rtCamp’s WordCamp Colombo 2017 Trip

rtCampers were off to yet another WordCamp last fortnight. This time it was WordCamp Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Our southern neighbors were hosting their maiden WordCamp. It was an event of many firsts. It was the first WordCamp in Sri Lanka. Also, first international WordCamp to have about 6.5 rtCampers. Coincidentally, it is also my first blog post since my joining at rtCamp!

rtCampers at WordCamp Colombo @wccolombo 🇱🇰#wccmb #wordcamp pic.twitter.com/4Axn3mEMqy

— rtCamp (@rtCamp) September 23, 2017

(In picture from L-R: Joel, Rajshree, Rahul Bansal, Raj, Rahul Prajapati, Sanket, and Chandra)

WordCamp Colombo was organized on the 23rd of September, 2017. The organizers did a great job selecting an awesome venue at BMICH.

Choosing a dedicated conference center made a huge difference to the quality of the event. Little things like the orderly parking zones, sorted sound and audio-visual systems, soundproofed hall and open networking area really added up.

Also not to ignore, air conditioning system in hallway track and tasty food with plenty of options at lunch and later at after-party dinner. Most rtCampers are vegetarians but didn’t face any issue there.

The topic selection was excellent too. Single track WordCamps, while being relatively less complicated to organize, can force speakers to generalize their talk content to cater to an audience with different backgrounds. The organizers did a great job selecting topics that applied to a large cross-section of attendees.

A great example of this was a couple of lightning talks in Sinhalese and Tamil – the two national languages of Sri Lanka. This can be a regular feature at WordCamps to promote regional languages.

Rahul (Bansal) spoke about selling WordPress to enterprises at the event. His talk covered some of the common hurdles come with working with enterprises. And also about how agencies can address them! Rahul’s session was very well received as can be seen from the following tweets.

.@rahul286 on WordPress for Enterprise at #wccmb Talk about learning from the experts! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uRn4sRis4n

— Mahangu Weerasinghe (@MahanguW) September 23, 2017

Rahul is talking about #WordPress Enterprise Business at @wccolombo!@rahul286 #wccmb #wccmb2017 #WordCamp #WordCampColombo pic.twitter.com/OGbN0uv8eh

— M Asif Rahman (@Asif2BD) September 23, 2017

Things to remember when you are selling to enterprises. Thank you @rahul286 for your talk 🙂 #wccmb pic.twitter.com/fzyWnDrgKm

— Naweed Chougle (@N_Chougle) September 23, 2017

@rahul286 -you have to figure out where enterprises have conferences like digital media and atted those as well as active on social Media

— Hussain Thajutheen (@hussain_thaj) September 23, 2017

@rahul286 : When it comes to enterprises, it's you and your client. Don't ask them to Google the issue. #wccmb

— Muhammad Muhsin (@muhsinlk) September 23, 2017

Afterparty

If you believe in “the journey is the reward”, then have a look at the picture below!

The double-decker bus was hired to take WordCamp attendees from the conference venue to the after-party venue. It was almost 1-hour scenic ride along the Colombo coast. 🚌

#wccmb after-party bus 🚌 loaded up in true Sri Lankan style! pic.twitter.com/1hJOhhruZ1

— Mahangu Weerasinghe (@MahanguW) September 23, 2017

And speaking about the after-party itself, it was at a different level altogether with a traditional Sri Lankan dance performance as its highlight. See the video below!

Overall, those who attended WordCamp Colombo were so happy and vocal about their positive experience, it made their colleagues envious. They missed Lanka when they returned here and made those who were here miss not going there.

By all means, it was very well thought out, organized and executed WordCamp. 🙂

Ayubowan Sri Lanka! 👋