Art&Technology Enthusiast, Sara Rosso, Talks About the WordPress community, Attending and Organizing Events

What do WordPress and Nutella have in common? Sara Rosso, of course. Art& Technology enthusiast and World Nutella Day Founder, Sara Rosso was born in the South San Francisco Bay Area, but she’s been living in Rome, Italy since 2003. She’s the Marketing Director at Automattic, but she also writes about food and travel at Ms. Adventures in Italy and about technology and building a business at When I Have Time. We’ve recently had the incredible pleasure to interview her. Considering her extensive and long-standing experience with WordPress and organizing events (she was one of the organizers of the amazing WordCamp Europe 2016) and her continuous involvement in the WordPress community, she’s definitely the right person to get some valuable tips from. Enjoy! You’ve been in the WordPress community for several years now, but how did you first become involved with WordPress? I’ve been using WordPress for more than 10 years, and I made my first support forum post in 2006! Many of my friends were using WordPress in Italy so I became involved in the local community and it grew from there. Is it difficult to enter the WordPress community? Networking is for sure important at a WordCamp event, but what’s the secret? How do you start if you attend a 2000 people event and you are a newbie? I think that the WordPress community is very open and welcoming, but you have to decide what you’re looking for and what you want out of it (and what you hopefully want to give, too)! If you’re looking to make business contacts, to get help, to help others, there are all places and opportunities for this. But you need have a clear idea, otherwise it can feel overwhelming, though I believe this is the same for any event and community of this size. 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 (I have tips for networking in this article ) 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. What would you recommend to someone who wants to be part of the WordPress community? Volunteering is only interesting if it’s something you enjoy, so take a good look at all the opportunities available and pick a group that sounds like something you’d like to help out on. That means you don’t have to volunteer or be involved in the same thing you do in your day job, you can do whatever is going to make you show up time and time again and donate your time. 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. What keeps the WordPress community motivated? See: Answer #3. I believe people are working on things they are passionate about and that keeps everyone returning and motivated. What is your best and worst memory when it comes to organizing events? Aargh! So many. I think some of the best and worst memories come from expectations: when attendees don’t have accurate expectations of the event that can make the experience terrible, and it’s usually on the organizer to make sure it’s communicated clearly and is not over-promising. Some of the best experiences have been when organizers go above and beyond what is promised, when you’re able to surprise or delight the attendees above the expectations of a good event. I think you should always leave a few things as surprises! What shouldn’t you do when you go to an event? What are the most common mistakes you can do when attending an event? 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.:-) You can find Sara on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.