WordCamp Galicia wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to write this post, but I needed a little time so I wouldn’t write it right in the heat of the moment after the event. I also wanted to wait until WordCamp Valencia was over so I could gain some perspective on all the WordCamps held in Spain this year.
The event in Valencia wrapped up this weekend. I would have liked to go, but I’d already traveled quite a bit this year, so it was impossible for me to attend. I hope that in the future this will change and I’ll be able to make it there.
This was the second edition of WordCamp Galicia, although I’ve considered it as such ever since the first one was held in Pontevedra in 2018. The website already said,“Welcome to the first WordCamp in Galicia!” and there I had the honor of speaking at a WordCamp for the first time.
But this was the first edition not held in Pontevedra, and the change of city was quite a challenge. It was also the first time I’ve led a WordCamp, together with my colleagues Mónica and Carla.
In addition to the challenges of hosting a new event, there was the challenge of maintaining the high standards set by Juan, Wajari, and Sabela in previous editions. And those standards are truly high: WordCamp Galicia is a true benchmark among WordCamps in Spain.
How This Adventure Began
For me, it all started at WooCommerce Day in Porto, when Wajari, Jorge, and Juan told me over dinner that they were counting on me to lead this WordCamp alongside Mónica and Carla. It was more of an announcement than a proposal.
This time around, there wasn’t the glamour of the handoff between Juan and Wajari, nor the pleasant “surprise” that Sabela received at the close of WordCamp 2023—which you can see at the 14:55 mark. But it had its own charm, too 😅.
After speaking with Mónica and Carla, and having decided to take on the role of leading an excellent team, we set out to organize the A Coruña event. A new venue, new team members who had never organized a WordCamp before, and new challenges for us, since we, too, had never led a team like this.
After the initial jitters and a little extra pressure Pablo put on us (and rightly so)—our mentor at WordCamp Galicia—the truth is that everything went smoothly. Yes, there was a bit of organizational chaos (we’re a somewhat anarchic group—too much so for some)—but Carla did an incredible job, never stopping even when she should have been resting.
Everyone has their own style. Mónica, Carla, and I do things in very different ways, but maybe that mix is what made everything work out perfectly. In any case, all we’ve done is lead an excellent team.
And that’s especially noticeable during WordCamp. All the organizers—even if they don’t have a specific task assigned at that moment—are willing to lend a hand, move tables, or do whatever needs to be done. Everything runs smoothly, almost without you even noticing. If we hadn’t anticipated that something else was needed, someone else had already thought of it and had it underway.
I spent my time shuffling papers back and forth—that way, it always looks like you’re busy 😁.
A WordCamp that’s as much fun as a wedding
As Carla had already mentioned in a comment, for me, WordCamp day was like a wedding. I spent the whole day running back and forth, talking to one person after another, and before I knew it, it was over. I barely knew who I’d talked to, who I hadn’t, or which talks I’d attended and which ones I’d missed.
It all happened very quickly, but it worked out wonderfully. Were there any glitches? Yes, we’re aware of them. But overall, things went well.
We believe the quality of this year’s talks was very high, without detracting from that of previous editions. This year, for the first time—and thanks to our trips to WordCamp Porto, WordPress Day, and WordCamp Europe—we had the opportunity to welcome speakers from other countries. It was fantastic to have our sister community from Portugal with us, as well as people from Serbia, Georgia, Bulgaria, and the United Kingdom.
The quality of the talks by speakers from Galicia and the rest of Spain is already very high. The international talks in English have rounded out the program and added a little more variety. I hope that next year we can maintain the same high standard as this year’s event.
How do you measure the success of a WordCamp?
There’s no single metric that tells us whether a WordCamp has been a success. After a lot of hesitation along the way and some ups and downs with the budget, one thing we were clear about was that we wanted to end up in the black. And that’s exactly what happened. We’ll publish the figures shortly.
Another indicator that, at first glance, seems to measure that success is the number of tickets sold. This year we sold 237, compared to 276 last year.
If we add the 72 workshop attendees (featuring the great Fernando Tellado) and the more than 30 who attended Friday’s do_action event, we’d be looking at more than 320 participants across both events. We’re counting them as separate figures for now, although a few people may have attended both. Based on that criterion, we’d be the WordCamp with the most attendees out of the five held in Spain this year.
However, if we stick to the official data from WordCamp Central, we were the second-largest WordCamp in terms of tickets sold and attendees, second only to WordCamp Madrid. Of course, we can certainly consider that a success as well.
Even so, I believe that success isn’t measured solely by the number of attendees, the number of tickets sold, or staying within budget for WordCamp. We managed to stay within budget despite losing a couple of sponsors who weren’t at WordCamp Galicia this year.
For me, true success lies in how people have received it. Based on what they’ve written after WordCamp, what they’ve told us, the buzz on social media, and how happy people were when they left—yes, we believe it was a resounding success. And that encourages us to organize another WordCamp Galicia next year—the three of us together: Carla, Mónica, and me.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wcgalicia-ugcPost-7522962145999753216-uYRZ
The Five Pillars of WordCamp
The success of a WordCamp rests on five pillars: sponsors, organizers, volunteers, speakers, and attendees. Without any one of them, this would not be possible.
First and foremost is the funding, which comes from sponsors and ticket sales. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to put on this great event. Thank you to everyone who has been there for us, to those who continue to support us, and to those who will join us in the future, for your contributions.
Then there’s the organizing team, which does an incredible job all year long—and even more so during those days when they never stop. Their level of professionalism is very high; each person fulfills their role and helps the other groups with whatever is needed.
I could talk about each of the organizers: those who have returned and bring their experience from previous years, and those who have joined us this year with new ideas and a fresh perspective. They’ve all done a fantastic job and helped take WordCamp a little further.
This year, I was also lucky enough to have Xiana and Carla (my daughter and her friend and classmate in Audiovisual Communication) helping out the media team, Julio and Fernando. Being able to share WordCamp with my daughter is something very special to me.
We also have areas for improvement internally: processes, documentation, and a few other tasks. Little by little, we want to build a more established WordCamp that’s better documented and has a stronger foundation for those who will take over in the future. Thank you to everyone who was already there, to the newcomers, and to those who may join us in future editions.
The volunteers were exceptionally well-organized, just as in previous years. This year there was an added challenge: Carlos Sobrino, who had been doing a wonderful job, had handed the reins over to Leo. And I want to congratulate Leo in particular, because he did a fantastic job, which was evident in the organization of the entire volunteer team. Without them, this event wouldn’t have been possible either.
Then there are the speakers. That team has given talks in English, Galician, and Spanish, and made Saturday a great day at WordCamp. They’re the ones who make it possible to put together such a top-notch program—one of such high quality—that draws in attendees.
And finally, the attendees. We can have all the money and all the organizers and volunteers in the world, but if no one shows up, there’s no WordCamp. Each of you does your part by buying a ticket, attending the talks, and engaging in that wonderful networking. Thank you to each of the 237 attendees. I hope we can count on all of you next year—and on those who, for whatever reason, were unable to attend this year.
In addition, attendees also volunteer. I’ve already mentioned this to the team: I’ve seen attendees and speakers willing to move a table, look for someone, carry something, or do whatever was needed. That willingness also makes everything run differently than at other events.
The Conversations That Are Still Pending
The three days of WordCamp flew by, and I hardly even realized who I’d spoken with and who I hadn’t. With some people, I wish I’d had another thirty minutes to talk; with others, I barely got a chance to speak at all.
I hope that at the next event I’ll be a little more focused and have time to do a little more networking, both with returning attendees and with newcomers. Sometimes we forget to make first-time attendees feel a little more welcome.
I’m not going to mention each and every one of the friends who have come to see us—from other parts of Galicia, from central Spain, or even from the south—driving nearly a thousand kilometers to visit us. But I want to thank each and every one of you.
To those of you I already know who have made such a great effort to come here as speakers or attendees, to join us and make this WordCamp just a little bit bigger than it already was: thank you so much.
Wajari, Jorge, and Juan
I can’t wrap up this recap without mentioning that fantastic group with whom I share trips and WordCamps throughout Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe: Wajari, Jorge, and Juan.
This time, Wajari—I don’t know why—has decided to stay with his wife at their home in A Coruña instead of coming with us to the apartment. But oh well… Alba, we understand.
What can I say about each of them? I can’t imagine attending a WordCamp without this wonderful group of four.
Jorge
Jorge is always there, saying just the right thing at just the right moment, with incredible professionalism and showing all his warmth—even in those small gestures that might go unnoticed by many. He’s shown me this from the very first WordCamp we attended together in Madrid right up to this most recent one, and I think it will continue to be that way. Thank you so much, Jorge.
John
I’ve attended more than one WordCamp with Juan (and two, and three…) and we’ve also spent some time together before or after, strolling through Turin or, on this occasion, through A Coruña on Sunday afternoon, when we were already pretty tired. It’s wonderful to exchange thoughts with him and hear his opinion—I don’t know how he does it, but he’s always right.
Or tell me a little about the history of each place. I’d say 50%, or even 80%, of it is made up, but it’s so well thought out that sometimes I even believe it’s real. Thank you so much, Juan, and you know I’ll keep asking you more and more questions every day.
Wajari
And what about Wajari? We might think of him as the life of the party. He certainly is, but he’s so much more than that. As he’s already said, we’re a married couple at every WordCamp Europe, at the Codeable party.
I met Wajari at my first WordCamp, in Santander in 2017. We traveled together and shared an apartment with José Luis, and since then, we’ve shared many trips, apartments, hotels, hostels, and even something I’m not quite sure how to describe: maybe an “open-source” hostel?
Some of those trips have even been outside of WordCamp events. I think he’s an incredible person—someone I admire and from whom I always have something to learn. He never fails to surprise me with his cultural knowledge, his hobbies, and everything he knows.
I won’t go on and on in this post about the wonderful qualities of Wajari or each of the members of this group, but I certainly owe them a lot. I hope to continue sharing many WordPress-related trips—and, why not, other trips as well, if the opportunity arises—over the next few years.
Pre-WordCamp Events
This year, in addition to the Meetups that had been taking place in the days leading up to WordCamp, a Campus Connect was also held in Pontevedra, and—much like WordCamp Europe—a brand hosted a Pre-WordCamp party.
This year, it was Weglot, which gave the company a fantastic opportunity to network and raise awareness among people who weren’t yet familiar with the brand.
We believe this is a fantastic opportunity for companies that either want to raise their profile at a smaller, more “intimate” event or strengthen their brand presence. We hope that by 2027, some brands will decide to repeat this experience or explore this interesting avenue—and end up having to do what they do at WordCamp Europe, where these side events are highly sought after due to their limited spots; I’ll leave it at that 😉.
It was worth the effort
This has been a fantastic year professionally. It’s also been a good year personally, though it’s had its downsides. As you get older, certain things are just part of life, and juggling work, co-organizing a WordCamp, and other tasks can become a burden.
But when you see a result like the one from this WordCamp Galicia and share it with the great professionals I’ve had the pleasure of working with, you know that all the effort has been worth it. Every minute of work and time dedicated, with all the joys and sorrows along the way.
We have a few areas that need improvement, and we’ve pinpointed them. Drawing on this year’s experience, we hope to fine-tune those small details in 2027, so that the next edition will be just as spectacular as this one—and, if possible, even better.
For all these reasons, we’re looking forward to another year of WordCamp Galicia. I hope to see all of you who attended this year’s event again—and, if possible, those of you who weren’t able to make it for whatever reason.
Thank you all so much for being there. See you at the next one, which will be at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wordcampgalicia_ya-sabemos-d%C3%B3nde-ser%C3%A1-wordcamp-galicia-2027-activity-7523686788519956480-OzFM
And, as a great friend of mine says, Long live WordPress!!!
WordCamp Galicia 2026 Photo Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wordpressphotos/albums/72177720336254913