Can you feel the excite­ment in the air? Hear the squeak of glass­es being polished,Threadless pack­ages being opened, plaid shirts being ironed and beards being fluffed? Next week, Welling­ton plays host to the great­est most awe­some con­fer­ence in the world. Fact!

We’ve already made some rec­om­men­da­tions of things for Web­stock atten­dees to do in Welling­ton, but in case you haven’t booked your hotel yet and want our sug­ges­tions: we love the baths and the food at Hip­popota­mus in the Muse­um Hotel, we’re baf­fled by the exis­tence of a smok­ing floor and not impressed by the choco­late buf­fet & ser­vice at the Dux­ton, have had mar­velous times in the pool at the CQ Hotel, and though it’s a lit­tle fur­ther away,  we liked the Trav­elodge just fine.

We also sug­gest that you pack a cardi­gan in your satchel for the con­fer­ence, as often the air con­di­tion­ing can be over­ly enthu­si­as­tic — and if it’s sun­ny, take sun­glass­es cos you’ll want to get some fresh air in Civic Square and that gets very bright. If it’s rainy, be care­ful on the treach­er­ous­ly slip­pery bricks of pave­ments every­where.

Also! We wan­na have a drink with you so we’re hav­ing the offi­cial Welling­ton­ista Unof­fi­cial Web­stock Wednes­day Warmup!  Just like last year, you can meet peo­ple in relaxed beer-friend­ly sur­round­ings before the con­fer­ence prop­er begins, and/or solid­i­fy friend­ships & con­tacts you’ve made dur­ing the work­shops. Non-Web­stock-atten­dees are wel­come, but may feel quite sad that they’re miss­ing out. This year we’ll be at the Fork and Brew­er, upstairs in Bond Street, from 6pm on Wednes­day Feb­ru­ary 15. Spot us by our Web­stock satchels, prob­a­ble iPhones and warm, wel­com­ing smiles.

(This isn’t an offi­cial Web­stock event, but they do like us, promise!)