Belfast was determined to play its role in the celebrations being the only WordCamp in the world on the 15th anniversary of WordPress.
The event has received particular acclaim from attendees and those connecting with it through social channels, live feeds and competitions.
In the run up and during the three day WordCamp Belfast, messages of friendship were invited and sent to WordCamps across the world.
And, of course, there was cake. Well in fact, lots of it with all dietary requirements catered for of course.
Some of the organisers nearly lost their heads to the balloons.
You can see below how excited the attendees got at the idea of cake and balloons!
Then there was the chance to have an anniversary picture taken with the Wapuu of the North.
What the attendees and speakers thought
Colette Casey, one of the attendees at this year’s event, said: “A quick note to say how fantastic I found the weekend at WordCamp Belfast. Thanks to you, all the community members and volunteers who brought this event to Belfast. I found the event enjoyable and educational. It was inspirational, informative and invaluable.
“The speakers were great and I’m looking forward to catching up on some talks from the other track on WordCamp.TV. There were a few times it was tough to decide which track I wanted to go to most!
“Thanks and I hope to see you all again at another WordCamp.”
Mike Rynart, a front-end developer who came to Belfast from Rotterdam to speak at the event, said: “Thank you for the wonderful time at WCBELFAST. The organising team did a fantastic job organising the event.”
Corey Maas, a full-stack web developer, was one of the speakers who flew in from the USA. He said: “I wanted to compliment you all on putting on a great camp. Good crowd, good people. Well done!”
Lupchlan Cristi, a WordPress designer in Ireland, said: “Congratulations to the WCBELFAST organizers for what was a great event, amazing talks, amazing people.”
Raffaella Isidori,
a communications designer based in Italy and one of the speakers, said in an interview: “Praise for the amazing organizers of WordCamp Belfast for a professional, well-run event with a relaxed atmosphere. This was a super job and welcomed us like family in your beautiful town. I could live here, Northern Ireland is so beautiful! Thank you to Yoast for their diversity sponsorship which meant I could experience this wonderful event and place.”
Dave Potter, IT consultant and project manager, “Thanks to all the crew at WordCamp Belfast for a great weekend. What a tremendously welcoming and supportive bunch.”
He added: “This was well-executed event. It showed what can be achieved. With the WordPress community across the world watching Belfast for the anniversary, it did it proud and kept the atmosphere relaxed and happy.”
Lead Organiser of the forthcoming WordCamp Edinburgh team and speaker, Ahmed Khalifa, took an opportunity to capture some of the WCBELFAST team as they listened to a talk by Abha Thakor @NonStopNewsUK. Later this year, Ahmed and the team will be publishing details of the 2018 WordCamp Edinburgh planned for November.
Heather Burns, a digital law and tech policy specialist who spoke at the conference on GDPR and privacy notices, said: “Hats off to the WordCamp Belfast organising team for another superb conference.”
Fellyph Cintra, a front-end web developer based in Ireland who also spoke at the event, said: “Thanks WordCamp Belfast for the amazing time!”
Mark Smallman, Lead organiser WCBELFAST, said: “Massive thank you to all the sponsors, speakers, volunteers and amazing co-organisers who made WordCamp Belfast fun, educational and possible.”
Picture credits
The group picture above has been reproduced with the permission of the photographer Dermot McElduff, duffproductions.co.uk. Thanks also to Abha Thakor, Ahmed Khalifa and Lesley Quinn for the use of the other pictures on this page.
