Why WordCamp Japan 2021?

WordCamp Japan 2021 is just under few months away.

I’d like to talk about why we chose the name of the country for WordCamp Japan 2021, unlike previous WordCamps that were named after regions, and what themes and concepts the organizing committee is preparing for the event.

WordCamp Japan 2021 will be held online

The WordPress community is currently in a difficult situation to hold offline WordCamps due to the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020.
Originally, I thought it would be great if we could all create a “gathering place” by holding real, in-person events. However, I’m thinking of taking advantage of this situation.

WordCamp Japan 2021 will be held 100% online.
We as a team feel that there are different hurdles to holding an online event than an offline event, such as how to distribute the video and how to organize interaction between participants.

However, with the help of our team members, we are preparing for what we can do now and what we can do only now.

Why WordCamp “Japan”?

Until today, all WordCamps held in Japan have been named after the region where they were held.

In other words, it is the people rooted in the region who act as the organizing team. Throughout the preparations, the members of the region deepened their friendship among themselves.
On the day of WordCamp, participants gathered from all over the country, but we only interacted with people from other regions on “THAT” day.

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Of course, with the spread of social networking services, the barriers between regions have become lower.
However, there may not have been many opportunities for the community members to actually work together to accomplish something.

In the midst of this, in 2020, we held Japan’s first do_action, a charity event, online.
The event was a great success and community members were recruited without any “regional” restrictions.

WordCamp Ogijima 2020 was the first online WordCamp held in Japan, and was completed by members of the Setouchi region and other supporting members from all over Japan.

I was also involved in WordCamp Ogijima 2020 as a member, and there I thought,

“Isn’t the concept of regional limitation disappearing?”
“Isn’t it possible to hold an event where members gather from all over Japan?”

So I posted the CalI for Organizers article for WordCamp Japan.

Transcending Regional Boundaries

As mentioned above, the WordCamps that have been held in Japan so far have been named after the region, and have been organized by the community members of that region.

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I personally believe that “working on something together” can deepen friendships, and the time/awareness gained from community activities can have some kind of impact on our daily work.

However, until now, although community members from each region have gathered to work together, there have not been many cases of members working together across regional boundaries.
Community members come from different regions, have different occupations, and different backgrounds.

It is sometimes difficult to communicate with people from different regions, but I feel that this hurdle has been lowered by going online.

Since this is WordCamp Japan, there are no regional restrictions.
The organizing committee members are from all over Japan.

Create a place where everyone can gather around

WordCamp offers a wide variety of content, including sessions, workshops, and contributor days. One of the things you can’t forget is “interaction / communication”.

I feel that the “incidental conversations” that occur in the hallways and lobbies during breaks between sessions are no longer as easy as they used to be because of the shift to online. For example…

• People who want to talk to each other will arrange a time to meet at Zoom…
• And then wondering who to invite to the conversation…

and so on.

I personally think that incidental conversations are very important, and I think that such conversations can lead to new ideas and solutions to problems that have been troubling one.

We as a team are working on a new system/solution that is aimed to create such incidental conversations at WordCamp Japan 2021.

I also hope that participants will gather from all over Japan.
We hope to have participants from all 47 prefectures!

We hope that participants will take advantage of the opportunity of WordCamp Japan 2021 to interact with people they have never talked to before, and to find new friends.

We look forward to seeing you all at WordCamp Japan 2021.

WordCamp Japan 2021
Lead Organizer
Shusei Toda