WordCamp Gdynia 2024 has gone down in history as an event brimming with smiles, practical insights, and engaging discussions about WordPress. Held from 4 to 6 October 2024 at the Marine Fisheries Research Institute, it welcomed 226 attendees, including volunteers, speakers, and sponsors. The organisation was spot-on, complemented by unforgettable social events. Dive into how it all came together!

Venue and Atmosphere

The conference took place at the Marine Fisheries Research Institute’s conference centre in Gdynia. Spacious rooms, excellent acoustics, and cosy chat corners created an ideal setting for focusing on talks and enjoying spontaneous conversations. Attendees loved the comfortable venue, and its seaside location tempted many for short strolls during breaks.

What Happened at WordCamp Gdynia 2024?

Contributor Day and Pre-Party

The event kicked off on Friday, 4 October, with Contributor Day—a gathering where a handful of developers collaborated on WordPress enhancements and shared expertise. That evening, 60 attendees joined a relaxed pre-party, setting the stage for friendly introductions.

Main Conference and Workshops

Saturday (5 October) and Sunday (6 October) formed the heart of the event, featuring 21 talks and a variety of workshops catering to all skill levels. Topics ranged from technical gems (e.g., WordPress security, Full Site Editing, performance optimisation) to marketing, SEO, and community-building. There was something for everyone to boost their knowledge and projects.

Meet the Speakers

Adam Zieliński

Fresh from WordCamp Europe, Adam Zieliński took the stage as our first speaker at WordCamp Gdynia 2024!

A Key WordPress Contributor

Adam is a dedicated member of the WordPress community and a core contributor to this popular CMS. He played a pivotal role as the lead technical editor for WordPress 6.0. By day, he works at Automattic; by night, he hones his improv skills and enjoys a game of badminton.

Talk: “WordPress Playground – A Game-Changer for WordPress”

Adam’s standout achievement is WordPress Playground—an innovative tool that lets users run WordPress directly in their browser, no server required.

Benefits for Developers and Users

This tool streamlines testing and interaction with WordPress, slashing setup time and removing technical hurdles. Playground opens doors to new app development, learning, testing pull requests, plugins, themes, and more—all free and open-source under the GPL licence.

Adam’s October talk, “WordPress Playground – A Game-Changer for WordPress,” unpacked its revolutionary potential.

Michał Strześniewski

WordCamp Gdynia 2024 is a must-attend for WordPress enthusiasts. Michał Strześniewski, in his ninth WordCamp appearance, was one of this year’s highlights. What did he bring to the table?

Who is Michał Strześniewski?

With 13 years of development experience, Michał is a speaker, educator, and co-founder of the WWW Foundation. He’s shared his insights at WordCamps, WordUps, Infoshare Academy, and Workshops 4DEV. Currently, he’s Head of Product Development at 300.codes.

Experience and Achievements

Having delivered over 150 projects, Michał knows WordPress inside out. A passionate educator, his talks blend practical tips, innovative ideas, and inspiring case studies.

Talk: “Full Site Editing in a Headless Approach – A Case Study”

Michał’s session explored “Full Site Editing in a Headless Approach – A Case Study,” aimed at developers crafting themes for clients and Gutenberg/FSE enthusiasts. He showcased how a headless approach can elevate client projects.

Why Attend?

Want to master Full Site Editing in a headless setup? Michał’s actionable insights will help you optimise projects for efficiency and appeal.

Krzysztof Miotk

WordCamp Gdynia isn’t just about tech—it’s a hub for experts across fields to share knowledge and spark inspiration. Krzysztof Miotk, a renowned User Experience (UX) specialist, was among this year’s speakers.

Who is Krzysztof Miotk?

Krzysztof co-owns UX agency Quale and co-hosts the popular “UX After Hours” podcast. He also leads Poland’s first postgraduate UX Research programme at Collegium Da Vinci in Poznań. His UX expertise has benefitted brands like BLIK, mBank, G2A, OLX, T-Mobile, ING, Santander, Alior Bank, and Booste.

Experience and Achievements

Known for his “business-first” approach, Krzysztof delivers user-friendly products that drive client goals, boosting conversion and retention rates.

Talk: “The User Trust Pyramid: How UX Secured £50M – Then Lost It All”

Krzysztof presented a five-layer trust-building pyramid that helped a company secure £50 million in funding within a year.

Why It’s Worth It

Aimed at marketers and business owners, this talk reveals how to build user trust effectively for success. Krzysztof’s relatable examples make his methods easy to apply.

Mastering FSE with Lena Sędkiewicz – Workshops

Lena, a seasoned speaker on WordPress, coding, SEO, and accessibility, has graced stages at The Hack Summit, Beyond Code, Dev JS Summit, and numerous WordCamps and WordUps. 🎤

Who is Lena Sędkiewicz?

A full-time freelance developer, author, and globetrotter, Lena swapped psychology and fencing coaching for coding. Her knack for explaining complex topics with pop-culture flair has won her a loyal following.

Workshops with Lena: Mastering FSE

This time, Lena swapped talks for hands-on workshops. 🛠

What You’ll Learn

These sessions covered key principles for creating your own theme, including:

Conceptual approaches to theme design,
Step-by-step Full Site Editing (FSE) possibilities,
Building SEO-friendly, accessible themes.

Get Ready for Practical Insights

Bring your laptops for a session packed with actionable tips—experiment, create, and refine your projects live with Lena.

From Attendee to Speaker: Maciej Lech

From Attendee to Speaker!

We promised fresh faces, and here’s our debutant—Maciej Lech!

Who is Maciej Lech?

Maciej, a skilled developer at TigriWeb (one of our bronze sponsors), builds WordPress and WooCommerce sites daily. He prioritises quality, modernity, and bringing clients’ visions to life through clear collaboration.

Experience and Passions

With eight years of WordPress experience, Maciej unwinds as an avid angler, recharging for work challenges.

Maciej’s Debut Talk

In his first-ever talk, “Clamp(): Simplify CSS and Save Time,” Maciej explored the CSS Clamp() function within theme.json, showing how it reduces code and dynamically scales elements without extra media queries. 📐

🔧 He shared practical WordPress examples and a unique formula to demystify its use.

Mariusz Jałyński

Struggling to get your website ranking on Google? Confused by Google Search Console errors? Poor indexing could be dragging down your online visibility, traffic, and business results.

Talk: “Effective Website Indexing on Google”

Join Mariusz Jałyński’s session, “Effective Website Indexing on Google,” for a deep dive into indexing mastery, especially for WordPress sites.

Who is Mariusz Jałyński?

An SEO manager with over eight years in digital marketing, Mariusz has a proven track record of boosting brands through smart SEO. He’ll share his expertise to help you enhance indexing and dodge common pitfalls.

What You’ll Learn

Mariusz will cover:

Crawl Budget and its role in indexing,
Avoiding Google Search Console pitfalls,
Managing WordPress indexing for better visibility.

Przemek Hernik

Early architectural decisions can make or break your project’s growth and stability. Want to avoid common pitfalls and optimise performance? Don’t miss this talk!

MVC Basics in WordPress Projects

Przemek Hernik, a seasoned software engineer and CTO at Coditive, delivered “MVC Basics and Its Use in WordPress Projects.” He’s also the creator of pragmate.dev and an expert in WordPress, Vue, and Nuxt projects.

Przemek demonstrated how the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern can transform project management, splitting apps into three components for simpler, scalable code.

What You’ll Learn

Benefits of MVC in WordPress,
Implementing MVC for efficiency and scalability,
Avoiding architectural errors that hinder growth.

Expect practical tips from Przemek’s extensive experience, explained in a clear, approachable style.

Who’s It For?

Perfect for junior engineers and business owners aiming to future-proof their WordPress sites.

Tomasz Dziuda

Think a thoroughly vetted plugin guarantees peace of mind? Tomasz Dziuda’s experience suggests otherwise—stay vigilant and monitor your site post-update.

Who is Tomasz Dziuda?

A full-stack developer and active WordPress contributor, Tomasz specialises in security, performance, and stability. His practical plugin management insights make him a go-to expert.

Talk: “Hidden Pitfalls in Plugins”

In his talk, Tomasz shared real cases where plugin updates harmed privacy, performance, or security, stressing the need for ongoing oversight.

Who’s It For?

Essential for WordPress users—developers and site owners alike—to spot risky plugins and manage updates wisely.

Karol Sawka

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a favourite among developers, SEO pros, and marketers for tracking, A/B testing, and widget integration. But beware—it can tank your site’s performance if mishandled.

Even a finely tuned WordPress site on a robust server can buckle under excessive GTM scripts. Should you ditch it? No—just manage it smarter.

Talk: “Google Tag Manager Slowing Your Site? It Doesn’t Have To!”

Karol Sawka’s talk tackled this head-on. A WordPress developer, SEO specialist, and co-founder of Cross Border Agency, Karol excels in optimising WooCommerce and WordPress projects.

Mastering GTM for Speed

Karol showed how to handle external scripts and GTM to keep your site fast and user-friendly.

Krzysztof Dróżdż

Ever sunk money into tools that promised miracles but flopped? You’re not alone!

Krzysztof Dróżdż at WordCamp Gdynia

Krzysztof, with over a decade of WordPress experience for brands like Próchnik and ScanMed, led a standout session.

Magic or Empty Promises? Unpacking Tools and Plugins

His talk, “Magic or Empty Promises?,” exposed the truth behind tools claiming to boost performance or security.

Choosing Wisely

Krzysztof’s tips help you pick tools that deliver and skip those that harm.

For Everyone

Whether you’re a developer 👨‍💻 or site owner, Krzysztof separates real solutions from hype. ✨

Maciej Palmowski

WordPress often gets flak for security flaws—is it fair? Maciej Palmowski, a cybersecurity expert, debunked myths in his talk, “How to Stay Secure: WordPress Security Explained.”

Talk: “How to Stay Secure: WordPress Security Explained”

Maciej dissected data and mechanisms behind WordPress vulnerabilities, highlighting plugin developers’ efforts and offering DIY security tips.

Who is Maciej Palmowski?

As Security Community Manager at Patchstack, Maciej brings global conference experience and runs a weekly newsletter on industry updates. Subscribed yet?

Joanna Jelenik

SEO and developer teamwork can transform projects. How do you migrate a site stress-free while syncing SEO and dev efforts? Debut speaker Joanna Jelenik revealed all!

SEO x DEV: A Practical Guide

Her talk, “SEO x DEV Collaboration: Making ‘It Works for Me’ Work for Both Sides,” offered technical examples, SEO tips, and migration best practices.

SEO Expert: Joanna Jelenik

Joanna, SEO manager at Insightland, has five years of technical optimisation experience with brands like Wojas and New Balance. She excels in SXO, behavioural analysis, and JavaScript-based migrations.

A Must-Attend Talk

Perfect for project managers and agency pros, Joanna’s actionable advice boosts SEO and workflows.

Paweł Janus

Project management often feels like a burden—but it doesn’t have to be!

Talk

In “Stand Out with Project Management!”, Paweł Janus showed how effective project management drives value and quality, giving you a competitive edge.

Who is Paweł Janus?

A WordCamp Europe speaker, Paweł is a senior project manager at Osom Studio, steering digital projects for clients like 3Dconnexion and Expereo.

Who’s It For?

Ideal for managers, team leaders, agency owners, and anyone keen to streamline project management.

Piotr Mońka

Piotr Mońka, Tech Lead at Ambiscale, delivered “Accessibility: Beyond Plugins and Automation”. He explained why investing in website accessibility—especially for WordPress and WooCommerce—is crucial, covering legal requirements (WCAG 2.1, EN 301 549) and practical tips.

With EU laws tightening, neglecting accessibility risks legal and reputational damage. Piotr compared EU and North American regulations for a full picture.

Who is Piotr Mońka?

Since diving into WordPress in 2012, Piotr has honed his craft, leading teams and delivering top-tier projects focused on performance, security, SEO, and accessibility.

Why Accessibility Matters

Piotr highlighted why plugins alone won’t cut it—manual testing is key to serving all users, including those with disabilities.

Who’s It For?

A must for developers, business owners, and WordPress/WooCommerce users facing rising accessibility demands.

Arek Stęplowski

This talk won’t spoon-feed answers—it’ll spark questions and broaden your view on WordPress monitoring. It’s a roadmap to understanding your site’s inner workings.

Who is Arek?

Meet WordPress legend Arek Stęplowski: “A land rat living like a pirate—pipe-smoking, rum-drinking, and tale-spinning.” Pre-dating Google, his security and WordPress wisdom is pure gold.

What You’ll Learn

In “Why and How to Monitor WordPress?”, Arek offered technical tips and witty insights for no-code and advanced users alike.

Who’s It For?

Perfect for mid-level sysadmins, app admins, and no-code/low-code WordPress managers.

Magda Paciorek

Magda Paciorek’s talks are a treasure trove of news, tips, and inspiration!

A Polish WordPress veteran and Turin debutant this year.

Magda Paciorek

A developer and WordPress evangelist at cyber_Folks, Magda loves Gutenberg and no-code solutions. She’s a digital nomad, prolific writer, and Poznań WordPress meetup organiser.

“Boundless Creativity: What Can You Build with WordPress Blocks?”

In her talk, Magda explored WordPress blocks, unveiling unique layouts and creative projects doable with or without coding.

She proved Gutenberg is a powerhouse for amateurs and pros alike.

Workshops with Piotr Misztal

Caught Piotr’s Krakow talk? His Gdynia workshops expand on it with fresh, hands-on solutions!

Custom REST API in WordPress – Advanced Workshops

Workshop: Custom REST API – Registering and Handling Your Own Endpoints in WordPress

Piotr guided attendees through register_rest_route(), unlocking custom endpoint creation for mobile apps, site-to-site communication, and third-party integrations.

Who is Piotr?

A WordPress enthusiast, developer, data analyst, and SzkoleniaMi.pl founder, Piotr draws from dozens of custom projects across IT, logistics, and finance.

Workshops with Tomasz Palak

Tomasz Palak’s workshop tackled vital legal issues for web creators. A seasoned lawyer and speaker at I Love Marketing, TEDx, and Infoshare, his session offered practical insights.

Intellectual Property Law

Tomasz covered protecting your work and avoiding legal clashes.

Data Protection and GDPR

He explained user data obligations under GDPR.

E-Commerce Rules

Learn legal essentials for running an online shop.

Why Attend?

A must for developers and beginners alike to navigate legal pitfalls confidently.

Artur Cyganek

Artur, a 20-year IT veteran and cybersecurity expert, presented “7 Layers of Security – One OSI Model to Rule Them All”.

Key OSI Model Insights

Artur broke down how each OSI layer impacts network and app security—essential knowledge for safeguarding online projects.

Artur’s Background

Now at BotGuard, driving Eastern Europe and Turkey markets, Artur’s past roles include Citrix and Acronis. BotGuard also sponsored the Middle Party—meet them in Gdynia!

After-Party

Saturday night’s after-party drew nearly 100 attendees, offering prime networking in a laid-back vibe—a WordCamp highlight cherished by all.

Organisers, Volunteers, and Sponsors

The event wouldn’t have happened without organisers (e.g., Kasia Mikita, Karolina Czapla, Dominik Kawula, Krzysiek Grabania, and me—Mariusz Szatkowski), backed by 10 volunteers. Sponsors chipped in nearly £60,000, funding a top-notch venue, diverse catering (burritos, pizza, Subway sandwiches), quality AV gear, and a lively after-party.

Feedback and Takeaways

What Worked?

Attendance – 226 participants, a strong post-pandemic turnout.
Networking and Vibe – Nearly everyone praised the friendly, connection-friendly atmosphere.
Topic Variety – From GDPR workshops to marketing and hardcore dev talks.

What to Improve?

Contributor Day Clarity – Some felt it needed a clearer rundown to join in.
1:1 Space – More quiet spots for small-group chats were desired.
Catering – Exhibitors reserving portions limited availability; we’ll tweak this next time.

Online Reach

The WordCamp Gdynia 2024 site drew over 22,000 visits, with social media reaching 300,000+ users! Hashtags #WordCampGdynia, #WCGdynia, and #WordPressCommunity buzzed on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X, proving Poland’s WordPress community is thriving and vocal.

Contributor Day and Pre-Party Recap

Day one (4 October) featured Contributor Day, where a group brainstormed WordPress enhancements and recruited contributors. The evening pre-party welcomed 60 WordPress fans—perfect for early networking.

A Weekend Bursting with Talks

Saturday and Sunday (5–6 October) were the core of WordCamp Gdynia 2024, with 21 talks spanning tech, marketing, and community topics—something for every developer and blogger.

Saturday Night After-Party

Nearly 100 joined the Saturday after-party, where relaxed chats sparked connections and future collaborations.

Key Highlights of WordCamp Gdynia 2024

Over 220 Attendees – A vibrant sign of Poland’s active WordPress scene.
Top-Notch Content – Talks on WP optimisation, security, FSE, SEO, and UX won rave reviews.
Strong Networking – Dedicated zones made 1:1 chats and partnerships easy.
Sponsor Support – £60,000 enabled great sound, lighting, catering, and goodies.
Attendee Survey – Feedback on talks, food, and events will shape future editions.

Ideas for the Future

Better Contributor Day Messaging – A pre-event guide could boost participation.
Quiet Chat Zones – More tables or coffee corners for intimate talks.
Hardcore Dev Sessions – Advanced workshops on custom plugins or frontend optimisation.
Catering Logistics – Regular food refreshes to keep everyone fed.
Polished Openings/Closings – A concise, clear agenda to kick off and wrap up.
Sponsor Perks – Unique goodies for smaller sponsors to strengthen ties.

SEO: Why WordCamp Gdynia 2024 Stood Out

Local WordPress Community: Bolstering Poland’s WordPress scene, especially in the Tricity area, Gdynia is a hub for cutting-edge trends.
Diverse Agenda: 20+ talks showcased WordPress’s versatility, from blogging to e-commerce.
High-Quality Talks: Attendees praised the expertise, offering real value for pros and hobbyists.
Community Bonding: Pre- and after-parties fostered networking with developers, freelancers, and SEO experts.

We’re pushing phrases like WordCamp Gdynia, WordPress in Poland, and WP community to amplify reach.

Join Us in 2025!

Many attendees are already set for WordUp on 5 April 2025—proof WordCamp Gdynia 2024 hit the mark. We’re planning tweaks to make the next event even better for the WordPress community.

Check out:

WordCamp Gdynia 2024 Slides – Packed with insights for developers, marketers, and bloggers.
Photo Gallery – Capturing talks, smiles, and after-party vibes.

Thanks for joining WordCamp Gdynia 2024—see you at the next WordUp or WordCamp!

Recordings

Watch here: YouTube Playlist

Presentations

All slides are on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15PfIOWmnovzG06vmpahy58ukPqxUOInA?usp=sharing

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Mariusz Szatkowski

WordPress programista at WPPoland

Doświadczony Programista WordPress Developer.
Od 2007 tworzy wielojęzykowe, responsywne witryny, sklepy ecommerce jako programista WooCommerce, modyfikując frontend jak i backend stron internetowych pod indywidualne potrzeby klienta.
Przyspiesza i optymalizuje kod witryny pod SEO.
Łata dziury w oprogramowaniu, zabezpiecza i naprawia serwisy www po włamaniach.
Na codzień migruje i dostosowuje strony klientów do WordPressa, szkoli, doradza i optymalizuje nakłady inwestycyjne na nowoczesne rozwiązania komunikacyjne w marketingu internetowym.

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