WordCamp Europe 2016: The big recap | #WCEU

It’s been a month since WordCamp Europe 2016 and the buzz about Paris is growing strong. 300 tickets are already gone, so make sure to get yours!

But before we look to the future and the beautiful French capital, let’s look back at Vienna by the numbers!

WCEU in numbers

  • wapuu-vienna-mozart

    The #WCEU wapuu, designed by Scott Evans

    Regular Tickets sold: 2032

  • Microsponsorship tickets: 150
  • People attending: 1952
  • Live Streaming tickets: 1402
  • Live streaming sessions: 5150
  • Total time watching sessions via live stream: 1079.625 hours
  • Sponsors: 39
  • Speakers: 69
  • Number of countries attendees came from: 68
  • Number of countries attendees watched the live streaming from: 82
  • Number of Twitter users active on the #WCEU hashtag: 923
  • Tweets: 2727
  • Number of Twitter impressions: 6.2 million
  • Contributors during contributor day: 440
  • Nannies that took care of the WordPress kids: 6
  • Volunteers: 160
  • Organizers: 20
  • Co-founders of WordPress: 2 ☀️

Your feedback about WordCamp Europe 2016

A couple of days after the event, we asked you to fill out the WordCamp Europe 2016 survey and we’ve been enjoying the incoming feedback ever since. A huge number of you responded and what makes us really pleased is the amount of people who left feedback as open comments, suggestions, and ideas. Let’s look at what you liked and didn’t like so much.

All in all, you really really liked WordCamp Europe 2016

You gave really high ratings for overall experience (4.31 out of 5), the organisation of the event (4.32 out of 5) and our speakers (4.15 out of 5)! We are so happy you had a good time!

You were pleased with the quality of the sessions, but thought they could have been a little longer. You rated the talks you saw very high, with 72% of you sharing that you feel satisfied, fulfilled or ecstatic about them, and for 18% the talks were okay.

A lot of your comments about the schedule and the talks gravitate around the question of whether or not they should be longer, more focused on the topic or workshop-like. We are asking ourselves the same questions every year when we start planning the content. With WordCamp Europe being the first WordCamp for more than 1/3 of the people coming (38% for WCEU 2016), we need to make sure that we provide a great introduction to the community for everyone.

We try to strike a balance between providing a clear glimpse of the state of WordPress in many different areas as well as educating. We are happy that many of you got inspired during WordCamp Europe.

We need bigger breaks between sessions

We also heard you about the short breaks between sessions. We added a third venue at a very late stage of the event and we had already formed the schedule and confirmed the speakers for Tracks 1 & 2. Bigger breaks offer a better opportunity to mingle and network, so we will do our best to make the times for switching rooms between sessions more comfortable for everyone in the future.

You suggested lunch logistics improvements

We received a lot of comments about lunch on Day 1 and we understand that it could have gone better. More space, better instructions, enough food for the people with special dietary requirements. These are all things that will be taken into consideration for next year.

You loved the after party

85% of you said they really enjoyed the WordCamp Europe Ball. For the first time this year, we succeeded in providing two separate spaces for people during the after party – a party area where you could dance your night away and a lounge area where you could chill, relax and enjoy nice conversations and connecting with other people.

You gave us really good, constructive feedback around the after party, which will be taken into account for next year. We know you travel to WordCamp Europe with your family and would like to bring them to the party. We did not have the capacity for it this year, but the team is already thinking how to change that for 2017.

You are coming back!

An overwhelming 94% of you said that you would come back to WordCamp Europe next year. This is the greatest gift for the organising team. And we can’t wait to see you in Paris! (Seriously, get your tickets.)

A look back into WordCamp Europe 2016

Missing #WCEU already? Well, let’s go back for a bit, shall we?

We’re leaving you with this selection of pictures from one of our amazing photographers, Florian Ziegler.

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Until we meet again!

Love,

The WCEU organising team

Introducing the WordCamp Europe 2016 schedule

Seven weeks to WordCamp Europe 2016! We can’t wait to meet you all in Vienna for three days of everything WordPress!

The Schedule

Today, we’re excited to share the full schedule for WordCamp Europe 2016 and some interesting speaker demographics. During the next several weeks we’ll keep introducing our speakers so you get a chance to know them better before meeting them in Vienna.

The applications and the selection process

Screenshot 2016-05-05 11.32.26

We received 227 applications from 33 countries

 

The overwhelming number of applications we received this year are making us extremely happy because they show a trend of more and more people stepping up to share their experience with others, and on a bigger stage.

We received 227 applications from 33 countries in 5 continents (121 from Europe, 85 from North and South America, 12 from Asia, 9 from Australia and NZ). We also received twice the number of applications from women compared to WordCamp Europe 2014 and 2015.

Our selection process included internal voting within the 18-person WordCamp Europe team followed by a careful selection of the final speakers shortlist with topic, gender, and location diversity in mind.

The final selection

WordCamp Europe, the most important WordPress event on this continent.

 

We are proud that we will have 73 speakers from all over the world on the WordCamp Europe stage covering topics from beginner to advanced development, design, accessibility, business, big media, hiring, community and personal growth.

Our final speaker demographics: 73 speakers from 20 countries. 43 from Europe, 21 from North America, 1 from South America, 5 from Australia & NZ, 2 from Asia, 1 from Africa.

There will be 22 women and 51 men on stage in three tracks in Halle E, Halle G and the Leopold Museum at the Vienna Museum Quartier.

Focused tracks in the Leopold Museum

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There will be three thematic tracks in the big hall at the Leopold museum, dedicating half a day each to “Introduction to WordPress development”, “Running a WordPress business” and “Running a local WordPress community”.

Unconference

On Saturday, after lunch, the Leopold’s big hall will host a Barcamp – a format which we’re excited to experiment with and which will give you the opportunity to get on the #WCEU stage for a flash talk.

Networking events

Last year we gave networking events during the conference a try. Based on the feedback, attendees enjoyed those a lot, so we’re bringing them back in 2016. There are many scheduled networking events around the official schedule to let you connect with others – we will have tribe meetups and speed networking in the Leopold museum. Stay tuned for the specific announcement.

To keep up with the most recent updates from the WCEU team, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and to subscribe to receive news by email!

Love,

The Organising team

Sign up for WordCamp Europe 2016 Contributor Day!

WordPress is created by thousands of people just like you. You don’t have to be a developer or a designer to start contributing.

If you answered a single question on WordPress.org forums, I have a surprise for you – you already contributed! But, you should come to WordCamp Europe Contributor Day on Sunday, June 26th,  and learn new ways of giving back to the community.

Sign up for #WCEU Contributor Day on Sunday, June 26!

Did I mention that this would probably be the largest Contributor Day ever? Now’s your chance to write history.

What are contributor days?

The Design team at WCEU 2015 Contributor day. Photo by kreatidos.com

The Design team at WCEU 2015 Contributor day. Photo by kreatidos.com

Contributor days give you a special opportunity to share a room with some of the awesomest developers, designers and community enthusiasts from all over the world. So, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered nonetheless you’re a seasoned contributor or if this will be your first Contributor day. Ever.

Every year Contributor days get bigger with more and more people involved. WordPress is now running 25% of the World Wide Web and it needs our help. And there are so may ways you could help. From helping the Theme Review team, working on Translations, Community, Docs, Support, Accessibility or WordPress.tv – to name just a few. And don’t forget – that’s not nearly all. You could also contribute to Core, Design, GlotPress, Mobile… the list goes on and on.

We encourage you to take part of Contributor Day especially if you have never contributed before and you’re looking for a way to get started.

Become a WordPress Contributor!

If you’ve never contributed to WordPress before, WordCamp Europe would be a great place to start. There are plenty of opportunities for everyone to help the projects, such as:

WordCcamp Europe 2016 Contributor Day

  • Core – improve the main WordPress platform
  • Theme Review – join the team responsible for the high quality in the Themes Directory on WordPress.org
  • Translations – make WordPress and its accompanying resources available in your language
  • Community – improve the WordCamp and meetup organization processes
  • Docs – improve the Codex, handbooks and other online resources for WordPress users and developers
  • Support – spread some happiness by helping out WordPress users in the support forums
  • Design – UI and UX updates
  • Accessibility – test and improve the accessibility of the WordPress project
  • WordPress.tv – reviews and approves every video submitted to WordPress.tv. They also help WordCamps with video post-production.
  • GlotPress – help to improve the collaborative, web-based software translation tool, which was recently converted into a WordPress plugin
  • Mobile – with the growing number of mobile devices on a daily basis, let’s make WordPress more mobile-friendy
  • Meta – help the main WordPress websites such as WordPress.org or WordPress.tv
  • BuddyPress & bbPress – grow the community building group by helping each of these projects
  • Marketing – join and contribute to WordPress with other marketers from all around the globe
  • Rest API – join the Rest API team and start contributing to the future of WordPress
  • Training – join the group of educators teaching WordPress around the globe

See? There’s plenty of room for everyone, and we’re more than happy to welcome newcomers to each of the WordPress Contributors team!

If you’re not sure which team is best for you, check out the Make WordPress website and all of the active teams.

What do I need?

Don’t forget your laptop and charger – you’ll need them during the contributing process.

Sign up for (or make sure that you already have):

Currently, the main communication medium for contributors is Slack, so download a desktop version or use the web one with your credentials.

If you have any questions regarding the Contributors day, reach out to any organizer or use the #wceu hashtag on Twitter.

For Experienced Contributors

If you’re an experienced WordPress contributor, join the Contributor Day! We are looking for more mentors for the people starting out, and your experience would be a great asset for the day.

If you are interested in helping out and/or mentor new contributors with a specific team, let us know!

Plan For the Day

The Contributor Day will start at 11am on June 26th at the Vienna University in the city center. And we will wrap up at 6pm. Make sure that you are present at 11am when we will introduce the team leaders and the room that each team would be using for brainstorming and work.

Lunch would be available, so don’t forget to mark your dietary requirements (if any) in the form below.

In addition to the contributing teams, workshops would also be given at a separate room at the building. Nothing is set in stone yet and you will be able to switch teams or attend some of the workshops.

Sign Up Now

Fill in the form below to secure your place. The places are limited so act fast and reserve your slot!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

WordCamp Europe grows to 2200 people – new tickets go on sale today

This year’s WordCamp Europe will be like nothing else we’ve seen. The demand has been so high, that we had to look for another building to add to our current setup, to be able to fit everyone who’d like to join us in Vienna.

We did it!

WordCamp Europe expands to the whole MuseumsQuartier as we have now secured the Leopold Museum (next door to Halle E+G) as another venue where we’ll be organising very special, focused content and networking tracks for attendees.

MQfromBaroqueSuites

Halle E+G (center) and Leopold Museum (left) from the Baroque Suites Balcony

We have also rented the beautiful Baroque Suites in the MQ, overlooking the Maria-Theresien-Platz and the Twin Museums, where we’ll have our kids / family rooms, our speakers headquarters and the media room our media partners can use to work and interview attendees and speakers.

What all this means is that

More tickets go on sale today

At 10 am today (March 10), new tickets for WordCamp Europe 2016 will be released. A reservation link will be sent to everyone who signed up for the waiting list so that you can secure your ticket for the event in Vienna.

The reservation link will be available to people who signed up for 24 hours. After that period, at 10 am tomorrow morning, the remaining tickets will become available to purchase from the tickets page on the site.

If you signed up for the waiting list, please check your email and claim your ticket as fast as possible, the number of tickets and the number of people on the list is almost the same and we can’t stop people from purchasing multiple tickets.

If you didn’t sign up for the waiting list, chances are you might still get a ticket, so keep an eye on our tickets page from tomorrow morning CET.

Good luck and see you in Vienna!

Love,

Your #WCEU organising team

Hello world & welcome to Vienna!

WordCamp Europe 2016 is a go and this year we have the absolute pleasure to be hosted in one of Europe’s most magnificent capitals. Start making travel plans because WCEU 2016 will be unforgettable and you shouldn’t miss it.

You’re in for three days of the best of WordPress – speakers from all over the world to share their knowledge and know-how, networking and social events, contributing back to the project, adventures and fun in the beautiful city of Vienna.

Continue reading Hello world & welcome to Vienna!