WordCamp Milano has ended, so it's time to make my personal considerations. This WordCamp was the fifth for me and saw me both as a speaker and as a volunteer. No doubt an experience I can't wait to repeat.
Yellow is the color of this WordCamp, because the color of the shirts that we volunteers had, a group of fantastic people who managed to make this event fantastic!
But let's relive this experience from the beginning …
We contextualize how we arrived at the fifth WordCamp!
Before the WordCamp Milan I participated in four other WordCamps, therefore, four beautiful memories. The first was in Turin and five months after Zurich. The latter was so inspiring that in a few days I made the tickets for Verona and Dublin.
I tested so many sides of my character and my skills. In a special way I put my tremendous shyness and my English to the test. But they were unique moments, in which I grew as a person and as a professional.
4 WordCamp as a spectator before the WordCamp Milan!
The first four events I experienced as a spectator, for Milan I had the pleasure of being both a speaker and a volunteer, leading me to get to know WordCamps also from this perspective.
WordCamp Milan
My WordCamp Milan starts on Friday, with a dinner for the speakers, volunteers, organizers and organizers. A nice informal dinner in a Milan brewery. Check some old acquaintances, in the past WordCamps I met so many extraordinary people, this WordCamp starts like this!
Saturday is the big day, it starts at 8:40, the headquarters is the Bicocca university. Let's start with receiving the yellow t-shirt from volunteers and badges.
Volunteer
During the morning, apart from helping with the preparation of the gadget banquet and giving some indication to the spectators, I concentrated mainly on reviewing the slides that I will bring to the room 2 at the end of the morning.
The afternoon saw me instead as the room manager of room 1, the first time I was playing a similar role. There were 5 of us working in room 1 to make this experience as pleasant as possible for everyone. Needless to say, I found myself with a super team!
Speaker
I've already been a speaker on other occasions, usually during Linux Day, my shyness makes it always a novelty and a challenge. For the WordCamp Milan I propose to bring my experience as a developer. The title of my talk is “Drupal becomes a CMF, and WordPress does it?”, In which I made a comparison between the tools and methods of development between the two technologies.
A few minutes from the start, I go out a little, take long breaths and try to get rid of anxiety a little.
I reach room 2, thanks to the other volunteers I mount my PC, set up the remote control and prepare for the talk. I believe there will have been about 100 people following me, an emotion for me.
I remain a bit clumsy during my talk, especially regarding my “position” on stage, the talk ends and I leave the stage to the next speaker. At the exit many questions and comparisons. Among the reactions after the talk and the people taking notes during my talk I was left with a very positive feedback from my experience as a speaker.
The WordCamp ends and both as a speaker and as a volunteer it was fantastic, they returned to a house with lots of new ideas, lots of energy and lots of new friends!
A WordCamp of 100 e Lode!
An infinite thanks to everyone: D
And now?
WordCamp Milan was the last of this year. The next in Italy will be Turin in April 2020.
There will also be WordCamp Europe in Porto, and many other WordCamps around Europe, but for now I have not yet made any tickets! Certainly, given how 2019 was, 2020 will not stop at only 5 WordCamps ;)