On Friday the 7th of July we hosted our very last event of the season: The Summer Event! The festive happening took place at the beautiful summery restaurant and city beach Kaap Amsterdam. A perfect setting because temperatures were way above average and the sun was shining brightly. We were very excited to have welcomed 40+ invitees, which made it our second largest event this season and the one with the highest show-up rate. A big thank you for that!
We also welcomed a number of special guests. Erik van Beek and René Serier from our yearly sponsor Aiwos. Kwok He Chu and Can Demiralp from Adyen (location sponsor last January). And previous speakers at our meetups: Berry van Es (talk GA4), Anne-Mieke Bovelett (talk accessibility), Laura Loos (talk WP Maintenance) and Monique Dubbelman (discussion ChatGPT).
This event was sponsored with 💙 by SiteGround, Weglot, Aiwos, and Kinsta.
A bubbly welcome
At 5PM we welcomed all invitees with a name badge, a flute of sparkling prosecco and some bites. Some time later co-organizer Stephanie opened with an introduction and recap of an amazing first Meetup season in Amsterdam. So, what did we do this year:
- hosted 8 Meetups; 5 Talks Meetups, 1 Drinks Meetup, 1 Panel Discussion and 1 Summer Event;
- enjoyed amazing speakers with a great variety of topic;
- established our Marketing with a Meetup account, website, Twitter, Slack, emails, rollup banners, business cards and even YouTube;
- grew our members list with almost 400 new members;
- saw lots of familiar faces from the WordPress Communities in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Zwolle and Rotterdam;
- also saw new faces each time!
We thanked our speakers, members and visitors who all played a part in reviving the Amsterdam WordPress Community!
Thanking our Sponsors
Next up, we thanked our sponsors. These 4 beautiful companies that supported us with providing a bag of money, being on speed dial for us, providing help, shipping over swag, and some of them even visiting our meetups. All our meetups, drinks, locations, this summer event and even our marketing materials would not have been possible without them. Whatever happens next season, we are extremely thankful for our sponsors:
- Aiwos
- Kinsta
- Weglot
- and SiteGround!
Lightning Talks
During the Summer Event we were not only celebrating our first season, but also celebrating 20 years of WordPress. Therefore we asked our sponsors to share their vision on a highly relevant subject: The Future of WordPress. SiteGround and Weglot recorded a video especially for us, which we presented on a beamer. And Aiwos shared their lightning talk with us live.
Juan Hernando, Brand Ambassador of Weglot under the 5FTF movement, emphasized the importance of the community. Without a community and people dedicating their time to contribute there would be no WordPress. And because there is such a lively community all over the world Juan is convinced WordPress will stay here for years to come.
Luca Rodino, Partner Manager at SiteGround, shared another insight, explaining that the future of WordPress would revolve around AI. First, new AI integrations will emerge. And in a later stage WordPress will incorporate AI itself. With technology moving at such a fast pace, Luca can’t say what WordPress will look like. But to survive and thrive WordPress there is no doubt that AI will be a big part of it.
Erik van Beek, Founder of Aiwos, shared his talk live with us (so unfortunately no video) and interestingly he combined both insights of SiteGround and Weglot without knowing beforehand what they would be. Aiwos established itself as a renowned WordPress company in The Netherlands on it’s own. It was only some time later that they discovered the WordPress community behind it. Since then, they are loving it and trying to do their part in giving something back. Erik compared the community vibes to his time at the boyscouts, having fun while working towards something together. For him, the community is what makes WordPress long-lasting in the future. But not without following modern times and embracing new technology. AI is here to stay and will be part of our lives in the future. Therefore it will need to be part of WordPress too.
After Erik’s talk, René Serier, Partner at Aiwos, suddenly brought out a big box full of beach tennis sets and handed them out as a present to all attendees. What a great gift!
Food, Drinks & Summer Fun
After the Lightning Talks it was time to satisfy the appetite! We enjoyed an Indonesian buffet, relaxed in the sun, talked and networked the evening away.
