2015 was another exciting year in the WordCamp program, with over 21,000 WordPress enthusiasts coming together at 89 different events to spend a day or three talking about WordPress, the free and open source software that now powers more than 25% of the internet.
WordCamps around the world
WordCamps were held in 34 different countries in 2015, with events in 6 continents: Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America.
We saw a huge jump in WordCamps held in Europe this year — from 17 in 2014 to 29 in 2015, wow! A whopping 18 WordPress communities organized their very first WordCamp last year.
As you can see in the chart below, the number of WordCamps has been steadily increasing over the past five years. In 2015, we had more numerous, smaller events, as shown by the increase in the number of overall events with the numbers of unique speakers and sessions holding steady.
| 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
| Total number of WordCamps Year-over-year growth |
89 11% |
80 13% |
71 6% |
67 29% |
52 n/a |
| WordCamps in the US Year-over-year growth |
42 -2% |
43 39% |
31 -9% |
34 36% |
25 n/a |
| WordCamps outside the US Year-over-year growth |
47 27% |
37 -8% |
40 21% |
33 22% |
27 n/a |
| Total number of unique speakers Year-over-year growth |
1,677 0% |
1,676 43% |
1,176 34% |
877 95% |
450 n/a |
| Total number of unique sessions Year-over-year growth |
2,135 -9% |
2,355 50% |
1,565 62% |
967 125% |
429 n/a |
| Total number of unique sponsors Year-over-year growth |
891 -1% |
896 72% |
522 5% |
498 59% |
313 n/a |
| Total number of WordCamp tickets sold (rounded to the nearest 500) Year-over-year growth |
over 21,000 5% |
over 20,000 8% |
over 19,000 8% |
over 17,000 29% |
over 13,000 n/a |
Did you know that everyone who organizes and staffs a WordCamp is a volunteer? And did you know that all WordCamp speakers are volunteers, as well? If you’re looking at this information and wondering how you can have a WordCamp in your town, check out the WordCamp Organizer Handbook for more information about how WordCamps happen. (Hint: they’re made of people!)
But wait, there’s more data:
WordCamp Organizers in 2015
- Number of unique organizers: 601
- Number of first-time organizers: 366
WordCamp Speakers in 2015
- Total number of unique speakers: 1,677
- Most speakers at a single WordCamp: 81 (at WordCamp US)
- Fewest speakers at a single WordCamp: 8 (at WordCamp Winnipeg)
- Number of first-time speakers: 952
WordCamp Sessions in 2015
- Total number of unique sessions: 2,135
- Most sessions at a single WordCamp: 80 (at WordCamp US)
- Fewest sessions at a single WordCamp: 8 (at WordCamp Winnipeg)
- Average number of sessions per WordCamp: 25.72
WordCamp Sponsors in 2015
- Total number of unique sponsors: 891
- Most sponsors at a single WordCamp: 53 (at WordCamp London)
- Average number of sponsors per WordCamp: 8.33
WordCamp Attendees in 2015
- Total number of WordCamp tickets sold: 21,386
- Most tickets sold for a single WordCamp was: 1,744 at (WordCamp US; 2,424 with live-stream tickets)
- Fewest tickets sold for a single camp WordCamp: 26 (at WordCamp East Troy)
- Average number of attendees per WordCamp: 245.82
- Number of WordCamps with 300+ tickets sold: 36
- Number of WordCamps with less than 300 tickets sold: 53
Ten Largest WordCamps (listed in order of number of tickets sold) in 2015:
- WordCamp US
- WordCamp Tokyo
- WordCamp Europe
- WordCamp Kansai
- WordCamp NYC
- WordCamp London
- WordCamp Miami
- WordCamp Atlanta
- WordCamp Orlando
Organizing the organizers
In 2015, the WordPress open source project’s Community Team launched some great tools for WordCamp organizers: a payments plugin to help organizers and program administrators get vendors paid with less fuss and fewer emails, a CSS cloning tool to help organizing teams copy and then customize designs from other WordCamp sites, and a remote CSS plugin so that organizers didn’t have to make design changes on their live sites.
In 2015, we also built on the Community Deputies program that began in late 2014, expanding the number of volunteers who help advise and organize our organizing teams to around 30. Furthermore, we started reporting on deputy oversight/administration progress on our team’s blog, to help the whole community see “behind the scenes” at WordCamp Central. If you’re interested in helping with WordCamps or other WordPress community efforts, check out the WordPress Community Team blog!
We can’t wait to see what 2016 brings, and we hope you’ll join us as an attendee, volunteer, speaker, sponsor, organizer… or all of the above!
