24.10.18
updated on 24.01.20
Johannes Benz
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Featured image WCCGN2018 Recap

WordCamp Cologne 2018 Recap: Fast organization can also have advantages

WordCamp Cologne 2018: This year's WordCamp Cologne was organized in a record time of just under two months. You can find the advantages and disadvantages of a fast organization and all contents clearly presented here.

We at Raidboxes have already attended at least ten WordCamps. The Cologne WordCamp is logically one of them due to its proximity to Münster. We have attended every WordCamp there since 2015 and are delighted that a regularity is developing here that can take the German community to a new level.

In the following article I would like to review the weekend for the WCCGN participants and let those who stayed at home participate a little.

In the first part you will find a recap of the typical points that make up a WordCamp, and in the second part you will find an overview of all the sessions. If you don't yet know how a BarCamp works, you'll also find out in our WordCamp Cologne Recap 2017 you will find what you are looking for.

WordCamp Cologne 2018 - Organization in record time

If you are a WordPress Meetup thinking about organizing a WordCamp yourself in the future, Cologne shows you both the possibilities and the limits.

WordCamp Cologne Welcome
WordCamp Cologne 2018 Introduction round

PRO

This time the WordCamp was organized in a record time of almost two months. From my point of view, this was only possible because of the following points:

  • The location was already known from WordCamp 2017
  • The organizing team was very experienced and had already helped organize some of the events in 2017
  • The BarCamp format has made the Call for Speakers superfluous
  • The organizing team was already well connected with sponsors
  • It was sensibly improvised

CONTRA - with some pros! 😉

When I compare WordCamp Cologne 2017 with WordCamp Cologne 2018, the difference was noticeable in parts. However, each of the points caused by the spontaneity also had its sunny side:

Spontaneous session pitches

At WordCamp Cologne 2017 there was still a huge queue of potential speakers and in the end some had to be postponed to Sunday. At this year's WordCamp, there was a bit of trepidation.

"All of a sudden there were no more speakers in the line-up and 40% of the slots were still unallocated."

WordCamp Cologne: Matthias from Raidboxes at the session pitch
Matthias pitches his presentation "How to make your WordPress site fit for high loads"

The great thing: Anyone who, like me, thought that a few slots might be lost was proved wrong. The free slots also encouraged other participants who had certainly not prepared a session in detail or would otherwise not have dared to try their luck. My personal favorite session "Working in Germany" also made it onto the session schedule.

WordCamp Cologne 2018: Session schedule
This is what the filled session board looked like at the end.

Fewer sponsors

It felt like there were significantly fewer sponsors this year: In total, there were only four sponsor teams with stands on site. As the WordCamp was also sponsored by numerous supporters who did not have stands on site, it was once again in the black. However, the balanced planning could only be maintained due to the slightly lower number of participants.

The great thing: In this case, fewer sponsors means more space in the foyer and less distraction from the other participants.

Afterparty directly at the location 

Again, it was a brilliant idea of the organizing team to have the party directly after the sessions. This has the advantage that the majority of people can still take part in the networking. Personally, I prefer a second location for the afterparty. But simply to emphasize the more informal character and to end the evening in an even more relaxed way. Once warmed up by the Frei-Kölsch, nothing stood in the way of a relaxed atmosphere.

Of course we had our slush machine with us, just like at the WordCamp retreat in Soltau. The colorful slush syrup was warm and dry in the Raidboxes office in Münster, but the drinks tasted at least as good with OJ and Coke 😉.

WordCamp Cologne 2018: Afterparty
Our Senior Web Dev Matthias has been busy mixing slushies.

Smaller Contributor Day

Last year, Contributor Day took place at Microsoft on the Rhine for a whole day on Friday. For me, this was one of the best Contributor Days I had ever experienced. The location was great, there was plenty of time, the catering was good and, above all, you still had plenty of energy. On a Sunday, the energy level is naturally a little lower. 

WordCamp Retreat 2020 Planning
The community team planning WordCamp Soltau 2020.

The great thing: Nevertheless, a lot was accomplished at this Contributor Day. It is noticeable that WordCamps are becoming more and more structured and so I think it is great that it is already clear that the following WordCamps will be organized (still with the reservation of the WordPress Foundation):

  • WordCamp in Münster / Osnabrück at the end of March 2019
  • WordCamp Europe on June 20-22, 2019 in Berlin!
  • WordCamp Stuttgart in fall 2019
  • WordCamp in Cologne probably in fall 2019
  • WordCamp Soltau in May 2020

How useful it can be, for example, to test the latest Gutenberg beta or the new WordPress theme "Twenty Nineteen" and create tickets on GitHub, was another learning from the Contributor Day for some.

Less swag

Last year it was still "Turn the Swag on" in Cologne. This year, the whole thing was much more sparse. 

The great thing: There was a towel 🙂 Whereas T-shirts are now piling up in my wardrobe, I don't have a single WordPress towel yet. Here, too, the organizing team showed some creativity.

Conclusion on the organization

It's brilliant what the organizing team has achieved in such a short time. Creative solutions have emerged for many points that were not fully realized due to the short time available, and the BarCamp format has once again shown that, in a suitable setting, the community gets involved and contributes to the success of BarCamps.

At the same time, it shows the great efficiency benefits of organizing WordCamps on a regular basis. Many other WordCamps should follow Cologne's example and organize WordCamps on a regular basis. In Spain, for example, a WordCamp takes place almost every month. And with a fully booked number of participants and at a different location each time.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Thomas Brühl, Tobias Fritz, Judith Schröer, Sebastian Blum, Udo Meisen and Sven Wagener once again!

The WordPressTV revolution in action

Particularly outstanding this time was the publishing process of the sessions for WordPress.tv. There was no direct difference for the participants and speakers themselves. The real advantage now comes directly to you.

It used to be the case that videos were sometimes only available several weeks after the actual WordCamp due to the extensive post-production. Understandably, organizers are less motivated to edit all the session videos once the work is done.

The solution: To minimize the amount of post-production work, the videos are now "edited" directly during recording. How this works exactlywas presented by Frank Staude at the Meetup Hannover back in 2016.

As the sessions no longer had to be edited afterwards, the first videos were uploaded in full on Sunday at the Contributor Day and released immediately. In my opinion, this is absolutely fantastic. So kudos to Frank Staude and the video team for this great process optimization!

WordCamp Cologne 2018: The sessions at a glance

We have grouped the presentations thematically for you. So you can watch individual sessions afterwards depending on your area of interest. Simply click on the link and you will be taken directly to the WordPress TV talk. You can find the complete overview on WordPress-TV here.

If certain presentations are not available, they have either already been held at other WordCamps or there were technical problems. For the former, we have tried to include "old" presentations in the links.

In addition to classic topics such as WordPress tools or web design basics, this time there were also topics on the DSGVO. Anyone who is understandably fed up with the topic can take a look at the presentation to see whether it was all just smoke and mirrors.

The topic of the Lion's Den was also new. WordPress is becoming more and more relevant when it comes to this, high load load. The fact that this requires extensive preparation and expertise becomes clear in both presentations on the topic. As we at Raidboxes have already participated in more than five broadcasts, we know the pitfalls very well and will soon be publishing a comprehensive article on the topic.

WordPress development

WordPress and web design / Gutenberg

WordPress and WooCommerce

WordPress tools and plugins

WordPress performance

WordPress security

GDPR & law

Online Marketing / New Technologies

Work-life balance / agency routine

Our special recommendation due to the current situation is the Gutenberg lecture. Sören is an active contributor and therefore very close to the action. Anyone who has listened to this will think that a launch in November is more than doubtful. We will keep you up to date here too.

WordCamp Cologne 2018_Maja Benke_Soeren Wrede
Maja and Sören introduce Gutenberg and the new WP theme "Twenty Nineteen".

Overall conclusion: "You Germans aren't so bad ;-)"

Finally, I would like to end with my personal favorite session. For me, it is an expression of this WordCamp, as it probably wouldn't have made it onto the session plan if everything had gone "smoothly".

In it, four WordCamp participants with foreign roots share their experiences from 1-10 years of working in Germany. In times of AfD, xenophobia and fear of "foreign" people in our country, statements such as "We have never experienced racism - neither at WordCamps, nor in Germany in general" and "You Germans are not as bad as you might have thought beforehand" are a positive surprise.

This is really great and shows how valuable the values practiced at WordCamps can be, also for our society.

Image source: Jan Engel provided us with the picture for this article.

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Johannes Benz

Johannes takes care of personnel and finances at Raidboxes. He has been working with WordPress since 2012. He is an advocate of holacracy and the common good and loves to run marathons in his spare time.

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