I guess we can call it a trend now. For the second time in as many weeks, a WordCamp has been “forked”. WordCamp Phoenix has been a tremendously popular event in past years. I know at least one year they had over 600 attendees.
Today, WP Weekend Phoenix launched as a new conference for WordPress, unaffiliated with WordCamps. The organizers cite why they decided to do WP Weekend Phoenix versus a traditional WordCamp:
- Sponsor Partners – WP Weekend Phoenix will have new opportunities to form sponsors and partnerships with companies and organizations that are a part of the WordPress ecosystem, but have not been involved in WordCamps in the past.
- Speakers – WP Weekend Phoenix will be able to select from a range of local and national speakers to deliver the quality content that our community craves.
- Scope – As an independent event, the amount of growth and possibilities is limited only by the hard work and ideas of the community. We can offer an event that will be even bigger and better than in year’s past.
According to the website, 3 of 4 previous organizers are on board with WP Weekend Phoenix in “advisory” roles.
I guess the significance of this change is not terribly different than that of The WP Conf and WordCamp LA. But this one does feel different. I’ve always mentally considered WordCamp Phoenix to be a big “go to” camp outside of WordCamp San Francisco (where I’m currently writing this post from).
My biggest fear, if these forks continue, is that it could potentially make it more difficult for smaller cities to fund WordCamps. Essentially, big cities and WordCamps have an easier time getting sponsors and tend to be more “profitable”. I believe that any profits usually go back to the WordPress Foundation, which uses them to help support WordCamps that can’t always fully fund themselves. So, if this continues, will the smaller WordCamps be impacted? I hope not. I should note, I don’t really know how the money flows with the Foundation and WordCamps. But I think the way I describe it is accurate. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
No matter the consequences, it does appear this may continue to happen in larger cities that can support independent WordPress conferences. And I’m also interested to see how they approach the events differently. For instance, non-fully GPL companies (like Envato perhaps) may be able to get more involved in WordCamps.
Finally, given the organizers are WordCamp organizers, I hope that WordCamp Phoenix will still have people willing to organize it, and will continue to be a great event. I think the more the events the merrier, but I don’t love the idea of WordCamps as a springboard for organizers to form for-profit WordPress events only for the WordCamp to die.
🙂
I’d prefer WordPress events to be run this way. The more independent and digital the better it is for everyone.
The WordPress.org, WordPress foundation, or whatever the group behind WordCamp is too political. It’s not healthy.
For example, I understand Matt’s position on GPL/copyleft and tend to side with him, but that doesn’t mean you should impose your views on others like preventing ThemeForest authors with non-GPL licensed products from speaking at WordCamps.
If the smaller cities die out then let it be. The market can always better determine what should exist. Funding smaller cities when there isn’t strong demands for it is just throwing money away. That is if they actually manage money that way. I have no clue.
Technology is advance enough for online meetings to happen so why not embrace that like MeetWP? The majority of WordPress users aren’t even going to WordCamps. They’re at home coding like me. When you require people to physically show up, you leave out a huge chunk of your community.
I don’t want the WP Conf to kill off smaller WordCamp’s, and don’t think it will. But I want the ability to build a bigger event than the foundation allows.
Sorry Tung, this doesn’t make sense – if you are the benevolent leader of a free software project, your position on the GPL is not just a matter of personal taste. It’s the fundament on which the software and it’s community are built. So it’s actually your obligation to impose it on anyone who contributes to the software.
I organized the first two in Phx… 2nd one offered much drama afterwards that helped make the decision that it wasn’t for me to run anymore. I knew of the camp changes in the pipeline and didn’t completely agree with the vision moving forward. I’ve been involved as a back seat overwatch with each camp since and am friends with those that have run them and know the frustrations with said new changes. Furthermore discussions with organizer friends from other camps and the prior intel led me to see this forking coming for a while now. The wordup thing blew out fast for its own reasons that most are aware of and what’s happening now is to be expected. It’s a community thing, they want to run it without the top down formalities as they’re seemingly hindering creativity in events. Too much control in place of support and encouragement.