WordCamp Europe 2023 – Under the Acropolis sun   

We joined forces and parted from Tenerife and Sicily, to reunite in Athens, Greece for what seems to be one of the most important tech event of the year: WordCamp Europe 2023.  

We arrived just one day before Contributor Day and were able to enjoy a hot sunny day climbing the Acropolis. The views of the city were stunning, while the stateliness of the ancient ruins all around were breathtaking. We time travelled to ancient Greece and imagined ourselves walking around in sandals and pondering over philosophy! We had such a great time coming together as a team as we prepared ourselves to start a great WordCamp the following day.

Emanuela Castorina

The WordCamp Europe event was a wonderful experience, with a multitude of people coming together to celebrate WordPress’s 20th birthday. I had the opportunity to reunite with old friends and personally meet the colleagues from Bluehost and Yoast.

Contributor Day was a great start to an exceptional event, where we shared our knowledge and contributed to the community along with colleagues and fellow WordPress enthusiasts. Contributor Day reminds us of the importance of giving back all the perks WordPress and open source has given to our community and businesses, and we were absolutely thrilled to share the same values with all attendees. What’s more, the event allowed those who were not able to be present, to contribute online. Our two representatives, Francisco and Athena, attended the sponsors dinner in the evening where they networked with other WordCampers in the Athenian Riviera. The organisers truly spared no effort with the event location and food since everything was top-notch quality!

Francesco Grasso

A huge crowd full of friends and WordPress lovers all united by the desire to learn and connect. The true spirit of WordCamp Europe. This year I had a unique experience together with friends from Bluehost and Yoast all united as a Wonderfull Newfold family, I already miss all of them.

We started the first day of the WordCamp setting our booth and swag, along with our famous duck fishing game. The goal of the game was to catch a duck and win a pin in order to participate to our raffle, which we shared with our fellow Newfolders from Yoast and Bluehost. Foot traffic was hectic, leading us to run out of memorabilia since the very first day, making us so excited with this year’s participation. Once more, the organisation took great care of us with the catering’s authentic Greek cuisine.

Francisco Mendoza

WCEU was an exceptional experience that surpassed all expectations. It’s always a pleasure to meet WordPress enthusiasts from across the globe and have the possibility of sharing good moments and knowledge with them.

During the first day, there were multiple interesting sessions through which important subjects were mentioned such as AI based tools and whether they really mean a threat to our IT jobs, the history and birth of WordPress demonstrating initial versions, AI translations and content creation, diversity and women in tech and so much more on WordPress’ present and future. Undoubtedly, AI was a major concern/matter in this WordCamp and we’re confident it will continue to escalate as time goes by. Matt Mullenweg gave us his insight on this matter respectively, as you’ll be reading further below.

Tania González

WordCamp Europe 2023 was a wonderful experience beyond description. I had the pleasure of meeting many people who came to our booth, sharing time with our Bluehost and Yoast family and meeting with friends from the community. What a wonderful experience!

As a perfect ending to the first official WordCamp day, we co-hosted our “Wonderful Together Pride party”, alongside Yoast, Bluehost and Codeable. Such a blast to celebrate diversity and inclusivity within the WordPress community and beyond!

Athena Kiourka

An overall special WordCamp as I got to share my hometown with the team, as well as its amazing cuisine! A true pleasure to spend the greatest of times with the Newfold family, meet Sharon Rowlands in person, and create core memories with our colleagues from Bluehost and Yoast. Can’t wait for the next one!

WordCamp Europe’s final day, started with a new game for the raffle’s completion. Sessions alluded to various interesting matters like digital sustainability, the importance of user experience and accessibility, and CSS novelties amongst others. Attendees’ participation was impressive for yet another day, as we raffled off this year’s winners. The crowd was amazing and we couldn’t be any happier!

Marco Salvo

WordCamps are events where everyone makes you feel good and if you feel even a little uncomfortable, they will try to change that and help you live an amazing experience instead. I hugged so many people, I joked, laughed and played at the booth, feeling good and understood by everyone. THANK YOU GUYS!

The event’s closing remarks were wrapped up by Matt Mullenweg sharing thoughts on WordPress’ 20th year anniversary, extending WordPress’ ecosystem along Openverse, 6.3 version’s features, AI translations, and more. Once more, AI was a key issue during the questions and answers session, where WordPress’ founder was asked regarding Gutenberg and AI possible future integration and the prospects of such expansion. Mullenweg was sure to clarify that AI and Open Source are the future as they are “highly complementary”. Click here if you’d like to watch the full WordPress in Conversation (WordCamp Europe 2023 Keynote)

Francesco Licandro

WordCamp Europe is always a big opportunity to meet people from all over the world sharing our love for WordPress and, especially this year, also to meet and share beautiful moments with the NewFold family. A great experience that all WordPress people should have.

Concluding yet another WordCamp experience, we’d like to thank the organisation, our Newfold family members, our lovely attendees, with an impressive number of 2545, from 94 countries! WordPress really has no borders! See you next year everyone, with a brand new location, in Turin, Italy!