WordCamp Asia 2025 Recap: My Organizer Journey & Behind-the-Scenes Stories
As I sit down to write my WordCamp Asia 2025 recap, I realize more than a month has already passed since the event.
At times, I thought it was too late to write one and even considered dropping the idea—but another part of me kept pushing to share my experience. By writing this, I want to show what it’s like to be an organizer and maybe inspire someone new to join in. So here it is—better late than never!
From the acceptance email to our last Town Hall meeting in March 2025, the journey lasted over nine months. I certainly can’t recall every detail, but thanks to my DayOne journal, meeting notes, and chat history, I’ve been able to piece together the key moments of co-organizing WordCamp Asia 2025.
The main motivation behind applying for an organizing role was the opportunity to work with a diverse team of web experts across Asia, reconnect with old friends, meet new ones, and give back to the WordPress community.
My expectations were met—and even exceeded. It turned out to be an unforgettable experience.
In this blog post, I’ll share how our team of 70+ organizers from 10+ countries worked remotely (with some local organizers meeting in person) to make this global event happen, especially how the Program Team operated.
Stick with me till the end to get a behind-the-scenes look!
The First Meetings, First Impressions
I received my acceptance email to join the WordCamp Asia 2025 Program Team on May 22, 2024. After a couple more onboarding emails, we had our first Town Hall meeting on May 28.
I’m not sure how many people were in that call, but it was an interesting one. There were faces I already knew and had met at other WordCamps—including three others from Nepal—some I recognized from WordCamps or the WordPress community online, and some completely new to me.
The meeting agenda was mostly about introducing the event, the teams, and the organizers.
But the part that stood out to me was the “Introduce Yourself” slide. We had to pick and answer one fun question out of four. I chose: If I could be a character in any movie, I would be…
My answer? ‘Tokyo’ from the popular Netflix series Money Heist.
I gave the answer without much clarity—maybe I went blank under pressure. But I admire her courage and sense of adventure—traits I wish to have too.
Some of the other answers were brilliant—and some were hilariously funny. It was such a fun and warm way to kick off something as big as WordCamp Asia!
I felt a little awkward with my Nepalese-style English, but that feeling quickly faded. My fellow co-organizers spoke English in their own way—with different grammar, vocabulary, accents, and tones. It made me feel at home and reminded me that we were all bringing our unique selves to the team.
Introducing the Program Team for WordCamp Asia 2025
First, let me explain what the Program Team is and who we were.
WordCamp is a tech conference focused on WordPress. It’s organized by passionate WordPress contributors from across the region and brings together developers, designers, bloggers, and business owners who use WordPress.
Like any conference, it features talks from selected speakers—and it’s the Program Team that handles this. We’re the ones who choose the speakers, shape the content, build the schedule, and bring the event’s learning experience to life. It’s one of the core teams behind WordCamp Asia.
Here’s the Program Team for WordCamp Asia 2025 🤗 — my team, my friends, my people! 💙
- Meher Bala – Team Lead (India) 🇮🇳
- Amit Singh (India) 🇮🇳
- Jerico Aragon (Philippines) 🇵🇭
- Yves Tan Wei Zhi (Malaysia) 🇲🇾
- Ricky Blacker (Australia) 🇦🇺
- Me (Nepal) 🇳🇵
Our first team meeting was on June 4, 2024. I had spoken to Meher online before but never met her in person. I knew Amit from his active involvement in Indian WordCamps, but we hadn’t met either. Jerico, Yves, and Ricky were all new to me.
Working with such a diverse team was exciting. Everyone had their own way of speaking English—different tones, accents, and speeds.
I was used to Indian English from watching Hindi movies, so I felt at ease with Meher and Amit. Jerico spoke slowly and clearly, Yves had a steady pace with a few pauses, and Ricky’s Australian English was fast and a bit hard for me to follow at first.
But with time, I adjusted and learned a lot from all of them.
One of the biggest joys—and challenges—of being on a team like this was working across multiple time zones and cultures.
We often split large tasks into smaller parts, assigned to different people. While this helped spread the workload, it also meant extra time spent explaining ideas, syncing updates, and waiting for feedback.
Many of us had experience from local WordCamps, but this was a whole new scale—with bigger responsibilities and a bigger impact.
Our first major task was preparing the Call for Speakers. I offered to draft the announcement post. Another teammate worked on the application form, and someone else created a post to highlight our DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) goals.
For my part, I looked at similar posts from past WordCamps and a few tech conferences for ideas. After several rounds of feedback within the team, we passed everything to the Communications Team—and finally, the Call for Speakers was published on July 4, 2024.
Creating the Program for WordCamp Asia 2025
The final deadline for the Call for Speakers was September 8, 2024. Over the two-month submission period, we received more than 250 applications. Out of those, we had to select only about 40 speakers—roughly 15% of the total. While that sounds like a tough job, we approached it with a clear and structured three-step process, which made things much more manageable.
Speaker Selection in the Three-Step Process
We carried out the speaker selection in three rounds. To keep the process fair, unbiased, and content-driven, we started with blind vetting—something I experienced for the first time this year.
Round One: Blind Vetting
In this round, we removed all personal and biographical information—name, email, company, title, gender, nationality, and bio—and focused only on the proposed topic and its description.
Here are the main questions we asked while reviewing:
- Is this topic a good fit for a flagship WordCamp?
- Will it interest and attract attendees?
- If I were attending, would I go to this talk?
- Has this topic already been covered in previous WordCamps?
- Are the takeaways clear and compelling?
- Is the target audience clear?
We gave ourselves 10 days to rate all the submissions. Reading through them was exciting—so many great ideas!
But with such a high volume, it did feel a bit overwhelming at times. We couldn’t meet our original deadline, so we extended it by about a week to complete the reviews properly.
Round Two: Evaluating the Speakers
Once blind vetting was done, we revealed the speakers’ details and re-reviewed the top submissions. This time, the focus shifted from the talk itself to the speaker behind it.
We focused on:
- Does the speaker have relevant experience or expertise?
- Have they spoken at a WordCamp before?
- Do they seem confident speaking in front of a large audience?
- Did they tailor their talk to fit the WordCamp format?
- Will this speaker resonate with our target audience?
We rechecked each application and refined our ratings. After that, we totaled scores from all six reviewers and sorted the applications accordingly.
Round Three: Final Selection
The final round was done over a group call. We discussed our ratings, clarified points, and adjusted scores where needed. Then we made our selections—starting with the highest-rated submissions.
We selected the top-rated speakers first, and then considered additional factors like:
- Diversity & Inclusion – Did we have a good mix of voices from different backgrounds, genders, regions, races, etc.?
- Format – Talks, lightning talks, panels, or workshops?
- Theme – Is it focused on development, design, marketing, SEO, blogging, etc.?
- Audience – Who is the session for?
- Regional balance – Are speakers included from APAC, EMEA, and AMER regions?
- Local voices – Have we included Filipino speakers to reflect the local host community?
We also needed to avoid overlap between similar topics and make sure the sessions fit into our four theme tracks: Growth, Future, Surround, and Beyond.
Even as we started onboarding the first batch of selected speakers, the final selection work continued for a few more weeks.
We also prepared a list of backup speakers in case anyone had to drop out.
Onboarding the Speakers
After the speaker selection was finalized, we began onboarding. The task was divided among the team—about five speakers were assigned to me.
The process began with a congratulatory email, asking selected speakers to confirm their participation. Next, we sent out the Audio/Visual agreement, which all WordCamp Asia speakers are required to sign. This agreement ensures compliance with open-source principles, allowing us to publish their talk recordings and photos on WordPress.tv, our website, and other platforms.
Speaker onboarding went fairly smoothly. Most speakers responded on time. Those who didn’t (especially those who didn’t sign the A/V agreement) were followed up with multiple times via different channels. If there was still no response, we had to drop them from the lineup.
Speaker Announcements
Once onboarding began, we also started preparing for speaker announcements. This involved getting the speaker pages ready and drafting blog posts to announce them in batches. The first round of speakers was announced on November 20, 2024, featuring five speakers.
For these announcement posts, we worked closely with the Communications Team (for content review) and the Design Team (for speaker images and visuals). Meher led most of the coordination between teams, although we also handled specific tasks when assigned.
Slide Submissions
Slide submissions turned out to be the most stressful part of the onboarding process. Although we had included the deadline in our second email (right after acceptance), many speakers missed it—likely because the gap between that notice and the deadline was quite long.
A few speakers were very prompt and shared their presentations early. Others responded after our reminder email, and thankfully submitted within the extended deadline. However, our reminder caused a bit of panic for some, even though we had only asked for a first draft—not the final version. In hindsight, sending a reminder halfway through the submission period would’ve helped avoid that.
The purpose of collecting slides early was twofold:
- To review content for GPL compliance.
- To offer feedback on aesthetics and content clarity, if needed.
We scheduled extra calls (in addition to our regular team meetings) to review slides and send feedback to each speaker. These tasks were time-consuming but essential.
For a couple of first-time speakers whose slides were unclear, we offered rehearsal calls. They practiced their talks, and we gave them tips to improve.
While this kind of 1:1 support is common at local WordCamps (like WordCamp Kathmandu), it’s not always possible at a large flagship event like WordCamp Asia—but we made it happen anyway, going the extra mile to support them.
Unresponsive Speakers
Things got stressful—especially for me—when we neared the event date and still hadn’t received slides from some speakers. There were two types:
- Those who stayed in touch, kept promising to send the slides soon.
- Those who completely went silent and didn’t respond at all.
As the program is the heart of the event and speakers are its backbone, not hearing back was nerve-wracking.
We tried everything—emails, Slack messages, Make WordPress DMs. The panic peaked when, unbelievably, a few speakers sent their slides on the day of their presentation. That was not cool!
Emcees
Another important responsibility for the Program Team was preparing the emcees. Just like with speakers, we announced a Call for Emcees.
Since the number of applications wasn’t huge, the selection process was quick. Once selected, we sent the usual congratulatory email, followed by the A/V agreement.
We also held an emcee orientation, where we shared background on WordCamp Asia 2025 and explained their roles and responsibilities.
Program Schedule
Meher was primarily in charge of building the event schedule. The rest of us contributed by offering suggestions, flagging concerns, or helping improve the logic of the session flow. Amit handled the task of assigning emcees to each session in the final schedule.
Invited Speakers
This year, we had six invited speaker sessions—including a special Q&A with WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. Three were keynote talks, one was a panel discussion, and one was the always-popular Speed Build Challenge.
We started by calling for nominations for invited speakers from the community. We shortlisted a few names and reached out, but didn’t hear back from many.
Most likely, we couldn’t reach the right contacts. That’s always the challenge with big names—finding the right person to get through to.
The Real Conference Begins
February 19, 2025 — the day I finally met my Program Team in person, after nine months of working together online. What a moment that was! Seeing everyone face to face for the first time was heartwarming.
It was easy to recognize each other—everyone looked just like they did on video calls. The only surprises were things like height and energy in real life.
Yves was taller than I’d imagined, Jerico looked even cuter in person, Amit was warmer and more cheerful than expected, and Meher seemed even cooler and more composed.
It honestly felt like reuniting with childhood friends. We clicked instantly—laughing, joking, and slipping into our usual dynamic.
Yves brought gifts from Malaysia for all of us. He even made sure to find something vegetarian for me, which was incredibly thoughtful.
I told the group how hard it had been finding good vegetarian food nearby—most days, I’d just been eating fries, plain rice, and some sauce.
Jerico recommended Jollibee’s peach mango pie. Also, he ordered them with the Grab app immediately. It arrived hot, and honestly—it was so good!
Meeting the rest of the organizing team was just as enjoyable. I already knew some friends from Bangladesh and India from past WordCamps, but many others were new faces. Still, the vibe from the start was warm, friendly, and fun.
Day 0 (19 February 2025) – Organizer Orientation & Dinner
Later that day, we headed to the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) for the official organizer orientation. Each team’s local member gave a venue tour to their teammates.
Jerico, being our local hero from the Philippines, showed us around. The PICC complex looked overwhelming on the map, but once we walked through it, it was surprisingly easy to navigate.
After the tour, all teams gathered for a special organizers’ meeting and an in-person introduction session. It was so nice seeing people I’d worked with for months finally sitting in one big room.
We also received certificates of appreciation signed by the Global Leads, along with kind words from Shusei, one of the Global Leads for WordCamp Asia 2025.
A Night to Remember: The Organizer’s Dinner
That evening, we all met again for the Organizer’s Dinner at the beautiful Café Ilang Ilang in Manila Hotel. The buffet was massive—hundreds of options from snacks and drinks to mains and desserts.
I was happy to find plenty of vegetarian choices (though it took a bit of effort to figure out what I could eat).
We enjoyed the food, took a big group photo, and listened to some casual speeches from the team leads.
It was one of those nights where the conversations flowed, the laughter was real, and the excitement for the event ahead was building.
View All Photos from the Day 0
Day 1 (20 February 2025) – Contributor Day
Contributor Day is when the community comes together to contribute to the WordPress project, all in one place.
Alongside the usual Contributor Day activities, there were also Human Library sessions happening throughout the day.
But for us—the Program Team—our role was a bit different. Our focus was on running tech rehearsals with the speakers for the upcoming two conference days.
We reported at 8:00 AM, ready to go. Our main tasks for the day were:
- Finalizing all speaker slides and handing them over to the production team
- Coordinating speaker swag (t-shirts and bags)
- Connecting with emcees
- And, of course, conducting speaker rehearsals
We had asked speakers to pre-book slots for their tech run-throughs, and we kicked off the day with rehearsals.
By the end, we had completed 20 tech rehearsals with 24 speakers—not bad! It was great meeting and greeting them, especially since many were new faces to me.
One challenge we faced was communicating with the production team. While most of them understood English, only a few of the leads were fluent, which sometimes made coordination a bit tricky.
On the other side of things, our volunteers helped us get the speaker swag ready—each bag labeled and packed. We also checked that the time cards were prepped and that the Bingo game stickers were sorted. Things were coming together.
Not to mention, the food was incredible! Huge credit to the Attendee Experience Team for putting together such a magnificent meal for everyone. I ate to my heart’s content—maybe even a little more than that.
Sharing the table with fellow vegetarians and chatting about the why made it even better.
I made some heartfelt friendships over that meal.
The Stress of Missing Slides
By the end of the day, everything was nearly ready—except for two speakers who still hadn’t submitted their final slides.
Their sessions were scheduled for the very next day, and we had been following up with them for weeks. Despite countless messages, all we received were polite replies: “It’s coming, don’t worry.”
Unfortunately, we couldn’t follow up more strictly during the final week before the event because many of us were busy travelling. The only comfort was that both were veteran speakers—we were confident they’d deliver. Still, the uncertainty was stressful.
So, on Contributor Day, we decided to follow up in person. We followed them physically, asked their colleagues to relay our messages, and finally—the next morning—we received the slides.
We quickly reviewed them to ensure they met the WordCamp slide deck guidelines. It was a relief!
View All Photos from the Contributor Day
Social Night at Baluarte de San Diego
After we wrapped up for the day, it was time for the welcome party, officially called Social Night—a celebration for speakers, sponsors, organizers, and volunteers.
I was already exhausted and didn’t have time to return to the hotel and change, so I headed straight from PICC to the venue: Baluarte de San Diego, a beautiful historical site inside Intramuros, a fort from the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines.
It was a lovely evening. Many local attendees were dressed in elegant white-cream traditional Filipino attire, which added a beautiful cultural touch to the event.
The food was fantastic. I enjoyed dinner with a mix of old friends, new friends made during the day, and even a few people I was just introduced to on the spot. Although our team had planned to sit and eat together, we couldn’t all find each other in the crowd. Yves and I managed to share a meal, though, which was nice.
By around 9:00 PM, I decided to call it a night. I was exhausted from the long day and wanted to recharge for the big day ahead.
View All Photos from the Social Night
Day 2 (21 February 2025) – Conference Day Starts
The big day was finally here!
Our Program Team was scheduled to report to the venue by 8:00 AM. The goal? A final check across all four halls where talks and workshops were happening. We needed to make sure everything was ready—speakers, emcees, volunteers, and the production team.
The four of us—Amit, Jerico, Yves, and I—were each assigned a hall (Rooms 1, 11, 12, and 14). Our shifts were split between morning and afternoon. For example, I started in Room 11 and moved to Room 14 after lunch.
The event opened with remarks from the Global Leads—Shusei Toda, Yuli Yang, and the Local Leads—Andrew Garcia and JC Palmes. I missed this part because I was setting up in Room 11, but I watched the livestream later.
A line from Shusei really stood out to me:
“WordPress is powering over 43% of the web—maybe even more now. That means each of us here can shape the future of publishing, commerce, education, and beyond.”
That one statement reminds you of the power you hold and the impact you can make.
Such an empowering message.
After that, came the opening keynote by Matías Ventura, lead architect of the Gutenberg project. I couldn’t attend that in person either, but again, caught up via video.
Once the keynotes were over, sessions kicked off across all four halls. Everything went well in the first half, except for a small technical glitch—one hall had an issue displaying slides, even though everything had been tested during rehearsals. These things happen. I’ve learned from experience that the best response is to stay calm and keep things moving.
After the morning sessions, we gathered for the official WordCamp Asia 2025 group photo—the iconic “family photo.” Then, I headed straight to lunch—my happy place!
In the second half of the day, I was assigned to Room 14, which was set for a video marketing workshop. The energy was high, and the hall was packed. But we ran into a major problem—the speaker’s screen wouldn’t project. The production team tried everything, but it just wouldn’t work.
Thankfully, both the audience and the speaker were incredibly patient and understanding, which really helped. I called in our Program Team lead Meher and Global Lead Shusei for support. After about 30 minutes, the issue was resolved. We started late, but in the end, the session went really well.
By evening, I was completely worn out. As a Program Team member, you’re tied to your assigned hall, so I didn’t get much time to socialize or explore the sponsor booths. I missed hanging out and taking photos with friends, but snacks in the organizer room and unlimited coffee kept me going!
View All Photos from the Day 2 – Conference Day One
Day 3 (22 February 2025) – WordCamp Asia 2025 Concludes
The final day! Once again, I started in Room 11 for the morning shift and moved to Room 1 in the afternoon.
The sessions flowed smoothly. We stayed connected through our WhatsApp group, as the walkie-talkies didn’t work well—or maybe we just weren’t used to them.
After the first block of sessions, we tried taking a photo with all the emcees in Room 1. Not everyone made it—some were still eating or off at other sessions—but we managed a few good shots.
Then came lunch, and I quickly returned to Room 1 for the last stretch of the conference, which included two long talks and the Closing Keynote: An In-Person Q&A with WordPress Co-Founder Matt Mullenweg.
It was my first time seeing Matt live. I sat in the front row and really enjoyed the Q&A. There weren’t any spicy or controversial questions—just a calm and engaging conversation.
To be honest, I had been worried about how WordCamp Asia 2025 would feel. With everything going on in the WordPress community—conflicts, lawsuits, and general uncertainty—I wasn’t sure what the vibe would be like.
But the energy on-site was reassuring. The warmth, connection, and community spirit were still alive. It reminded me how strong the WordPress community really is.
The Closing Ceremony
After Matt’s keynote, we moved straight into the Closing Ceremony. The Global Leads gave a heartfelt recap of the event and made the big announcement:
🗺️ Next Host City: Mumbai, India
👥 Next Leads: Regan Khadgi (Global Lead), Meher Bala, Vachan Kudmule and Aditya Kane (Local Leads)
This moment was extra special for me because I’ve worked closely with both Regan dai and Meher. Seeing them take the lead for next year filled me with pride and joy.
With that, WordCamp Asia 2025 officially came to a close.
The After-Party 🎉
The only thing left? Celebrate! The After-Party was held at Vicente Sotto Street, CCP Complex, Pasay, Philippines. It was time to relax, reflect, and enjoy the final night with this incredible global family.
View All Photos from the Final Conference Day
Looking Back at WordCamp Asia 2025
Looking back, WordCamp Asia 2025 was an incredible experience.
Even though I couldn’t meet and talk to a lot of people because of my Program Team duties, I really value the connections I did make. The friendships I built during this WordCamp mean a lot to me. Everyone I got to know—even for a short while—made the experience more special.
I’m truly grateful for each relationship and the kindness I felt throughout the event. 💙
Learnings
There were so many learnings—especially around how to work effectively in a diverse, globally distributed team. From the very first Town Hall to the final retrospective session, it was a journey of growth and collaboration.
The Leadership
The WordCamp Asia 2025 leadership was truly inspiring. Kudos to the global and local leads for their incredible guidance and support throughout.
Special mention – Meher Bala & Shusei Toda
Meher Bala from India was our Program Team lead—and she was absolutely amazing. Always supportive, always calm. She stood by our decisions, whether they were praised or questioned. Her leadership gave us confidence and space to do our best.
Shusei Toda from Japan, one of the Global Leads for WordCamp Asia 2025, was our guiding force. He joined some of our meetings and always brought thoughtful suggestions and kind encouragement.
He celebrated our small wins and kept reminding us that the Program Team should own its decisions. Instead of micromanaging, he empowered us to lead, work as a team, and trust each other. That meant a lot.
Heartfelt thanks to Meher and Shusei—your support and trust made all the difference.
To the Speakers, Emcees, and Volunteers
We can’t wrap up this post without saying a huge thank you to every speaker—selected and invited. Your contributions brought the program to life. WordCamp Asia 2025 wouldn’t have been the same without your time, energy, and stories.
To our emcees—thank you for setting the tone in every session, keeping the audience engaged, and creating that warm, welcoming atmosphere we all love. You made the talks flow beautifully, and the speakers felt supported because of you.
To our amazing volunteers, especially the hall leads, timekeepers, mic runners—you were the real MVPs. Your behind-the-scenes support kept everything running smoothly. Thank you for your time, patience, and energy.
Love to All the Organizers ❤️
My Program Team—you’re in my heart forever. What a journey it’s been! We laughed, stressed, worked late, and delivered something we can all be proud of. I love you all!
And to every single organizer across teams—you played a part in making this event so special. Every small task, every effort added up to this unforgettable experience. Thank you for being part of it.
Kumusta, Philippines 🇵🇭
I truly felt at home in the Philippines. The people, the warmth, the hospitality—everything was beautiful. Special thanks to Jerico and Tiara for going out of their way to help me during my stay after the event days. I’ll be writing another post soon to share more about my travel experience across the Philippines.
To Everyone Who Joined This Event
Whether you were an attendee, speaker, volunteer, sponsor, or organizer, thank you for being part of WordCamp Asia 2025. You helped shape something meaningful and memorable.
Last but not least, we look forward to your feedback for doing better in the upcoming editions. Trust me, we tried our best as volunteers ourselves.
Looking Ahead
To sum it up, WordCamp Asia 2025 was an incredible experience. I’ve done my best to share it with you through this recap, but honestly—it’s impossible to put it all into words.
Looking ahead, I’m super excited for WordCamp Asia 2026. It’s happening in Mumbai, India—our neighborhood!
I was so happy when I heard the announcement. No visa needed, budget-friendly, and close to home—it’s perfect.
So yes, I’m already looking forward to seeing you all again at WordCamp Asia 2026 – Mumbai edition. Let’s keep this energy going.
Oh, and by the way—the Call for Organizers is open!
If you’re feeling inspired to contribute to a global event, apply to become an organizer for WordCamp Asia 2026. It’s an experience like no other.
See you soon! 💙
