My WordCamp debut happened in the year 2015 in Pune where I helped with a session on Blogger Gym with Ramya aka Idea Smith. Then the next was Mumbai where I was part of Word Lounge, this was also the first time as a speaker. The third was in Nashik 2016 and fourth in Pune 2017. Now WordCamp Mumbai 2017 will be my 5th time, and feeling a bit nostalgic, this is my diary of sorts.
WordCamp Pune 2015
I wanted to talk. As a writer, the best way for people to read my stuff will be for me to go out there. See the best writers have an awesome life. Agatha Christie, Conan Doyal, Wodehouse all had exciting life which translated in their work. Input needs to be amazing to give out an amazing output. So I’m looking for adventure which infuses energy in my brain and I start writing more. Now you may say traveling to Pune is not that big of an adventure right? Well true, but for me, it was, since I always had hesitation on traveling on my own. Why I traveled to Pune for WordCamp? I’m a word nerd and I liked to see how I can evolve taking new challenges. And the experience was so good that it boosted me to try my hand at speaking at;
WordCamp Mumbai 2016
I like to speak, but I don’t always open up soon. I love to write as well. But seeing that I am approaching writing as work, writing for me is difficult. Which means, I don’t write more poems and stories which I used to do about it. You see I love writing, and how I find hacks to write better which I share here at WordCamps. So talking about writing though I like, I didn’t thought I would be really good at but WordCamp helped me to explore and introspect, and soon I eased up to it, basically our collaboration happened splendidly. I was so nervous in Mumbai, you can check the videos and see for yourself, I’m like I’ll get a cardiac arrest any minute now. But it didn’t happen, thankfully, and everyone was warm and generous :). It inspired me to apply again at;
WordCamp Nashik 2016
At that time, I was more focusing on stories, how to write them, shorter and longer ones, so it became natural for me to select a topic on stories which was well received, and the twitter people showered love. The topic was ‘how to use stories for your blog’. It’s special because I also unveiled Stories4Hire, a pet venture I have on stories. I took ma with me too, to tell her, see ma, I’m on stage! It prompted me to apply again and go back to pavilion which is;
WordCamp Pune 2017
As always I met interesting people here, but this time, I had the opportunity to meet and network cool folks since I was there the whole day and wasn’t blocked with other commitments. Started the year with WordCamp. Even got myself videoed by the wonderful Isabel Garcia where we were discussing why women were not many to be seen. We discussed on how there are many women writers, but they are a bit hesitant to speak on stage maybe because they are afraid of making mistakes. I know I was for a long time, and still work in progress like many. The next day the same conversation was captured in her video. Again, look ma I’m famous 🙂
WordCamp Mumbai 2017
Now it’s back to home base in Mumbai, and as I write this, I’ve coordinated with three people on work, cooking food and creating PPT for another project. In short, if anyone of you knows me I’m the epitome of laziness. And getting all this work done partially has been due to WordCamp for letting me meet good people who believe in my skill set. Most writers are folks with issues they would never tell you about. Mine was to become organised and talk better. So I’ve become a little bit more organized since the time I started out, and people from the past are telling me they are proud of me, which seems funny. But, basically I’ve become a little tiny bit more organized which trust me is huge!
So I thank those who introduced me to WordCamp and my experience in the 2 years association with them has been nothing but swell 🙂 If you have any experience you would like to share, please do so here!
WordCamp gives me a platform to explore WordPress and help me give back to the community. Being a volunteer gives me an inside look at how the WordCamps are organized and learn teamwork.
It gave me a start, I was introduced to a new set of people where people who were passionate enough about WordPress that they simply shared their views and ideas for free. They were helping each other by sharing their knowledge and trying to spread the use of WordPress.
Being a part of WordCamp Mumbai community, has helped me to interact and gain knowledge from experts in the WordPress field. WordCamp has also given me a opportunity to make new friends and colleague in the WordPress world. I strongly suggest all people who are using WordPress to build websites for clients or sell products and services via WordPress websites or business running to develop WordPress theme and plugins or monetise WordPress driven website to sell other people’s products or blogger who write for the love of writing or food bloggers. It is a must to attend or encourage your employers to at least attend one WordCamp for sure in their life. I am sure attending a WordCamp will definitely add value to you in one way or the other.
I joined Wordcamp Mumbai team as a volunteer. My experience was nice. Everyone was helpful and friendly. Best thing about volunteering WordCamp is you meet tons of people with same interest, you learn about various ways to contributing to WordPress. Volunteering WordCamp is the best way to contribute back to WordPress.
WordCamps can help anyone first begin towards being an informed user. From here, they can further choose to either become a core developer, themes and plugins developer, or even make good living as a “theme hacker” who tweaks existing themes and plugins and dishes out good websites! Personally, i followed the later route. The stories narrated at WordCamp and the entire experience can really give a nitro boost to this informed user, and help him develop further and even contribute to the community at large.
