We’ve all seen it. A bunch of us have done it. We add the current year to the name of the event. Usually something like this:
WordCamp Denver 2015
#wcden15
This seems cool and is a pretty common convention convention (wordplay!). It is, however, totally silly. Pro/con time of using years:
Pros
- Indicates what year you got your shirt so your friends can figure out how long you’ve been wearing that thing
- Proves you indeed know what year it is
- Used to make sure no one forged a badge (but not really)
Cons
- Takes up a whole bunch of space on your stuff
- Ensures you can’t get rid of leftover swag next year
- Tags end up super confusing and all over the place: #wcden, #wcden15, #wcden2015
- Has nothing to do with the event, really other than reminding attendees which year they have to show up
- Makes Michael cranky
💩 Thoughts?
Pro: separate urls for each year. Good for cyclical events.
True. Years are great for URLs, but that’s a bit different than using it in the name itself and is rarely consistent with the way its used in the name: 2015.denver.wordcamp.com
I absolutely approve of years in URLs.
Since we just came from there, lets use the An Event Apart example. It was held in Boston, MA in 2015.
No swag said Boston. Or the year. Just An Event Apart. I believe they used the same swag as last year.
The date appeared on the site and in the URL: http://aneventapart.com/event/boston-2015
Hashtag was #aeabos. Same as the last 5 years. Easy.
And I don’t remember you being cranky there, so there’s that too.
I knew I should have been there. Someone needed to be the crank.
Think of the SEOs! I think it makes sense on the web, but not so much on collateral for the event.
This is why when I was doing the WCChicago designs I started leaving the year off the printed materials that weren’t schedule specific (banners, etc) so we could reuse them