Hugh Lashbrooke 10:24 am on December 1, 2020  

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Rocio Valdivia 11:58 am on October 4, 2019
Tags: ,   

How to contribute to the Global Community Team

These are some of the different options for getting involved with the WordPress Global Community TeamGlobal Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. 🙂

1) The best way to start is by organizing MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and/or WordCamps in your city. If you feel like you can represent WordPress, follow the code of conduct for WordPress events, and follow the five good-faith rules for WordPress meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizers, then you can apply to join the program: 

  1. a) Check if there is a WordPress Meetup group in your city – if there is one, join it, attend the events, and step up by either helping the organizers or becoming an organizer yourself!
  2. b) Check if there is a WordCamp in your area – you can attend, apply to speak, volunteer, sponsor and/or help organize your local WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more.!
  3. c) If there is not an existing WordPress Meetup group (or if there is an inactive group) in your town/city and you want to start one, you can apply here – you’ll receive a reply within a couple of weeks.

2) If you already have experience organizing a successful WordCamp and have an availability of 2-3 hours a month, you can apply to become a WordCamp mentor here: – you’ll receive a reply within a couple of weeks.

3) If you have had at least 1 year of experience as a Meetup organizer and/or have been a WordCamp lead organizer, you are familiar with the WordPress Open Source project and philosophy, you have at least 2-3 hours a week available for contributing, and you accept our Code of Conduct, you can apply to become a Community DeputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook.. We are a team of community-minded people around the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each.. You can apply to join the Global Community Team as a deputy here – you’ll receive a reply within a couple of weeks.

Note: if you have any additional questions, join us in the #community-events channel of Make WordPress Slack, we’ll be happy to help you there!

#contributors

Devin Maeztri 10:56 am on February 3, 2023
Tags: , APAC, , , ,   

Update: APAC Meetup Reactivation Project

Last July, the MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. Reactivation Project was launched. We sought support from around the world as we believe local community leaders have the networks and experiences to help reactivate WordPress MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook..

Three updates on the Global Meetup Reactivation Project have been published: in September, November, and December. We have yet to share the next update this year.

In December 2022, the APAC Meetup Reactivation team met and decided to share stories from the APAC community to learn from and inspire each other. We also want to appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm of the APAC supporters for this project. Kudos to everyone!

APAC Meetup Reactivation Supporters

  1. Ricky Blacker from Australia @rickyblacker
  2. Wil Brown from Australia @developerwil
  3. Afshana Diya from Bangladesh @afshanadiya
  4. Ahmed Chaion from Bangladesh @chaion07
  5. Mainul Kabir Aion from Bangladesh @aion11
  6. Mizanur Rahaman Mizan from Bangladesh @technocrews
  7. Aditya Kane from India @adityakane
  8. Aditya Shah from India @ethicaladitya
  9. Abhishek Prabhu from India @abyshakes
  10. Pooja Derashri from India @webtechpooja
  11. Yogesh Londhe from India @yoga1103
  12. Kharis Sulistiyono from Indonesia @kharisblank
  13. Sinar Hadi Wijaya from Indonesia @sinarhadiwijaya
  14. Junko Nukaga from Japan @nukaga
  15. Naoko Takano from Japan @nao
  16. Shusei Toda from Japan @st810amaze
  17. Yam Chhetri from Nepal @yamchhetri
  18. JC Palmes from Philippines @khleomix
  19. Lax Mariappan from Philippines @lakshmananphp
  20. Oneal Rosero from Philippines @onealtr
  21. Muhammad Usman Khalid from Pakistan @usmankhalid 
  22. Shakir Ali from Pakistan @engrshakirali

APAC WordPress Meetups in Numbers (as of Feb 2023)

  • 95 chapters were dormant as of May 2022.
  • 1 chapter in Japan was closed/removed from the program.
  • 51 chapters were reactivated.
  • 43 chapters are still in progress.

The APAC Meetup Reactivation Stories

Ricky Blacker, Australia

WordPress meetups in Australia are slowly coming back online, we have seen a few already getting back on track, the Sydney meetup has led the charge not only in being among the first to have in-person meetups again but have kept the community informed and engaged during the worst of Covid with regular online meetups and presentations, much Kudos to Wil Brown for his tireless hard work here.

The Melbourne meetup also resumed in-person meetups but seems to have stagnated for now. We saw the welcome return of the Sunshine Coast meetup in January, with the plan to carry this on every month.

The Brisbane meetup is looking to resume in-person meetups in March with a focus on finding a long-term solution for a venue and how the community would like to see the meetups proceed in the future.

Generally, across all meetups in Australia, we are battling with trying to get the momentum going again, as well as trying to solve the problem of finding a suitable venue for meetups as many have lost their regular space during covid, but the community is keen to get back to having monthly in-person meetups again and I can envisage that by the end of this year, we should see most resume back to normal.

Mainul Kabir Aion, Bangladesh 

We had two big meetups in November 2022 in Dhaka. They covered more than 200 people and created the biggest buzz ever and bringing many WP veterans together. Bangladesh is all about diversity and it was amazing to witness individuals coming together to celebrate during meetups.

The Sylhet group was reactivated thanks to the supporters. They followed the footsteps of the mega meetups and organized their version of it. Folks from the Dhaka community went there as well and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Sylhet was planned.

The Rangpur meetup chapter was also reactivated and continues their meetup after a long time. They have invited experienced developers as speakers. The most unique part is – they will treat everyone with tasty ducks and traditional pitas after the event!

Pooja Derashri, India

I am so happy to be a part of this Reactivation project because it has given me the opportunity to interact with other Meetup chapters in India. Overall, the project has been a mixed experience for me. Some groups have been very responsive, and we have been able to quickly schedule Meetups, while others have been less responsive. In some cases, they have assured me that they will organize a Meetup soon or next month, but when I follow up a month later, they are still saying they are in the planning stage. In my opinion, these groups may have limited bandwidth and are unable to run a Meetup, but they do not want to give up their role as organizers, so they are making false commitments. With perseverance and consistent efforts, we will be able to reactivate our fellow Meetup chapters.

Kharis Sulistiyono, Indonesia

I used the strategy of educating organizers and members about the importance of Meetups and the benefits of being part of the WordPress community. I also encouraged them to collaborate and share their experiences and ideas. This helped increase their motivation to revive the Meetups.

Here are key points I shared with the community:

  • Host a meetup on the home’s terrace: https://www.instagram.com/p/CiWFKvTv-Hn/
  • Host a meetup without an external speaker, instead be confident in leading the gathering format with a specific topic for discussion.
  • While choosing a meetup topic, avoid using generic wording and instead use persuasive language. For example, instead of a generic topic like “How to create a website with WordPress,” use an attractive topic such as “How to create an effective sales funnel with a landing page.”
  • Write a blog post about reactivating your dormant meetup strategy and share it with the community on social media channels: https://kharis.risbl.com/2022/08/03/5-strategi-sederhana-dalam-mengaktifkan-wordpress-meetup-tegal/

Junko Nukaga, Naoko Takano and Shusei Toda, Japan

In 2022, a total of 133 Meetups were held in Japan, both online and offline, in a style suited to each region. In addition to the regular Meetups, two Mega Meetups were held in Japan, where Meetup organizers from across the country came together.

Some groups returned to holding in-person events, others continued to hold online events, and some of them even introduced new styles of Meetup such as photo walks and inter-group collaboration.

Although one group was deactivated, a new group was started. Some regions were not able to hold meetups due to the pandemic, but some groups restarted through the Reactivation Project, and the Japanese community is still very active.

JC Palmes, Philippines

The WordPress Meetup Reactivation for Iloilo was a success due to the willingness of everyone involved. Despite a nearly three-year hiatus, the community had remained connected online

but not officially. This made it easier to get everyone together again and discuss plans for reactivating the group.

The coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. group had no issue with meeting right away and discussing our plans for WordCamp 2023 and other activities for the year. Everyone seemed eager to resume after such a long break, which made decision-making smooth and effortless.

This experience showed the strength of our community bond, even after such a long break, both in person or online. We are all willing and ready at any given moment if ever needed! The experience also served as motivation that despite everything else going on around us, we can still come together and work towards something bigger than ourselves!

Oneal Rosero, Philippines

In late 2022, after some prompting from the Meetup Reactivation team, the WordPress Manila meetup group held a hybrid meeting in October 2022, with about five attendees in person at the local Pantheon office and seven more over zoom. This helped create a nice balance of online and in-person participation. They held a translation workshop led by the Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/.. Four people got the badges for helping translate content into Tagalog. The last time the Manila Meetup group held an in-person meeting was in late 2019.

In January 2023, the Manila Meetup team organized an in-person meetup at the Pantheon office in BGC, there were 23 people in attendance. The talks ranged from site builders to security and I was able to talk briefly to invite people to contribute to the learn.WordPress.org teams.

Among the attendees of the Manila meetup in January 2023 were people who live in Cavite but work in Manila and they expressed interest in reactivating the Cavite Meetup with new and more experienced members.

In late 2022, the Meetup group in Baguio was also contacted, but they felt  like they didn’t have enough active members to run a WordCamp, but they are looking to restart Meetups early in 2023

I also got in touch with the Meetup group in Cebu. They held an in-person Meetup in December 2022. In February 2023, they will host WordCamp Cebu 2023 with local and international speakers.

If you are aware of an inactive WordPress Meetup group in your area and are keen to help reactivate it, please get in touch with us! You can become a co-organizer and play a role in bringing together WordPress enthusiasts in your area.

You can locate your nearest Meetup group by visiting this page. If there is no WordPress Meetup group in your area, you have the option to start one by joining the Meetup Chapter Program.

#meetups #reactivation #outreach #community-team #community-management #APAC

Cate DeRosia 5:30 pm on February 1, 2023
Tags: #meeting-agenda, #team-chat, #team-meeting   

Community Team Meeting Agenda for 2 February 2023

The Community Team chat takes place the first Thursday of every month. 

This meeting is meant for all contributors on the team and everyone who is interested in taking part in some of the things our team does. Feel free to join us, even if you are not currently active in the team!

Asia-Pacific / EMEA friendly meeting: Thursday, 2 February 2023 at 12:00 PM UTC
Americas friendly meeting: Thursday, 2 February 2023 at 21:00 PM UTC

You will find a preliminary agenda for the meeting below. 

If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the team reps: @leo, @nukaga, or @mysweetcate. It does not need to be a blog post yet, the topic can be discussed during the meeting nevertheless. We use the same agenda for both meetings.

Check-ins: DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. / MentorsMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. / Contributors

  • What have you been doing and how is it going? 
  • What did you accomplish after the last meeting? 
  • Are there any blockers? 
  • Can other team members help you in some way?

Highlights to Note

Here are a few things everyone should be aware of.

Updates to the Regional WordCamps Handbook Page – Information has been consolidated from previous Community Team conversations to update the expectations and requirements for hosting a Regional WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more..

WordPress Community Support & WordPress Foundation Entity Structure – @harmonyromo explains the differences between the two.

Open Posts

Check out these new and ongoing discussions needing review, feedback, thoughts and comments.

Proposal: [Experiment] Adopt Standardised Team-wide Project Management Tools – already utilised by other Make Teams for a Quarter. – This proposal is focused towards improving our project management and goal and progress tracking by using the same transparent tools that other Make Teams already utilise. 

Proposal: Dedicated communication place for WordCamp mentors – @peiraisotta is asking for feedback on more effective ways to connect with and communicate to our WordCamp mentors.

WC Asia Contributor Day: What should we work on? – @tacoverdo and @mysweetcate will be table leads at WC Asia. What should they have the contributors work on?

Community Team Goals for 2023: Call for Suggestions – Suggestions for team goals closes today. Get your’s in!

Announcements / Newsletters

Open Floor

This is your chance to discuss things that weren’t on the meeting agenda. 

We invite you to use this opportunity to share anything that you want with the team. If you currently have a topic you’d like to discuss, add it to the comments of this post and we will try to update the agenda accordingly.

Hope to see you on Thursday, either in the Asia-Pacific / EMEA (12:00 UTC) or Americas-friendly version (21:00 UTC) of the meeting!

#meeting-agenda, #team-meeting

#team-chat

#meeting-agenda-2, #team-chat-3, #team-meeting-3

Julia Golomb 11:00 am on February 1, 2023
Tags: ,   

WordCamp Mentors’ February check-in!

Hello MentorsMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.!
If you are currently mentoring a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more., please share how the organizing team is doing and any other insights, interesting ideas, or innovations that they’re planning.

Comment on this post to share your update. You are welcome to share updates here throughout the month. Thanks! 😁

#mentors, #wordcamp

Cate DeRosia 2:44 pm on January 31, 2023
Tags:   

Updates to the Regional WordCamps Handbook Page

Today I published a new version of the Regional WordCamps page in the WordCamps handbook. It’s assembled from the conversations that we as a group had starting the middle of last year. If you have any issues or find any problems with it, you can comment below or directly on the Google Doc.

The goal is to clarify expectations and provide WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizers an easy-to-follow guide for hosting their own regional WordCamp.

#update

Cate DeRosia 9:15 pm on January 30, 2023
Tags: , planning, topics,   

WC Asia Contributor Day: What should we work on?

It’s that time again! Time to decide what to work on for WC Asia’s contributor dayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/.. Taco and I will be leading the team this year and we want to represent all of you and our goals well. Your feedback will help. Please comment your ideas below!

#contributor-day, #planning, #topics, #wcasia

jillbinder 10:46 pm on January 25, 2023
Tags:   

Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) AMER/EMEA on January 25, 2023

Attending: @askdesign, @harishanker, @jillbinder, @katiejrichards, @kcrockett, @martatorre, @onealtr, @santanainniss, @sc0ttkclark, @volkswagenchick

Host: @onealtr

Start: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1674669608034749

Summary

1 – Attendance and check-ins (everyone)
2 – First time here
3 – Group Goals (@jillbinder) + Comments, Questions, Ideas (anyone)

@jillbinder shared the long-term vision and quarterly goals

4 – Recent Things & Upcoming Dates (@jillbinder)

@thehopemonger from WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Entebbe, Africa let us know that thanks to our work, they are having their first women speakers panel

An update on the speaker workshop that @simo70 ran in Italy earlier this month: The 4 participants were from: Milan, Rome and Ancona

Saturday, January 28, 2023 @ 9am-11:30am India time: Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events APAC

Mid February: Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events APAC

Mid March 2023: Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events — Follow-up SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. Chat


5 – Marketing (@santanainniss)

In the last two weeks, had two sets of posts: Year end results w/ CTA to join WPD effort & the APAC speaker workshop.

@santanainniss shared the stats. There was the highest ever number of clicks on the APAC post!


6 – APAC WPDiversity Network Building (@onealtr)

@onealtr shared upcoming WordCamps in Asia


7 – Diversity in Spain project (@martatorre)

@martatorre is working on:


8 – Available Roles (@jillbinder)

  • Speaker MentorMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. Coordinators
  • Community Engagement Role
  • Translation Facilitator

9 – Other Updates + Next meeting host (anyone)

An update on our APAC WPDiversity Network Building meetings: @devinmaeztri, @onealtr, and @jillbinder met this week to discuss how these meetings are going, and together decided to put them on pause for now. @onealtr will lead a discussion on WC Asia Contributor Day to find out if there is a desire for these meetings and if yes, what to change about them.

End: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1674673159328359

#wpdiversity

harmonyromo 2:50 pm on January 25, 2023  

WordPress Community Support & WordPress Foundation Entity Structure

As the community enters a new year of WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. planning and new organizers join the experience, it’s a fitting time to clarify how WordPress’s operating business & nonprofit entities are set up, and to address some misconceptions.

TL;DR

The key takeaway is that WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a subsidiary of WordPress Foundation. It is created specifically to be the financial and legal support for WordCamps, WordPress Meetup groups, and any additional “official” events organized within the WordPress Community Events program. (WPCSWPCS The collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) used to format and validate PHP code developed for WordPress according to the WordPress Coding Standards. May also be an acronym referring to the Accessibility, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etc. coding standards as published in the WordPress Coding Standards Handbook.) and WordPress FoundationWordPress Foundation The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org. (WPFWordPress Foundation The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org.) are two completely separate entities. WPCS is also sometimes referred to as WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each.. All WordCamp-related activity is managed within WordPress Community Support and has nothing to do financially with WordPress Foundation. WPCS is set up as a for-profit public benefit corporation, and WPF is a non-profit charitable organization.To keep these two entities in good standing, great care is taken to ensure that all WordCamp activity and finances are conducted through WPCS, not WPF.

Public-Benefit Corporation

It’s important to note that WPCS is a “public benefit corporation” (PBC or B-Corporation), which has several important differences from a traditional C-Corporation. While none of the following points are monitored requirements of PBC organizations, WPCS is managed in a way that is very financially cautious and follows the same transparency guidelines that most non-profit organizations observe.

WPCS is committed to supporting a specific public benefit. WPCS is solely focused on WordCamps, MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., and the sponsorship of WordCamp Central’s operations.
WPCS offers more transparency than traditional corporations. Each year, after the annual audit concludes, financial data for both WPF and WPCS is posted on wordpressfoundation.org for anyone to review.
Whereas normal C-Corporations have shareholders, WPCS differs in that WPF is the 100% sole shareholder of WPCS. No individual person or company benefits from profits generated within WPCS. This ownership structure doesn’t change the fact that WPCS is a tax-paying entity. It is in no way considered a non-profit.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are another area of misunderstanding. WPCS does pay income taxes on any net profit generated during the year. Unlike WPF, which is considered a non-profit or public charity that needn’t pay income tax, WPCS will pay the federal corporate tax rate on any net income at the end of the year.

The goal in a given year is to operate as close to net zero as possible. WPCS wants to ensure that community sponsorship grants are available to WordCamp organizing teams around the globe, and that all of WordCamp Central’s overhead expenses are covered (insurance, meetup.com fees, software subscriptions, bank fees, etc.), without there being a large deficit or surplus at year end. It’s a tricky thing, but it’s also why the WordCamp budget review process is so important.

Organizing teams should focus on budgets that allow for meaningful events, and there should never be a goal of earning excess income for the organization.

WPF and Non-Profit Rules

WPF’s reporting and operating requirements are very strict, so it’s extremely important that certain rules are followed and that WPF is not brought into the realm of WPCS operations. As stated earlier, WPF and WPCS are completely separate entities and only WPCS is involved with WordCamps. Because of how WPF was set up, it can in no way be referenced for discounts associated with WordCamps or meetups, and WPF funds should never be used for expenses related to WordCamps. The ultimate consequence of any misuse of WPF’s funds is the revocation of non-profit status. Organizers should never state that WPCS is a non-profit entity or that WordCamps are events organized by a non-profit, as neither is true.

WordPress Foundation is involved in funding Charity Hack-a-thons, Introduction to Open SourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. Workshops, the Kim Parsell Scholarship program, and grant-making to like-minded organizations focused on providing technology based education to disadvantaged groups. The organization operates with the welfare of the general public in mind and no business or group of individuals benefit from its existence. This is the main requirement of any public charity.

These points are all important things to remember as in-person WordCamp activity increases in the coming year. As always, WordCamp Central is here to help guide and support the planning process in any way possible, so never hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Cate DeRosia 4:09 pm on January 23, 2023
Tags: , , ,   

Community Team Goals for 2023: Call for Suggestions

It’s time to add your voice to what you’d like to see the Community Team accomplish as a group for 2023. As you can see in brainstorming posts from 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, and 2016, every year we collected and shortlisted a long list of goals for our team.

This is an open thread for suggestions about what this team ought to focus on and/or try to accomplish this year. It’s ok to include:

  • Ideas that have already been suggested in the past
  • Propose things that maybe no one has ever mentioned.

Once the group has had time to make suggestions, we’ll recruit someone to summarize all the suggestions (example), and then discuss as a group, to set priorities. We’ll close comments on February 2.

Because of the short time frame, we’re looking at splitting the goal planning into two phase. We’d like to plan an initial set of goals for the first half of 2023 and then open the conversation again in May for the second half of the year. That doesn’t mean we can’t have overarching goals for all of to 2023. It simply opens our thinking to short term initiatives while also making sure that we are tracking our progress throughout a long and busy year.

Consider these as you think through your suggestions:

  • What would do you think the global community teamGlobal Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. should or could work on?
  • What would help further our mission to connect WordPress enthusiasts?
  • What would inspire people to do more with WordPress?
  • How can we encourage contribution to the WordPress open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project, in 2023? 

Comment below!!

#community-team, #goals, #highlight, #team-goals

jillbinder 5:00 am on January 23, 2023
Tags: ,   

Upcoming #WPDiversity Events: January 2023

Here is our January 2023 #WPDiversity schedule. Please join us and help us spread the word!

Speaker Workshop

January 28, 2023 @ 10:30am–12:30pm IST: How to Own Your Expertise and Start Speaking at WordPress Events APAC

This workshop is timed for people in Asia-Pacific who speak English to join us. Check your time here. (Contact @jillbinder on the WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. about translating the workshop into your language!)

Does the thought of speaking at one of our MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. or WordCamps intrigue you? Do you identify as a person from a marginalized or underrepresented identity who is thinking about speaking at a WordPress MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. or WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more.? Do you think you don’t know or have anything worth speaking about?

The Diverse Speaker Training Group (#WPDiversity) invites you to join us for a 2-hour interactive, transformational online watch party to find a topic and boost your confidence for speaking at WP Meetups & WordCamps.

Register now

Upcoming Events

Mid February 2023: We will be holding our first “Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events” specifically for Asia-Pacific (in English – contact @jillbinder on the WordPress Slack about translating the workshop into your language)!

The date and time will be announced on this Community P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/., on WordPress social media, and will be shown on our upcoming #WPDiversity events on our handbook page. Be sure to bookmark this handbook page!

#wpdiversityworkshops

#wpdiversityworkshops

Isotta 7:34 am on January 20, 2023
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Proposal: Dedicated communication place for WordCamp mentors

WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. mentorsMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. are community team members who have experience organizing WordCamps and want to help other organizers have a great time planning a WordCamp.

At the point 5 of the mentorMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. handbook, Turn to the Community Team when you need help, we ask mentors to reach out to the community team in the #community-events channel of Slack, or email support@wordcamp.org. I understand the importance of keeping a transparent and open communication, and asking questions in the #community-events of SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. allows other people to learn from the questions answered. I don’t want this to disappear. However, in the past year working as a mentor and deputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. I found out that there are at least 3 common occasions where mentors need to discuss, and a public channel or an email to support@wordcamp.org are not the ideal solution.

  1. It often happens that a mentor needs to help WordCamp organizers who are facing delicate situations. The mentor might need the support of the other mentors, and a public conversation may be uncomfortable for them and indelicate for the organizers themselves. When this happens, some mentors might decide to not ask for help, others might reach out to one trusted peer or email support@wordcamp.org, but all the other mentors are then excluded from the conversation. By doing that, we’re losing a great chance of a group learning moment between mentors and consolidate a trusting relationship. 
  2. Some mentors are also deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook., and we have a dedicated private place for deputies to discuss sensitive topics. This could lead deputies to ask mentorship questions in that channel, cutting off the conversation of all mentors who are not deputies.
  3. Deputies who work on creating the websites for WordCamps need to assign a mentor to each one. Until now, we’ve been checking lists and spreadsheets of available mentors, and reached out individually to everyone. This often leads to misunderstanding or we spend too much time pinging mentors individually. 

The third point could be easily solved by creating a dedicated handle for pinging all mentors at once, but it wouldn’t solve point 1 and 2.

At the moment, there are 40 active mentors, and probably the number will increase in the future.

The reasons why I’m proposing to create a new channel for active mentors are the following:

  • Give mentors a safe place to share delicate challenges with a trusted group of peers
  • Give the chance to all mentors to participate into the conversation
  • Build trusting relationships among all mentors: the more we connect and collaborate, the better we work together and the more we enjoy contributing to the community
  • Encourage mentors to ask help when they need it during their work.

As @sippis mentioned in his proposal Dedicated communication place for deputies in 2020: “The private channel is somewhat against the transparency we as a team and as a project in general cherish. At the same time, it should be remembered that some discussions that could involve all deputies happen in smaller DM groups. Creating a private channel for all deputies would hopefully reduce the need for that kind of DM groups and add transparency amongst deputies.”  I strongly believe that this applies to mentors as well.

Also, echoing @sippis: “We are already good in directing discussion from Slack to P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. when needed, so why we wouldn’t be good on moving some discussion from a private channel to public if the topic is something that can be discussed publicly.”

What do mentors and the whole community think about this proposal?

Please leave your feedback on the topic and particularly in the following questions:

  1. Should mentors have another place than the #community-events channel to discuss among themselves if needed?
  2. If mentors should have a dedicated channel, should it be private or public?

Please, leave your feedback before Wednesday, February 1st, 2023.

A big thank to everyone who will join the discussion, @sippis and @angelasjin for sharing historical context and insights, @patricia70 for remembering me about the importance of this proposal (It took me a few weeks to publish it, but here we are!), and @leogopal for inspiring me to share the ideas I have in mind.