WordCamp Cologne 2017: For us, that meant three days at full throttle in all areas that WordPress has to offer, lots of new insights and the feeling of having arrived in a certain way.
In 2015, when Raidboxes wasn't even a company yet and was still in its infancy, we scraped together all the euros we could from our agency business at the time and sponsored WordCamp in Cologne for the first time.
WordCamp Cologne - The ultimate inspiration for your company
Even then, we realized how important the community is for our product and that WordPress is much more than just a CMS. Two months after countless people asked us for plugin and theme updates at our stand, our Fully Managed plan was born. Today, it makes us unique in the world and gives our customers the ultimate freedom to create something great in their space. Without the many requests at our first WordCamp, we might never have introduced this feature.
This example shows that even small impulses can have a big impact at WordCamps. WordCamp Cologne 2017 was no exception and far exceeded our expectations. Also thanks to a great organization team, where the experience in the processes and session design was clearly noticeable.
WordCamp Cologne: Great location for a great CMS
While the first WordCamp Cologne 2015 took place in the lecture halls of an old university building in Cologne, the Contributor Day on Friday in the premises of Microsoft and at the weekend in the premises of a university for design & communication was a perfect choice of location. This time, the premises were bright, modern and well-structured - just right for a CMS of this importance 😉 A big thank you to Microsoft for sponsoring the event, which is not a matter of course! This shows that even the "old" company is undergoing change.
The WordCamp Cologne sessions in BarCamp style
WordCamp Cologne 2015 was still in the classic style. Speakers are recruited, evaluated, selected and briefed in an elaborate process that can take months. WordCamp Cologne 2017, on the other hand, was BarCamp-style.
BarCamp as an innovative session organization
While Jan and Tobias from the Raidboxes team had already gotten to know this type of session planning at WordCamp Cologne 2016, I was simply thrilled to experience this concept live for the first time at this year's WordCamp Cologne. The organization is as follows:
- Short session presentations by the potential speakers
- Show of hands in the large plenary session as to whether there is interest in a topic
- Distribution of the sessions across the rooms and time blocks
The horror scenario for the organizers: too few speakers and sessions remain empty. What happened instead really amazed me. A large crowd of potential speakers formed in a short space of time, so much so that my presentation even had to be postponed to Sunday.
Productivity par excellence in session organization
A process that can take months was completely organized in 45 minutes and 19 sessions were planned. For me as a productivity enthusiast, that was gigantic! The short presentations at the beginning also made the content of the sessions much clearer. With a total of four slots, there was plenty of choice. So much that some participants considered the agony of choice to be the biggest drawback 😉 You can get a thematic impression of the sessions here here.
There is something for everyone in a total of almost 40 sessions
Anyone who, like me, thought that the speaker powder was now shot was proven wrong on Sunday. Once again, 20 great sessions were planned in various formats, such as discussions, workshops, live demos, storytelling and lectures. From dev processes and data protection to the latest web trends. The spectrum between beginners and advanced users was broadly mixed and techies also got their money's worth, e.g. with our Local Dev Kit Lecture 😉
Two notes on perfect organization
What we think should become standard is the following:
- Thematic prioritization of slots after all sessions have been pinned to the wall. This prevents two deployment topics from taking place at the same time. It is also possible to divide the sessions into design, marketing and development. This was very good at WordCamp Cologne 2015.
- Each speaker should complement the level of their presentation: Beginner, intermediate and advanced. This makes it easier to choose the right presentation for you.
WordCamp Cologne: The Contributor Day
What really works extremely well in Germany is the Contributor Day. To be honest, this was our first time taking part. Where in Spain there is only a one-hour introduction to possible involvement, in Germany it's hard work from 10am to 5pm. Anyone who, like me, thought that you had to know how to program in order to get involved, is far from the truth.
Not only techies can take WordPress further
There are numerous topics where not only developers, but also designers, marketing people or organizational talents can participate. Work results and post-session reports can be found here. From editing WordPress.tv to translating plugins and themes to core commitment, the spectrum is wide.
Our tip for the contributor start
Just get involved in WordPress projects that are important to you. Do you have a plugin that you use a lot with your customers and it's in English? Then help translate it into German. Or do you want to add your own theme or plugin to the WordPress.org repository? Then have it checked by the theme reviews. This will benefit both you and the community.
The important thing: "What goes around, comes around". After all, you are already benefiting from the community. The more people get involved, the more ingenious WordPress will become over time.
WordCamp Cologne: The WordPress Swag!
It is apparently due to the commitment of Marc Nilius that WordCamp Cologne 2017 was very well equipped with Swag. If you don't know Swag, you should watch this video watch this video. It probably has nothing to do with it, but it's funny 🙂 With WordPress, it's the giveaways you get at a WordCamp, for example, or in the official WP Swag Store can buy.
Specifically, there were Kölsch glasses with WordCamp print, a WordCamp scarf, wapuus in Cologne style and a premiere: Carole, a very committed organizer, received her own wapuu with a purple hat and dog as a trademark. This shows: Outstanding commitment is also rewarded outstandingly 😉
WordCamp Cologne: A little more at home
So what is our conclusion for this WordCamp? Once again, we took away a huge amount of value. For example, the framework session will greatly enrich our template feature, the session on Webtrends has fueled the internal discussion about our optimal infrastructure and the session on mental health has led to us introducing a holacracy role "Mental Health". We also gained a lot of valuable contacts and information about the hosting industry that we can incorporate into our strategy.
It's worth jumping in at the deep end
Almost most importantly, we feel a little more at home after this WordCamp. If you are attending a WordCamp for the first time, you may feel a bit left out as a newcomer. This is not because the people there don't want any contact with you, but rather because there is already a strong community within the community. This is precisely why we are in favor of an introduction round with 250 people, as at this WordCamp. This could also be divided into groups, but the basic principle of introductions is essential.
WordCamp Retreat in Soltau as a great entry opportunity - tickets from 26.11.18!
The WordCamp Retreat in Soltau in May 2018 is also a brilliant opportunity to join the community. This event is a world premiere! It combines leisure time and activities with lots of inspiration and knowledge in a unique location far away from the stress of everyday life. This is another reason why we spontaneously decided to sponsor the retreat in Soltau with gold at the WordCamp in Cologne.
In the future, we want to play an even more active role in the community and bring the first WordCamp to Münster or Osnabrück. Spain shows that there can be eight(!) very well-organized WordCamps within a year with at least 100 participants. Germany can learn something from this with greater consistency, as the planning effort is reduced immensely.
WordCamp Cologne: More impressions from the community
A detailed video report is available from Gerrit and Michael, who were at the WordCamp.
The WordCamp was also taken up in the form of podcasts. You can find Simon Kraft's contribution here.
Review of the Blog Marketing Factory
WordCamp Cologne: Sessions on WordPress.tv
Last but not least, we have to say that all session videos will be available on WordPress.tv. The sessions from WordCamp Cologne will probably be available here soon. As soon as they are online, you will be informed via our WP-Newsletter or Twitter and co. to find out. You can find a thematic overview of all sessions here. The slides of our presentations are already available under the following links: Holacracy, advanced performance measurement and local dev kit.
