Let’s start with your name. Easy, right?
Piermario Orecchioni
Tell us which of your professional talents helped you the most in organizing this WCTRN.
I’m not sure whether it’s a professional skill or something more personal, but I believe the most useful abilities for organizing any WordCamp are trusting people and taking things with the right amount of lightness, which, as a more or less misquoted saying goes, is not necessarily the same as superficiality, and by combining the two, knowing that this time as well we’ll manage to create a WordCamp we’ll carry in our hearts for quite a while.
At this point, tell us what you do for work. What do you do?
I’m a freelance web designer working with different clients from all over, and I especially enjoy projects that promote creativity and art, musicians, photography, and festivals. Since this year, I’ve also been handling support for Italian clients of Cloud86, a Dutch hosting company that operates in Italy too and, as it happens, is also one of the sponsors of WordCamp Torino this year.
What’s the most unexpected skill you used while organizing WCTRN?
I’m not sure it’s a skill, but the first thing that comes to mind is remembering a huge number of things. People who organize a WordCamp do it once or twice a year. After some time, remembering processes, templates, or a whole series of “how did we do that again?” becomes a kind of superpower.
What’s something people don’t realize about the work your team does behind the scenes?
Regarding the Speakers team in particular, not everyone realizes that having to say no to applications, often very close in quality to the selected ones, is difficult and something we’re genuinely sorry about. It’s the hardest part of being in the team that selects the program, and it’s never something we do lightly, really.
What was the most fun or memorable moment you experienced with your WCTRN team?
For me, the most memorable moments are always when you realize you made good choices, or created an event that leaves something meaningful to those who attend. Both fun and memorable is the beginning of every WordCamp, when, especially if people are coming from far away, the team slowly gathers before the event, even if it’s just at a pizzeria. Seeing everyone together again is something I really love.
Describe your WCTRN experience so far using only emoji, GIFs, or stickers.
If WCTRN were a music festival, what would your team’s soundtrack be?
Instead of trying to be cool and saying Primavera Sound or Arezzo Wave, off the top of my head I’d broaden the answer and say that the soundtrack of WordCamp Torino is a bit like the Sanremo cover night, with absolute peaks of national-pop trash but also a few gems that end up moving you, and in the end you find yourself humming along or tapping your foot.
We’re in Turin, city of the Mole Antonelliana and the Cinema Museum, if your team were a movie, what would it be? TV series count too.
Even if the plot has nothing to do with it, just for the title I’d say Revenge of the Nerds, because in the end we’re a wonderful bunch of nerds, enthusiasts, and tinkerers who somehow manage to recreate the magic every time.
Turin was the first capital of Italy, if you had to “govern” something in the WordPress world, what would it be?
I’ll go big… focusing on simplifying and rethinking the user experience for everyone, especially for those who start using WordPress for the first time. For example, I’d begin by shelving the current navigation block and bringing back the old menu interface, the one that made it easier to convince friends and clients that WordPress was simpler than _______ (oh, and also getting rid of the overuse of AI everywhere, just because).
Which famous fictional character would be a perfect addition to your team, and why?
Since we’re a diverse team, I’d add Alan Ford and the TNT Group all together, they would bring even more elegance, public relations expertise, flawless event organization, and problem-solving skills to the team, plus the little black notebook, for those who know the comic, which always comes in handy.
In the spirit of open source collaboration, what’s the most important lesson WCTO has taught you about teamwork?
That teamwork matters, that everyone does their part and together we are more than the sum of the individual pieces, but also that having a wonderful galactic empress leading the mission creates a sense of trust and keeps everything drama-free.
Convince someone, in 10 words or less, to attend the next WordCamp.
You can skip it, but being there is way more fun!
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