Believe it or not, this year’s WordCamp Europe has already passed. After months of hard work to make this event one of the best of the year, Antonio, Ruth, and I are back from Berlin with the satisfaction of knowing that we contributed, if only a little, to the biggest WordPress event to date.
As you already know, “a WordCamp does not end until you write about it in your blog”, so in today’s post’d like to explain how we lived this wonderful event in Nelio. If you couldn’t attend (even though I recommended you to), I really hope this post will help you change your mind and we’ll see each other next year. And if you did attend, please share your view with us in the comment sections below.
WordCamp Europe 2019 in Numbers
WordCamp Europe 2019 has been the largest WordPress event to date. The figures are, without a doubt, a blast: 3,260 tickets were sold and over 2,700 people attending!
Year after year, WordCamp Europe breaks all records. There’s no better event than this one to meet people from all over the world so… why don’t you come?
Nelio’s Role at WCEU
After our participation as speakers in WordCamp Europe 2015, in Seville, and WordCamp Europe 2017, in Paris, this year Nelio’s team decided to contribute to the community in a slightly different way: as organizers. Antonio and I signed up for the WordCamp organizing team and participated in the attendees and content teams respectively.
The work of an organizer is very demanding but, at the same time, very grateful. Antonio, for example, was very actively contributing to some of the tools all WordCamps use internally. Specifically, he improved the CampTix invoices plugin so that invoice generation was a completely autoamtic process. He also participated in the development of the PWA, an app that gives real-time data about the event. Finally, he also spent one shift during the event in the Info Desk, helping attendees IRL:
On the other hand, Ruth participated in the event as the main track’s Emcee on Saturday morning. She was in charge of introducing some of the speakers to the audience, Marcel Bootsman, the community fellow who walked 700 km to reach WCEU and thus raise money for donateWC.org.
I was part of the content team and my tasks included selecting the final speakers, revewing their presentations and helping them spot any typos, and taking care of them during the event itself. The event run pretty smoothly (we only had to fix a couple of issues here and there) and the overall experience was wonderful! I’m extremely happy I had the chance to talk to some of our speakers, volunteers, and attendees.
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Quick Overview
The event was spectacular. The people, the atmosphere, the place… Being part of WordCamp Europe is something that I recommend to everyone, without any doubt.
The Venue and its Surroundings
The WordCamp took place at the Estrel Hotel, relatively close to the center of Berlin on S-Bahn. According to what they told me, this is biggest venue in Europe, holding over 500 events per year. And, well, is there anything I could say about Berlin you already don’t know? It’s a charming and wonderful city plenty of interesting stuff. Just look at the following sculpture, which was right in front of the Biergarten in front of our hotel:
it definetely grab everybody’s attention! In case you’re wondering, it’s “the image of ‘Leda and the Swan,’ where Zeus, in the shape of a swan, seduces the mortal woman Leda”. Who knew, right? ?
Matt Mullenweg and WordCamp Europe 2019
One of the starts at WordCamp Europe was Matt, the creator of WordPress. Being honest, Matt’s session wasn’t the best session in the event (he mainly talked about Gutenberg and its future and answered a few questions from the audience), but his presence contributed to an image like this one:
Trying Out New Things
This year part of the organizing team also tried to innovate a bit and offer new possibilities to the attendees. Thus, for example, there was a child care area and a space in which to relax and do yoga:
An Opportunity to See Good, Old Friends
But, of course, the most important thing about such an event is the possibility of connecting with new people and seeing old friends. In this sense, we had the opportunity to talk to Jean Galea, Darío Banboltín, Rocío Valdivia, Alain Schlessen, …
I’m also happy to tell you that this year the Spanish assistance to the event was breathtaking. If I had to guess, I’d say that Fernando Tellado and Ana Cirujano, two Spanish speakers, were one of the reasons for seeing so many Spaniards.
The After Party
The WordCamp ended with a great after party. Why?, you say… well, I think our costumes contributed to the mood. The theme for this year’s after party were «the 80s» and, oh boy, did we play our part:
Porto, Portugal — Our Next Destination
Let’s finish this post with some great news: the next WordCamp Europe will be in a wonderful country: Portugal. If you missed Berlin, make sure to be in Porto next year!
I’m giving you a year’s notice, so I hope that this time you’ll be there so that we can talk to each other. And if you’re interested in getting involved, please do so following this link:
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