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[ultimate_heading main_heading=”What is WordCamp?” main_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:20px;”][/ultimate_heading][vc_column_text]WordCamps are informal, community-organized conferences that are organized by local WordPress users. Everyone from casual users to core developers to companies participates, come together under one room for a day or two to share their ideas, and get to know each other.I’m excited to begin my 2nd year as a co-organizer for WordCamp Mumbai.
WordCamps are attended by newbies, bloggers, professional, developers, and consultants.
The first WordCamp was organized in San Francisco by Matt Mullenweg in 2006. After that many local communities around the world have organized hundreds of WordCamps.[/vc_column_text][ultimate_heading main_heading=”Latest stats showing the number of WordCamps in the world:” heading_tag=”h4″ main_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:20px;”][/ultimate_heading][vc_single_image image=”1186″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”blue” lazy_loading=”true”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_heading main_heading=”WordCamp Mumbai 2016″ main_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:20px;”][/ultimate_heading][vc_column_text]Mumbai had it first WordCamp in 2012. BUT 2014 in WordCamp Mumbai was organized by our meetup group lead by Alexander Gounder and Aditya Kane.
I was scrolling through Facebook and I came across this advertisement about WordCamp. To my bad luck, I was a day late. But the good part is that I got connect with the WordPress Mumbai meetup group.
I joined the WordPress Mumbai Meetup Community in May 2015.
Initially, I did not get the time to attend meetups. It either was clashing with personal fun OR at times the meetup topic did not seem too interesting.
Finally found a topic which I was interested in and bang I attended my first meetup. In my first meetup, I hardly interacted with anyone from the community once the meetup was completed. To be honest my first meetup was not that great.
My second meetup was all about how to secure your WordPress website. In this meetup, I started to interact with a few members.
After my second meetup, I tried to attend a few meetups to learn about different topics from great speakers.
As the year progressed, planning for WordCamp Mumbai 2016 had started. I went to the main organizer Alexander Gounder and told him that I want to participate in the planning and organizing WordCamp Mumbai 2016. He gladly welcomed me and told me to attend meetups because after meetups they would discuss work related to WordCamp.
Moving ahead finally the day of WordCamp Mumbai 2016 arrived. I was excited and happy to be a part of it. I was assigned to be at the registration desk with few of my colleges. When the gates of the Auditorium opened at 9 I was surprised to see sooooo many enthusiasm people waiting patiently for their turn. Once all the participants got their ID cards and completed their breakfast, finally the event started. I went to the main auditorium. The atmosphere in the auditorium was full of excitement and eager for the event to start.
During the 2 days, I introduced myself to many people and made new friends. I saw the way the speakers interacted with attendees and help them with any queries or questions about their session or product. There were various companies who had sponsored the event. Main sponsored had their booth and they were either promoting their product OR conducting some contest and giveaways.
I will be honest at the end of the second day, I was happy that I attended my first WordCamp as a co-organiser, volunteer, attendee, and organizer. I learned a lot of different thing in WordPress world, and also made few good friends.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_heading main_heading=”Some of the glimpses of WCMumbai 2016:” main_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:20px;”][/ultimate_heading][ultimate_carousel slides_on_desk=”1″ slides_on_tabs=”1″ slides_on_mob=”1″ speed=”900″ arrow_style=”circle-bg” arrow_bg_color=”#4aace0″ arrow_color=”#ffffff” arrow_size=”15″ next_icon=”ultsl-arrow-right6″ prev_icon=”ultsl-arrow-left6″ dots=”off” draggable=”off”][vc_single_image image=”1196″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1199″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1203″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1195″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1198″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1201″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1200″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1194″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1202″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1197″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”1193″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/ultimate_carousel][ult_dualbutton btn_border_style=”double” btn_color_border=”#0091e0″ btn_border_size=”1″ button1_text=”Photos Of Day 1 – WCMumbai 2016″ icon_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F586299044741139%2Fphotos%2F%3Ftab%3Dalbum%26album_id%3D985518898152483||target:%20_blank|rel:nofollow” btn1_background_color=”#4aace0″ btn1_bghovercolor=”#0091e0″ button2_text=”Photos Of Day 2 – WCMumbai 2016″ btn_icon_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpg%2FWordCampMum%2Fphotos%2F%3Ftab%3Dalbum%26album_id%3D985535848150788||target:%20_blank|rel:nofollow” btn2_background_color=”#4aace0″ btn2_bghovercolor=”#0091e0″ divider_style=”icon” divider_icon=”Defaults-wordpress” btn1_text_color=”#ffffff” btn1_text_hovercolor=”#ffffff” btn2_text_color=”#ffffff” btn2_text_hovercolor=”#ffffff” title_font_size=”desktop:22px;” title_line_ht=”desktop:26px;” btn_border_radius=”4″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_heading main_heading=”Conclusion” main_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:20px;”][/ultimate_heading][vc_column_text]I started out a silent part of the organizing committee of WordCamp Mumbai. After attending a number of meetups and my first WordCamp, my whole aspect of meetups and WordCamp has changed.
Many people have a misconception that if I attend meetups I am going to either get a job OR get some business.
Sorry but this is a wrong myth. I am not saying you may not get but don’t attend meetups with that agenda. If you do then you will miss out on all the fun and interaction with other members of the community[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
[/vc_column][/vc_row]I would love to hear your story about your first WordCamp or first meetup experience. Come share your experience in the comment section.