Hello, Hacer! Which team are you a part of, and what is your role?
I call the Communications, Marketing, and PR team my home 🙂 I work mostly on PR (Public Relations) related tasks, like feeding media outlets with WCEU related news, selecting Media Partners, and helping them to create a lot of coverage around WCEU.
Where are you from / where are you based?
I’m from The Netherlands, but I also have Turkish roots, and since 2017 I’ve been based in Portugal.
When did you first get involved with the WordPress project, and have you contributed to the project previously?
I started working with WordPress in 2019 as a marketing professional, then a year later I re-skilled to being a web developer and started working as a freelancer. It was then that I started missing a work related social environment, and I started looking for WordPress projects where I could help out and meet like-minded people. I knew there was a community behind the WordPress project, and I found out about WordCamps. I always liked organising events, so I directly jumped in the WCEU 2022 organisation. That was my first contribution to the WP project.
Is this your first time organising WordCamp Europe, or have you been an organiser/volunteer previously?
I have been a part of the WCEU organising team for 2022, 2023, and now again for 2024.
Which team are you on, and what is the team responsible for?
I am on the Communications, Marketing, and PR team. This team works closely with all other organising teams to ensure seamless communication and engagement with the WCEU audience. Work involved can be proofreading and improving content written by other teams (for all online, and print assets), and publishing content on the website and social media channels. The team also works with media organisations to help spread news, information and back-stage activity worldwide.
What are you and your team working on at the moment?
At the moment we are supporting our Media Partners with their requests; this is something ongoing until after the event. From general communications tasks, we are currently preparing a lot of content. We will publish these in the coming weeks.
What are you excited about for WordCamp Europe?
Because WCEU is being held in a different location each time, I think it is exciting to see the new venue. Every venue has its own challenges, and when all of the teams’ work comes together in that week of the WCEU, you will see what we have worked hard for.
But if I have to name something more concrete: I would say meeting new people, and catching up with the organising team and other WP friends I made in the past years.
What would you say to people thinking of applying as an organiser or volunteer for WordCamp Europe?
I understand that it can be a bit scary or you might be uncertain what to expect. But I would say if you have the time and opportunity in your life: go for it, it will be a great experience! I, too, wasn’t sure in the beginning what to expect. But everyone was so welcoming, that I felt like I belonged here 🙂
If you have time constraints, or financial constraints, talk to your employer to see if you can’t get a few hours per week sponsored. There are also some funds available from companies active in the WordPress project that you could apply for to get your travel and stay covered.
If you are still uncertain, reach out to any current organiser to ask your questions, or ask them in the Making WordPress Slack group or your local/geographical Slack group.
WCEU needs a diverse group of organisers and volunteers, and your experiences will make the event more inclusive and accessible for everyone interested.
If you have been on the organising team for previous WCEU’s, what are one or two things you learned from the experience?
I’ve learned that working together with a group of people from all around the world on a voluntary basis comes with its challenges 🙂 And every year there are new things we encounter, because every year there are new organisers joining. But this all adds up to the WCEU growing more mature and becoming more inclusive, diverse, accessible, equitable. And I’m happy to have contributed to that.