WordPress meetup organizer newsletter: April 2019

Hello 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!

Welcome to another meetup organizer newsletter full of news, information and inspiration for your local meetup.

Newsletter contents:

• Organizer best practices: helping your local meetup
• Proposal for Central 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. Directory
• Diversity Outreach Speaker Training Workshops
• Reminders

Organizer best practices: helping your local meetup

On the Make Community blog, there is a discussion that has been kickstarted about ways to help your local meetup and some best practices around them.

Here are 11 ways to contribute to your local WordPress meetup, which can also serve as a graceful path to community leadership:

1. spread the word about the meetup (sharing photos on social media, word of mouth, flyers, blog posts, etc)
2. greet & welcome new attendees
3. take attendance (if your group keeps a record of who actually attended the event)
4. deliver opening or closing remarks (easier if the points to cover are written down)
5. facilitate a round-table discussion
6. give a presentation
7. help find a free venue
8. record & post a presentation to WordPress.tv
9. organize refreshments
10. suggest or recruit speakers
11. organize an event series

Proposal for Central Block Directory

With blocks becoming the new way to manage content in WordPress, more and more types of blocks are being developed to cater for different use cases and content types. In an effort to make it easier for content creators to find these block types, there is a proposal for a new type of pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party and a directory to handle it.

The proposal outlines a new type of WordPress plugin that provides blocks and nothing else, named Single Block Plugins. The primary benefit would be to provide content creators with individual pieces of functionality and new types of blocks without the need to search for and install new plugins.

The Single Block Plugins would be hosted in a separate Block Directory section of the Plugin Directory and they would initially be JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/.-based. Each plugin will register a single block, and they will be searchable and installable from within the editor itself. This puts blocks at the publishers’ fingertips — you no longer have to leave the editor to find them.

Want to get involved in shaping this new type of plugin? Join in the conversation on the proposal post, follow the Meta team blog, and join the #meta channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.

Diversity Outreach Speaker Training Workshops

Have you ever had trouble getting women and people from other groups underrepresented in tech to speak at your 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 WordCamps? Check out the Diversity Outreach Speaker Training workshop: https://make.wordpress.org/training/speaker-training

Write to us to sign up for this or find out about future training sessions here: http://tiny.cc/wpwomenspeakTo sign up and get more details, either fill out our form and comment with which date you’d would like to attend a training email the working group at speaker-training@wordcamp.org

Reminders

• Read about the 2018 Meetup Survey Statistics
• Support Team put Block editor user documentation is now available: Check out Block Editor and Core Block Types
• There is a proposal to improve this newsletter with additional organizer tips and training. You can leave your feedback on this post.

That’s it for now — chat to you next time!

Your friends on the Community Team
make.wordpress.org/community

#newsletter #meetup

#meetup-organizer-newsletter