Attending and Organizing WordCamps: Insights and Recommendations from 4 WordPress Influencers

If you’re into WordPress, you’ve definitely heard of  the most popular WordPress related conferences. Yes, I’m talking about WordCamps.  

The following article is addressed to those of you who haven’t attended a WordCamp yet but plan to and also to those who will organize or volunteer for such an event.

WordCamps are a great opportunity to gather WordPress enthusiasts at different levels of expertise in the same place. Such an event with people from various countries and from different cultures attending and speaking is often a challenge that involves a lot of responsibility, planning, meetings, motivating people and learning from feedback in order to organize a better event that meets everyone’s needs  next time around.

All this could not be possible without a team of passionate organizers and volunteers who take care of every task. They need to take into consideration every single detail and be prepared for any issue that may occur during the event.

So we’ve gathered some insights, tips and recommendations from 4 WordPress specialists and enthusiasts with experience in organizing and attending WordCamps, mentoring and motivating volunteers: Sara Rosso, Mike Little, Emanuel Blagonic and Peter Nemcok. Let’s get started!

Sara Rosso,  Marketing Director at Automattic and also an Art& Technology Enthusiast was one of the organizers of WordCamp Europe 2016, an event that we also attended and we can confirm it was a big success.  Sara has a lot of valuable tips for newbies with regard to networking at a WordCamp:

“If you’re looking at an event of this size I would definitely start with the list of speakers presenting and see if anyone sounds interesting. WordCamp publishes a list of attendees which is very helpful, and you can follow the camp online to get information before the event. Once you’re there, I think the best thing is to be open, in that you need to be available to meet and interact, and go to places where people are networking. Grab a coffee in the break room, ask if you can join in a small group talking and make sure you take advantage of any pre-organized networking events like we did at WordCamp Europe. You have to put yourself out there a little bit, because often people don’t want to bother others if they’re not sure you want to chat.”

You can find even more tips in Sara’s article or in this interview she gave on our blog.

When it comes to volunteering, Sara has several recommendations:  “I would start at make.wordpress.org to see what’s being done, and where you can get involved. Also check for a local meet up on meetup.com; often organizers need volunteers or speakers and that’s a great way to get involved as well. And there are always the WordPress.org support forums: there’s always someone who has a question you can answer, no matter your skill level.”

In order to set your expectations right before a WordCamp, Sara has some practical tips:

“Please read the materials the organizers send out! It’s one thing if things aren’t being communicated, but if you’re not reading them you’re responsible for how you enjoy and experience the event. Take some responsibility by preparing yourself ahead of time and pick some sessions you don’t want to miss, people you want to meet, and activities you want to participate in.”

Mike Little, the co-founder of WordPress and the founder of  Zed1.com also gave us some advice regarding the way someone who doesn’t know how to code can contribute to the WordPress community:

“Helping out on the support forums, or Facebook and LinkedIn groups. A lot of support requests are about how to do things that are not technical like creating a menu, managing widgets, etc., or how to get a plugin or something configured. Helping with testing new releases whilst still in beta is always appreciated. Updating or adding to the online documentation. Or organizing or taking part in a local community event. e.g. a monthly meetup or WordCamp.”

Attending a meetup is a great way to socialize easier and discover more and more about the WordPress Community:

“Take part in your local meetup if you have one and always go with the intention of achieving three things: help at least one person with something; try to learn at least one new thing; and try to pass that one thing on to someone else in the next month.”

You’ll find even more advice in this interview with Mike Little.

Emanuel Blagonic, the founder of the Croatian WordPress Community and  WordCamp organizer believes that organizing meetups and WordCamps will help create a stronger community:

“What are we trying to achieve by organizing WordCamps and meetups in Croatia? First, make a stronger community; second, make a better living out of WordPress; third – give back more.”

Are you thinking about speaking at a WordCamp conference? Emanuel says that the best thing would be to start doing that at a meetup and then go to a local WordCamp. And when it comes to the organizing team, he suggests:

“When it comes to the organizing team, I would recommend having separate teams for (1) event (including catering, wifi, a/v equipment and venue), (2) speakers, (3) sponsors, (4) volunteers, and (5) communication. Don’t forget to have fun, because organizing a WordCamp should be a fun and empowering experience after all (for both you and your local community).”

More from Emanuel in this interview on our blog.

Peter Nemcok, founder of WP.sk, WordPress enabler at Webikon and a WordCamp Mentor also had a lot of useful tips on attending and organizing a WordCamp. For someone who wants to be a contributor, but has little or no experience, Peter has some great recommendations:

“Go to make.wordpress.org and read about various teams or different ways in which you can contribute to WordPress and if something is interesting to you, read a little bit more and you can contact people involved in the polyglots team, for example or something else. If there’s a WordCamp around, attend it and also the Contributor’s Day because it’s the best way to learn a lot in person.”

In terms of organizing and mentoring the teams, motivation plays an important role:

“I think that’s really easy when you’re organizing a WordCamp. It’s always a team of people who love WordPress and who like to create something for others, so you don’t need to motivate them anymore because they already have a strong internal motivation. But the best thing you can do is not to kill their motivation, so help them on their way of contributing and try to solve the problems they have. Or, I would say, enable them to do what they want to do.”

Learn more tips from the interview Peter gave us.
What do you think about these tips and recommendations? Are you ready to attend or to organize your first WordCamp?  If you’ve already attended, organized or volunteered at a WordCamp, feel free to comment and share your experience.

Originally written by Claudia Borceanu