WordCamp Europe 2025

Simon Kraft: Let's talk about WordCamp Europe 2025, shall we?

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes.

Simon Kraft: What do you think? Where should I rent a hotel room next year?

Patricia Brun Torre: Oh, near Messe Basel.

Simon Kraft: So, we're going to Switzerland.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes, we are.

Simon Kraft: Not only Eurovision, but also WordCamp Europe.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yeah, it was funny to see that at the Eurovision, Switzerland won. And I thought, wow, two amazing events in Switzerland next year, yes.

Simon Kraft: One of them slightly more relevant than the other. And that's obviously WordCamp Europe. So, how did this happen?

Patricia Brun Torre: Okay, so a little bit of backstory. It was at WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto. I talked with Michel, Michel Bullock, and one or two other people, and we said we should try. It was an amazing event in Porto, and we said we should try to have it in Switzerland. And someone said, yes, but we'll never get it because Switzerland is too expensive. So we postponed that discussion for a few months. Then in Athens, a little bit before Athens, 2023, I thought again about it. And I began to ask the people from the local team, what is the work to do as a local team? You know, if you host the World Camp Europe in your country, what are the tasks that you have to do as the local team? So I said, oh, it looks OK for experienced World Camp organizers that we are. We were talking with people who usually organize a work camp in Zurich, Bern, Geneva, as we are the Swiss community, you know. And one question we had was, can we apply as a country? Because, you know, Switzerland is so small. So we basically go to all work camps that happen in our country independently of the city. So we apply as Switzerland, even though there have not been local work camps in Basel. There have been a lot in Zurich and some in Bern, Geneva, Lausanne. So we thought that is okay. Talking with some people, I gathered a team of really enthusiastic people to do that application. And we said, yeah, yeah, let's try. Let's try. What was not easy is that we are supposed to keep it secret until accepted and then announced. But how to find people when you can't say anything about it, you know? Yeah. So I reached out to people who are longtime organizers in their meetup groups and work camps. And yeah, so we decided to apply. It was in October, November 2023. And then the call for Host City opened in December. And in February was the deadline. So we had to do all the work, you know, to find a venue. So we thought that Congress Center Basel was the best place. And Basel also the best place compared to Zurich or Geneva because first for the venue, it's an amazing venue, the Congress Center, part of Messe Basel, but also because Basel is at what I call the crossroad, you know, the crossroad between Switzerland, France and Germany. It's multilingual because there is France very close. It's called the heart of Europe and it's very easy to get to Basel with the Euro Airport. So without it was the best place to propose this. We did. And because I'm also an organizer this year, from all those months, I had the feeling I was organizing two WordCamp Europe at the same time, you know, because the application is quite a process, actually.

Simon Kraft: Do you have any insights on how the selection process for next year's host city is?

Patricia Brun Torre: I know some of the things. So the criterias were stated on the call for host city. So this is public information. It needs to have a venue for enough people to have two or three tracks and a lot of space for the sponsor area and other areas, plus additional rooms for other stuff like a PR room, volunteer rooms. An organizer headquarters, a room for the kindergarten and kids workshop and stuff like that.

Simon Kraft: And media partners.

Patricia Brun Torre: And media partners like you. Yes. So to apply, we have to have pre-booked with the venue. One of the three first weekends of June because of school holidays starting in most of the countries in Europe. So that was also a requirement. It was also said that countries that had already had WordCamp Europe in the past would not have the preference in the case of equivalent quality of applications. So because it's the 12th edition, the 10th in person. So it's 10 countries where WordCamp Europe has already been held.

Simon Kraft: Slowly but surely, we're running out of countries.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes, well, there are more than 40 countries in Europe, but well, I doubt there is like big WordPress community in Liechtenstein or...

Simon Kraft: We might be able to double the population of one of these small countries for a weekend. That might be fun.

Patricia Brun Torre: Some of the other criteria would be an active community. So this is important because it's not like someone out of the blue that has never been involved in a local WordCamp organization. And as we applied as Swiss community, I guess they had a look at how many meetup groups we have, how active they are, if we have, events every month and stuff like that. I suppose.

Simon Kraft: Okay, so let's head back to WordCamp Europe. What can we expect? First of all, I think we haven't mentioned the date yet.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yeah, the 5th to 7th of June 2025.

Simon Kraft: I will make sure to be ahead of the curve and book a hotel. I guess WordCamp Europe 2025 will be structured the same way as, I don't know how many, but the past iterations of WordCamp Europe have been structured. So starting with the Contributor Day on June 5th, followed by two conference days and lots of parties on June 6th and 7th.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes, this is the same structure. What can change every year is how it is structured, for example, in the content side of the event.

Simon Kraft: Do you know about that already?

Patricia Brun Torre: No. No, I mean, I really don't know because this is another team than the local team, actually. We pre-booked for two variants, two tracks and three tracks, and it will be refined over the months.

Simon Kraft: I see. You mentioned the local team. That's another interesting thing to talk about. Everyone has ever attended like a run-of-the-mill local WordCamp. The local team basically is the whole team. There's not more to it. But for WordCamp Europe and other flagship events like WordCamp US and Asia, the organizing team structure is a bit more complex. And besides many other teams, and our dear friend Lisa mentioned all of them in my interview with her. So we'll link that and just Just skip this part. But what does the local team do? Because this is something we don't have for normal WordCamps.

Patricia Brun Torre: Okay, so the local team is in charge of everything that is linked to what happens in the city. So as opposed to the other team that will do things that are possible to do remotely, like the content team find speakers, the volunteer team find volunteers. So you don't need to be from the city. But the local team is in charge of, besides the venue, the catering, some of the swag, finding activities for the after party, find a place for the after party, find a place for the social event, stuff like that. These are the tasks of the local team. And some more, maybe, for example, negotiate discounts with hotels, possibly with airlines, stuff like that.

Simon Kraft: And train providers. Please, people from Germany, take the...

Patricia Brun Torre: Train yes that's what is very nice with basel uh also called the heart of europe because of course athens and porto are very nice places to visit but we could not really go by train or even car most of the people had to fly to go there because it's like the corners of europe here in basel like Torino, by the way, it's more central. So it's very easy to go by train or coaches even.

Simon Kraft: Yeah, yeah. That comes with a trade-off, at least for me as a German person, that it's a less exotic place. But I'll be able to go there by regional train, which is quite the change for me. Never, ever have I lived this close to a World Cup Europe before. Let's maybe talk about the city of Basel for a second. I don't think unlike Athens, Porto, too many people have Basel in their mind as like a travel destination. If someone was to like book their trip to WordCamp Europe 2025, should they account for some for a day or two on top of the WordCamp Europe time to enjoy the city?

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes, of course. Obviously, there is a lot of there are a lot of things to discover. And it's a city that is very much into art, architecture. And the Rhine also is flowing there. And I know it's a thing in Basel to do swimming in the Rhine. And there are a lot of things to discover. And if you want to add additional days, you can even visit other parts of Switzerland. You can even visit parts of Germany, the Black Forest. And if you want to go to France also there are great things to see and in Switzerland, if you are into hiking I mean you can go to some Jura mountains, and yes this is for Is there mountains in Switzerland really?

Simon Kraft: I've never heard of that.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes but the Jura mountains are not the same as the Alps you know, I know. You know what I mean. For all the people who are listening, we have two ranges of mountains. The Alps that are much younger by a few million of years. And Jura in the north, that is Jurassic era. And it's much lower. It depends what you prefer to do in a mountain if you want to climb high mountains or if you want to trek in lower mountains. And Jura is much closer to Basel. This was for additional days before or after World Camp Europe. But during World Camp Europe or one day before, one day after, there are a lot of things to see in Basel itself.

Simon Kraft: Yeah, no one leaves the city during that time.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yeah, and it's very nice. You know, the safety you feel when you walk in the streets. And I enjoy very much the architecture. Lecture i i know i repeat myself but i it's very nice to see because it's a mix you know of different cultures and it's a very multicultural city so this is something i like very much and yeah i.

Simon Kraft: Couldn't agree more in fact i don't know i think i've never mentioned that to you but last week we almost met in basel because i was there a day after you visited so.

Patricia Brun Torre: Okay so.

Simon Kraft: I i just just took a look around the city not for working bureau but it was it was fun.

Patricia Brun Torre: And when i was there last week it was actually to shoot the video that people just saw at the closing remark just see i mean we'll see but when they listen to that we'll say use the past tense so just so at the closing remarks in torino with the the reveal right the revealing where are we going next yeah i.

Simon Kraft: Haven't seen it yet, but I can already say it's a spectacular video.

Patricia Brun Torre: Soon, soon, soon.

Simon Kraft: Soon, yeah. Is there anything else you would like to touch upon before we close this off?

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes, the secret part is a bit difficult for me because, of course, it's very important to keep it secret and to keep that aha moment at the closing remark. But to have thought about this since almost two years and started working on this like more than six months ago and create the application website with the team and the fact to keep it secret. You know, I had some interviews in the past months about other projects and about being an organizer in 24. And I had always to be very careful not to mention anything. I was interviewed for other things, like I'm involved in the GatherPress project. And then, what else about you and stuff? And always, okay, be very careful not to mention it, because it's very nice to have a surprise at the end of the current year. So this was a bit difficult, especially for me, who like to talk a lot, you know. And I'm not sure it was the same for the others. And by the way, I want to thank all the eight other people in the application team who worked with the venue and the site to create that application. I really want to name them. So first, my friend Michelle Bullock from Lucerne. She was the first to think about the Congress Center of Messe Basel. And then we have three persons from Basel itself. Gina Bialas, Philippe Zeder and Philippe Krebs. And we have like a veteran of the WordPress community, like WordPress contributors, like Pascal Bierschler is also known as Swiss PD. We have Nick Weiser, Sylvain Hagen, who was previously a World Computer App Organizer in Berlin, and Claudio Riemann. So with that team, it will be amazing. And we have other people who want to join, like Matthias Kurz, for example. example, they want to join the team next year. I'm not sure we'll all be in the local team. Some of them are interested in to be in other team of WordCamp Europe, but at least six, seven of us will be in the local team and among them the three from Basel itself, obviously.

Simon Kraft: I have one final question for you.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yes.

Simon Kraft: I have these interviews every year. Last year I talked to Laura about this year's WordCamp Europe in Torino, now I talk to you. Thinking ahead another year to WordCamp Europe 2026, it feels super weird saying that. What would be your tip from your experience so far? For cities or communities interested in applying to be the host city for WordCamp Europe 2026?

Patricia Brun Torre: They should apply to be as an organizer in 2025. I gained so much knowledge being an organizer for 2024 that will be very, very useful for 2025. I followed everything that what the local team did during the year.

Simon Kraft: Very closely.

Patricia Brun Torre: Yeah, I even attended some of their meetings, even they were in Italian. And I read their meeting notes because everything is open to all organizers in the drive and in the Slack channels. Like we have a P2 notes. So I think to be an organizer during a year, it's easier to propose your place as the next host city. You also know more about what you need to find for the venue. If you are not part of the organizing team, you get the same help than anyone else. Because when the call for host city opens, the two mentors are available for calls. But still, the experience is really not the same. To experience, to see it, to work with. This year, we are about 90% in the organizing team. It's really really valuable for for the following years year and i know who apply as an organizer because they want to propose their city for 2026 and.

Simon Kraft: If you want to apply to be part of the organizing team find as soon as the call for organizers starts everything about that at europe.wordcamp.org slash 2025 that is where the call usually is posted it's open already it's.

Patricia Brun Torre: Open It's open.

Simon Kraft: In that case, I'll make sure to add a link to our show notes so people can just click there and apply within seconds of listening to this. Patricia, thank you so much for taking the time. I hope you had a nice half an hour or so of not biting your tongue once talking about next year's WordCamp Europe. Now get back in that mental state. I will see you on the other side. And I think we have a picnic to attend to before this episode is even published. So yes, it was great. food was awesome.

Patricia Brun Torre: The the we can say the picnic was great but we don't know lovely.

Simon Kraft: Location, thank you so much for taking the time.

Patricia Brun Torre: I will see you very very soon thank you for having me there bye bye.