WordCamps Moving Forward

Robert: Hi, I’m Robert.

Milan: And I am Milan.

Robert: And we both known each other for several years.

Milan: Yeah.

Robert: Milan, you did so many awesome WordCamps. You worked your ass off with WordPress, helping the community grow.

Milan: Yep. And I enjoyed every second of it.

Robert: And when you can say the thing where you are doing that, and the energy you get back from that, because as we know, we old people from the community, we send energy out in the world. And the energy comes back.

Milan: Yes.

Robert: Do we have one interaction with someone we go like, that was, that was nice.

Milan: The feedback, like after the first WordCamp that I helped organize when I went through the feedback and saw how many lives we changed, how many people enjoyed, that was the best. That was like, that’s where I knew this is real. This is really, we are changing lives. People are enjoying, people are having the best time people saying that this was the best to WordCamp. This was the first experience and yet the best thing ever. That’s where I knew that when we are organizing these events like that, we are changing lives.

Robert: So, last year were really tough for many of people, with different backgrounds. And they had different things to deal with that. What do you think? We know people urged for this in-person event. Do you have any feeling how this will move into the future with, will there be again smaller WordCamps or will it be all big

Milan: On our contributor day, we talked about revamping all meetups first at the moment, if you want to organize a WordCamp, you don’t need six consecutive meetups. We just want this thing restarted and started all over again. I’m happy that WordCamp in the Netherlands is happening in September. I’m happy that yesterday, a guy applied and got approved to work in Switzerland. So, slowly we are getting there. We are going to revamp.

We’re going to send all the reminders to all the meetup organizers saying, Hey, just so you know, is this still a thing for you? Would you like to organize it yet again? Would you like to spread the word? Would you like to organize the event? Would you like to apply for WordCamps? So, once we send all the reminders and we see where we are with people, because a lot of people changed. A lot of acquisitions happened. It’s been like for three years since the last WordCamp in Paris. So a lot of people changed lives. So we going to see where we are, but I am so optimistic. And I’m really hoping that we gonna to come back even stronger with even bigger amount of events, bigger amount of WordCamps organized. So I’m really optimistic.

Robert: And, because as you know, learn.WordPress.org is a big thing. I was there when the first online WordCamps were and you felt this switch of energy, but you had so many people from all over the world, first time being able to participate and to learn with that.

Milan: Yes.

Robert: And then WordPress learned that meetups that were like doing it before were not really teaching people how to use WordPress and, WordPress relied on using YouTube, everyone else doing basically our job to really teach and to help people understand how to use WordPress. And now you see the WordCamps and the meetups with the help of the community team, there is a social learning and all these things coming up. Do you see how there could be more help or how can we get the word more out to people to be aware of this?

Milan: I like the first step that we did this year. The organizing team did include people who can’t be here to create some hybrids conference. So you can now ask a question in a chat and they will bring you to the speaker. We need to bring in more people that can be on the spot. We’ve seen those hybrid events during the COVID, how it was. We saw people just wanting to help out anyhow, they wanted their voice to be heard. So I like the first small step, but it’s a step.

That PR team said, Hey, we want questions from the audience. We want the questions from the live stream. So it’s small, but important step when COVID and those online conferences happened.

I was so happy that something is happening. I was so happy that we could see a much bigger number of attendees registering for events. And I loved it. Seeing all your lovely faces there. I felt like, this is real. But I was so sad when it ended. I think that just when it ended, when I attended these WordCamps suck in person, but when online thing happened, I was like, oh my God, I did not hug Robert. I did not hug Taco. I want to hug these people. I want to see how they’re doing, how is their business, how is their lives, what’s happening. I felt so sad after the online event. I don’t know. That’s why I hated it. To be honest, I need to say I hated it, but I loved the fact that something is happening and that I had at least a small chance to see you all in one place.

Robert: So, because we have so much work for us for currently phase two full set editing, we have so much work till everything is so ready that everybody is comfortable using that. And we have so much things to teach all these people using that, because we have people like holding out, waiting for more and what they are looking for. So do you see that we need less sessions and more workshops at WordCamps? Or what is your feeling there?

Milan: I liked the workshops in Belgrade. We had, I think five or six, shorter ones, different ones. I like that we are trying so hard to educate people on spot, two tracks in my opinion is totally okay. Third track was a little bit more development stuff. When we had it, I liked it. But I think that three tracks is a bit too much. My opinion.

Robert: But I’m not saying we need three tracks. I’m just saying because you have people going from session to session to session, because they are not aware what is possible there. They miss out on really good interactions on the hallway track on all the possibilities there. So I’m not really sure how we can move on with that because we cannot simply tell the people, please don’t go to these sessions, because that’s the reason they decided to come here because they don’t know that the real connection with the community and with the people is when you meet people in the hallway, standing and speaking to them.

Milan: Yeah. I like that. I would like if we could stop just for a second and be like, Hey, talk to each other, this is what it is about. I like that. I

like the idea of hallway track. I’m not attending sessions, especially if they’re recorded, I’m attending just a couple of sessions that I really want to see, because I want to be there as a support to some friends, but this is what WordCamp is for me. You know? It always like that. So the hallway track for talking, exchanging experiences, seeing each other. That’s what the WordCamp is for me. Like all these going to end up on WordPress TV.

Robert: Yes.

Milan: In couple of days, it’s a stream on YouTube. So you can just go back and then see it. But I like the idea of hallway track. People just like a changing experience inside this. And I would like to see like more of it, if possible. That’s why I love the idea of WPcafe. You see how many people are there now.

Robert: Exactly.

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second half of transcript