# My first time speaking at WordCamp Nicaragua

Two talks, the challenge of sharing what I have learned with WordPress, and a community that made me want to return. My experience at WordCamp Nicaragua 2026.

Aynat Cortez · 2026-09-29

This past weekend, I spoke at a WordCamp for the first time. I took part in [WordCamp Nicaragua 2026](https://managua.wordcamp.org/2026/), in Managua, with two talks about subjects that are part of my work with [WordPress](https://wordpress.org/). I am still taking in everything I brought back from those days.

I had already shared some of it on LinkedIn, but I wanted to write a more personal version here. Having my own place to write is also a way to keep going with the motivation I brought home from the event.

## Turning everyday work into a talk

Preparing the talks was a different challenge from building a website. I had to organize my thoughts, practice, and find a way to explain things I have learned over the years. When you are deep in a project, many decisions come with context you know by heart. Sharing them with other people means explaining that context too.

I find that part particularly useful. It makes me stop and think about why I choose a solution and how I would explain that choice to someone with a different background. It is something I want to keep doing, even when I do not have a talk coming up.

Standing in front of an audience to share all of this was completely new to me. It was a challenge I would definitely take on again.

![Aynat beside the Track B schedule, which lists his two talks](/assets/blog/wordcamp-nicaragua-2026/photo-1.webp "Both of my talks were part of Track B.")

## The two talks I gave

The first was called **Tu WordPress no está lento por culpa de WordPress** (Your WordPress site is not slow because of WordPress). The second was **No todo lo que vende necesita WooCommerce: cómo elegir la arquitectura correcta en WordPress** (Not everything that sells needs WooCommerce: choosing the right architecture in WordPress).

These are subjects I want to keep working on and writing about. With performance, I care about understanding what is happening before deciding what to optimize. With architecture, I want to ask what a business needs to sell and how that process works before choosing the tools.

One photo from the talk captures part of this conversation well: a slide about the size of a video. Before optimizing WordPress, it is worth checking what we are asking a visitor to download. It is a simple question, but it can change where we start investigating.

For a closer look at that subject, here is the [official WordPress optimization guide](https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/performance/optimization/).

```media
type: gallery
images:
  - src: /assets/blog/wordcamp-nicaragua-2026/photo-3.webp
    alt: Aynat beside the lectern and the title slide of his WordPress performance talk
    caption: The first talk focused on WordPress performance.
  - src: /assets/blog/wordcamp-nicaragua-2026/photo-4.webp
    alt: Aynat speaking into a microphone in front of a slide about video file size
    caption: Reviewing what visitors download is part of performance work too.
```

I am interested in a similar conversation around [WooCommerce](https://woocommerce.com/). I want to explain when a full online store makes sense and when it is worth considering another solution. Choosing a tool means thinking about the people who will maintain and use it afterwards. Those decisions deserve attention before development starts.

Writing about these subjects here will give me more room to share examples and return to questions as they come up. I want them to go beyond the titles of two talks.

If you would like to see how I apply this to projects, you can read about my [approach to WordPress development and performance](/en/services/wordpress-development-nicaragua/).

## What happened away from the stage

Although getting on stage was an important part of the experience, I think the best part of WordCamp happened away from it.

I met so many wonderful people. I heard about their experiences and learned from people whose expertise differs from mine. I found an open, friendly community with room to talk and keep learning.

I enjoyed that a lot. Sometimes you spend so much time focused on your own projects that you leave little space to discover how other people work. Listening to them gave me new ideas and made me want to continue those conversations after the event.

![Aynat with other WordCamp Managua participants in a group photo](/assets/blog/wordcamp-nicaragua-2026/photo-5.webp "One of the community photos I am taking home.")

I came back with new contacts and plenty of motivation to share what I am learning. I also want to listen more. There are many ways to work with WordPress, and getting to know them helps me see my own work with more perspective.

## What about the next WordCamp?

On LinkedIn, I left a couple of questions that are still open: will next year bring a WordCamp in another country? Or a return to WordCamp Nicaragua, perhaps also as a sponsor with [Crafted Code Hub](https://craftedcodehub.com/)?

For now, those are possibilities, not confirmed plans. What I do know is that I want to keep taking part and sharing. This article is one way to start.

Thank you to the people who were part of this first experience. I am taking a lot from what happened on stage and, especially, from the conversations around it.

You can see the [original post and photos on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7510450485129019392/). If you were at the event too, I would like to hear what you took away from it.