Author Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov

Explore topics

WordCamp Gdynia 2025: WordPress, Rum, and Waves

WordCamp Vršac 2025: Wind, WordPress, Wine (and a Lot of Laughter)

Amelia vs. LatePoint: Features, Pricing, and Best Use Cases

A New Era of Booking: Amelia 9.0 Alpha Is Coming

Amelia vs. WP Booking Calendar: Which Booking Plugin is Best for Your WordPress Site?

Explore features

Explore Demo

Read Inspiring Customer Stories

Check out how our user set Amelia for his business

Read the full story

If WordCamp Vršac was all about wind.wordpress.wine, then Gdynia was about pirates, parties, and pure inspiration. Set by the sea, with three days of sessions, parties, and unexpected adventures, this was one of those weekends we’ll be talking about for a long time.

Table of Contents

The Talks That Stuck With Us

Of course, the heart of WordCamp is the talks and Gdynia delivered big time.

Stanislav Polyakov, Rashmi Nagpal, Simon Kraft, and Tim Nash dove into one of the hottest topics: how AI changes the way we think about WordPress security. Eye-opening and full of real-world advice.

Edgars Veidenbaums took us on a journey into engineering custom WordPress elements with WPBakery. It was a technical deep dive with practical takeaways, perfect for devs who love pushing the limits.

Karolína Vyskočilová held a session that had us all rethinking workflows and how much time we waste doing things the hard way.

With Daniel Dudzic, we learned that WordPress Playground + WooCommerce Blueprints = lightning-fast testing. One of those talks where you instantly start planning how to use it Monday morning.

Remkus de Vries gave us a reality check we all needed. He reminded us that speed and performance aren’t about slapping on a cache, but solving deeper structural issues.

Birgit Pauli-Haack revealed some hands-on, no-code approaches to block theme development using Playground and GitHub. It felt like the future of collaborative WordPress building.

And yes, we even jumped into a Polish talk: Wypalony/a jako człowiek z IT? Czas na zmianę! by Aleksandra Lemańska and Gerard Urbański. Even with our beginner-level Polish (and I am being generous with the label beginner-level, as it’s more zero-level), the story and message managed to cut through.

Beyond the Stage

But here’s the thing about WordCamps: the magic always happens between the sessions.

We kicked things off in true Gdynia style: on a pirate ship! Yes, a real one. With rum. Lots of rum. Sailing the Baltic with fellow WordPressers felt like the most fitting start to a weekend full of learning, laughter, and late-night chats.

And oh, the parties. Three nights, three vibes, endless memories. Somewhere between the music, the dancing, and a round (or two) of Caipiroska (their local drink, make sure to try it if you haven’t already), we found ourselves swapping stories with amazing people from all over the world. Professional lessons blended with personal ones, and there were so many “aha!” moments that you could almost see lightbulbs flickering above tables.

One of the most surreal moments? Meeting a Polish girl who spoke perfect Serbian! That turned into a conversation that felt like home, right in the middle of the Baltic coast.

The real magic of WordPress lies in those spontaneous chats. On the pirate ship deck at sunset. In a hallway, between two sessions. At 2 AM, when someone explained their plugin idea over a glass of Caipiroska. Or during those moments when strangers turned into collaborators, and collaborators turned into friends.

WordCamp Gdynia reminded us once again why we love being part of this community. It’s more than code. More than design. More than marketing. It’s about people, the stories, ideas, and adventures we share together.

What We’re Taking Home

Security is evolving, and AI makes it both exciting and risky.
Automation doesn’t need to take months; it can take minutes.
Performance = more than caching.
Mental health and burnout deserve just as much attention as code.
Pirate ships and rum definitely improve networking. 😉
The best connections often come over shared laughter and late-night conversations.

Thank You, Gdynia

To the organizers, volunteers, and speakers: bravo. You gave us a weekend that mixed learning, adventure, and pure fun in a way only WordCamps can. Between the sea air, the rum, the parties, and the brilliant minds we met, WordCamp Gdynia will forever have a special place in our WordPress memories.

Until the next one… na zdrowie!

Author Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov