People ask me about WordPress…
I answer about WordPress Communities.
They think, at first, that this is completely irrelevant. But then they realize there is a bigger picture to be seen.
There is a forest, not only a tree.
People ask what WordPress is and why they should choose it among other CMSs. Can they find a job if they keep their hands on WordPress? Can they make money, make ends meet?
I just need to say that there is a huge community of people around WordPress. All of them are volunteers, that might help you solve an issue, when that arises, or might give you a solution to something, you have not met yet, during your occupation with WordPress.
People like them also organize meetups all over the country, all over Europe, all over the globe. They organize also bigger events like WordCamps.
Others might give talks to these events, sharing the knowledge, their happiness, their stories, their success, or even their failure (failure is more important than success, it is always teaching the most valuable lessons).
You will also find people sponsoring these events, funding but earning by making their firms known to a big audience and offering to the community.
You will find people volunteering to the bigger events, meeting people, participating, having fun, sharing the same passion for WordPress.
People ask us “What do you think about WordPress in Greece?”.
I say “Have you met WordPress Greek Community?”.
That’s not exactly a community, but a big company of friends, sometimes we may say family. Because Greeks are supposed to be all about family, food, hospitality, crazy, drinks, smiley, and with lots of love.
People who ask, don’t exactly care sometimes about the community, cause they don’t realize that alone you get lost, but with family, there is always a path to be found.
Let me introduce you to my family… and then you will understand.
It is Takis from Athens, that has led two WordCamp Athens so far and now a mentor, the big bear with the amazing beard. He reminds me of Zeus sometimes – plus he has ancient sandals (I’ve seen them). Try finding him as “Takis big” cause in Greece you ill meet definitely smaller ones…
Then Vangelis, the eldest, the wiser, the polyglots guy. He has gray hair, however, he is not so old. The army guy… There is a quote from an old Greek movie that we use sometimes to make fun of him, that army guys talk sharp. (We really make fun of each other all day long.)
Panos from Thessaloniki, our new lead to a WordCamp-surprise, he is a cuddler for sure, smiling and cool… Sometimes he laughs on his own with his jokes but ok (I do it too…).
Have you met Iakovos and Kostas? No? Come on… First of all, they are my cutest ones! Young, full of life, Iakovos could be a party animal and loves music (I listen to him on the radio every Friday) while Costas hates my snapchats… And I adore sending him things with which he (thinks) could embarrass me but guess what… I am posting them myself within 30 seconds! His happiness doesn’t last.
Life with this team is fun
Yeah, about that thing I said for making fun… We do work all day long, but if we have a minute, we might find a photo that can create great memes… and then we use them not so wisely…
Kostas from Athens carries around his camera and captures the craziest moments, while he is always about helping people as a member of the Red Cross.
Then it is Vassilis, he is a Spartan! (not one of the 300, but he is a Spartan!) He deals with the websites of the Community and WordCamps, usually on his own, as we all do several things and don’t have much time to assist him.
Makis lives among security, his wife, his daughter, and his dog Dotty… Jesus all females! And he still manages everything perfectly! I have no idea how the hell he does it. (My father has also 4 women at home… he is not so happy anymore.)
Costas from Thessaloniki (yes we do have a lot of Costas, please get used to this… find a way to distinguish them), calm and strong, however, you should know he keeps the better jokes and he might take over if necessary.
Constantinos from Athens (is a different way to say Costas) is a new addition to the family, amazing tattoo artist, and really does not stop joking, he loves meatballs and swag for his collection…
Yes, there are more of us. We are a big family.
Stefanos goes always by the book, and sometimes we do need velocity, but we need more to be completely sure everything is right, cause a greek saying indicates that whoever is in a hurry might trip and fall, so we definitely need him here to be the voice of common sense!
Giannis is waiting for his first baby and we are dreaming of a WordCamp at the island he has been born to, summer in the Cyclades, Tinos! I think we would all be on board for that!
And then we have another Constantinos (God help us, they are the majority) from Thessaloniki this time… constantly playing with his servers, some GDPR and teaching too!
George I think is our youngest, he just finished his army duty, to come back to his team at Thessaloniki and the bigger team of Greece. He is our talented boy and we are proud of him.
Stefanos the craziest one, but always supportive and with an opinion to share while brainstorming and probably the person you need to hang around for some drinks when everything is going straight to hell!
And the last one is me, the girl power of the team. Writing, deleting, typing all day long, and sometimes I think it is not good enough to go online (I always think of that but they manage to keep me nice ‘n’ easy.)
This is a team.
This is a family, not only friends from all over Greece. And you know what? It is not only us. The community has many members, waiting for you to come and make it even bigger, give it feathers to fly.
Please don’t try to spell our last names, there are times, even we cannot spell them. Just try with our first names, after all, we are gonna be friends!
Meet Kostas Kouratoras (you can also make your Kouratoras if you need the .psd file ask us), meet Platon and Aggeliki, Marianna and Alexandra from Creta, meet Fotis #fotaras, our traveling boy with his own hashtag and always surrounded by beautiful women, Poppie designing the graphics of the community and Nikos Savvopoulos the designer of our new WordCamps’ graphics, meet Eleni and Zoe, meet Giannis from Larissa, teacher of mathematics and lover of entrepreneurship. Meet all these people and many more, who share the same passion for WordPress and make a living out of it.
I just realized I can name all people in the community, so please stop me, it’s a lot of us…
Developers, bloggers, website builders, designers… Security guys, social media managers, hosting providers… E-commerce people, journalists, SEO experts… we all fit here.
Indeed we eat a lot, (food is essential) that is for sure one characteristic we all share, and we love raki with honey.
We all look serious and hardworking when it gets to the community, the community website, the social media channels, events, etc. but I swear we do laugh our hearts out and we will never stop no matter what.
All of us run towards the one that might need us. That’s what a family is all about. Strong bonds.
Organizing WordPress meetups and WordCamps has been not a task but an amazing experience we shared throughout these years, making the community stronger, bigger entertained, sharing the knowledge and the passion, learning, becoming wiser while networking and open to opportunities and other communities and cultures.
WordPress is all about the hospitality of all as equals, a little democracy open to everyone.
Meet us. Bring your passion over. Be one of us. Be the WordPress Greek Community.
