Organizing a WordCamp is no easy task. However, it is rewarding, as you will learn a great deal during the process, which will benefit you both personally and professionally. It can and will also lead to long-term friendships with your fellow organizers.
In this article, I will cover the lessons I learned from co-leading and leading WordCamp Malaysia 2023 and 2024, respectively. I hope it will be invaluable to you if it’s your first time leading a local or regional WordCamp.
Ten Key Lessons I Learned
If you’re short on time, here are ten key lessons you can take home in a bullet list. Please read the story of my WordCamp journey below to gain a better understanding of the context.
- Keep your focus on these three main things: Venue, Sponsors, and Speakers.
- Identify and assemble a dependable team who can commit the time and effort. It will get hectic during the final month. Reach out to the previous organizers (if you had previous editions) to ensure you have experience on the team.
- Select a venue that offers easy access to public transportation, such as the MRT, in your city.
- Find a venue that makes it easy for them to move between tracks, sponsor hall/booths, and the dining area with ease, facilitating conversations and networking. Try to avoid venues that require your attendees to walk a distance of 5 minutes or more, move between floors or worse, take a slow, small elevator to other floors.
- Sponsors don’t just pay the sponsorship fees; they want feedback and exposure from attendees. There are numerous hidden sponsorship costs, including accommodation, transportation, SWAG, and downtime from work. Make sponsoring your WordCamp worth it to your sponsors.
- To find more sponsors, study previous local WordCamps in your region. You can also get sponsors through recommendations from friends. Utilise cold email software like SalesHandy and Instantly.io, especially if they give you an official WordCamp Google account, to expedite sponsorship outreach campaigns.
- Don’t skimp on food and beverage (F&B). If you are short of funds, consider finding more sponsors or locating a place with numerous restaurants within a five-minute walk. Always ensure that your attendees are well-hydrated.
- Find speakers with topics that resonate with your attendees’ pain points. In this time and age, AI is a must.
- The quality of speakers will help add value to your WordCamp. Find good speakers. Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations from friends, Facebook Groups and other WordCamp Organizers. You can even reach out to them personally.
- As the lead, the responsibility falls on your shoulders. Your team looks to you for leadership and guidance on timelines. Stay calm if issues happen and take methodical steps to resolve them.
WordCamp Malaysia 2023: Joining as a Co-Lead and Organizer
During WordCamp Asia 2023 in Bangkok, Sam Suresh floated the idea of us starting WordCamp Malaysia. It would be a step up from WordCamp Kuala Lumpur, a local WordCamp that began in 2017. We agreed that Julian Song would lead the inaugural WordCamp Malaysia (WordCamp Malaysia 2023), and we were off to the races.
Read : Takeaways from WordCamp Asia 2023
Julian invited me to be the co-lead, and it was my first WordCamp as an organizer. I attended WordCamp Kuala Lumpur in 2017, 2018, and 2019, as well as WordCamp Singapore 2019. I was also fresh from volunteering at the inaugural WordCamp Asia in Bangkok. Transitioning from attendee to volunteer and then to organizer was a significant step that I am grateful for.
I handled the venue for the inaugural WordCamp Malaysia. It was a challenge, as all the venues previously used in WordCamp Kuala Lumpur more than doubled in price. We were also concerned about the budget, as it had been four years since the last WordCamp (WordCamp Kuala Lumpur 2019), and we had a short timeline for the event.
Hence, we decided to focus on an affordable location with good public transportation. It also had to be easy for attendees to move around between tracks, the sponsor’s hall, and the dining area, as WordCamp Asia showed us the value of that arrangement.
Meal times were a priority, as we Asians connect over coffee or a meal. With those requirements in mind, we conducted an extensive search for a suitable venue in the Klang Valley.
It was challenging, as some venues had halls that could accommodate our two tracks but could only accommodate a portion of attendees during meal times. Others had large dining areas but only one hall. Others met all the requirements but were a distance from town and had no public transportation nearby.
After numerous emails, calls, and site visits, we settled on CNICC (Cheras North International Convention Centre), as it was affordable and conveniently located near the LRT.
After venue selection, I also discovered that location is crucial when looking for a nearby place to host our Welcome Dinner. We were looking for a halal restaurant serving Malaysian food. Still, it was challenging as CNICC was in Cheras, a traditional Chinese enclave. Hence, it wasn’t easy to find large, comfortable halal restaurants serving Malaysian food. Thankfully, we found Ahh Yum by Kampong Kravers in the Sunway Velocity Mall.
While CNICC was a decent venue that fit our budget, we had to decide between getting a narrow hallway with two halls and a nearby dining hall or a larger hallway with two halls and a nearby dining hall that was on the next building (but accessible via a short bridge)
We opted for the first option and decided to put our top sponsors in the main hall to give them visibility. The hallway was narrow, and we couldn’t fit in all the sponsors, too, as we got more sponsors than expected.
However, that was not a very good move, and we should have opted for the second option, as some attendees gave us feedback that they were distracted during the sessions.
A few weeks before the event, we decided to hold an after-party, as we had a substantial surplus of funds. However, only thirty per cent of our attendees came as the majority opted to have dinner with their family or friends.
In hindsight, we shouldn’t have organized an after-party, or we could have marketed it better to our attendees.
Looking back at WordCamp Malaysia 2023’s venue, the good outweighs the bad, as we had some attendees who liked the connectivity. The food was good, too, and several sponsors promised to return if we organized WordCamp the following year.
Key Takeaways for WordCamp Malaysia 2023
- What I learned: Being in charge of venue, I realised that finding the right venue could significantly elevate the attendees’ experience. As the co-lead, I learned to support my lead, Julian.
- What I could have done better: While both hall options had their limitations, we should have chosen the wider hallway and placed directions to the dining hall instead. We should have marketed the after-party earlier so that our attendees could free up their time.
WordCamp Malaysia 2024: Appointed as the Lead Organizer
In April 2024, Sam Suresh asked if I could lead WordCamp Malaysia. It was a pleasant surprise, but it meant a greater commitment. I learned that being the lead organizer meant the buck stops with you. And as the lead, my organizing team looked to me for leadership.
It was not easy transitioning into the lead organizer role. Instead of following instructions, I had to make decisions and set timelines as the lead. Early on, I even had that imposter syndrome feeling.
Nonetheless, Sam and Julian, along with our WordCamp Malaysia 2024 mentors, Aditya Kane and Ahmed Kabir Chaion, provided me with a great deal of guidance and advice throughout the planning and preparation for the event.
Read: Sponsoring WordCamps : How to Make it Work
I will remember Sam’s advice on the three main items we must focus on to have a successful WordCamp: Location, Sponsors, and Speakers.
My first task as the lead was to appoint my co-lead(s) and host a WordPress Meetup to announce the upcoming WordCamp Malaysia. I’m ever grateful that the reliable Liew Cheong Fong agreed to be my co-lead very early on for WordCamp Malaysia that year.
For WordCamp Malaysia 2024, we went the extra mile to find a better venue. CNICC was decent, but we wanted to find a place with the wow factor. It had to have large corridors to accommodate all our sponsors and more, plus the dining area had to be near the halls.
After visiting many sites, we decided on the award-winning Space at Menara Ken TTDI. It was significantly more expensive than CNICC but ticked all our boxes. The Space came with plenty of fixed-rate parking and many halal eateries nearby. It featured a feeder bus directly from the MRT Station.
After we secured the venue, my role as the lead was to ensure all individuals and teams were sufficiently staffed and able to handle the given tasks.
Since my organizers were all volunteers, I realised that effective people management is crucial. The team should genuinely want to contribute their time and effort to the event rather than feeling pressured to do so. It’s essential that they feel valued for their participation and acknowledged for the job well done.
For this, I’m thankful that the team supported me as the lead, especially during the final four weeks leading up to the event. During that time, my dad became ill and was hospitalised. I had to take a week off, and my co-lead, Liew, handled the weekly meeting in my absence.
Due to concerns over finances, we chose an affordable caterer, only to encounter issues when the food didn’t arrive on time. We even ran out of food during lunchtime and had to pack meals for our attendees from a restaurant outside.
In hindsight, we should have waited to appoint a caterer instead of settling so early. If we had waited, we could have confidently appointed a good caterer once we had enough money.
Venue-wise, our sponsors and attendees loved the Space as it facilitated conversations and networking among the attendees, sponsors and speakers. We also broke through the 300 attendees mark for the first time in the history of WordCamps in Malaysia, which was encouraging.
Key Takeaways for WordCamp Malaysia 2024
- What I learned: The buck stops with me as the lead organizer. Finding and assembling a reliable team was extremely helpful, as my team worked hard even when I had to take time off to care for my dad. I also learned more people management skills as I grew in the lead organizer role. I also learned that focusing on Location, Speakers, and Sponsors covered the most essential parts of a WordCamp.
- What I could have done better: I should have waited for enough funds before finalising our food caterer.
I’m grateful to my organizing team for their efforts and support in making the 2024 edition of WordCamp Malaysia a success. Thank you all.
