I recently had the pleasure of attending WordCamp Bengaluru 2023, which was the first WordCamp in the city.
We arrived two days prior to the WordCamp. I was mesmerized by the weather as soon as I stepped out of the airport.
We attended the speaker dinner on 28th July which was held in a beautiful garden restaurant. The amazing weather, meeting our extended family, and good food made the evening truly amazing.
The WordCamp was held on 29th July 2023 at CMR University. The venue was an academic institute providing ample space and facilities. The university campus had a lake which made the whole view look just beautiful. Roaming through the college and campus took me to nostalgia. The classrooms, the board, the benches, and the canteen food reminded me of my college days. I, however, ended my trip down memory lane quickly and returned to the WordCamp.
Here I am sharing a reel of Instagram made by my friend Sagar Hedau.
The WordCamp covered a diverse range of topics from the amazing speakers. I love how the recent WordCamps are focusing on mental health as well. I got the opportunity to speak on Mental Health Matters topic. I was thrilled to receive an active response from the audience. I was on the panel discussion accompanied by Husna Hussain, who is an educator and spreads awareness about child psychology, and Izzat Yaganagi, who is a professional therapist. While Husna focused on child psychology, I put more light on striking work-life balance, identifying panic and anxiety attacks, accepting and enduring your problems, and overcoming them. I thoroughly enjoyed my own session as the audience was lively! I would like to share that there were two questions from the audience that are stuck in my head about existential crisis and the other was about the impact of our mental health on our children and our loved ones. I was able to have new insights on these topics, which I will discuss in my next blog post.
The lunch was simple and local food (just the way I love!!)
After savoring the delicious food, I attended some sessions and then moved on to the sponsor’s area. I love how the sponsors engage their audience with activities such as quiz and luck draw. This attracts people and they voluntarily sign up for such activities. I too signed up for a lucky draw and won the wireless headphones!!!! (I mentioned this specifically here because I always have bad luck at the lucky draw!)
I always say that WordCamp is an event where I get to meet my extended family.
How can I not mention the fun me and my husband, Abhishek Deshpande had?! Sharing this tweet with funny captions!
With the sunset and rainbow outside, it was time to end the event.
The event ended with some great numbers:
- Registrations: 376
- Attendees: 330+
- Sponsors: 26
- Speakers: 37
- Sessions: 23
- Team: 13 organizers and 27+ volunteers
Can you locate me in this crowd?
Do you think I forgot about the swag?!! No way! WordCamp Bengaluru surprised with an amazing swag of coffee tumbler set. It was engraved with the hashtag of WordCamp: #WCBLR and add_filter(‘coffee’). Though I am not a coffee lover, I loved it!! Another interesting thing about this WordCamps’ swag is the swag bag which was made out of unbleached plain cotton. It was manufactured by ‘Suruchi Empowering Women’, a women’s collective that provides training and employment opportunities for women who fall under the poverty line.
It was an amazing experience attending this WordCamp! Next destination: WordCamp Bhopal!!! See you all there!