In early July 2023, the first two NextGen WordPress pilot events were held in Leipzig, Germany, and Sevilla, Spain. Both events experimented with a one-day, small-scale format that can be easily organized, replicated, and enjoyed by the community.
The event in Leipzig was a local WordCamp (WordCamp Leipzig 2023) through which the organizer, Robert Windisch, aimed to demonstrate that a small and simple local WordCamp is achievable and can ignite the community. This WordCamp did not have a welcome dinner or after party, nor did they not provide swag or badges.
Nilo Velez, the organizer of WordCamp Sevilla 2023, also delved into experimentation and organized WordPress Day in only 20 days. Since WordCamp Sevilla was already in planning, the WordPress Day event was announced on the WordCamp Sevilla site.
Event Format
The organizers of both events were experienced and had a clear vision for their respective gatherings. Robert aimed to organize a small and intimate, low-budget yet high-quality conference that introduced a diverse range of speakers.
Nilo organized a contributor day with selected WordPress.org projects (Support, TV, and Polyglots) that required specific tools, addressed clear tasks, and needed a large number of volunteers. Nilo hopes to continue holding similar events at universities, schools, or town halls.
Attendees
Each event hosted approximately 30-40 attendees. Unfortunately, we received only a small number of responses to the Attendee Satisfaction Survey: 9 responses from Leipzig and 12 from Sevilla.
Out of the 9 respondents from Leipzig, only 2 reported being first-timers to a WordPress event, while all 12 respondents from Sevilla were returnees. All but one respondent have used WordPress for more than a year.
All 12 respondents from Sevilla stated that they were ‘very likely’ to recommend the event to others. In Leipzig, 6 respondents were ‘very likely’ to recommend the event, while the rest were ‘likely’ to recommend it.
Takeaways
- From these pilot events in Leipzig and Sevilla, we learned that organizing a small WordPress community event, larger than a Meetup, is both achievable and desirable.
- Although the events were smaller than regular WordCamps, local sponsors can still contribute alongside global community sponsors. Both events received support from a couple of local sponsors.
- The events confirmed that Community team contributors know how to effectively organize conferences and contributor days. Therefore, our challenge is to see if we can experiment with a format that we haven’t yet seen within our WordPress ecosystem.
- We also noticed that more attendees were returnees rather than first-time attendees. What can we do to attract new audiences to our events?
Share Your Ideas
If you are keen to see innovative event formats and topics happening in your area, you can start now! Share your ideas with us, and we will support you in making them happen. You can submit your ideas via the Ideas Form and then chat with us on how we can provide assistance.
Thank you to @kau-boy, @juliarose, @harmonyromo, @nilovelez, @_dorsvenabili, and @nullbyte for contributing to this post!