# I was at WordCamp Gliwice 2023

- Author: Maciek Palmowski (https://maciekpalmowski.dev/)
- Published: 2023-05-17
- Topics: conferences, wordpress
- URL: https://maciekpalmowski.dev/blog/i-was-at-wordcamp-gliwice-2023/

> WordCamp Gliwice 2023 recap — Astro workshop, headless WordPress talk, favorite sessions on WordPress Playground and AI, and discovering a surprisingly green Polish city.

I had the pleasure of being a speaker at WordCamp Gliwice. Was it a bit stressful - yes, was it amazing - also yes.

## Gliwice

I have never been to **Gliwice** before, so I was interested in the city. And I must say it surprised me very positively - especially with how green it was and with the amazing coffee place called **Kafo**. Sadly I didn't have too much time to walk around more, but next time for sure, I will. It's another case when a Polish WordCamp motivates me to see a city I wasn't planning to visit. 

*[Image: The market square and town hall of Gliwice under a blue sky.]*

## What I loved

Most of all, I enjoyed meeting all my friends. And while WordCamps are great for learning new things, having a chance to hug everyone is much more important. Does this mean that WordCamp is just a social event? Far from it. I had many talks about WordPress's future, headless architecture, WP in a browser (AKA WordPress playground), how bumpy the road to becoming a developer can be, and many more. 

I also was proud to see that many things we introduced during WordCamp Łódź were also used here. This means that in 2019 we made some good decisions after all :)

My favorite talks? 

**WordPress without a server** by **Adam Zieliński**. [WordPress Playground](https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/) is a fantastic tool. So it would still be impressive even if Adam would go in front of the room, show it, and didn't speak a word. But he explained really well why Playground is such a helpful tool. I also agree with how he started - "WordPress is difficult".

I also enjoyed the presentation by **Krzysztof Dyszczyk** about AI. He did a great job summarizing the current AI state and how it will affect us.

It was the first time on stage for **Adam Kanigowski**. He decided to talk about my favorite JS framework - Astro. And while it was visible, he was a bit nervous, he did a fantastic job pointing out why using Astro with WordPress is a great choice. 

And last but not least - **Bartek Nowak** explained why Juniper (a starter theme used at Osom Studio) is a great way to start your WordPress project. I'm proud to see how Bartek evolved - we worked together at Osom Studio. 

I also enjoyed being on the stage. I had both workshops about **Astro** and a presentation about [**headless WordPress**](https://maciekpalmowski.dev/blog/is-it-worth-converting-your-wordpress-to-headless/). I'm pleased with how both of them went. I am also delighted with the fact that many people are trying new approaches to WordPress. 

*[Image: Group photo of about twenty workshop participants standing in a bright room with a screen behind them.]*
*My workshop group*

## What I liked a bit less

Coffee sucked :D But I was prepared for this, and together with **Maciek Swoboda**, we found a workaround for the future.

But seriously, there were too many marketing-related talks for me. The first day was dominated by it. I'm not saying it isn't good, though. I think it's great that the organizers decided to try it. Based on the survey, we'll know whether it was a good try.

The second thing I didn't like was the Q&A at the end of the day. While we introduced this in Łódź, I think having a Q&A after each block (3-4 talks) would be better.

*[Image: A red coffee cup beside a WordCamp Gliwice speaker badge reading 'Maciek Palmowski, Prelegent'.]*
*Me drinking coffee outside of the conference*

## Key takeaways

It was Lovely, Amazing, Great, Incredible, Fantastic, Superb, Wonderful, Excellent, Splendid, Terrific, Fabulous, Magnificent, and Stunning. Really it was. I mentioned earlier this year that I would spend more time outside of WordPress, but I still love all the people here and don't want to miss any chance of meeting them.

See you next year in **Wrocław** - I'm already thinking about my presentation topic.

I also want to thank [**Kinsta**](https://kinsta.com/) (the fantastic place I work at) for helping me with everything I needed for my talk and workshops.