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#WCEU 2014 Video & personal recap

In 2014 I had the privilege to help organise WordCamp Europe 2014 in my home city of Sofia alongside some of the most amazing people from the WordPress community.

I had the most wonderful, intense, fun & exhausting September.

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Hosting this event has been a life changing experience. It’s given me a new perspective on things and pushed me to grow – both professionally and personally. It further opened my eyes about the level of awesome that is the community behind WordPress. In a couple of weeks it turned people I barely knew into friends for life. And it made me want to dedicate even more time to the project.

The spirit of WCEU is captured perfectly in this recap video by the wonderful Kaarel Veike:

I don’t remember much of my interview. It happened at the end of Contributor day on Monday, the third and final day of the event. I was already going on auto pilot after almost a month of sleeping less than three hours per night. I remember bits and pieces – talking about how easy it is to fall in love with the WordPress community, the inspiration of Leiden and how Tina and I turned from volunteers to organisers. I remember failing to think of a way to express my feelings about WordPress in Bulgarian which so many other people did beautifully. And I remember talking about our amazing volunteers a lot.

Tina and I. Volunteers in Leiden in 2013, organisers in Sofia in 2014.
Tina and I. Volunteers in Leiden in 2013, organisers in Sofia in 2014.

There’s one thing that didn’t make the final cut and I’d like to say it here.

If you are an event organiser, get to know your volunteers

No matter if you organise a local or a global, multinational event, your volunteers are your closest allies and your next co-organisers. And you should mentor them and encourage them to do more, to help bring the community together and share the knowledge and passion for Free Software. That’s the way to keep the ecosystem healthy.

WCEU 2014 org team by Kaladan
WordCamp Europe 2014 organisers and volunteers. Photo by Vladimir Kaladan Petkov

WordCamp Europe 2015 will be announced in the next couple of weeks

If you want to host WordCamp Europe in your city in 2016, join the organising team for 2015 as volunteers. Let us know you are interested so we can give you bigger responsibilities and get you ready. Don’t be shy to talk to the WCEU team on Twitter or Facebook.

You will always get a reply.

See you at #WCEU 2015!

Love,
Petya

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Yana The Social Disaster – the shots

How it all began! 35 months ago Yana The Social Disaster… Coming soon
Yana the social disaster wishes you a happy 2012!
34 months ago: Yana The Social Disaster is Learning to Duckface
29 months ago: Yana The Social Disaster on a Friend’s Prom Night
27 months ago: Yana The Social Disaster is much <3
Yana The Social Disaster’s Dillemas: Which bear to take on the trip
Yana The Social Disaster Appreciates Your Attention
Yana The Social Disaster discovers #Istanbul <3
When Yana The Social Disaster turns her back on you, she’s actually being nice
Yana The Social Disaster Loves interacting with the crowd
Twin Sandwich – Yana The Social Disaster’s involuntary life choices
Yana The Social Disaster can’t get enough of your homemade sushi
Yana The Social Disaster’s winter menu: Twin grapefruit delight!
Marko The Magnificent and Yana the you know…
Yana The Social Disaster Misses January
Yana The Social Disaster Socially Active
Yana The Social Disaster and Yana
Yana The Social Disaster is always there for you when you’re bummed about not being able to attend the event you organized
Yana The Park Life Social Disaster
Yana The Social Disaster Over The Rainbow
Yana The Social Disaster walking the straight line. Not.
Yana The Social Disaster in a wiser twin sandwich… among other things
Yana The Social Disaster – giving you the finger since 1989
Yana The Social Disaster’s Fashion Choices – if it’s not baggy enough, it’s no good!
Yana The Social Disaster in heaven – Early Morning Stara Planina Run
Yana The Almost Formal Social Disaster wishes you a happy 2014
Missing Yana The Social Disaster aka The SUN
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40 hours in Berlin

Random S bann station
Random S bann station
Photoautomat, €2
Photoautomat, €2
I could do that all day
I could do that all day
Random beautiful graffiti wall
Random beautiful graffiti wall
Photoboothing Berlin
Photoboothing Berlin
The Jewish Memorial
The Jewish Memorial
This will destroy you @ Bi Nuu
This will destroy you @ Bi Nuu
Cinema Cafe, a must
Cinema Cafe, a must
Neurotitan, 3rd floor
Neurotitan, 3rd floor
Neurotitan, 2nd floor
Neurotitan, 2nd floor
Cinema cafe, smoking room
Cinema cafe, smoking room
Nevena's rocking palace is rocking
Nevena’s rocking palace is rocking
The BRMC church
The BRMC church
A Yana shot for the archive.
A Yana shot for the archive.
8mm bar - a must
8mm bar – a must
4am, on the way to the airport, Inside Llewyn Davis OST in my ears. Five hundred miles away from home. A great send off.
4am, on the way to the airport, Inside Llewyn Davis OST in my ears. Five hundred miles away from home. A great send off.
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WordCamp Europe 2014 – save the cool places

I really love that all of you guys are coming to Sofia for WordCamp Europe.

(And those of you who are not, what’s wrong with you!)

And because you’re such a fantastic crowd, I’m gonna make your lives a little better and introduce you to some of the coolest places in Sofia.

Foursquare lists!

Just save them and forget about browsing for a decent place to eat or hang out. All the places are in a 20 min walk radius from the event venue and have been personally tested multiple times. So you’re safe. Now go save!

List: WordCamp Europe 2014 places

First things first: The venue, contributor day venue, after party venue & other useful stuff

List: Coffee in Sofia

Coffee lovers, this list is for you. You’re in luck too – best coffee place in Sofia is 5 floors down from the conference halls.

List: Eat in Sofia

Hungry? Selected recommendations about great places to eat. Personally tested and approved.

List: Veggie Sofia

Vegetarian? Same thing as above, no meat.

List: Night out Sofia

Thirsty? This is where the cool kids hang out. Join in.

Enjoy!

 

P.S. If you have any questions about Sofia, ping the very cool dudes from DevriX

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On Contributing to Open Source Projects

Nikolay writes about how he started contributing to Open Source projects and what doing it for the last 10 years has taught him. It’s a very inspiring and practical piece. Like the guy.

I have the beginning of my own story to tell. Seven years ago someone who came to the company I worked for from the Open Source scene in Sofia found me and taught me the basics of what I am today as a professional. It’s the same soft skills Nikolay talks about, the same culture built around open source values.

Bottom line is:

You learn to be motivated for the right reasons

So today, thanks to three inspiring guys who all got their values from Open Source, I’m neck deep into this, this, this and this. My job is building cool stuff with WordPress, I try to give back by translating it and spreading the love, I dedicate my free time to plan and develop open source solutions that can hopefully help change the publishing and media scene in Bulgaria.

And it’s for the right reasons.

How about you?

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Testing the new audio playlists & pumping blood <3