Sidenote: <\/p>
It’s WordCamp, capitalize the W and the C – not Wordcamp, and definitely not World Camp ;).<\/p>
And this is important: <\/p>
WordPress, capital W and P.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In the spirit of transparency, we are sharing this debrief\nwith you to give you a short peek into what it took to organize the entire\nthing. Spoiler alert: none of it was easy. However, seeing our hard work come\nto fruition on WordCamp weekend is extremely gratifying. Plus, almost each of\nus probably gained few new Twitter followers and Facebook friends because of\nthe different kinds of people we talked to during the event. Having more\nfriends is cool, y\u2019all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, enough of us being sentimental for the moment. Here\u2019s\nthe WordCamp Iloilo 2019 debrief, presented in all its caffeinated glory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preparing the team<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Getting volunteers was probably the easiest part of the\nentire process, mainly because many of our volunteers from WordCamp Iloilo 2018\nagreed to help out for this year\u2019s WordCamp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, we put the call out early on for volunteers on\nour pages. Thankfully, many young people signed up, some of whom did so because\nthey were also looking for a community to get involved in. This year is the\nmost diverse the local WordPress community has ever been\u2026 well, at least in\nterms of ages. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Planning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As the local WordPress community already have a monthly meeting going on, it was just a matter of incorporating the WordCamp planning sessions in it. We already started planning in earnest by January 2019, designating our respective leads and the attendant responsibilities that come along with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we\u2019re aware that WordCamp organizers in other cities uses task managing and workplace chat apps to keep track of their activities online, we simply opened up a secret Facebook chat group because of this one simple truth: in the Philippines, everyone is on Facebook. So, people might not read their messages right away, but we can just keep tagging them for reminders!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also at the start of the year when we decided to expand WordCamp to two days. The reasons for it were two-fold: a) we wanted to allot some proper breathing time in and between the presentations. If you\u2019re reading this as an attendee of this year\u2019s WordCamp, then you probably noticed how the post-workshop Q&As went on as long as the presentations; and b) so we could properly prepare the venue for their respective programs without rushing. It also helped this year\u2019s too, since it seemed like no one among our organizers have been extremely stressed by the weekend\u2019s proceedings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Budgeting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Budgets are always a tricky thing to balance. We already knew the venue and the conference halls to use, so that only left us courting sponsors and determining prices for the tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the ticket prices, we made sure that it is as affordable\nas we can make it. So PHP750 it is \u2013 and it covers both <\/em>days of the\nconference. Yeah, we might be taking on more risks because of it, but hey, all\nfor the community, right? And of course, our biggest thank you to our Global sponsors\nfor helping us make WCIloilo2019 happen, despite all the issues we\u2019ve had to\nface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On another note, we highly recommend you to at least look into our sponsor\u2019s respective pages<\/a>. Their support in cash and in kind really helped us in leveling what might have been frightening expenses for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WordCamp Proper<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Our total number of attendees for this year was 249, less than last year\u2019s and way below our projected numbers but we were aware of that fact a couple weeks before, mainly because of the bad weather we were having and with a 2-day WordCamp, attendees from other cities and provinces were not able to attend. But the people who went to this year\u2019s WordCamp include those from Iloilo\u2019s neighboring provinces of Antique, Capiz, and Aklan in Western Visayas, entire troupes from the next-door island of Bacolod City, and–of course–several Manila-based attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, we can now include international\nattendees from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Japan, and the U.S. as having attended\nWordCamp Iloilo. We\u2019re certainly looking forward to receiving more\nnationalities in the coming years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we\u2019re glad that so many people have personally expressed to us how much they enjoyed WordCamp Iloilo this year, we want to hear feedback from you, specifically on what other areas we can improve on (and yes, we also agree we could improve more on our veggie options for next year!). Go HERE<\/a> to answer our survey form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the slides of our presenters, we have uploaded the available ones to us HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yes, we also hear you about the certificates! They will be sent out per request, we have prepared a form for you to add in your details HERE<\/a>, we will be processing certificates every Friday and will be rolling them out over the weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a Wrap!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to all the organizers, presenters, sponsors, and,\njust as important, you, the person who spent money and time to attend this\nyear\u2019s WordCamp Iloilo. Your contributions are greatly appreciated, and we hope\nto see more of you in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you ever want to get involved in our local WordPress community–and you might even be chosen as a volunteer for WordCamp Iloilo 2020!–follow us on our official Facebook page here<\/a> and join us on our official Facebook group here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the very least, this year\u2019s WordCamp have proven to us yet again that our city is on its way to becoming a \u201csmart city\u201d, as long as the community is involved. We hope to see you next year, and we leave you with three of the photos taken this weekend that probably defined this year\u2019s WordCamp Iloilo better than most:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beginners Workshop Track <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Advanced Workshop Track <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n WCIloilo Graduation Picture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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