Tickets for the first WordCamp in Iloilo sold out in just under two weeks. That didn’t prepare us for how crazy the reception was for the event, though.

Every event, once it reached its conclusion, can be considered a success in its own right. On that metric alone, us organizers think we deserve to pat ourselves on the back. However, we’re taken aback by the immense number of participants who trooped to the Iloilo City Convention Center on the rainy Saturday that we held the event. As early as 5 am, several participants have already arrived at the building. When we finally opened the doors to the hall by around 7 am, a queue that encompassed most of the second floor had already formed. Most of the attendees were 20-something people and students.

When we picked our jaws up from the number of people who showed up that early, we thought, “Is this a tech conference or a rock concert?”

Despite promoting the event even after we sold out the tickets, we realized that it’s still muted compared to the events that were happening in Iloilo City during that weekend. However, the number of people who showed up—with some hailing from nearby regions, and several others who flew in from the Philippine capital of Manila—surprised us.

From our viewpoint, this was really unprecedented for Iloilo City, particularly for a tech-themed conference like WordCamp. Iloilo City might have earned a reputation as one of the most business-friendliest cities in the country, but it’s still trying to gain a foothold in technology and innovation. Did we have people like participants living here in our region all this time without us knowing about them?

We can always answer those questions in future events. The more important thing was that we have managed to sell out an event by presenting it as something that is open to everyone, regardless of their experience or skill level is in using the WordPress platform.

The keynote theme, “Empowering Tech Professionals in the Countryside”, was presented by Atty. Jocelle Batapa – Sigue, co-founder and vice-president of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, one of the most influential infocommunication advocacy organizations in the country.  The rest of the speakers we have invited, on the other hand, come from varied industries like tech and marketing, to mention among a few.

The topics that were tackled at WordCamp Iloilo ranged from discussions on the latest WordPress developments, maximizing WordPress on third-party platforms, prototyping a business idea and managing the actual businesses through WordPress-native plugins like WooComerce, managing one’s online and social media presence, and beefing up one’s website from unpredictable security attacks. True to the event’s theme, several of those topics were divided into afternoon breakout sessions that dealt with specific categories in WordPress like development, design, and security (the entire programme can be found here).    

While we have learned many cool things on our first WordCamp in our hometown (the first of which is that we need to book a bigger venue for the second iteration of the event), we’re just as glad that we were able to meet new people who are also passionate in the same things that we’re pushing for. And we’re only expecting that our quiet and humble community grows even larger the next time we organize another WordCamp!

To those interested in joining the Iloilo WordPress community, you can register for our regular meetups here: https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Iloilo/.  

Again, we would like to thank everyone for supporting WordCamp Iloilo and we are hoping to see you again next year. And of course, WordCamp Iloilo won’t be possible without the support of our sponsors so:

thank you, thank you, thank you!!!