I attended my first WordCamp event. I’ve been wanting to attend a WordCamp event for a long time. Over the years I’ve become interested in being more active as a WordPress enthusiast. I wanted to connect with people using WordPress, discuss it and share ideas & thoughts.
The event was held in Bangalore, India on 21st July 2024. It was a full day event from 9AM to 6PM.
My experience at the event
- Overall, the event went fine. There were some hiccups here and there but they managed to finish it on time.
- Food was provided and was good. Breakfast, lunch and evening snacks. Nothing fancy, just some good South Indian food.
- The auditorium was big, clean and spacious enough for everyone.
- The event was delayed to start, I think due to some technical issues with the projector in the auditorium. Due to that it felt rushed at times. Lunch was delayed by 1 hour and breaks were shortened a bit.
- Speakers (people) at the event were good. There were some good insights provided by speakers, for the sessions I attended.
- A good number of sponsors attended the event. They distributed some cool swag – tshirts, notebooks, stickers, water bottles, etc.
- The big quiz at the end of the event was exciting. Almost everyone who attended the event participated in the quiz. There were some good insights shared from the questions asked in the quiz.
- The raffle announcement at the end was good too. Some people got some good prizes – an iPad, AirPods, Headsets, Vouchers, etc.
Some things that could be improved for next time
Audio should have been handled better
At times, the speakers in the auditorium were too loud that it gave me a headache. When speakers (people) were talking using the mic, the volume was alright because they talk with a lower tone, but when emcees were talking, it was too loud.
There should have been more opportunities provided for networking
The only time I was able to meet and talk to others properly was during breaks. But that was a bit limited too because the eating space/area was a mess hall in the basement and it was too crowded. I was able to connect with few people during breakfast but it was too crowded during lunch. And people were scattered too much in the outdoor area. There were people signing up for sponsor gifts. Some people who came in groups sort of stuck together.
The event started off with a dance performance session. It was good, but I think that time could have been used for a small team bonding session where the facilitator could have used an ice-breaker activity to liven up the audience and spark some interactions. That could have been really useful for networking. This is just a small thought.
Sessions I attended
I attended only the ‘Advanced Topics’ sessions. These sessions felt right for me for what I’m looking to learn right now. All the advanced topics sessions were good. Every speaker shared some good insights regarding the topic and there was something to takeaway from each session.
There were other sessions – workshops and lightning talks, that I didn’t attend. I’m not sure how they went on.
Advanced Topics sessions list I attended:
Mastering remote team management: Strategies & technologies for entrepreneurial success
Speaker: V Gautham Navada, Founder & Director at ForthFocus
Mastering content creation and personal branding with WordPress & LinkedIn
Speaker: Siddhant Wadhwani, Engineering Manager – SDET, Newfold Digital
Elevating WordPress for enterprise solutions with MongoDB
Speaker: Arun Chaitanya Jami, Lead Engineer, Newscorp India
Seamless transition: Migrating your website to WordPress
Speaker: Akshaya Rane, Project Manager, Multidots
WooCommerce in blocks
Speaker: Sameer Rangatia, Director, Excelerus Ltd
Headless WordPress CMS
Speaker: Dinesh Jain, CEO, Diginnovators
Slash your load times: Proven speed optimisation strategies for WordPress
Speaker: Ajay M Aravind, CEO, Midnay
Steps to clean a hacked WordPress site
Speaker: Shivanand Sharma, Co-Founder, Malcure
My experience at the event wasn’t all smooth, maybe I was expecting too much. But overall, it was a good experience. I learned a few things, met a few people and took away some swag. This is the first time I felt like I was truly part of the WordPress community. I had no idea that there were that many WordPress enthusiasts and people invested so deeply in WordPress, in Bangalore, India. The topics were interesting and insightful. The quiz at the end was exciting, as were the raffle announcements from sponsors. I want to attend more WordCamp events in future and maybe one day become a speaker at one of the events.
