Dear WordCamp Central Team,
Thank you for your warm wishes and comprehensive post-event guide. It was indeed an exhilarating experience to host WordCamp Gdynia, and I’m delighted to share how the event panned out, highlighting our successes and addressing the challenges we faced.
The Format and Topics
We opted for a busy schedule with a plethora of presentations and fewer breaks. The idea was to offer a buffet of topics, particularly focusing on optimization, allowing attendees to choose according to their interests. If a topic didn’t resonate with someone, they were free to take a break, thus managing their own time.
The Venue and Networking Opportunities
The venue was strategically located near the railway station, providing easy access for attendees. Its proximity to local pubs enabled parallel networking sessions, making it a win-win situation for everyone.
Even with the success of the experimental format, one area that could be improved is the space available for networking. The focus on content and presentations left less room for attendees to mingle and connect, which is an essential part of any community event. Despite this limitation, it’s reassuring to see that the changes were largely embraced, and it provides valuable insights for planning future events.
It’s truly encouraging to hear that the experimental format we introduced was well-received by the community. Venturing away from traditional elements could have been a risky move, but it appears that the focus on content quality and community engagement paid off. This positive response suggests that there’s room for innovation in how we approach and structure these events in the future.
Budgeting and Sponsor Engagement
We decided to go for a budget-friendly approach, and the lack of swag didn’t elicit any complaints. Instead, we concentrated on networking and activated participant interactions with sponsors. Our budget-friendly sponsorship packages incentivized sponsors to bring their own teams for experience sharing, thus enhancing their engagement in event organization. Some attendees might be surprised to find that we’ve departed from traditional WordCamp staples like sponsor and speaker dinners, swag giveaways, and other usual frills, opting instead for a more budget-conscious approach that focuses on delivering quality content and fostering meaningful connections.
Food and Beverage
Rather than opting for the usual pizza, we decided to serve a variety of hot meals from Subway. This approach to eco-friendly and diverse food options was highly appreciated by even the most discerning of our attendees.
Cleanup and Waste Management
At the end of the event, we encouraged attendees to clean up their areas. The housekeeping team was grateful for this, and it also added to the community spirit of the event.
Sponsor Involvement
Coffee served at sponsor stalls effectively drew attendees for interaction. Moreover, sponsors contributed to the content by sharing insights on optimization from their perspectives. They also hosted independent contests, making them a natural complement to the event.
Social Events
Our experiment with an official „before party” and „after party” was a hit. The before party set the tone, and the after party was almost perfect in terms of size and capacity.
Unforeseen Challenges
Unfortunately, we had last-minute dropouts from two of our organizers due to family and health issues. However, we successfully delegated their tasks among remaining team members and volunteers, ensuring a smooth flow of the planned activities.
Sustainability and Waste Minimization
Any remaining food was distributed among the attendees, ensuring minimal waste.
Future Events
We are already in the planning phase for WordUp Gdynia meetup on December 2, 2023, which we are equally excited about.
I have balanced the budget spreadsheet and will be scheduling a budget close-out meeting soon. and we have shared the post-event survey link with all attendees .
Thank you for your support and guidance. We look forward to hosting more such enriching events in the future to contribute to the WordPress community in Poland.
Gallery & Videos
Gallery is available here: https://gdynia.wordcamp.org/2023/galeria/
The video submissions are located at:
https://wordpress.tv/event/wordcamp-gdynia-2023-nextgen/ https://www.youtube.com/@wordpresstrojmiasto/playlists
I’ll be sending these videos over to wordcamp.tv, too
Survey results:
I decided to send out survey to the participants right after the conference. From my experience this makes people fill the survey. The feedback would be lower two or three days after.
Here is report: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/94nhzylzkxzmdwx9mwos4/Survery-results-WordCampGdynia.pdf?rlkey=26j32maejpz3yxagqmvwxr5bx&dl=0
Attendees’ comments:
Overall it was suuuuper with the negatives being: No comfortable place to eat delicious sandwiches.
It was great!
4 for the venue as a bit cramped corridors for networking. Location close to the train station and the conference room – super chruper.
It was great:)
There was a lack of more backstage space for chatting. At times the noise outside the door was louder than the speaker in the room (despite the microphone!). The coffee could be set up somewhere a bit further away at least, so that people would congregate in a different place.
The coffee table at the door to the hall was a problem. People were blocking the entrance and exit, what with the evacuation. There was no information about the evacuation exits at the beginning, no information that there would be something to eat (it was great) there was no one in charge of order – who would watch over people not blocking the door, who would close the door during the presentation so that the noise from outside would not disturb, who would take care of people blocking the passage in the corridor, not enough stands to talk to and mainly hosting stands. Other than that, you guys bought me and I’m booking December in Gdynia.
the room was a bit stuffy, especially at the beginning of the conference, then you didn’t feel it so much. it’s a pity that the workshops overlapped with the lectures (it’s probably hard to skip), interesting, ambitious and specific lecture topics. It was interesting, ambitious and specific lecture topics. I was a bit disturbed by the fact that a lot of people were talking in the corridor near the conference hall; when someone entered during the lectures, there was a lot of noise. Of course, this is all bullshit, the whole thing turned out great! PS. in subway there are also gluten free options I think, if not they are quite a bit more expensive, it would have been nice to eat something on the spot without bringing your own food 😛 but I don’t expect that either, I know how much of a hassle it is to organise, so I’m just writing this 🙂
Overall it was on a really good level. If I had to complain about something, it would be the volume of the microphones in the conference room – they were audible, although they could have been a bit louder (I was sitting in the middle). The conference venue itself was nice. Maybe sometimes there was a lack of space in the corridor, but you don’t magically move the walls 😉 As for the questionnaire itself (which I fill out), I missed the 'did not participate’ option. As for the event on Friday and Saturday, the club as a plus. Unfortunately for logistical reasons I will not be there in December. Thank you for a decent organisation and I wish you another successful WordCamp 🙂
I attended the workshops and miss the recordings of the lectures. There were several that I wanted to see and unfortunately I had to choose what was more important to me….
There were too many … sandwiches 🙂 However, better this way than the other way around 😉
good job
Speeches too technical, Marcin Andrzejewski could brake with the cringing, Mateusz Gbiorczyk shows the same presentation at the 3rd WordPress event in a row. Many thanks for the organisation, it was nice to meet. Elegant organisation.
For me the conference super, both in terms of content and organisation, I will try to come to the next one.
Very technical presentations, which I did not understand at all. It was supposed to be about wordpress but it was about programming. The quality of the presentations was also poor. Emotionless, lifeless and simply boring badly presented.
Each W-C is different and each unique. If one knows how to draw something for oneself from each one, one will always be satisfied. That is why I congratulate you, because once again I have drawn something for myself. Cheers and see you again!
A little too long, from 4 p.m. onwards everyone, both participants and people at the stands, were already without energy with their heads full. Maybe it would be useful to extend the presentation time a bit more, because these 12 minutes are really not enough, and to do them a bit less.
Would have liked less intensity and more time for more beneficial performances
No tea
There was a lack of a place where you could sit down and have a quiet chat. The rest 10/10 🙂
There was a bit of a lack of space for networking during the day – corridors quite narrow. Plus it would have been great if the speeches were grouped thematically – technical next to each other, soft next to each other etc.
Other takeouts:
- Lots of presentations and few breaks. If someone was not interested in the topic – they took a break. And thanks to this, a large variety of topics related to optimisation was introduced
- Great location, which made it possible to go to the train station to nearby pubs for parallel networking
- Few breaks were fine – everyone could manage their own time
- Budget approach worked well – no one complained about lack of swag
- Focus on networking and on activating participants to interact with sponsors
- The varied hot food provided from Subway instead of pizza fulfilled the cravings of even the pickiest attendees. This approach to organic food was praised during the conference.
- We asked participants to look around and clean up after themselves in the room. This made less work for the cleaning crew and I got a thank you for this
- The food that was left over from the conference was distributed to the participants for the evening, so nothing was wasted
- Coffee at the sponsors attracted people to interact and get to know them (unfortunatelly I located them a bit too close to the main hall)
- Sponsors took part in speakers talking about optimisation from their point of view
- Sponsors as a natural complement to the event, which is managed by themselves but controlled by the organisers (independently running competitions)
- Inexpensive sponsorship packages and a large number of free tickets depending on the sponsorship package encouraged sponsors to come with their employees to exchange experiences and activated their activities and involvement in the organisation of the event
- The experiment with an official before party AND after party was successful. Before party and the after party in the PifPaf pub accommodated all participants. Ideally, it could have been a little bigger
- Two organisers had to drop out at the last minute due to family reasons or illness, but despite this all the planned elements of the conference could be realised. Fortunately, we were able to organise things that were previously assigned to organisers who could not attend the conference
Best regards, Mariusz Szatkowski, WordCamp Gdynia Organizer