Title: Discussion: How could we improve the WordPress Community Summit? Author: Andrea Middleton Published: February 21, 2019 Last modified: September 17, 2020 --- [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/) [Andrea Middleton](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/) 5:16 am _on_ February 21, 2019 Tags: [discussion ( 11 )](https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/discussion/), [summit ( 2 )](https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/summit/)    # Discussion: How could we improve the WordPress Community Summit? _tl;dr: Let’s brainstorm on how we can change the Community Summit event format to keep the benefits and reduce the pain points!_ ## History and Background The first WordPress Community Summit was organized in 2012, guided by the idea that face-to-face interactions in a safe space amongst a small number of contributors can help resolve conflicts that are deadlocked. The [stated purpose of the event](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/08/07/the-wordpress-community-summit-is-a-by-invitation/) was to * Build bridges between the people making WordPress (via the contributor groups) and the people doing the best and most influential work built on top of it * Open channels of communication between project leaders, volunteers, and professionals in the community * Learn more about each others’ goals, challenges, and ways we can help each other * Share best practices * Have some social time and get to know each other better The event has always been invitation-only, to keep the discussion groups small enough that everyone could interact and participate. The smallest summit had around 200 attendees; the largest was around 350 attendees. Most of our community summits have included a travel assistance program to ensure that no invited contributor was unable to attend for financial reasons. ## Results and Challenges We’ve had 4 community summits, which have resulted in some really positive outcomes, including: * identification of shared goals and/or struggles * productive cross-team discussions * conflict resolutions _(due to face-to-face interaction or “safe space” conversations? both? hard to tell)_ * stronger relationships between contributors who attended Some of the pain points we’ve discovered include: * Invitation-only events are **challenging** — I’m tempted to say “excruciating”— for our community. The event is, by definition, not inclusive. Not being invited to a summit can be taken to mean, “I’m not important here,” which conflicts with the welcoming and egalitarian environment we value. When you organize an exclusive event like this, you are guaranteed to hurt a lot of feelings. * Selecting “the right people to invite” along with “the right topics to discuss” is very difficult. The method we’ve used most recently has been to ask contributor teams to identify the issues they need to discuss, which then defines the people who need to attend (to cut down on the “popularity contest” effect). But that means discussion topics are selected 3-6 months in advance, which can mean that difficult decisions are put on hold for longer than necessary. * We can’t depend on “fly everyone to the same place” as our primary way to make hard decisions or have productive conversations. For one thing, it’s really expensive( in cash money and in volunteer hours). It also sets artificial limits on how many brains we can focus on a problem or opportunity — only the people _in the room_ can help with a problem that’s being addressed by a (relatively) small group of people. ## Looking forward Where do we go from here? Let’s get creative! I’d love your thoughts on this topic, especially on the following points: 1. Is there anything missing from the above lists of benefits and pain points? 2. Do you have suggestions of how WordPress can still enjoy the benefits of this kind of event, while eliminating or reducing the pain points? To give the conversation some structure, let’s aim to close comments by March 15, 2019. 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[Timi Wahalahti](https://profiles.wordpress.org/sippis/) 9:43 am _on_ February 21, 2019 3. _I have never attended to community summit (or have received an invite) because my involvement in the community has really started just a year ago. So read my comment this in mind._ 4. Not to really answer straight to questions, I have one thought which can be quite crazy. 5. While I see value on community summits, I also wonder if it is the most efficient way to discuss topics. As Andrea said, face-to-face interaction can be very good for conflict resolution but deciding the topics can be very challenging because those are selected so much ahead. 6. How about if we’d organize a smaller online “community summit” once in every quarter or every half year? We have this excellent tool called Zoom, which is accessible and does not require any traveling. Every community summit could have a few quite specific topics decided based on current situation in WordPress project and pain points identified. Attendees could be partly selected on an invite basis (whose involvement is crucial to discuss the topics and solve pain points) and partly from sent applications (who have something to say about topics). 7. Yes, online meetings do limit the attendee amount quite hard because Zoom call of 200 attendees sounds just horrible. But if these were regular meetings and some rotation to attendance is set, we might possibly end up with more attendees at the end. I’d see it also that way, that with regular meetings we could possibly avoid having many conflicts and or misunderstandings to solve once in two years. And every team would be more updated on goals for each team and shared goals too. 8. In every online “community summit” attendees will decide action points if needed and make 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](https://make.wordpress.org/) posts accordingly for everyone to comment. For full transparency, meeting notes would be also posted and possibly also the recording from the meeting. 9. For making this work, it would need a few persons or a team to manage all the things needed for. Whose it would be? I guess everyone is a bit under the workload with current things also… 10. Having online meetings will definitely take away one originally stated goal: have some social time and get to know each other better. With that also huge positive side would be lost: stronger relationships between contributors who attended. 11. This is why we could possibly still invite people to attend different WordPress events across the world with included travel assistance program. Like, not just WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. or WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. all at the same time, but to different locations throughout the whole year. Maybe with some rotation and inviting 10-50 people at the same time to the same camp. That way there would still be some social time, a platform for making stronger connections would be provided and we also incorporate the project leaders, volunteers, and professionals to local communities. 12. I’d also be curious to know what is the approach in other 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. communities. Do they have similar kind of meetings, community summits or what? How that has been worked for them? 13. I know that at least in some point, Drupal has organized an open community summit with nominal ticket price (10$ IIRC) [unconference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference) style day before or after DrupalCons. Their approach does not sound that bad neither. 14. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5783a2d9b93f04f6d0a1ddabddcfd71f15136d7eaea7a87f9962d3f93f780224? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Ian Dunn](https://profiles.wordpress.org/iandunn/) 7:57 pm _on_ February 21, 2019 * > online meetings do limit the attendee amount quite hard because Zoom call > of 200 attendees sounds just horrible. * I think it could work. The host has the ability to mute everybody, and then people can use [Zoom’s “raise hand” feature](https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/205566129-Raise-Hand-In-Webinar) when they want to talk. * > For full transparency, meeting notes would be also posted and possibly also > the recording from the meeting. * I feel like it might be best to post notes but not record the meeting, so that it can remain a safe space. * > Having online meetings will definitely take away one originally stated goal: > have some social time and get to know each other better. * I think there may be ways to include that. Perhaps schedule a “social hour” call where people chat randomly while on their lunch(/breakfast/dinner) break? * A video call isn’t the same as talking in person, but it’s not _that_ different. I think it’s still possible to strengthen bonds. I think we get the biggest gains going from text to video, because that lets us see each other’s faces, pick up non-verbal cues, get a strong sense of someone’s personality, etc. Going from video to in-person has some additional benefits, of course, but we get a lot just by seeing someone else’s face. * > This is why we could possibly still invite people to attend different WordPress > events across the world […] Maybe with some rotation and inviting 10-50 people > at the same time to the same camp. * I think that’s an interesting idea. It’s good to consider that there might not be 1 single event type which can fulfill all of our needs. Maybe we need different events for different purposes? * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d5c3f2d93d1a7622578bf02f19b91bce32e642cf2962e04ab559fbc0ae333359? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Andrea Middleton](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/) 3:04 pm _on_ February 22, 2019 * > I know that at least in some point, Drupal has organized an open community > summit with nominal ticket price (10$ IIRC) unconference style day before > or after DrupalCons. Their approach does not sound that bad neither. * As I understand it, the 2012 summit was, to some degree, inspired by Drupalcon’s pre-conference summit format. I attended the Drupalcon community summit last year, and it was a small (50-75 people), open unconference for Drupal community organizers. I took part in a number of great conversations there — lots of “ identification of shared goals and/or struggles”! It didn’t seem to include any cross-team collaboration, but then Drupal doesn’t really do teams in the same way we do. I didn’t notice any discussions that seemed focused on conflict resolution. Presumably there were stronger relationships forged between attendees, but I am not active in that community so I couldn’t swear to it. If I had to describe it from a WordPress-event-framework, I’d call it a cross between an open 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/](https://make.wordpress.org/) There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. [https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/](https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/) and the contributor working days we’ve occasionally scheduled adjacent to community summits. 15. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/120b2dbc332ea0daf46d432e7d1fd3bf9a2b98955f9bad07dfd3ff8eb0fdfc87? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 16. [Stephen Edgar](https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweb/) 11:03 pm _on_ February 21, 2019 17. Ensure the BuddyPress and bbPressbbPress Free, open source software built on top of WordPress for easily creating forums on sites. [https://bbpress.org](https://bbpress.org) teams are included 18. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f8b3e78da513af70d22b0a942297a300eef15e3ce8080e877c054ebb83e24d82? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [JJJ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnjamesjacoby/) 4:53 pm _on_ February 24, 2019 * Thanks for volunteering! 👍💕 19. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/689ddc4f33541ac4a001d247e560f8805d219a95e7e42a16e0d22b9409f385cb? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 20. [Andrey "Rarst" Savchenko](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rarst/) 8:29 am _on_ February 23, 2019 21. I have been invited to the first summit and unable to attend, so outside impressions overall. 22. I feel that the event should be renamed “Contributor Summit” if current direction of it is preserved. While the inaugural event made an explicit point to include people from wider community, in following events format seems to have narrowed to focus on contributors to mainline WP project. 23. WP _community_ goes far beyond “people who can afford to work on WordPress org things for free”. That community is extremely impacted by decisions made at summit, without visibility in the process and as little as getting explanation how specific decision was reached (prominently ReactReact React is a JavaScript library that makes it easy to reason about, construct, and maintain stateless and stateful user interfaces. [https://reactjs.org](https://reactjs.org/) inclusion). 24. So my thoughts would be: 25. * **rename it Contributor Summit**, if it’s event for contributors it’s not event for community. This is not bad, this is just accurate. * **de–hype it**, instead of it being a very special exclusive important thing, make it clear it’s just a working event focusing on mainline project. Make it like a beefed up 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/](https://make.wordpress.org/) There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. [https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/](https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/), not like people gathering to decide the things for everyone else. * commit to **transparency of decisions**, this doesn’t mean broadcasting internal happenings of event, but neither this means “the decision is made, no you don’t get to know by whom or why, you just get to deal with it for next decade” is ok. 26. Also possibly consider to _scale and spread it_, might there be a space to explore in between gala–sized summit and contributor days? Say “CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Contributor Summit” as working event for core development specifically. 27. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eae9b03fdf1750ad9ecddf610003712fb406bce09006a0c4596071960057ea0e? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 28. [Ulrich](https://profiles.wordpress.org/grapplerulrich/) 8:58 am _on_ February 23, 2019 29. Rarst raises some good points. 30. I attended the Community Summit in Paris before WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. and was rather disappointed in the outcome. I felt there was a lot of talk but very little action related to WordPress.orgWordPress. org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. [https://wordpress.org/](https://wordpress.org/). 31. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d5c3f2d93d1a7622578bf02f19b91bce32e642cf2962e04ab559fbc0ae333359? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Andrea Middleton](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/) 12:24 am _on_ February 27, 2019 * That’s interesting [@grapplerulrich](https://profiles.wordpress.org/grapplerulrich/)— thanks for sharing your thoughts? I’m interested in knowing more — did people agree to do things at the Paris event that then didn’t get done, or did you find that discussions at that event weren’t productive? * Also, given that disappointment, would you attend another summit, and if so, why? - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/120b2dbc332ea0daf46d432e7d1fd3bf9a2b98955f9bad07dfd3ff8eb0fdfc87? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Stephen Edgar](https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweb/) 2:29 am _on_ February 27, 2019 - It could have been the Paris summit, but one of them I recall lots of promises were made about publishing updates and outcomes from the teams involved at the summit on the P2s, this was, from memory, quite little, both in content and the number of teams who posted an update at all. - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eae9b03fdf1750ad9ecddf610003712fb406bce09006a0c4596071960057ea0e? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Ulrich](https://profiles.wordpress.org/grapplerulrich/) 9:04 am _on_ March 7, 2019 - I felt there was discussion on what **could** be done but some things were not realistic. I think it would be better to be realistic at what can be accomplished within the next 6 months or a year and how other teams can help. - I have not been contributing as much recently so I am not sure I should be invited to a future summit. If a future was structured around specific projects instead of general discussion I would be more open to attending. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8c89447051442fa67f733cd23f299ed361f51e5129ee4b00a1f5d83fc2178a09? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Milana Cap](https://profiles.wordpress.org/milana_cap/) 2:21 pm _on_ March 13, 2019 * > I felt there was a lot of talk but very little action related to WordPress. > orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared > by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress > core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations > and organization. [https://wordpress.org/](https://wordpress.org/). * I was at this same summit and in the last session, when we were all together in one room, I raised the question about GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/) documentation( several times actually). * The first end user docs for blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. editor appeared at wp.org/support last week. This is 1.5 years later. * > I felt there was discussion on what could be done but some things were not > realistic. * It’s not that some things were just not realistic, but no plan was ever brought up. It’s good to talk about what we could do and what we’d like to do but I think that no session should be finished without at least some rough timeline. Written down and published as a p2 summary. * And for more urgent or “realistic” ideas, I’d even go that far to set detailed timeline, date and time for next meeting etc. 32. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/fa1675858df18178ecaee955ff16f29142492a5d2973b6461c11d4675f6db69f? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 33. [Morten Rand-Hendriksen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mor10/) 3:59 pm _on_ February 26, 2019 34. Some initial thoughts: 35. * the value of in-person meetings cannot be overstated. Video and text chats lack both immediacy and the effects of sharing space which reduces the success of communication and in many cases introduces friction and miscommunication. * as others have stated before, the Community Summits of past years have in some cases felt like a lot of talk but no action. This is in part due to a lack of mandate and decision making power. That in turn is a symptom of the lack of proper governance structures in the overall project. * again based on past years, the summit is used by different teams in different ways. Some teams use it to solve complex problems and make decisions, others use it to interface with other teams, and yet others use it to resolve conflict. This can create an unstructured environment where attendees have a hard time identifying where their input is needed and how to provide meaningful input. * none of these problems are unique to our community; they are the same problems faced by large political organizations, and those organizations have models for solving them we can and should borrow and learn from. One immediate solution is a funnel approach where smaller 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](https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/). happen around specific issues leading up to the “main event” and representatives are dispatched from those smaller meetups to represent at the main event. Another is to make the main event open to all (like a general assembly) and have committees work on and put forward discussion and decision proposals to be addressed by the entire attendance group. 36. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cb33a3f0efe577b9f685ca2bb248d1f3476ab6435257975d3f6c9ddc9091f939? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 37. [Raquel Landefeld](https://profiles.wordpress.org/raquelandefeld/) 10:12 pm _on_ February 27, 2019 38. Another thought: over the course of a given year, have WPCSWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation, 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. reps travel to regions and have micro Community Summits. You can still be transparent and inclusive to the degree that keeps it a healthy and productive discussion but can now include more faces and voices. 🙂 39. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ab5fa5deb26fe8a730d11dc716d440a67fb5c48c3b74f731c505b6748a58fd7d? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 40. [Cami Kaos](https://profiles.wordpress.org/camikaos/) 10:13 pm _on_ February 27, 2019 41. One issue that always tends to come up *at* the summit is that people are often involved in multiple contributor groups and so even while being present at the event important conversations are happening in different areas at the same time. It seems impossible to schedule everything so not one is missing anything they feel called to lend their strengths to when we’re working in person and thus on a smaller timeline. 42. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f98513a1df4f806f7a19678341f9bc8a6957f9cb7b2974f509a3e2bd063dc2e7? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 43. [remediosgraphic](https://profiles.wordpress.org/remediosgraphic/) 8:52 pm _on_ March 7, 2019 44. I think the invitation is always open at some point, if you are active in the community or if you have an important topic to discuss, you will receive the invitation( the call to topics is usually open some time before the summit). I was invited to the last one that took place in Paris and I noticed how all the community worked in different teams achieving good progress in pending tasks. It is true that we are remote or distributed project, but once every 2 years, it is a good opportunity to meet other members and, for the most part, make important decisions to move the project forward. I bet that summit last year before 5.0 would have helped a lot to know and work more together with the whole community the changes that happened. I think taking advantage of it and getting together live before the next phase of GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/) will be very helpful. Use a big event like WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. or WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. would give opportunity for people to attend, and although it seems entangled by what happened with the WC for organizers at some point we could take advantage and save resources. 45. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/241584c8900ae5ccd62ff4c9db7d58e58bc9e0dc0162d4bdcac2a916d586c7ed? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 46. [Francesca Marano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/) 10:35 am _on_ March 21, 2019 47. Hi [@andreamiddleton](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/) do we have a deadline for this discussion? Because I have had a couple of super crazy weeks and only next week I’ll be able to write something 🙂 Thanks! 48. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d5c3f2d93d1a7622578bf02f19b91bce32e642cf2962e04ab559fbc0ae333359? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Andrea Middleton](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/) 12:52 pm _on_ March 21, 2019 * Drat, I didn’t set a deadline, did I? Let’s shoot for April 5. 🙂 49. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a7873a730eebbbf667e941eaefba2f3f16ee7fe49a5661507569ada7f46b94dc? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 50. [Birgit Pauli-Haack](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bph/) 5:11 pm _on_ April 4, 2019 51. I have not been to a community summit. I like the renaming of the summit as a “ contributor summit” – it makes its purpose clearer being a place where people from different teams come together to figure out how to best work across teams for the greater good. 52. In hindsight, an overall topic could have been in Paris to discuss how non-coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and core teams could help with the roll out GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/) and instill some better understanding about the product, its vision and its ramifications to the eco-system, so marketing, documentation, support, community, accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), REST-APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. and others could chime in educating the rest of the Community on the changes happening. Mind me, hindsight is always 20/20. Little did I know in June 2017 53. I liked the process of the teams decide among themselves who should go to the summit with a clear outcomes based agenda. What I missed was a team based follow- up summarizing what was discussed, and what were the agreed upon steps for implementation, processes and technology. 54. My limited imagination can’t really understand the difference what can be accomplished at a community summit as opposed to a 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/](https://make.wordpress.org/) There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. [https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/](https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/) at one of the Regional WordCamps. If there are things that need to be discussed across multiple teams, with a little preparation, there might be a way to carve out a 2 or 3 hours out of the Contributor day and discuss it there. 55. A trip abroad is always a burden on the family budget, so you might not be able to get the ‘right’ people in the room, unless you provide travel scholarships to those who need it. 56. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/241584c8900ae5ccd62ff4c9db7d58e58bc9e0dc0162d4bdcac2a916d586c7ed? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 57. [Francesca Marano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/) 11:03 am _on_ June 27, 2019 58. Incredibly late on replying, but here are my 2 cents: 59. * **Turn it into a positive, constructive event**: we use it to move forward the platform, not to discuss incendiary issues. We use it to produce a roadmap for the next year. * **Invitation only**: since we are moving towards a [new concept of leadership](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/03/12/strengths-and-challenges-organization/), those are probably the people that will attend. In 2017 we had open nomination and an allocated number of people for each team, it seemed pretty fair and transparent. * **We work on travel scholarship and make it part of the process**. Would it be possible to have part of the money come WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation, 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.? After all it’s in everyone best interests to have a diverse pool of people there. * **We don’t make it behind closed doors**: since this is not about solving incendiary issues, we don’t need to create a safe space, we need to create a proactive space. We could think about streaming or recording and showing with a few days delay, we think about ways to make people interact also remotely. * **We hire transcribers like we do for WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. and WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event.**: the Community team didn’t publish their notes because the people taking them and the ones that were supposed to review and publish were not the same people. The latter group, for a number of unseen circumstances, didn’t even attend the CS, so everything lacked context. * **Deadlines are our friends**. As someone else mentioned, we set a time frame for the goals. After all, a goal without a deadline is just a dream * **Multiple teams discussions happening at the same time**. I think this is in part due to the unclear nature of the CS as it is today. If we use it to solve specific problems, then having to go to multiple tables should not be that common. I remember the CS in Philadelphia was not as much about team work as it was about open forum discussion. If we use it a Contributor Summit, this is going to happen more frequently, but it can be solved during the planning stage. 60. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/241584c8900ae5ccd62ff4c9db7d58e58bc9e0dc0162d4bdcac2a916d586c7ed? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 61. [Francesca Marano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/) 8:01 am _on_ October 15, 2019 62. [@andreamiddleton](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/), I am going back to this after a bit of observation on different teams involved in the 5.3 release. I feel more strongly than ever that we are due for a Community Summit. Potentially 2 days, like we did in [Philadelphia in 2015](https://2015.us.wordcamp.org/community-summit/) Day 1 – Open forum on the project as a whole. Some things that were highlighted during the BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. 1 to Release CandidateRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. 1 for WP 5.3 where: cross team collaboration, how to keep up to date with all the moving parts (Especially CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and all the team that refer, defer and depend on Core development), set a yearly release plan. Day 2– Contributor Teams Work Day, when we try to focus on high level stuff, that will help us carry on for the rest of the day and maybe tip into the year after. Call it a Team Roadmap? Unless something is more urgent of course. 63. In terms of organization and who to invite, I think the proposal/invite model we used in 2017 in Paris was a good one. We can iterate on that. 64. Proposed date: WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. 2020 ideally. June 2 and 3. It seems like a lot of friends from US and APAC visit EU, whilst not so many from EU and APAC visit US, this is why I propose WCEU. Also, in June we are still kind of “fresh”, end of year where WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. tend to be seems to be busier in terms of events, companies work, etc… 65. Thanks! 66. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d13a1f5a6e7e0a7e1203eb93cdac41efdf19518abe1148ff7ee41958e2b34df0? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [kcristiano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kcristiano/) 9:43 pm _on_ November 15, 2019 * [@francina](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/) I do think 2020 is the year for a Community Summit. I am thinking we need to define the goals we have first. These Summits came about when the only way to resolve conflicts (certain ones) was face to face. * I agree that today with the number of teams and the need to coordinate a Summit should be had just to allow Cross Team work. * I did like the multi-day events we had in 2014 and 2015. I’d like to return to that. Maybe the next step is to brainstorm on how we see the summit evolving and working to get it done. What do you think? - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/241584c8900ae5ccd62ff4c9db7d58e58bc9e0dc0162d4bdcac2a916d586c7ed? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Francesca Marano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/) 6:48 am _on_ December 19, 2019 - I am all for it, but I am not entirely sure what is the next step? I wouldn’t want to waste precious volunteer time just to see the idea shut down completely. 67. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/241584c8900ae5ccd62ff4c9db7d58e58bc9e0dc0162d4bdcac2a916d586c7ed? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 68. [Francesca Marano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/) 6:56 am _on_ December 19, 2019 69. Friends! 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](https://central.wordcamp.org/about/). Europe is 6 months away: if there is any chance we can have a Community Summit there I think we should start working on it as soon as planning work resumes in January. 70. Also a “no” works. This thread has been open for more than 9 months, uncertainty is never a good outcome 😉 71. Thanks! 72. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b98cc60e2f12d4573ab0dca7442b45137144bac0ffb28dac83fe6a72bd6ba007? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Josepha](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/) 6:33 pm _on_ December 20, 2019 * Let’s plan for a summit at WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. this year, since our last one was at WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event.. Passing around the burden of hosting (and traveling) still feels like the smart choice to me. ### Leave a Reply 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/02/21/discussion-how-could-we-improve-the-wordpress-community-summit/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿 You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fcommunity%2F2019%2F02%2F21%2Fdiscussion-how-could-we-improve-the-wordpress-community-summit%2F&locale=en_US) to post a comment. # Post navigation [← Recap of the Kids Event Working Group Kick-Off Chat |Tuesday 19 February 2019](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/02/19/kids-event-working-group-kick-off-chat-agenda-tuesday-19-february-2019/) [Community Team Chat Agenda | Thursday, 21 February 2019 →](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/02/21/community-team-chat-agenda-thursday-21-february-2019/)