Why I volunteered at WordCamp Ahmedabad

Hola, lovely people.

WordCamp Ahmedabad is near and everyone is gearing up for the wonderful event, that is going to take place on a 1st Dember 2018.

I am very excited that this time I have got the opportunity to organize the event. I am writing this blog post to share my experience with WordCamp.

Before sharing my experience working with WCAhmedabad 2017, let us know what is WordCamp and WordPress Community.

WHAT IS WordCamp?

If you have asked me this question back in March 2017, probably, I would have no answer. But now, I am glad, after attending my first WordCamp Ahmedabad 2017, I have become part of the vast community of WordPress.

Before joining the WCAhmedabad2017, I was unaware of the idea of giving back to the community. WordPress is a community where people can voluntarily support customers or say give back to the community according to your skill level – using their WordPress.org and WordPress.com profile. Where customers can ask any question over the support forums regarding WordPress and they will be answered promptly by any one of the member/moderators of the WordPress Community. It is so fruitful that I am with the WP Community and I do admire its concept of an OpenSource platform, which helps people to work quickly and freely.

Likewise, we have another way of giving back is “WordCamps” – are the conferences that are held by local WordPress Communities, or you can say WordPress lovers, who want to boost the idea of WordPress and how it works with the guidelines published on WordCamp.org and the principles, rules by the WordPress Foundation.

WordPress is a vast Community, and everyone can attend the conferences around the globe, which uses WordPress, newbies, techie, or non-techie. It includes sessions on how to work with WordPress efficiently, beginning session, techie workshops, and security. Its category contains bloggers, artists, marketers, business, non-profits, photographers, travelers, SEOs, authors, entrepreneurs and more.,.

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH WCAHMEDABAD 2017

I am so excited about writing WCAhmedabad 2017 and joined as a volunteer in WordCamp for the first time as a part of a Creative team. We have decorated the Selfie Booth for the Selfie lovers, and to enjoy being in the event.

Some Meetups organized at a basic level and at a higher level, we have WordCamps, that are regional conferences held in cities like Udaipur, Mumbai, Nashik, Belgrade, Nashville. And at this stage, WCAhmedabad was level above the regional WordCamps. It was three days in a total, two days of the conference and third “Contributor’s Day,” where the member of the community connect and work together.

WordCamp Ahmedabad was a fantastic gathering of all WordPress lovers, and you really get a global exposure. I met with people from the US, for instance, and from all over India. When you get a speech from the WordPress Masters, it was amazing to get the idea about what is WordPress, how it works. I get to know about how to work like a nomad – work remotely and give back to the community.

I volunteered for both days, Friday and Saturday. It was my first year volunteering. Where I worked as a Creative person, decorating and managing the Selfie Booth. To be a Volunteer is valuable tasks and help to make all the operations easy around the day, where you have to handle a lot of stuff politely and kindly. Before volunteering any WordCamp, you must have read the Volunteer Agreement and Code of the conduct for the WordCamps. Being a Volunteer, I learned working in Team, organizing big things, communicating with people whom you have never met before. It was an amazing experience, which helped me improve myself.

Some pictures from WordCamp Ahmedabad – Selfie Booth. Also, have helped to create Rangoli Design for WordCamp Ahmedabad – What is Rangoli? To be precise, Rangoli is a design created with the help of some color powder. Have a look.

I am glad to see the beautiful Woman in WordPress is enjoying making a pose with Selfie Booth.

WHY DO YOU VOLUNTEER AT WordCamp AND WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

I consider volunteering is the great opportunity to give back and contributing to the WordPress Community. WordPress volunteers are the person who helps people to attend the event more peacefully and help them learn and explore. I think if my contribution of a few hours made the big impact on the event, that’s worthwhile.

Volunteering is the amazing opportunity to meet new people. As a volunteer, you are given the free entry for the event and you get to know about all the workshops, conferences and special events. WordCamp Ahmedabad brings many people who are really WordPress lovers. So volunteering is the great chance to form a network and get to know new people and create benefits, both with other volunteers and attendees.

And I can say, I am the best example of that benefits. I was working in a creative team and with other shifts too, where I get in contact with the Nomad, a fellow attendee who is working remotely with Automattic. And the next things I knew was I am die hard fan to be a part of their team called “Happiness Engineer”. I am kinda person who can’t work at one place all the time, so after a conversation with Nagesh Pai and Omkar Bhagat, I believed that will give me the opportunity to work beyond my dreams. And I started working more with WordPress and became a Customer Support Executive at DotStore as a full-time job, where I can learn new plugins, themes and earn more knowledge on WordPress. So, volunteering at Ahmedabad and WordCamp Europe, worked out for me at least!

I have also Volunteered at WCEU2018 June, I have also written a few words on WCEU Volunteer Experience. It was such an amazing experience to attend an international conference for the first time.

At last, I would say, it does not only benefit if you volunteer, rather it is more important to be a part of WordCamp and the WordPress community.