WordCamp Italia online 2021 – a regular and special event

It’s no secret that Italy is very important to us. Even though it continues to grow from different points of the planet, YITH was born and grew up there. That’s why, before and during WordCamp Italia we were really anxious, and when it ended we felt an emptiness inside us. Now that we overcame this ‘loss’ we can create this article. 

The event was from 22nd and 23rd October, a long-awaited event by all WordPress lovers who had to meet again online (hopefully the next one will be in person). We didn’t want to miss the opportunity to participate and, as usual every year, to sponsor this event along with 24 other members.

1,060 tickets were sold for this event. Yes, 1,060 tickets! It could be easily followed on the official WordCamp website thanks to YouTube. The event was divided into two days of presentations, with a total of 22 talks and 25 experts. As the organizers said: we had to plan ahead of time so as not to miss the smallest detail. 

In addition, a novelty: participants and sponsors could communicate live via Slack, an instant and synchronous messaging system that WordCamp Italia decided to open as a communication channel for the Italian community. In other words, a real wonder!

The experience of our speakers

Nando Pappalardo – Come moltiplicare le tue vendite con il paradosso della scelta (‘How to multiply your sales with the paradox of choice’)

Our CEO Nando Pappalardo was present at this great event, in his homeland, with a fantastic talk entitled ‘Come moltiplicare le tue vendite con il paradosso della scelta’. The talk was addressed to all those sellers of products or services who want to sell ten times more than they do today, explaining two experiments carried out 2 decades apart. 

“People from the Italian community are always fantastic, the organization as always was impeccable, everything worked very well. If we can enjoy important events of this kind we owe it above all to all the community volunteers who give their time and energy. I look forward to seeing them again in person.”

If you want to watch Nando’s talk again or watch it for the first time, you can do it through YouTube at this link.

In addition, you will also be able to connect with him via Twitter – @nando_p

Francesco Grasso – Child plugin. Cosa sono e come realizzarli (‘Child plugins. What they are and how to make them’)

But not only Nando was representing YITH. Our developer Francesco Grasso also participated in the fantastic talk entitled ‘Child plugin. Cosa sono e come realizzarli (‘Child plugins’. Do you know what ‘child plugins’ are? Well, don’t worry, you just need to listen to Francesco talk about them, what characterizes them and how they are elaborated. 

“The forced and prolonged absence of face-to-face events, of in-person networking, of handshakes and typical gestures and joy that characterizes us Italians at WordCamp, had made me think that this event would be one more of the many where you see people talking behind a webcam without enthusiasm and with great passivity. And instead, wow, I had to change my mind. The introductions to the talks were very well done and the questions and answers sessions gave plenty of room for questions from YouTube and other channels. The Slack chat turned out to be more useful than you might think, with threads that gave the possibility to articulate the speakers’ answers and add content and resources that otherwise would have been lost in the rhythm of the event. What can I say, all great! Last year I was the organizer, this year I was the speaker, and it’s always a pleasure to be part of this great WordPress Italia family.”

If you want to watch Francesco’s talk for the first time or, if you already saw it, watch it again, you can do it through YouTube at this link. 

In addition, you will also be able to connect with him via Twitter – @franc_grasso

Talks during the event

But, obviously, not only these two YITH members were there. Recognized names of the community were part of this great event talking about the complete editing of a WordPress site, digital accessibility, security, how to create Gutenberg block, how to create reserved areas, how to get additional income on a WordPress site, among many other topics. 

Surely more than one topic will have caught your attention. Did you miss it? Don’t worry: here we leave you the WordCamp Italia YouTube channel so you can access rooms 1 and 2 of both days where you can replay the talks. 

What will be the next event?  

These days we are enjoying WordCamp España, an event you can’t miss as you are still on time. 

But, from next week we have our sights set on one goal: WordCamp Sevilla. Why? Because it will probably be the first WordCamp in person since the beginning of the pandemic. It’s still in the early planning stages, but here is the event’s website in case you want to take a look. 

See you again. How close will it be? We don’t know, but we say ‘see you next year, WordCamp Italia. Grazie ragazzi, alla prossima!’.