WordCamps are non-profit WordPress focused conferences that usually happen over 2-3 days. It can include talks or workshops from setting up an online store to developing your own custom block using React. Here’s a few reasons why you should attend a WordCamp.
1. Meet The Community
This is a chance for you to meet like-minded people that use WordPress on a day-to-day basis. You’ll be surprised how big the WordPress community is and it’s continuing to grow every year.
You can travel to a lot of different countries to attend WordCamps from South Africa to Japan to sunny California.
You can learn more about my personal experience in this guide.
2. Affordable
One of the main goals for WordCamps is not to make money from running these conferences but to make it accessible to almost anyone. WordCamp ticket prices range from around $20 – $50+ USD.
That includes free swag (promotional items); access to the conference for both days and food!
I’ve yet to see another tech conference come close to that and would love to see other open source communities grow the way WordPress has!
3. Learn From Others
Speakers at WordCamps are totally on a voluntary basis and they don’t get paid to speak at a WordCamp. It’s one of the many ways you can contribute to WordPress.
Now that no-one gets paid for running or contributing to a WordCamp you think the quality of the talks wouldn’t be so great. That’s not the case, if a WordCamp is run properly the workshops/sessions will be beneficial and you would be able to talk to ‘famous’ developers, business owners or influencers in the WordPress space. Not all talks at a WordCamp may be for you.
A lot of popular WordPress plugin and theme developers/business owners give talks at WordCamps on a regular basis.
Not only will you learn from each other, but you will also be able to build relationships with other people in the community – it’s rad!
4. Give Back To WordPress ❤️
WordCamps often do contributor days, where it’s kinda like a hackathon where you and a bunch of other people donate time and knowledge back to WordPress to improve it. This can be from translating WordPress into your locale, to submitting code changes to core to even helping out users on the support forums.
Here’s how you can contribute to WordPress.
I Want To Know More!
If you want to attend a WordCamp but not sure where to find one. Here is a link to the WordCamp Central schedule to see which upcoming WordCamp is happening near you.
Grab your tickets today, get involved with your community and make friends!
Photo by Imat Bagja Gumilar on Unsplash