This year World Anvil was wonderful enough to continue the tradition of ending our flagship Summer Camp event with a bang. Not just any ole bang, though… A meetup!
Meetups are a soft of informal gathering where people or fans “meet up” weith one another for a day at a dedicated location… Sometimes they’re planned, sometimes they’re spontaneous… But ending Summer Camp with a meetup the last two years has been a great way for our community members to come meet each other, chill, write, laugh, and have some fun- and get a secret prompt!
Last year the meetup was held at the beautiful Hyde Park in London- home of our two wonderful founders, Janet and Dimitris. Next year, they plan a small tour of the United States… This year, however, the community suited up and headed out to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany.
Today we’re honored to host a collaborative piece from community users Jonil, Ninne, Happy, and Dhelian, talking about their experiences- and sharing a little of what they learned!
Grab your Tea and snuggle in to read what they have to say.
If you’re reading this then you probably already know what Summer Camp is. But in case you don’t, here’s the short of it: 30 days, 30 prompts- 300 words or more each.
During July all of World Anvil comes together to worldbuild and expand our worlds together in ways we hadn’t considered before. The summer camp live meet-up is just one part of this, where some of us had the opportunity to meet each other in real life.
That’s right.
We went to the mystical and magical “outdoors”.
The 13th of July, Berlin, a bunch of Anvilites met up at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We made our way to the Tiergarten park, where we all settled down for our picnic.
After food and a bunch of photos, Dimitris gathered us all around for a small workshop. We all pitched our worlds, and talked about how to grab the attention of potential readers. We also got our very own “Worldbuilders guild” badges and Summer camp stickers, before Dimi called Janet; besides meeting everyone face to face, those attending also got to hear what this years fabled 31st prompt is (sorry, you’re not gonna hear it from us)!
The weather then decided we were having too much fun, and drove us away with rain. Still in high spirits we took shelter in the Sony Center, were we all got something to drink… The rest of the day consisted of us drifting from place to place, and chatting about anything and everything.
So what did we take away?
The SummerCamp meetup is mostly about meeting new people to me. This year was no different than the last one; I met new, wonderful people that I now regularly keep in touch with. It’s like meeting friends, since we already got a huge passion in common. I’m already saving to go to America next year!
– Happy, World Anvil Spark
I left the meetup feeling in high spirits! Not only did I learn how to pitch my world properly, I also forged bonds with other worldbuilders. I’m certain we’re going to keep in touch and that makes me very happy. This was my first meetup but I’m going to make sure it isn’t the last!
– Ninne124, also a spark
Going to the meetup was a wonderful experience. For once in my life, I got to meet and hang out with like-minded people. It was great to see the faces and hear the voices of the people who I talk to nearly every day on the World Anvil Discord server. I’m looking forward to future European meetups and next time I’m taking the plane!
– Dhelian, yet another spark
Going to the Berlin meetup is definitely an experience I’ll remember for a long time! Many of the people I previously called ‘People I know from World Anvil’ I can now confidently call ‘My friends from World Anvil’. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. Provided my wallet doesn’t kill me I’m coming to many more meetups in the future!
– Jonil, these are all just sparks, aren’t they?
Lastly we want to thank Dimitris and Janet for both a wonderful meetup, an even more wonderful event and of course this website we’ve come to call home!
But even if you couldn’t come with us to Berlin, there’s still plenty of time for Summer Camp! Read the prompts, write the words, and why not join us in the Discord for extra hype!
Whatever you decide to do,
don’t forget to grab your hammer,
and go worldbuild!
NOOOO why did nobody tell me there was a summer camp so close to me???
Oh goddammit, please tell me you’ll come back to Germany again some day. T-T
We will be coming somewhere in Europe for sure!