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WordCamp Asia 2023 Tentatively Set For February 17-19 in Bangkok, Thailand

WordCamp Asia is tentatively back on the schedule of in-person WordPress events with new dates: February 17-19, 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. It will begin with a Contributor day, followed by two conference days.

Asia’s inaugural flagship WordCamp was originally scheduled for March 2020 but was the first international WordPress event to be cancelled due to the pandemic. It was cancelled just nine days before it was scheduled to happen, a difficult but necessary decision, despite all the hard work volunteers had invested. At that time, organizers hoped to push the event to the next year, but the pandemic forced it to be put on hold again.

The WordPress community in Asia is quite large and spans across a wide land area with many diverse cultures. Prior to the pandemic, Asia was home to 127 WordPress meetup chapters with 73,000 members across 23 countries. The region had hosted 137 WordCamps in 18 Asian countries and 52 cities.

WordCamp Asia organizers began preliminary planning in 2017, inspired by other successful regional camps. Five years later, they have once again opened the call for organizers. They are aiming to build a team of 15 local (Thai) organizers and 30-35 organizers from other parts of Asia. This group will be broken up into teams that will lead audio/visual tech, design, speakers, volunteers, and other practical aspects of event planning.

Prospective organizers must reside in Asia and have experience organizing meetups or WordCamps. They must also be willing to commit at least three hours per week for planning and meetings.

“Because the main venue will be the same place as originally planned, we will be able to reuse some work from 2020,” organizer Naoko Takano said.

“We will comply with any COVID-19 guidelines provided by the local government and WordPress Community Team (such as this one) to ensure the safety of the attendees.” If for some reason the event needs to be postponed again, organizers have a much more structured approach to managing this risk and making decisions.

After five years of planning and so many unavoidable delays, the persistence and resilience of WordCamp Asia’s organizers is admirable. The call to join their team is open until April 30, and selected organizers will be notified by mid-May. Follow @wordcampasia on Twitter for the latest updates or subscribe to the event’s website.

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WordCamp Asia 2020 Canceled Over COVID-19 Concerns

Matt Mullenweg announced this morning that he made the call to cancel the first WordCamp Asia amid concerns surrounding COVID-19, the recent coronavirus strain with over 42,000 reported cases. The virus has caused over 1,000 deaths to date. WordCamp Asia was scheduled to run from February 21-23 in Bangkok, Thailand.

“I’ve arrived at the difficult decision to cancel the inaugural WordCamp Asia event,” wrote Mullenweg. “The excitement and anticipation around this event have been huge, but there are too many unknowns around the health issues unfolding right now in the region to explicitly encourage a large public gathering bringing together over 1,300 people from around the world.”

Mullenweg expressed a desire to explore an online event, possibly live-streaming some of the sessions. However, WordCamp Asia organizers said they will not be able to organize one. “We believe our efforts are now best focused on making the best arrangements necessary to assist all affected participants,” said Naoko Takano, the global lead of WordCamp Asia 2020.

“I greatly appreciate the work everyone — from organizers to attendees, speakers to sponsors — put into making this a big success,” said Mullenweg. “So many people have come together to create an event to inspire and connect WordPressers, and I am confident that this passion will carry through into the event next year. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the virus so far, and we sincerely hope that everything is resolved quickly so that this precaution looks unnecessary in hindsight.”

Some attendees have already made the trip to Bangkok. Others have purchased non-refundable flights. The WordCamp Asia team will refund all event tickets and will provide a free ticket to next year’s event. Organizers, speakers, attendees, and sponsors should all read WordCamp Asia’s cancellation post for details on any next steps they may need to take.

“While we regret that we will not see you in Bangkok this time, we hope you understand that the organising team is standing by this decision to ensure the safety of all WordCamp attendees,” wrote Takano.

There are no details on when the event will be rescheduled. The team said they hope to hold it in early 2021 and will make an announcement as soon as possible.

Several people expressed their disappointment with the news in the comments on the WordCamp Asia cancellation post, but it better to err on the side of caution with such a large event. The first priority is the safety of all attendees. It was no doubt a difficult decision for all parties involved.

Some of the attendees with non-refundable tickets and those already in the region talked about meeting up in the announcement’s comments. This could be a nice alternative to at least network with others.

Update: There is an unofficial WordCamp Asia Meetup currently being set up. Also, follow the #wcasia WordPress Slack channel for discussion.

WordCamp Europe Sends Open Letter of Unity

In a letter from WordCamp Europe, another regional camp, past and present organizers reached out to the WordCamp Asia team.

“We woke up this morning to the sad news that WordCamp Asia has been canceled,” the team wrote. “We can only imagine what a heart-wrenching and difficult decision this must have been, and how much pain it must be causing you to see something you have poured your hearts and souls into just disappear into thin air.”

Putting together a large, regional WordCamp is a tremendous undertaking that takes 100s of volunteer hours. Events such as these can take a full year of planning and organizing.

“We know how hard it can be to come together across cultures and countries, but that in the end it is worth it because you are one team working together,” wrote the organizers. “You are creating a flagship event and you know that it will bring joy to so many people and that every one of you has been waiting for the day of the event, and for that not to happen despite all of that work and care must be devastating.”

Wordfence to Aid With Lost Fees

Mark Maunder, Wordfence Founder and CEO, announced on the Wordfence blog that his company is creating a $10,000 fund to help attendees with hotel and airline change fees. The company will provide up to $200 in assistance per person, which will be served on a first-come-first-served basis. Maunder stressed that people should try to recoup any losses they can by following the advice on the WordCamp Asia cancellation post first. This will allow them to help as many people as possible.

“Cancelling WC Asia 10 days before it commences is a brutally tough call,” he wrote. “I’ve had the organizers in my thoughts for the past few days knowing, via backchannels, that they’re agonizing over this. This is the right call.”

The aid is available to all WordCamp Asia organizers, speakers, and attendees while there are still funds available. Those in need of assistance can find more information on the fund’s announcement post.

Update: Wordfence exceeded their $10,000 fund with 94 applicants. GoDaddy Pro stepped in to add an additional $10,000 to the fund, according to a tweet by Maunder.

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WordCamp Asia Set for February 21-23, 2020, in Bangkok, Thailand

The first ever WordCamp Asia has launched a teaser website and announced February 21-23, 2020, as the dates for the event. This will be the first regional WordCamp for the continent, which is home to 127 WordPress meetup chapters with 73,000 members across 23 countries, according to stats from lead organizer Naoko Takano. After four years in planning, and 137 WordCamps in 18 Asian countries and 52 cities, the region is finally ready to collaborate on a larger event that will bring its many diverse communities together.

“We hope that this first flagship event in the region can help the WordPress and open source community to grow even further,” Takano said. “We are really excited to be working on creating a place where community members can learn from and get inspired by each other.”

The organizing team has a vision to make the WordCamp welcoming, nurturing, and experimental. They are working to make it an inclusive, affordable, and interactive event. WordCamp Asia’s three-day program will begin with Contributor Day, followed by two days of presentations with an estimated 1,000 attendees.

Organizers have already put out the call for media partners, including magazines, newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, bloggers, influencers, WordPress enthusiasts and freelance journalists. The call for speakers will be open until mid-November 2019. Check out WordCamp Asia’s roadmap to get an idea of what to expect as the preparations continue.

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WordCamp Asia Proposed for 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand

photo credit: Eustaquio Santimano

The organizers of WordCamp Asia, a brand new regional WordCamp, have published a proposal for making Bangkok, Thailand, the host city for a 2-3 day event in early 2020. They are currently planning for February or March to avoid clashing with other regional WordCamps (WCEU, WCUS). The camp has been informally discussed since 2015 while organizers focused on growing new city-based WordCamps across the region.

“WordCamps in Asia have reached a critical mass that will enable a successful regional WordCamp,” Jon Ang said in the introduction to the proposal. “We believe that running this WordCamp will contribute directly to long term efforts in fostering WordPress interest in countries that lack it.”

WordCamp Asia organizers are being mentored by lead organizers of WordCamp Europe and have created an official proposal based heavily on the one submitted by WordCamp Nordic organizers. They have submitted it to the broader WordCamp community leaders for review before submitting and official application to WordCamp Central.

Asia has many vibrant and diverse WordPress communities across distant geographical areas. It technically includes Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Israel, and Iran, as well as all of Russia and India and everything in between.

Hugh Lashbrooke commented on the proposal, asking if it is actually a “WordCamp South-East Asia,” given all the currently listed organizers are from this region, or if they intend to include other countries beyond this area. Ang said that the event will certainly include leaders from India and Pakistan and they have discussed forming a global team with two representatives from each country. The leaders currently listed in the proposal are those who were specifically involved in drafting it.

Bangkok is proposed for the first host city due to its relatively affordable location, the ease of obtaining a visa on arrival for attendees from many Asian counties, and the availability of inexpensive flights to most major cities in Asia. The local WordPress community is also experienced at running large WordCamps (500+ attendees) and Bangkok’s local meetup group has more than 1,500 members. WordCamp Asia organizers are planning for 750-1,000 attendees.