What We Learned From Sponsoring and Speaking at WordCamp Manila

For those of you who don’t know me, it’s nice to meet you!

I’m Paul, the Happiness Manager here at ThemeBoy.  I’m still feeling all the excitement from last weekend at WordCamp Manila 2017, and I’d like to share my experience with you.

It was 6 years ago that Brian and Ayla, the founders of ThemeBoy, attended their first WordCamp in Gold Coast Australia in 2011 – the same year ThemeBoy was born.

This year was a big deal for us as we were a first-time Platinum sponsor at #WCMNL2017, and I had the privilege to be chosen as one of the 12 speakers at the event.

A little backstory to how this all unfolded

Two months ago, when Brian was in Japan, he told me he was going to WordCamp Tokyo the following day. I joked and said I wanted to be there too, then the next thing I know Brian told me there was one coming up in Manila, and that he was going to send me there!

One thing led to another, and ThemeBoy became a sponsor for the event and there I was on stage speaking to a crowd of roughly 300 attendees including the organizers, volunteers, sponsors and participants. I gave my talk about my journey from being a freelancer to the Community Happiness Manager at ThemeBoy.

Sponsoring WordCamp

WordCamp Manila is a community-organised WordPress gathering that brings together web developers and designers, bloggers, small business owners, entrepreneurs, educators, and new WordPress users from the Philippines. Last year, the invitation was sent to other WordPress enthusiasts from other Asian countries like Vietnam but this year, WordCamp Manila boasts of having speakers from other parts of the world like Sweden and the USA.

Being a Platinum sponsor, we had our own booth at this year’s gathering. I personally manned our booth together with five other friends who wholeheartedly helped me in handing out our ThemeBoy swag! Throughout the whole day event, we welcomed our co-WordCampers by answering their questions and giving them a glimpse into how SportsPress works.

Sessions

WordCamp Manila 2017 selected distinguished speakers from all over the Philippines and across the globe. The morning session featured topics like best practices for WordPress newbies, the techniques and essentials for customizing your WordPress site, and of course my speech about the benefits of working remotely as a Customer Happiness Manager and from a freelancer’s perspective.

In the afternoon session, the two assigned speakers respectively discussed ideas on using WordPress as an e-commerce platform to help the MSME sector, and how important communication is to both working remotely and having a business hereabouts.

Additionally, seven speakers talked about different topics during breakout sessions in the afternoon. The first part had the speakers cover topics about WP REST API for beginners, a hands-on workshop about building beautiful websites fast with WordPress page builder plugins, the things you need to know before starting a blog, and tips on what you can do to keep your WordPress site in good working order after it is completed.

In the last part of the afternoon session, there was a hands-on workshop about Headless WP in VueJS, while the other speakers shared tips about how to apply academic and professional skills in blogging and how to secure WordPress websites.

The question and answer portion took place both after the morning and afternoon sessions were completed which gave the attendees more learning insights and helpful ideas about working efficiently using WordPress.

Our group split into two separate breakout sessions. Together with my friend Donna, I went along to the Blogger’s track where we learned that it is important to have a partner who is an SEO guru to become a successful blogger. My other four friends namely Ace, Cyan, Ira and Jona picked the Designer’s track where they enjoyed building a website for the first time.

During break wherein sumptuous foods were served, I was delighted to meet Mayumo Moriyama, a WordPress enthusiast in Tokyo & South East Asia. She was ecstatic to see ThemeBoy as the Platinum sponsor because she met Brian and Ayla at the WordCamp event in Tokyo two months earlier.

Overall, WordCamp Manila has staged another successful event this year. It may be just the second time that WordPress enthusiasts from the Philippines joined the global community to celebrate WordPress but we take pride in getting good people together to form our own version of a strong community that fosters friendship by inspiring and motivating each member through WordPress.

Highlights video

For those that missed out, the folks at WordPress User Group Philippines have uploaded a highlight reel from the event!

What I learned

These are the three things that I have realized during WordCamp Manila 2017. I know that there are a lot to learn but I believe it is already a good start.

1.WordCamp is more than just a gathering of WordPress enthusiasts.

When Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, first started WordCamp in San Francisco in 2006, local communities have organized their own WordCamps since then and that include WordCamp Manila that started last year.

We can consider WordCamp as an informal, community-organized WordPress event but it is more than just a casual gathering of web developers, designers, bloggers, and other WordPress users. More importantly, it is also about having camaraderie, without looking at everyone’s resume, because you attend the event to share what you have and learn new things. Sharing is caring, indeed!

2.Opportunity is everywhere!

WordCamp Manila 2017 was the first ever WordCamp that I attended and this opportunity, in reality, came from a very casual conversation over Slack!

You never really know where something may lead by just putting it out there.

3.WordPress is for everyone.

While it can be true that WordPress, like working from home, is not for everyone, it is also true that you can go above and beyond your expectations, like everyone else, if you are determined to rise to the challenge.

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Team Blue! #WordCamp #WCMNL2017 #WPUGPH

A post shared by ROMEL GUDES (@romelgudesph) on

Whether you are a businessman or an employee, an SEO specialist or a WordPress newbie, as long as you have the desire to step out of your comfort zone, then you can get involved in the WordPress community which is very welcoming to people who love to learn and grow.

But first things first, we should all know that the letter P in WordPress is capitalized! :-)

Microphone image shared with permission from @georgiephical

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