WordCamp Europe shouldn’t exist, not because it’s poorly organized or not valuable to our community, but precisely because it is. It is too well-organized to be called a WordCamp.

WordCamp?

A WordCamp is a gathering of people connected to the open-source software WordPress in some way, shape, or form. WordCamps typically offer presentations about the WordPress software and a wide range of related topics. The WordCamp audience is equally broad, ranging from bloggers and DIYers to enterprise-level agency owners.

After the first WordCamp in 2006, they started spreading worldwide. In 2019, 142 WordCamps were organized across six continents, bringing together over 36,000 unique attendees.

Originally, WordCamps had a very local character. And even today, this is still the case for most of them. That’s why you’ll typically find WordCamps named after the city they’re held in.

Some WordCamps have a more regional character, like WordCamp Nordics, WordCamp Switzerland, or WordCamp Nederland (The Netherlands). 

WordCamp Europe

And then, a group of visionaries came together and started organizing WordCamp Europe. Their goal was to unite and cross-pollinate knowledge across all European WordPress communities. And so it happened with the first WordCamp Europe (WCEU) in 2013.

Looking back, we can safely say they were absolutely right. WCEU quickly grew to become the largest WordPress event in the world, bringing together people from Europe and beyond. From 750 attendees at the first one to nearly 3,000 in Turin last year.

With this growth in size and popularity, a lot changed. What started with a small group of organizers and a few volunteers grew to a 70-person organizing team with a volunteer crew of over 200 people. The team of organizers and volunteers of WCEU is larger than the total size of many local WordCamps around the world.

And it wasn’t just the number of volunteers that grew. The sponsors went from a small table with a branded tablecloth to booths worth hundreds of thousands of euros in production costs alone. Enormous, bespoke booths now scream for the attendees’ attention.

WCEU also went above and beyond to accommodate. From live captioning of talks in many languages to a multi-faith room, and from hotel deals to child care for those traveling to the event with kids. Next to two tracks of sessions, WCEU now also offers workshops, networking opportunities, and a wellness area. It even has media partners who cover the stories of and at the event!

Beyond just organizers and volunteers, a production company has helped organize WordCamp Europe for years now. They’ve been a huge help in professionalizing the event and helping the organizers push the event to the next level!

We can safely say WordCamp Europe has inspired the creation of WordCamp US and WordCamp Asia, the other flagship events in WordPress. From 2013 to now, WCEU has significantly evolved, and that’s a problem.

WCEU is best-in-class

WordCamp Europe is an amazing event. Everything about it is well organized, well thought-through, and beautifully styled. They aim to be fully inclusive so that anyone can attend the event, barrier-free. Maybe with the exception of its event dates in 2024 & 2025, they’re doing an incredible job. And that makes them a terrible example.

Over the years, we’ve seen local WordCamps raise the bar of their professionalism because of what they’ve seen at WordCamp Europe. While it’s absolutely honorable that a local event aims to be as well-organized and inclusive as WordCamp Europe, the hard reality is that they don’t have the same resources. So, volunteers try to do the same work but without the same financial support or resources. This puts an incredibly high load on our volunteer organizers. 

Back in 2019, we had 142 WordCamps. In 2024, we had 79 events listed on wordcamp.org. Obviously, we had some COVID years in between, but why didn’t the organizers come back? Did we burn them out? Did we push too hard at too small budgets?

WCEU, WCUS, and WCAsia should not exist

Well, that’s not true. There’s some nuance I need to apply. The events should exist. They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to: bringing together people from a great number of communities from all around the world. But these events should never have been named ‘WordCamp’. They shouldn’t be compared to WordCamp Nijmegen, WordCamp Kolkata, or WordCamp San Jose. These three flagship WordCamps should have gotten their own name, so that everyone would immediately understand that the standards set for those large events do not translate well to local events with local budgets.

Let’s revise our approach

While I can clearly see the problem, I don’t think I can come up with the perfect solution on my own. We’ll need to work together on this one. So, how about I share my thoughts here, and you add yours in the comments?

Renaming flagship WordCamps

If we want to put the flagship WordCamps in a separate category, they should probably be named differently. Over the years, this conversation has come up several times in various places. If I recall correctly, the predominant recurring suggestion was “WordConf” for the flagship events. 

Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi

Flagship WordCamps can do things local WordCamps cannot, like hiring a production company to help with the organization. In the Make WordPress Community documentation, we should better explain what the extra permissions for Flagships are and where the expectations differ from regular (local) WordCamps.

This doesn’t just clarify the status quo; it also helps lower the pressure on local WordCamp organizations. Potential organizers need to know they don’t have to organize an event like WCEU. Hopefully, this will entice more people to organize a small, local WordCamp! 

Let’s aim for more MVWs

The minimum viable WordCamp (MVW) brings around 50 attendees together for a day to do activities around WordPress. The MVW doesn’t need to have speakers; it can offer group discussions or co-working opportunities. It doesn’t need to provide lunch; everyone can bring their own sandwiches. It doesn’t need live captioning, child care facilities, speaker gifts or dinners, an army of volunteers, or a website with all the things you can do in your city, as locals tend to know this already.

What the MVW needs is people who are passionate about talking about WordPress and building a local community.

Would you organize a minimum viable WordCamp?