What is the Open Conference Space about?

WordCamps are about WordPress which is the most recognisable representative of the Open Source, hacker ethic. However, the curation at WordCamps is a controlled and supervised activity. No matter how true to the cause and transparent the speaker selection is, it’ll always have an organiser bias.

So, as an experiment and a homage to BarCamps that originally inspired WordCamps, we’re bringing the spirit of openness to WordCamp Pune 2017 in a limited sense in the form of Open Conference Slots.

So, if you have applied as a speaker but didn’t make it into the official program, use this space. If you couldn’t think of a topic in time but think of something on the day of the event, maybe while attending someone else’s talk, use this space. If you don’t agree with a session and would like to present a counter-point, use this space. If you just want like minded people to discuss something together, use this space.

A lot of people have asked us what this means and honestly, not many know of Barcamps and open spaces, so a post explaining things was in order! 🙂

Basics

  • Four rooms with four 20 minute slots each; total 16 slots.
  • No pre-decided sessions or schedule.
  • Anyone can walk in and pick any of the 16 slots on the day of the event.
  • The slots will be allotted on “first-come-first-serve” basis.
  • The topics will only be vetted for 100% GPL compliance. Other than that, they can be about anything.

For Potential Speakers

  • You pick any available slot on the day of the event.
    • There are only 16 slots. No one will regulate or control how spots are assigned and to who, so pick one before someone else does.
  • You get total 20 minutes. A volunteer will be timing your session. No extra 5 minutes, not even one. If you don’t finish in 20 minutes, you are free to take the discussion forward anywhere on the premises.
  • You can speak about anything as long as it is 100% GPL compatible.
    • In principle, you could even speak about non-WordPress related things but do remember that the audience is here for and because of WordPress and speaking about other things may translate into an empty room and a wasted slot.
    • There’s usually a lot of debate and disagreement on what is related to WordPress. That’s why we leave this decision to you instead of deciding if the topic is related to WordPress.
  • You don’t have to lecture.
    • Host a discussion on a topic that you care about.
    • Demonstrate your product or website.
    • Conduct a quick Workshop, DIY tutorial about a common WordPress thingy.
    • Have a fiery debate on a topic of your choice.
    • Conduct an AMA or a QnA around a topic where audience members throw questions at you and you answer them.
    • Anything else you can think of.
  • Read this for more clarity on how open spaces work, in general: http://www.mindviewinc.com/Conferences/OpenSpaces.html

For Audience Members

The talks will be added to the schedule at the event. This will be a massive flex print-out like the last time:

You pick and choose to attend any of the sessions available at any given time, just like the rest of the program.

Cover Photo Credit Linux User Group, Oregon State University

Workshop for new/first time Speakers

It is not an easy task to get on the stage in front of an audience and speak for 20-30 minutes. It’s even more challenging to go a step further and connect and engage with the audience so that they don’t doze off in the middle of your session.

However, these are just skills; things you can learn and practise. No one is a born speaker, everyone learns it either by themselves or with others’ help.

If you have never spoken in public before or, the last time you spoke, you were a nervous wreck or, you saw people sleeping in the middle of your session, worry no more. Help is at hand.

Announcing a Workshop on Public Speaking & Presentation Skills specifically designed for speakers at WordCamps and Meetups. With this workshop, you’ll be able to:

  1. Structure your session in an easy to follow, easy to digest and easy to remember manner for your audience.
  2. Handle stress and stage fright so that you can focus less on your shivering limbs and more on getting your points across.
  3. Use your body language to aid and abet your talk and stage presence to drive audience attention.
  4. Engage your audience using well-known and tested strategies.

Using this Workshop, you can prepare and present your own session at a subsequent meetup or even WordCamp Pune, 2017.

Here’s the event on 17th December, 2017. Make sure you RSVP:

Public Speaking & Presentation Skills Workshop (for WordCamp & Meetup speakers)

Saturday, Dec 17, 2016, 12:00 PM

rtCamp Solutions Pvt Ltd
G-2/2, Liberty Phase-2, North Main Road, Koregaon Park Pune, IN

1 Exchangers Attending

Session 1: 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm Structuring your SessionSession 2: 1:00pm to 2:00 pm Handling Stress & Stage FrightSession 3: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm Body Language and Stage PresenceSession 4: 3:00pm to 4:00 pm Engaging the AudienceAbout the conductor:Saurabh Shukla is the lead organiser of WordCamp Pune 2017 and this meetup group. He’s spoken at mu…

Check out this Meetup →

We’ll try and live-stream or record the workshop but can’t promise that. The best bet is to make it to Pune on the 17th.

Tentative Schedule & Open Conference Space

We’re happy to announce the tracks and their schedule for WordCamp Pune 2017. This schedule is available at a public Google Spreadsheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11y8yI9WDqDgRt0Eam3ozC3J194Y-LH-SUzkHQr_cU30/edit?usp=sharing

We’ll update the schedule with sessions and speakers, as and when they are decided, so you can make your plans accordingly.

Highlights

  1. 4 tracks in 4 rooms: User, Developer, Business & Community.
  2. 12 regular (30 min) sessions and 8 micro (20 minute) sessions.
  3. 2 rooms for Session Overflow for speakers from regular tracks to take up if they run out of time.
  4. No sessions after 3:30pm
    • just two panel discussions in the Business & Community tracks.
    • 4 rooms available for an open conference. These slots will be up for grabs on the day of the event on a first cum first serve basis at the registration desk:
      • Ideal for impromptu ideas for talks
      • Or, for speakers that didn’t get selected in the officially curated schedule.

Follow this blog as we announce the speakers and sessions over the next week or two.

T-shirt Design Contest

We know our participants love a good t-shirt and love to wear it long after the event is over.

So, here’s a contest to design a great T-shirt for WordCamp Pune 2017. We’ll make sure that the fabric is as great as a good store-bought t-shirt and that there are women’s sizes and fit available. It won’t be a cheap, transparent t-shirt that feels more like a baniyan (vest).

Your canvas– 500 wonderful WordPress lovers from around the globe who’d love to wear your work, long after the event is over.

Blank T-shirts

Conditions:

  1. The design should not be dependent on a white or black background. The t-shirt can be any colour except white. White is translucent. (We would also like to avoid black; too cliched for tech events.)
  2. The design must include the logo or Wapsara, the mascot for WCPune 2017.
  3. The logo or the mascot must not be too large, distracting or too promotional.
    • We are not printing the t-shirts to promote or market WordCamp Pune 2017. We’ve seen that very few people like wearing such overtly branded t-shirts. They become sleepwear or are passed on to house-helps and such.
  4. The t-shirts and their design must follow the guidelines here:
    1. https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/planning-details/swag/#tees
    2. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/T-shirts
  5. We’d also like to meet this challenge, irrespective of whether it is on now: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/T-shirt_challenge
  6. The design must be submitted by the 20th of December, 2016.

Rewards

  • Credits, bragging rights and stardom. 😉
  • One free ticket to WordCamp Pune 2017.
  • 5 T-shirts in sizes of your choice that you give your friends & family (+ 1 that you’d get for yourself, as a participant)
  • Love, chocolates, free drinks (alcoholic/ non-alcoholic) and other gifts personally from the organisers.

How to participate

Mail to us at pune@wordcamp.org. We’ll share the vectors in your desired format for both the logo and Wapsara to get you started.

Credits

Join the WordCamp Pune 2017 organising team

The organiser tag is a prestigious one and means that someone put in their valuable time & energy in organising the WordCamp and were completely responsible (from start to end) for something and made sure it was completed whatever it took.

Contributing to organise WordCamp Pune 2017, like contributing to WordPress itself, is an open and voluntary activity. Last year a lot of people came up to us after the WordCamp and asked how they could’ve become organisers and honestly, we could have done better with more helping hands.

An organiser ideally engages with the Pune community on a regular basis through meetups and other activities. However, if you haven’t been able to do that till now for various reasons, we’d like to present an opportunity – If you think you could give us your time and energy, now on and would like to contribute to an exciting WordCamp:

  1. Get in touch with us using the following form.
  2. Join the meetup group and attend the weekly organisers’ meetups: http://www.meetup.com/Pune-WordPress-Knowledge-Exchange/

If you do live up to the expectations in the first few weeks (by mid-December), we’ll be honoured to share organiser credits with you.

Call for Speakers

English | हिन्दी | मराठी | Application Form

Application Deadline: Tuesday, Jan 3, 2017 midnight (IST)

Hey beautiful person and fellow WordPress enthusiast!

You have thought about speaking at a WordCamp. That could be a reason you’re visiting this page.

It’s not about being an expert, it’s not about choosing an awesome topic, it’s not about beautiful slides and it’s definitely not about previous speaking experience. We don’t care for that.

You are unique. You have your own unique life experience. You definitely have your own stories about WordPress or working with it. Our attendees and the whole WordPress community (via WordPress.tv) would love to listen to your story.

If you are worried about effective public speaking, stage fright or things like that, we even hold speaker training workshops to help you get your point of view across in an effective and interactive manner.

We give preference to sessions in Hindi or Marathi. We’ll be very happy if you speak in Hindi or Marathi.

Multiple topics in mind? Not sure which one to choose? Why not submit them all? You just need to submit the form multiple times, once for each topic.

Come on, give it a try!

प्रिय वर्डप्रेस-संसार के सहचर,

तुमने भी कभी न कभी, वर्डकैंप में स्पीकर अर्थात् वक्ता बनने के बारे में ज़रूर सोचा है।इसीलिए शायद तुम इस पेज पर हो!

कोई बड़ा विद्वान होना ज़रूरी नहीं, ना ही किसी धाँसू विषय का होना। “क्या तुम अच्छे पावरपाइंट बनाते हो?”, और खास करके “क्या तुमने पहले कभी भाषण दिया है?” जैसे सवाल हमारे लिए फालतू हैं।

तुम अद्वितिय, निराले हो। तुम्हारा जीवन एक अनूठा अनुभव है। तुम्हारे पास वर्डप्रेस से जुड़ा कोई न कोई किस्सा भी ज़रूर है। हमारे श्रोता और समस्त वर्डप्रेस परिवार (WordPress.tv द्वारा) तुम्हारी कहानी सुनने को आतुर हैं।

अगर तुम सोच रहे हो कि “इतने लोगों के सामने कैसे बोलूँ?” तो हम वक्ता प्रशिक्षण कार्यशाला का भी आयोजन करते हैं जिससे तुम बिना संकोच के मंच पर प्रभावी संवाद कर पाओगे।

हिंदी या मराठी वक्ताओं को हम प्राथमिकता देते हैं। तो यदि तुम हिंदी या मराठी में बोलो तो हमें बहुत खुशी होगी।

मन में कई विषय हैं? समझ नहीं आ रहा कि कौन सा विषय चुनें? जितने मन में हैं भेज दो। नीचे दिए फार्म को एक से अधिक बार भरो, हर विषय के लिए एक बार।

अब तो फार्म भर ही दो!

मित्रांनो आणि सहकारी वर्डप्रेस उत्साही अहो!

आपण वर्डकॅम्प मध्ये बोलण्यचा विचार नक्की केला असेल कदाचित म्हणूच आपण ह्या पेजला भेट देत आहेत.

आम्हाला तज्ज्ञ पाहिजेत असे नाही, भारी विषय पाहिजेत असे नाही, सुंदर स्लाइडस पाहिजेत असे नाही तर अनुभभवी वक्ता पाहिजे असेही नाही.

आपण एकमेव आहेत. आपल्याला स्वत: च्या अद्वितीय जीवन अनुभव आहे. आपल्याकडे निश्चितपणे वर्डप्रेस किंवा आपल्या कामाबद्दल स्वत: च्या छान गोष्टी आहेत. आमच्या सॊबत संपूर्ण वर्डप्रेस समाज (WordPress.tv द्वारे) आपल्या गोष्टी ऐकण्यासाठी उत्सुक आहे.

आप्ल्याला प्रभावी सार्वजनिक बोलण, स्टेज फ्र्याइट किंवा अश्या गोष्टींची भिती वाटत असेल तर घाबरू नका, आम्ही स्पीकर प्रशिक्षण कार्यशाळा सुद्धा आयोजित करतो ज्यामुळे आपण एक प्रभावी आणि परस्पर रीतीने आपले म्हणणे मांडू शकाल.

आम्ही हिंदी किंवा मराठी सत्रांना प्राधान्य देतो. आपण हिंदी किंवा मराठीत बोलला तर आम्हाला खूप आनंद होईल.

मनात अनेक विषय आहेत? सुचत नाही कुठलं निवडण्याचा ? मग सगळेच का नाही पाठवत? फक्त खाली दिलेले फॉर्म प्रत्येक विषयासाठी वेगळा भरणे आवश्यक आहे, आपण कितीही फॉर्म भरू शकता.

मग वाट कशाची बगतंय, होऊन जाऊ दे !

Call for Speakers is closed now. Sorry.

Here comes Wapsara

वप्सरा आली

Presenting Pune’s official Wapuu and the first female Wapuu from India, Wapsara (वप्सरा).

Wapsara is a play on the Sanskrit word Apsara (अप्सरा), which means a celestial nymph or in common parlance, a very beautiful girl.

We recommend listening to this Marathi song in the background & repeating the chorus:

Why a girl?

We think a Wapuu is supposed to be a fun representation of the local culture. It’s almost patriarchal to imagine a representative Wapuu as almost always male.

Honestly, the gear and attire of men above the Vindhyas is more or less similar with some form of dhoti, a pagdi and a large curly moustache. Also, it’s mostly white.

Women of each region, on the other hand, have varied and way more colourful attire and accessories.

So, we decided to make Wapuu go feminine and dressed her like a cute and beautiful girl from Maharashtra with her nose-ring and earrings, typical dark green skirt-blouse with golden borders, and neat hair pleated and bound by a matching green ribbon. There’s the typical crescent bindi on her forehead too.

Wapsara

Wapsara is designed by Ganesh Kerkar, a WordCamp Pune organiser. Ganesh has previously designed the Pune Community’s logo that Wapsara is holding and a couple of other Wapuus.

How did you like Wapsara; let us know in the comments?

Call for Sponsors

Call for sponsors is now closed. Thank you for your interest. You can consider sponsoring other WordCamps such as WordCamp Udaipur and WordCamp Kochi.

WordCamp Pune is the largest WordCamp in India in terms of the number of participants. Last year, we had 500 participants from 6 countries and we are expecting the same number this year.

We follow the same format as last year with multiple tracks sprinkled with multiple short breaks to prevent fatigue so attendees don’t switch out. Long meal breaks will be opportunities to have conversations with each other and possibly you, the sponsor. In addition, we’ll place a little extra focus this time on networking as we plan more systematic interactive activities in the areas where the sponsor stalls are located.

We need help from friendly sponsors like you to deliver this experience and in return, you participate in a common environment of sharing, learning and networking.

In doing so you reach out to a massive community of programmers (Pune is developer dominated), bloggers, marketers, students and SMEs (lot of WordPress agencies) in Pune and an unbelievably large and fascinating global community as well.

However, do hurry up because we’ll close this call as soon as we reach our funding goals like last year. (We had to turn away quite a few sponsors.)

(Please note that the following doesn’t include service tax as it is collected as a reverse charge where the sponsor (you) are liable to pay service tax on your end on the sponsorship amount, not the service provider (us). Ask your tax consultant about this. See: http://www.cbec.gov.in/resources//htdocs-servicetax/st-profiles/sponsorship.pdf

If you are from outside India, we have mentioned the package cost in USD* right next to the cost in INR. It doesn’t convert exactly but we want to be covered in terms of Foreign Exchange laws and regulations)

Call for sponsors is now closed. Thank you for your interest. You can consider sponsoring other WordCamps such as WordCamp Udaipur and WordCamp Kochi.

What happened to WordCamp Pune 2016?

Last time we hosted a WordCamp in Pune, we did it in September. We realised how unpleasant the weather was then. In 2016, we started planning for November for this reason. Our venue options are limited and we weren’t particularly happy with the last one.

So, when we couldn’t organise a venue till mid-September, we had two choices. We could either organise a WordCamp in a rush and in less than optimal preparation time or we could postpone it.

Speaking to various venue options, we decided to postpone it to January. (Now you know why there wasn’t a WordCamp Pune 2016. This is the WordCamp Pune 2016, technically.)

So, now our venue is finalised and hence our date. Mark 15th January 2017 on your calendars and follow us in any of the ways listed in the sidebar.

Just like the last time, we are going to experiment a lot. Some good ideas that didn’t work out the last time, we’re going to retry. We’ll try some new ideas too. Also, like the last time, we’re going to borrow and fork ideas from WordCamps the world over. So, watch this space!

WordCamp Pune is over. Check out the next edition!