You have an idea. I have an idea. We swap. Now you have two ideas. And I have two ideas. WordCamp Europe 2014.

The famous quote by George Bernand Shaw, quoted by Simon Wheatley in his “Running An Open Source Business” presentation was arguably the most powerful message one should take from this year’s WordCamp Europe. Technical talks are amazing and fulfilling but the Open Source inspirational mentality is what makes them possible, what even makes WordCamps possible. Coupling this with Matt’s post about investing 5% of a company’s resources towards the well-being of WordPress, I firmly believe we had the most inspirational WordCamp weekend, at least one that I have attended personally.

This is what open source is all about. Excellent talk #wceu pic.twitter.com/tM58jNzT4x

— Your friendly WordPress theme provider (@CSSIgniter) September 28, 2014

Attending an international WordCamp is never “yet another event”. Speaking for myself, at least, it always transcends from simply being a professional gathering to an almost ritualistic experience. Imagine yourself working every day on the thing you’re most passionate about. Suddenly you get to be in a room with more than eight hundred people from around the world who share the exact same passion. And you get to share experiences with them, make acquaintances and listen to smarter people than yourself speak about it. Words may fail me in painting an accurate portrait of what this is all about, but the ultimate point is that WordCamps make it astoundingly obvious that you are indeed part of something much bigger. A truly important part, no matter how small or insignificant you feel in the vastness of the community.

Photo by Margarit Ralev, Localancers.com

The presentations

Every single presentation was stellar, but I’ll sum up a few things from a few ones that made the biggest impact personally:

• Simon Wheatley – The most inspiring presentation in the event, in my opinion. The stuff Simon talked about are what make WordPress and WordCamps happen.
• Chris Lema – If I were granted with one superpower I’d wish for this man’s ability to speak. I can’t describe it, you have to watch him. I might even start practicing on that.
• Andrew Nacin & Mark Jaquith – As a developer, I can’t get enough of people that actually make WordPress.
• Yana Petrova – A truly personal, deep and profound talk about depression in the IT field. It’s a very common pattern and it should be addressed more. The audience response was case in point.

The future

For some reason I felt very proud of the fact that this year we finally had the ability to contribute as a company and take our part as Bronze Sponsors. It’s not 5% yet, Matt, but we’re getting there, this year.

All in all, it was the perfect event, perfectly organized. Big thanks specifically to Noel and Mario (kindest people ever), and everyone that help make it happen. See you all next year.