Wrapping up #WCNO 2016!

Norway’s biggest WordPress conference of the year is now over and we are all full of good memories! We hope everyone made it home with their awesome #WCNO tote bags with goodies inside! Missing WCNO already, well no fear – watch this amazing recap

We are so happy that 182 people joined us for this years event. We had a good mix of locals and travels this year – which we always love. Saturday’s Tech and Inspiration stages were packed full of eager listeners on the edge of their seats ready to learn something new. Through out the day there was a buzz in the common area where people were meeting new friends and talking about what they liked in the talk they just heard.

We were an impressive bunch this year managing to drink well over 500 cups of coffee and eating around 400 sandwiches (we made sure to donate the leftovers to charity)! We partied late into the night at the afterparty and some even got their dance on! Sunday – do to lack of snow – we had to get creative with our original plans of speed sledding. We took a lovely tour of the Oslo Opera house and had a lazy afternoon at Dubliner (cosy restaurant), where most enjoyed a hangover burger.

Why WordCamp’s Matter

Tech conferences are not just for the ‘geeky’ – that term in its own has been redefined over the last years, but that is a post for another time. Tech is in all of our lives and in a huge part of our economy. Out of our wonderful 182 attendees we had first time WordPressers, hard core developers, project managers, business developers, designers, entrepreneurs and so many other types of professions.

WordCamp’s are Educational

WordCamp’s are such a valuable event if you are interested in WordPress – especially so if working with WordPress contributes to your salary. This year alone we had 6 excellent tech talks about new areas within WordPress, safety in WordPress, and better ways of doing things in WordPress. These are very valuable things to learn from others who have been there. This is why WordPress meetup’s are so important too – it is very valuable to learn from what someone else did right or wrong.

WordCamp’s are Inspirational

Want to get excited about WordPress – look no farther then the the Inspiration stage! WordCamp’s are a great place to show off cool and exciting projects made with WordPress. It is always so impressive to see how someone made ‘this one aspect’ of WordPress work so well for them. The inspiration and tech stages have some overlap, of course – which makes choosing which talk to hear tricky some times – but seeing the WordPress API in action on the Inspiration stage this year was very inspiring. I like to think of the inspiration stage as more of a presentation of cool work done or case studies, if you will.

WordCamp is good for your job

The number of careers started from networking at a WordCamp is unknown in number but not in impact. If you are serious about getting into WordPress as a way to contribute to you salary – either in your current job or to switch jobs – your local WordCamp is the most important event for you. WordCamp’s have many relevant sponsors – you can easily learn about a new WP product, plugin or service just from looking at the sponsors banner. Generally these sponsors are also scouting for good talent!

WordCamp is good for business

Do you run / help run a business? If so, WordCamps are crawling with exceptional talent. WordCamps are attended by a large range of developers, graphic designer, interaction designers, project managers, office managers, and everything in between senior level or beginner. This is a great talent pool to search for the perfect fit for your company. WordCamps are also great to learn about new products/services that can help you save money and time – weather that is from a WordCamp Sponsor or from one of the talks where a tip was shared. And finally, WordCamps are great for new clients. Some people come to WordCamps looking for that person or company who can help them with their product/ idea – and that could be you!

WordCamp is good for community

WordPress people are great – I know I am bias, but WordPress is such an accepting community. This could be because WordPress is such an international community and there is a strong focus on the Code of Conduct at events. There is a general ‘leave no (wo)man behind’ attitude. WordCamp is to be open to anyone – not matter age, race, programming language, preferred OS, religion, sexual orientation, disability or ethnicity. This is at the core of WordCamps – come one, come all, you will be loved!

People – generally from around the world – gather themselves over a weekend to celebrate WordPress. Speakers, volunteers nor organisers are not being paid – they are donating their time because WordPress has made their lives better and they love the community – that alone is a testament to how good this community is. Some people say the best part of WordCamp is not the talks – while they are great – but the friends that are made for life through a common interest.

Some WordCamps have a contributor day – we have found that the attendees at WCNO have preferred to explore Norway and spend more time getting to know each other. This also allows for us to have a more accepting community (ie. if you are new/interested in WP, you can hang out instead of feeling unable to contribute.)

Want to re-live WCNO 2016

Well then you are in luck! We have recorded this year’s talks and they are available in our awesome → WordCamp Norway 2016 playlist ←.

In addition to the talks, we have collected some images for you as well:

Thanks from the Organisers: Christian, Scott, Arnstein, Line and Fonda

There is always room for improvement – we are very happy to hear your likes and dislikes. Please let us know – because if you do not, we can not make it better! We are already looking forward to next years even and full of ideas on how to make it bigger, better and more effective.

We would once again like to say thank to our lovely volunteers, sponsors and speakers!
Thanks to everyone for the images!

Sunday at #WCNO

We had planned to have a sledding afternoon this year for the Sunday-funday activity – since it has been such a hit in the past. However, due an extreamly mild winter and therefor lack of snow – the sledding slopes are not open. 🙁

No fear though, we have a fun new plan! So leave those snow boots at home and join us for a nice guided tour and group lunch!

The Oslo Opera House was opened in April 2008. It is world known for its spectacular architecture by Snøhetta.

We have reserved a guided tour at the opera house at Sunday. Meet at the Opera House main entrance at 11:50 AM. The guided tour will be free for all WordCamp attendees. You do not need to be an Opera fan to attend this guided tour. It is much more about architecture and the history of the building. We guarantee you this is worth an hour of your time in Oslo. Plus you get to hang out with other cool people!

Lunch

After the guided tour at the Opera House, we will meet for lunch at the Dubliners. We will be there at around 1:30PM. If you are not able to make the tour, feel free to join us to eat! Address for Dubliners is Rådhusgata 28, 0151 Oslo.

What to expect at #WCNO2016

Have you got a ticket yet – if not, get one now! We have lots of great things lined up for you all this year and weather already have a ticket or needs some convincing for why you should come – here is what to expect at this year’s WordCamp Norway!

SPEAKERS

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Photo from Rarst

We have lined up 16 awesome keynote talks divided between two stages – one for inspiration and another for technical talks.

On the inspiration stage we have Laurie McGregor, who is the Head of Digital at Miljøpartiet De Grønne (Norwegian Green Party). Laurie is going to talk about how their party switched to WordPress to win votes with their voter-focused content management strategy during the 2015 Norwegian local elections.

Also on the inspirations track we have Lauga Oskarsdottir – the co-founder and CIO of United Influencers (formerly United Bloggers). United Influencers now have over 200 bloggers running on Multisite and she is going to tell about their journey from 200,000 monthly readers to 3,700,000 monthly readers. This is truly going to be a talk to inspire!

On the technical stage we have Kaspars Dambis, who is a WordPress engineer at XWP and author of dozens of WordPress plugins, themes and open source tools. Kaspars is going to be talking about the importance of Two-Step Authentication and how it relates to the security of your WordPress website – covering the most common attack vectors and ways to protect against them.

Also on the technical stage we have Marko Heijnen who is a long-term contributor to WordPress and for the last 2 years has been the lead developer of GlotPress. Marko is going to be talking about Connecting AppleTV and WooCommerce together to do some shopping on your TV. He will show the power of the REST API to build a TV app for shopping.

There are 14 other great talks too – check out the schedule to read all about them!

COMMUNITY

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Photo from Rarst

The WordPress community is just great – when I went to my first WordCamp I only knew one person at the event and was worried I would be on my own. However, that was not the case, the community is so welcoming and including. I have made so many great friends over the years in this genuinely kind and caring community. In addition to making great friends through WordCamps – you never know what potential job offer or networking connection is made. So it it is your first time to a WordCamp get ready to meet great people – and if you have been before, we can not wait to see you again and catch up over a cup of coffee!

FOOD & DRINK

Speaking of coffee! Did you know that we have World Barista Champion Tim Wendelboe coming around to serve us delicious locally roasted coffee. We are also going to be having a delicious lunch from Gastro Catering – a company of passionate chefs delivering tasty quality food.

AFTERPARTY

There is no better way to end a day after inspiring talks, great coffee and good chats then to have an afterparty! After a short pause for dinner, we will be meeting back up at Gamle Museet for a party! We have booked two great DJ’s to take us through the night allowing you to dance your heart out if you so wish. Also, this year we will have a couch section for those who would prefer to sit and chat in between their favorite songs. And of course what is a party without a bar – the bar will be open all night long (and will have soda as well for those not drinking). So get our your dancing shoes and put on your party face because it is bound to be a great time!

SUNDAY AT FRONGERSETERN

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Photo from Rarst

Sunday ‘morning’ (aka.11:00) we will meet up for some fun in the snow – Norwegian style. Catch the train with us to Frognersetern for some speed sledding and hanging out around the fireplace with a nice cup of hot cocoa. This is another great time to get to know those in the community and push your adrenaline speeding down the side of a mountain – safety first though, helmets are provided.

WordSled 2015 with @scottbasgaard and @cobusbester #WCNO #WooTripEU #confederate

A video posted by Magnus Jepson (@mjepson) on

SUNDAY AFTERHOURS

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Photo from Rarst

If you still have not gotten your fill, we will have one final event – WCNO Afterhours. This will be small lightning talks in a true ‘Meetup’ style along with the opportunity to contribute back to the WordPress community and of course have a good mingle before you head back home.

THINGS TO NOTE

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Photo from Rarst

So, now that you are planning to join us for a great weekend – here are some follow up things to note:

Make sure to get a ticket!

If you are traveling into Oslo for the event:
-Check out these 2 hotels we have organized for people to stay at. It is always nice being around the others in the free time!
-Take the Flytorget from the airport to Oslo S – from there you can easily walk to the venue and both hotels we recommend.

We look forward to seeing you at WordCamp Norway 2016! If you have any questions, reach out to us on Twitter or Facebook – we are more than happy to help!