WordCamp Los Angeles Debrief

The numbers:

  • How many tickets were sold? 406
  • How many people showed up? 320
  • How many people came to the party (estimate)? 80-100. Also created a site that was promoted throughout the day http://wclax.reviews that was a simple gravity form to collect feedback on the speakers specifically. 367 responses were recorded.
  • How many people filled out the survey? Sent one out, haven’t seen results.
  • How did the money end up (+/-)? Surplus of $3,465

The budget:

  • Are all the vendors paid? Yes, except for one personal payment. It was entered into the WC Payments area of the wclax site.
  • All sponsors paid? Yes.
  • Was there a surplus? $3,465
  • What cost more than you expected? Lunch was a little more expensive than anticipated because pricing was increased from the previous year. Takeaway: even though you’re using the same vendors year after year, make sure to get the current year’s pricing.

The video:

  • What’s the plan to get them on WordPress.tv? Paid vendor recorded, edit, and uploaded the videos. This went really well. Videos are already uploaded and posted to wordpress.tv.

The opinions:

  • What went great: It went really smoothly in comparison to previous years. Organization team consolidated a lot of the locations that were used in previous years. Speaker dinner was at a good venue.
  • What could have gone better: The venue mixed up their food order. They were supposed to have a hot lunch on the first day and a cold lunch on the second day. The venue ended up just making the same thing both days. Wrangling speakers and getting speaker information was difficult. Parking was a challenge this year.
  • What should happen again: Communication with the support systems from the community team went smoothly.
  • What do you think should never happen again: SiteGround asked for one organizer’s address to ship them swag. Unfortunately they also shipped their 10′ sponsor booth to him and expected him to store it for them for two weeks until they arrived.
  • Other thoughts: Potentially look at other venues. USC (Nick Halsey or Courtney Miller may have a connection)

Things that were a downer:

  • Small issue between a couple of speakers that was resolved between the two of them.

Did you write a recap post? Yes and Pictures

Who’s on deck to organize next year? Currently no one. Natalie MacLees, Alex Vasquez, and Nathan Tyler are all stepping down as co-organizers, but will help out next year’s team as mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues., confidants, etc.

#debriefs, #los-angeles, #wordcamps