WordCamp Asia 2023

Allie Nimmons:
Hey, Nyasha, how are you today?

Nyasha Green:
I’m doing well, Allie. How are you?

Allie Nimmons:
I’m fantastic. I’m also very proud of myself because, um, I went to your Twitter recently for something and I saw your pinned tweet and I was like, oh, snap. I’ve been saying her name wrong this whole time, . Um, so if you’re ever wondering how to say Nyasha’s name properly, am I saying it properly?

Nyasha Green:
You are, yeah. Yes,

Allie Nimmons:
, uh, go to her Twitter. She has a pronunciation at the top of her page. Um, so it’s only taken me like nine months, but I’m pronouncing it correctly.

Nyasha Green:
Okay. It’s on my website too. My website is, um, well, it’ll be up today. Yeah. And it’ll have pronunciation guide and it’ll happen now. Oh my gosh. Fane fan

Allie Nimmons:
Phonetics. Alright.

Nyasha Green:
Thank you. Spelling , . I can’t speak today. I might need it, but yeah, that’s

Allie Nimmons:
Okay. . That’s so exciting. I’m so excited to see your website. Thank you. Um, alright, so that, that nonsequitor out of the way today. We were talking about web, A lot of people are still talking about, uh, even like, like two weeks-ish later. Um, the first ever Word, camp Asia, which was a couple weeks ago. And you and I braved, um, basically 60 hour round trip flight to Thailand to attend and speak at where? Camp Asia. And I mean, it was pretty dang fantastic. I had a really, really good time.

Nyasha Green:
It was, I did too. That was definitely one of my top favorite trips, like in general. Yeah, that’s just like right under my honeymoon. So , it was really great. .

Allie Nimmons:
Yeah, it was really exceptional. We both got to bring our, our partners. I got to bring my, my husband, uh, Greg, and you got to bring your husband Sean. I almost caught them mixed up for a second. That would’ve been embarrassing. , um, . Um, and yeah, it was, it was such a great event, especially for being there the first work Camp Asia that that organizing team had never put on an event together before. Um, but due to delays from the pandemic, they had actually been playing this event for four years. So it really showed, um, all the details. Really. Yeah. There was so many details covered. It seemed like everything was well thought out. Um, yeah, it was really, it was really fantastic.

Nyasha Green:
Yeah. You definitely would not believe it if you attended that. This was their first time putting on an event together. It was absolutely amazing. And you can tell that they put a lot of thought into detail and that they also learned from other work camps as well.

Allie Nimmons:
Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And there was a lot of things that were like, they nailed all the basics and then there were like, additional things that were just like better than I’ve, I’ve been to like a dozen word camps at this point across the, the United States, and they were just things that were just better. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna go over all of the pros and all of the things that we loved, uh, but this is, press the issue. You know, we like to be a little spicy. We like to be, um, uh, we like to provide constructive criticism. So we’re also gonna, uh, discuss a couple of, I wouldn’t even say cons, like pros and cons, I would say. Just like things that we noticed that could have been better. Things that we wished were a little bit different. Um, but, you know, overall I gave the event a 10 out of 10. Any, any improvements I had or me just being nitpicky

Nyasha Green:
The same, I 10 outta 10, just like minor details. And they pay so much attention to details and feedback. I’m pretty sure whatever we have to suggest, they’re going to take it and thank you and, and run with it because they’re such great organizers.

Allie Nimmons:
Yeah, definitely. Uh, so I’ll go first with, with my, with my pros. My highlights, right? Because I could list, just list everything about the event that it was great. But, uh, my highlights specifically, um, were the food. The food was the best food I’ve ever had at a Word camp. And yes, it, there was, it, it was the variety of it. It was the amount of food that you got every day for lunch. Um, and honestly it was just like novel and interesting. Cause a lot of it was food I’d never had before. Like, me and my husband would open up the box and be like, what’s that? What’s this? What is that? And like, it was just such a fun experience. Um, rather than being like, all right, well, like, I gotta eat something and then, you know, run to the next thing. It was a part of the experience was the food.
Mm-hmm. . Um, they also had this orange juice that was like tangerine juice. Like I got really hyper fixated on this orange juice. It was really, really delicious. , I had like three cups of it a day. . Um, um, what was the other thing I was gonna say? Oh. So I was privileged enough to be chosen to speak. I still feel super honored that I was part of that group of people that got to speak at this event. And we had, uh, body microphones. Like they put a mic pack on the back of my dress and taped a microphone to the side of my face. And I’d never had that in a Word camp. And it’s, it was like a small thing, but it seemed like they hired an outside company mm-hmm. to come in and take care of that. Um, and it was like a small thing, but it, it really elevated the experience to something like, I felt like a professional speaker.
Like I felt like I was gonna give a Ted Talk or something. Yes. Because when you don’t have to hold the microphone, like my hands were free. I felt like I didn’t have a microphone with like a cord that I was like stuck to a certain part of the stage. Like I could move around. Like, that was just really exceptional. And there was, in the sessions I was in, in addition to my session, there was no like audio issues. Hmm. Like the audio was so smooth all the time. There were no blips in the ins and outs. It was always great. Um, there’s so many things. You also, things

Nyasha Green:
You, you also looked really cool with the microphone in your face. Like, like we were in a movie, like yeah, I felt like we were in a movie and I was like a background person. Like, um, this is the main actress talking and then something’s gonna break out. I have to run or something. I felt like so excited. I felt like I was

Allie Nimmons:
Part of the did cool experience . Yeah. I did feel really cool. And like in my pictures, I look cool cause I don’t have like a, a thing in my hand or, you know, oh, sorry, that was my dog sneezing. Um, yeah, it was, that was such a cool and unique experience and I hope that they continue to do that as well. Um, and then the other highlight for me, and then I’ll, I’ll let you share yours as well. Nyasha, the other highlight for me was contributor day. Mm-hmm. Um, I thought for some reason that I wasn’t gonna be able to go because they had a unique sort of thing where you had to register, sign up for contributor day. Mm-hmm. otherwise you ki you like couldn’t go, like they like wouldn’t let you in. Um, which at first I was kind of like, well that kind of sucks.
Like, why are we not allowing people in? And I think that it had something to do with the amount of food that they had available. They needed to keep track of who all was coming. Mm-hmm. . Um, and I didn’t think I had signed up for it, but I did. I had a little thing on my badge that said I could go. Nice. Um, and what was super special about it, and I don’t honestly know if other Word camps have done this, and if they have, I apologize for discounting them, but they did contribute day on the first day of the word camp as opposed to traditionally doing it on the very last day. Um, and doing it on the last day was always kind of an issue because people are tired by the last day, they’re burned out. Mm-hmm. , they don’t feel like it. Like you’ve spent the last two or three days like doing things set up to sundown and like, you don’t feel it going to, it seems so optional and it’s easy to skip out on.
Um, but doing it on that first day really prioritized it and made sure people went and made sure that like the event gave the feeling of this is important and you should go. Um, and it was super well organized. Like, I remember speaking to people at Word Camp us last year who were very intimidated and frustrated by contributor day because they just didn’t know what to do and mm-hmm. . And we took a lot of time in the morning on contributor day, we had every single team lead go up to the front of the room and explain what their team was about and what they did so that you knew exactly where you would fit and which team you should go to. And that was mm-hmm. , remarkable genius. Um, and I’m really curious to see details and information about like, how many new contributors maybe were signed up that day, or you know, how many people attended. Like, I wanna see how successful that day ended up being because it felt really impactful. So those are my three main highlights. I feel like, um, even though everything was so fantastic.

Nyasha Green:
No, got you. Got I am I definitely piggybacking off yours. I agree with your three. First of all, the food was fantastic. I was so excited to eat every day , not just the food in Thailand, but the food at the event as well. And, um, one thing that I was very impressed by was the dietary, um, separations. Mm-hmm. , because I know, um, I’ve only been to work camp us, uh, 2022 mm-hmm. . Um, I’ve been to a lot of tech conferences though. I’ve been going even while I was, um, before I got my first tech job, I was going while I was learning. And that was by far, um, the, this was the best one I’ve ever been to. And I know at us, uh, the dietary restrictions were a little muddled, so, uh, people couldn’t eat. And yeah, that wasn’t the case that I have heard so far from this one. They had distinction by Halal, um, vegan, things like that. So I was very impressed, um, that everybody got the chance to, to try the food because it was amazing. Um, I did have some of that tendering juice too. It was so good. . It’s

Allie Nimmons:
So good. There was a issue, I remember I saw on Twitter on that first day, there was a problem with the kosher options. Like the kosher option wasn’t available, but I believe that they had fixed it by the second day, which like amazing, you know? Yeah. Amazing that it got fixed. And food organizing food is so hard when you have to do all those dietary restrictions. So like, not to, you know, discount the kosher folks, but it kind of seemed like, okay, you can’t, you can’t win ’em all. You can’t get everything Exactly. Perfect. So mm-hmm. . Yeah. I agree with you as far as like, yeah, there were so many options.

Nyasha Green:
Yeah. And, um, another thing I really, really loved, um, I love the specific sessions, um, that they had. I think that all the word camps and even like WordPress related or similar like camps or meetups, conferences, like do code. They have really, really good sessions. I think Sessions make the conference. Yeah. But this one to me was, there was just so many good ones from technical to just motivational. Um, going into Word Camp, I didn’t really know what to expect because it was the first, um, one in Asia. I didn’t know how it would be set up. I didn’t know, you know, I knew what the sessions would be about, but I didn’t know how they would go. And so going in, you know, I didn’t think, not saying I didn’t think much. Like they weren’t gonna be good. I didn’t think they would have such an impact on me.
Um, I felt so inspired after going to the sessions. I felt like I had new ideas that were, you know, presented to me that were, for me, even though they were presented to everyone, I felt appreciated. , I felt a part of the community. I felt beloved. I just felt energy and emotions that I usually don’t feel at conferences. I usually feel good. I love them. That’s why I go to so many. But this was a special one to me. I just felt the energy and the air, and you can tell speakers like yourself, Allie, were just so passionate about what you do. And it just gave me so many ideas about my future. And I love to get inspired like that. I, I wish more, especially newbies into tech would go to conferences like this. They don’t know how life changing it can be when you’re thinking about your future and your paths you wanna take. Yeah. So the sessions were a one, my husband, who is not in technical at all, felt inspired. I asked him, we j well Michelle for shit. And I, we joked we’re like, were are you going to, uh, are you going to join the community now? And , he was like, you know what I’m thinking about it. And so it was just, you know, from a person that’s in the community and also outside, they were just so amazing. They did a great job picking speakers.

Allie Nimmons:
Totally. Yeah. I remember feeling very, um, I was speaking with Laura Byrne who gave a similar talk to mine and we were remarking on the fact that there were so many talks that were specifically for non coders. Mm-hmm. , um, which I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s been a problem. But the vast majority of content at work camps since they began, has been about code and software and been focused on developers. And it’s kind of been hard to get really good content, um, by people who do not code by mm-hmm. , you know, creatives. And there were a good number of talks along those lines and Laura and I both felt very validated cuz that’s what both of our talks were about.

Nyasha Green:
Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. I also really, really liked the venue. The venue was amazing. That was,

Allie Nimmons:
Oh my gosh,

Nyasha Green:
, that blew my mind. You, I

Allie Nimmons:
Felt like I was in a theme park.

Nyasha Green:
Yes. And I think they, they actually had theme park related things in there. You remember the, uh, dinosaur ?

Allie Nimmons:
Yes. I saw a sign for that on one of the, like the second or third day. And I was like, wait, what? There’s like a dinosaur park, like e every day that I went into this. So for those of you who, who, who were not there or who didn’t kind of follow along the event was at the top, the fir the top floor, or maybe it wasn’t even the top floor of this, technically it was a mall, but it was the most extravagant, gigantic, intricate, expansive mall I’d ever been in in my whole life. Yes. It was beautiful and gigantic. And there were like, on one level there were just cars. Mm-hmm. , like, there was like a BMW dealership, like inside the mall. And again, like we said, there was like a, a dinosaur. It was like a kid’s dinosaur park. There was a IMAX theater, there were like big terraces at balcony. Like there was a waterfall from the ceiling. Like, that place was insane. That

Nyasha Green:
Was, that was

Allie Nimmons:
Incredible. So beautiful. And I know that you and Sean did what me and my husband did at, at a couple points where it’s like, okay, I’m feeling a, maybe a little claustrophobic. There’s a lot going on. I’m gonna go shopping . Mm-hmm. , . Let me go down a couple levels and I’m gonna go get some souvenirs. Like, it was perfect.

Nyasha Green:
It was, it had everything there. You technically, if you just went from the hotel to the mall, you had, uh, a crazy great experience. Mm-hmm. just doing that. And I think that’s really amazing for accessibility. Mm-hmm. and that’s really amazing. People who, you know, may be intimidated by going to a new country. I know I’ve, I’ve never been to the Asian continent and I, you know, I was, didn’t know what to expect. And I am definitely going back to Bangkok. I don’t know when I can fly that long. But , I definitely wanna go back.

Allie Nimmons:
Yeah. It was really fun. And you’re right, I didn’t really think about that. It was, it did feel very accessible. Cause like here in the US we’re used to malls, right? Mm-hmm. , like that’s not a, that’s not a new thing. So it kind of almost felt, yeah, like being home, but just in a really different, unique way. Mm-hmm. , um, everything was in English. Like all the signs and everything. Everybody in the mall that I encountered at least spoke English. And so it, it didn’t feel as scary as it might have done. Um, it was a really, really perfect venue, like mm-hmm. . Yeah. It was a great choice. All right. So I’m gonna go into, um, I really only have two things that I didn’t love about the event. Um, the first one was the speaker room. So usually for speakers there’s a, a speaker room or a green room or just a room set off that’s just for speakers where you can leave your bag and leave your laptop and have it be safe.
You can sit, sit in a quiet place and work on your slides. You can chat with other speakers. And I really had to hunt for the speaker room. I had to ask like multiple people. Like some of the volunteers didn’t know what I was talking about. And when I finally found it, there wasn’t anybody in there. So then I felt kind of weird cause I was like, well, if I leave my stuff, like part of the, part of the benefit of the speaker room is like, there’s kind of a way somebody in there who, who’s like watching everybody’s stuff. Mm-hmm. . So there wasn’t anybody in there. There wasn’t any stuff in there. And I was like, well, I don’t feel comfortable really leaving my stuff in here. And Nyasha, there were no power outlets in that room. Hmm. So like, my laptop was dying and I needed to work on my slides and I was like, I finally found the room and I can’t plug my computer inside to go find somewhere else.
And so I was, I was kind of frustrated about that. Um, cuz it’s something that I’ve come to expect mm-hmm. as a speaker. And so I think that like, maybe it just wasn’t something that they deemed important, like important this go around. And I might be the only speaker who really missed it. Um, but that was a little bit like, I was like, oh dang, I’m like disappointed. Um, the other thing that I didn’t love that I I hope is different next year is the sponsors area. Hmm. The area that they had for the sponsor booth was just way too small. Mm-hmm. . And I don’t think that that could have really looking at that space, I don’t know how much that could have been helped. Um, maybe in future years. Some sponsors are in a different area, like the smaller sponsors are in one area and the bigger sponsors are, I don’t know, but mm-hmm.
Usually that’s one of the highlights of an event for me is like hanging out in the sponsor area. There’s a lot of people I know that work at these companies, so I could hang out, bug them at their booths, you know, pick up swag, take my time, play the games. Uh, you always run into people that you know and you can stop and chat. But the sponsor area was impossible to get. It was like Times Square on New Year’s Eve, it was impossible to move through. It was so crowded. Um, and there were people not only at the booth, but just kind of standing around talking and you’re like pushing your way through. And like, it gave me so much anxiety. Um, and so I didn’t really get a lot of swag from Word Camp Beha. I was kind of disappointed cuz I was like, I went in there one time and I was like, not again.
I can’t do that . And what I was told after the fact was, and this may or may not be true, this is just something that one person happened to tell me culturally speaking, um, in a lot of Asian countries for an event like this, the focus is more on the networking and a little bit less on the, the sessions. Mm-hmm. And so a lot of people came to the event purely to hang out in this area and talk to these companies and not to go to the sessions. So maybe it wasn’t that the the area was too small. Maybe it was that it was expected that more people would be in the sessions and instead more people were in this one area. I don’t really know. Oh. Um, but yeah, I hope that next year they are able to account for that a little bit more and find a way to expand that area or maybe have a dedicated networking room or I don’t know, something like that to lessen up the traffic in that area because it, it caused me a lot of anxiety.

Nyasha Green:
No, I agree with you. I, uh, I went through twice and once was for swag and I was like, this is too much. I got pushed a couple times. I was like, this is too many people Uhuh, I’m leaving . And then the next time was just actually to like, you know, looking for someone to I agree. I did not get as much swag as I usually do. Um, that was very, like you said, it gave me anxiety too. And I’m usually, I’m pretty okay with crowds, but that was like, we were packed in at some part and I, I, I cannot be packed in mm-hmm. and I, I, it is, it sets me crazy. So.

Allie Nimmons:
And you’re tall. I’m five too. So like I I was like drowning in all these people. It’s crazy.

Nyasha Green:
Yeah. Yeah. It is. It is. And um, that kind of leads up to one of my, one of my just minor issues. Um, I know this is a source of hot debate sometimes, but I really wish that the mask mandate was enforced a little bit more. Mm-hmm. Um, because, you know, in other parts of the, if you went outside the conference there, it was definitely enforced. Um, not in the mall, but outside, um, on the airline. Korean air definitely was enforced. Um, it was so many people that was, that was probably the biggest conference I’ve ever been to. And even if we weren’t still dealing with Covid, I just think having that many people in one area during flu season is, yeah. You know, without mask is a bit of an issue. And they did have hand sanitizer, um, things like that. But I, I know I definitely got sick on the way back. Mm-hmm. . Um, when I got home and , I was thinking, you know, and I wore a mask most of the time. I, I, I think I only took my mask off when I was outside and yeah. So, um, I just wish that, you know, mask mandates were, you know, especially since cases are rising again all over the world, I wish it was enforced a little bit more.

Allie Nimmons:
Yeah, I agree. And that wasn’t even something I had thought of in the moment. I was just like, I don’t know, like, it didn’t really occur to me, but definitely in retrospect, like my husband got a really bad cold when we got home. Mm-hmm. . Um, and yeah, having that many people packed in like that, who had come from, you know, we had a lot of people coming from the United States, but we had people coming from Europe and like the Philippines and India and mm-hmm. South America. Like we had people coming from all over the world and, um, yeah. I’m, they haven’t released any numbers, um, in terms of like if people have reported Covid cases after the fact mm-hmm. , um, I know that’s happened a couple times for password camp events or WordPress events. Um, I haven’t heard anything

Nyasha Green:
We get, we did get one, I got one email yesterday. Yeah. It was, it was very, it was like, was it late yesterday or early yesterday? It was recent, but there was Oh, okay. Well it’s one, at least one person reported they did have Covid at the event.

Allie Nimmons:
Okay. Well, yeah. And there was , there was, oh gosh, I, I don’t know how many attendees now. It was something like 1500 attendees. So that’s relatively unsurprising. Mm-hmm. , I’m honestly kinda surprised there was only one. Um, and you know, maybe that’s only the, that’s only one person who, who reported it reported mm-hmm. , but yeah. And that’s, I mean, that could have been a great opportunity as well for more swag. Like, you know, word Camp Asia masks, or something like that. Awesome. That would’ve been so cool. Um, but yeah, I agree with you. I hope that, um, I mean maybe for next year that might not be as much of a concern. I hope it’s not as much of a concern. Oh no. . Um, but that could be something definitely for Word Camp Europe to take into consideration is, um, you know, that’s in a couple months. Yeah. Let’s, let’s, you know, I don’t, I don’t know how much these event organized can do as far as enforcement of mask mandates. Mm-hmm. , but highly recommend and reminders and like, you know, you can’t come into this area or this room without a mask and you know, that kind of stuff. Yeah.

Nyasha Green:
Or passing them out as well, like offering them and stuff.

Allie Nimmons:
Yeah, definitely. Cool. Well I think that’s a pretty comprehensive look, um, at the pros and cons if you wanna call it that. Um, and yeah, if you attend the word Camp Asia, uh, out there at home, we would love to hear like, did we, what was your highlights? Like, were there improvements that you saw that we missed? Um, and all of that kind of stuff all meant to be positive and kind, constructive criticism cuz you know, overall they really absolutely knocked it out of the park. So yes. Anything we say here that’s for improvement, quote unquote is, you know, coming from the kindness most helpful place. Cool. All right, well thank you so much Nyasha for chatting with me. I always love recording episodes with you. Same . Alrighty, we’ll catch you in the next one.