform for those running or attending events to pull all event related content to one place.

By using Be In The Room you can enhance the virtual experience for those that are at an event and those who can’t be there.”

BiTR aim to be the next best thing to being there.

WordCamp NZ is on BiTR this relies on the event hashtag for visibility and that is #wordcampnz

We also added a Foursquare check-in and will watch this project with interest.

( Footnote: The movie Being There with Peter Sellers – while completely unrelated is worth viewing if you haven’t seen it already.)

See the T-Shirt design below left- Sizing is over here

Unitec, Mt Albert is now on Foursquare as Venue (6254707) Note this is the Mt Albert campus generally not specifically Building 172 at this point.

Building 172 is just on the right through Gate 4 – view map off 139 Carrington Road.

The 2010 event is being held at the DoMM which stands for the Department of Management and Marketing at Unitec.  See Getting to Unitec for more detail.

Saturday sessions are mostly confirmed. Sunday is still flexible and it is likely that it will be more of a development day with “hands on” time for new users in a genius bar style set-up. There will be presentations also but expect more of an unconference flavour on Sunday. The plan is to finish at lunch time on Sunday.

If you were on the email list thanks to those people who got in early and already bought their tickets.

Special thanks to Unitec – The Domm who are our venue hosts.

The DoMM is part of the Faculty of Creative Industries  & Business at Unitec on the main Mt Albert campus which is “a 55-hectare oasis of trees, lawns and gardens – just 10 minutes from Auckland’s central business district.”

DoMM Head of Department is Associate Prof Robert Davis who was the first person in NZ with a PHD in ecommerce and the Department has its own WordPress site at The DoMM.

It is easy to get there by public or private transport. The local train station (Mt Albert) is a few minutes walk away and Building 172 is just on the right through Gate 4 – view map off Carrington Road.

There is oodles of parking in the weekend and a nearby Subway branch (50 m) is open for food and drink.

We will be upstairs and the room number will be publicised before hand. Watch out for signs on the day. We will have whiteboards and the usual lecture theatre facilities.

There will be WiFi available. Thanks also to Payment Express (DPS) who provide our payment gateway for ticketing.

To pick a size measure a t-shirt you already have from armpit to armpit and then match that width to one of the sizes below.

Flexing Your WordPress Muscles
John Ford

When: Thursday 17 June, 9:00—12.30pm
Where: Lion Harbour Lounge, Michael Fowler Centre, 111 Wakefield Street
With: John Ford

It’s being run by John Ford, who coming over here as part of the USA
FullCodePress team:

Note: John Ford presented at WordCampSF 2010 and he works for Automattic

About John

John Ford started programming full-time in 1998, threw in a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics for good measure, and in 2004 went into business for himself.

John’s emphasis on writing beautiful and usable code has garnered him client relationships around the globe, and his development savvy can be experienced on a variety of national brand websites, including the Food Network, HGTV, and DIY Network. Presently, John works for Automattic, the company behind WordPress, and he is currently focusing on VaultPress, a realtime backup service for WordPress.org users.

In addition to his programming work, John loves giving back, as well, and he co-organizes a local group that gives free web-related presentations monthly; he was a presenter at WordCamp San Francisco 2010, and is frequently asked to speak on a variety of web-related topics. Empowering others with knowledge to demystify the web motivates John to continue sharing his passion with as many as will listen.

Who should attend?

* Web developers who want to get an intricate look at WordPress theme and plugin development
* WordPress developers who want to use the more advanced features of WordPress
* Developers looking to customize their clients’ experience within WordPress admin

What should I bring?

* A laptop/notebook computer, if available. Source code will be provided if you’d like to follow along and know how to run WordPress locally on your computer

Full Details at http://www.webstock.org.nz/upcoming/masterclasses.php#ford

Just a quick update to say that WordcampNZ 2010 will be held in Auckland on the weekend of August 7th and 8th. We have room for 107 people so we expect it will book out quickly.

We are finalising venue and other arrangements very soon. Please keep the weekend of August 7th and 8th free if you would like to join us then.

If you were in Wellington with us last August you will receive an email with more detail in the next few weeks. You can also subscribe to our WordcampNZ list if you want to receive updates.

In the meantime Dan Milward and myself (Jason Kemp) will be up at WordcampSF on May 1st and hoping to meet some great speakers in person and persuade them to come on down.