2016-07-16

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Going to WordCamp Europe just isn’t worth it. There are too many people, the commute is huge (Vancouver to Vienna!) and the whole trip is just way more expensive than it’s actually worth.

At least, that’s what I thought when I was initially prodded to go. I’m ashamed to admit I almost didn’t go this year because all of the trouble actually was worth it. The pros completely blew the cons out of the water. If I didn’t go, I would have missed out on meeting colleagues in person and the incredible networking that goes on at WordCamps.

Still, I was reluctant to go.

For the uninitiated, WordCamps are conferences centered around WordPress and they happen all around the world. Since WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg organized the first event back in 2006, there have been 604 WordCamps in 48 countries. You can sit in on talks and learn a ton about a wide range of WordPress topics, from contributing to the community to advanced development. You also get the opportunity to network and speak with people in the industry, not to mention pick up loads of goodies and information handed out by companies specializing in WordPress.

But if you’re anything like me you’re introverted. I’m happiest when I’m on my own and WordCamps seemed to me to be the opposite of that. Tim Bowers from our support team asked me if I wasn’t going to WordCamp Europe and I kept making excuses to explain why I couldn’t go and when I ran out of excuses I reluctantly – and nervously – packed up and went to Vienna for WordCamp Europe.

And it just so happened that WordCamp Europe 2016 was the largest WordCamp in history with more than 2000 people in attendance.

So. Many. People. What was I thinking?!

Turns out I wasn’t alone since other introverts working at WPMU DEV felt just like me about dealing with hoards of people. We not only blew past our hermit inclinations, but we also had an amazing time remote working together and team building.

And we’re all the better for it.

Pushing Past Introversion

I very much consider myself to be a hermit. I would rather stay at home or go for a quiet, secluded walk in nature than have to go somewhere where there are people – any people. I work out at home and even get my groceries delivered to house. It’s not uncommon for a week to go by before I realize I haven’t left the house.

I’ve been working with WordPress a few years now and writing for this blog for some time, and I kept hearing about WordCamps and seeing other people’s photos and tweets – but I didn’t like the idea of having to peek through my front door.

If you’re anything like me, I love WordPress for so many reasons including having the opportunity to work remotely in my home office. It really is an introvert’s dream. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m anti-social, I just like working alone and I’m perfectly happy with individual activities like reading and, well, writing, obviously.

The idea of WordCamps conjured up images of utter chaos due to a serious lack of personal space, forcing myself to be ultra sociable, and going way, way out of my comfort zone. This didn’t appeal to me at all and I dismissed WordCamps as all kinds of unpleasantness.

So back to Tim and his prodding. He goes to a lot of WordCamps and encouraged to me go along to WordCamp Europe as a bunch of people from the WPMU DEV team were planning to go. I immediately started making excuses.

@wpmudev When I think of travelling, I think of huge commutes, “clean” hotels, getting lost a lot, and meeting people. #introvertproblems

— Jenni McKinnon (@iamjennialways) December 3, 2015

Jokingly, I say that he wore me down after his never-ending and persistent tweets, but in the end, I actually ran out of excuses. I kept spewing reasons why I couldn’t go and when tickets were sold out I was happy since I thought I was in the clear.

#WCEU tickets are SOLD OUT? Already? I thought I was being clever, buying tickets this early. @wpmudev if I’m not there, you now know why.

— Jenni McKinnon (@iamjennialways) January 12, 2016

That is, until an extra one floated my way and I couldn’t come up with a decent excuse. That’s not to say Tim wasn’t a large reason why I went since he helped me realize that the idea I made up in my mind of what WordCamps were going to be like just wasn’t accurate at all.

I must admit, by the time I had the ticket to WCEU in my name and realized I was going, I started to get a little excited, though I was still nervous, especially since I knew it was one of two largest WordCamps held annually worldwide, the other being WordCamp US.

I squeamishly packed my luggage and left for Vienna. Possibly one of the things about WCEU that delighted me the most when I got to Vienna was the fact that so many others I met felt just like me – many of them were also experiencing their first WordCamp as well and felt nervous, too.

Some colleagues from WPMU DEV who came to WordCamp Europe also felt the same way despite the fact that they had gone to many WordCamps before. Like me, they weren’t anti-social, just introverted, and weren’t exactly thrilled about being part of a huge crowd of people.

Despite this, we got past our initial sense of introversion. There were a few things in particular that helped us get there:

We were already a team on Slack – The fact is, we already knew each other – just not in person. Once we got over the initial awkwardness, we had a lot of nice things to tell each other and stories to share, and we started coming out of our shells.

We networked together – Those of us who weren’t listening to talks during the conference mingled with other people at the event and introduced each other to people we did know and had met at other WordCamps. Sometimes it was just two of us and other times it was all of us. Being around familiar faces helped us feel more comfortable and less nervous, especially when we had others around to offer support if we felt we needed a timeout for a few minutes.

We let others take the lead – If we met someone who had a lot to talk about and share, we let them. We listened intently and saw it as a temporary mini escape back into our minds and introversion. It helped us get back into the conversation afterward.

We built a stronger sense of togetherness within our own team and it naturally spread through the WordPress community as we began sharing our experiences with others. In the end, it was easier for me to get to know so many people after realizing just how many amazing people make up the WordPress community. It made me feel comfortable around others and I figured it would be a shame not to meet as many wonderful people as possible!

With so many awesome people there with at least one big thing in common with me – working at WPMU DEV – it became increasingly difficult to not socialize, especially when I usually don’t have much opportunity at home to talk about one of the things I am most passionate about – WordPress!

When other WPMU DEVers and I became comfortable with each other IRL, we were able to easily support each other and network together. If you plan on traveling to WordCamps solo, I highly recommend reaching out to people in the WordPress community beforehand to create your own team in much the same way. You may be able to reach others in the Make WordPress Slack group in the #wceu channel as well as WordPress meetup groups and Twitter.

For those of us from WPMU DEV, not only did we completely blow past our introvert selves for the duration of WordCamp Europe, but there was a team building aspect of it that sort of crept up on us.

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