The WordPress 15th anniversary will be on May 27, 2018 — let’s get ready to celebrate!
Parties
We invite all local communities to organize 15th anniversary celebrations for the weekend of May 27, just as we did for the 10th anniversary. We’ll be emailing all meetup 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 on Friday, March 23 with information about the anniversary and a link to the new anniversary celebrations handbook page.
In April, we’ll launch a WordPress 15th anniversary site which will help WordPress enthusiasts find their local celebrations in the weeks leading up to May 27. This site will also aggregate and display the social media posts that include the #wp15 hashtag in and around May. WordPress groups in the chapter program will be included in the map of WordPress celebrations, and of course celebrations will be listed in the events widget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. (as long as they’re added as an event on meetup.com).
Special swag
This year, we’ll also be sending special WordPress 15th anniversary swag — sticker sheets and (biodegradable) party balloons — printed with a 15th anniversary logo, to chapter meetup groups that are celebrating the anniversary on the weekend of May 26-27. Once you have scheduled an event for that weekend, you can request shipment of a swag pack by filling out the form on the handbook page.
The WordPress 15th Anniversary website will also have a page with special anniversary logo files and DIY party decoration ideas, which will be added as we get closer to the event. If you would like to contribute ideas or DIY decoration files to this page, please comment on this post!
Because international shipping isn’t always fast or reliable, we encourage groups in countries that have trouble receiving mail from the US to schedule their events as early as possible. We’ll be shipping swag in three rounds: April 6, April 13, and April 30. To avoid wasting money on shipping swag that doesn’t arrive in time, the deadline to request swag is April 27. Organizers must schedule their parties on a meetup.com chapter group before requesting anniversary swag.
Venue support
We encourage groups to organize their parties using free venues if at all possible. However, if a group needs help with venue rental costs for this particular event, organizers can fill out the meetup venue support request form — the current guidelines will apply for this event as for other venue rental support requests (except we won’t ask to be billed for multiple months in one invoice 😉 ).
If you know you’ll need to request financial support for a 15th Anniversary venue, please apply as soon as possible — we may receive an unusual volume of requests in April. If any deputies Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. are willing to help work on venue support requests, please let us know so we can train you on reviewing and handling those applications. 🙂
Questions? Thoughts? Suggestions? Please comment below!
[Edited April 23 to extend swag request date to April 27]
