Diverse Speaker Workshops Reports – April & May 2020

The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) normally trains 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 how to hold their own Diverse Speaker workshop in order to increase how many speaker applications they get from people from marginalized and underrepresented groups.

During the pandemic, the team is delivering the workshop to the global WordPress community online ourselves.

Each month, we will report at the tag #DiverseSpeakerWorkshopsReports how these workshops are going. Here is a report on the first two sets of workshops.

These consisted of a three-part workshop, one hour each day, three days in a row, followed by two Zoom group coaching sessions in another week.

April 2020

Number who attended: 26
From number of cities: 21
From number of countries: 6 (Bulgaria, Costa Rica, India, Italy, Nigeria, USA)

Number who attended all 3 sessions: 5
Number who attended 2 sessions: 8

Increase in public speaking confidence after taking a workshop: 34%

Testimonials

”I would recommend this workshop to anyone who is looking for how to materialize their ideas and become a great WordPress speaker!”
—Ericka Barboza, Computer Engineer, San Jose, Costa Rica

”Before I took this workshop I was uncertain about the things I needed for presenting; such as choosing a topic, technical requirements for presenting via video and writing a proposal to speak. Thanks to this session, I am feel better about presenting online. I would recommend this workshop to anyone who is looking to achieve confidence about presenting online.”
—Barbara Bastian, Newbie to WordPress, Monroe, Georgia

”Thanks to this session, I can motivate myself to do an online conference, I feel safer to have a guide to follow to carry out this type of conference. Thank you!”
—Ericka Barboza, Computer Engineer, San Jose, Costa Rica

”Before I took this workshop, I was concerned about my ability to speak calmly and confidently in public. Thanks to this session, I have added new methods of slowing my speech, making eye contact, and calming my nerves. I would recommend this workshop to anyone who is looking to achieve greater public speaking outcomes.”
—Alisha Brown, Small Business Owner, Atlanta, GA

May 2020

Number who attended: 11
From number of cities: 11
From number of countries: 3 (Canada, Ukraine, USA)

Number who attended all 3 sessions: 6
Number who attended 2 sessions: 3

Increase in public speaking confidence after taking a workshop: 21%

Testimonials

“Before I took this workshop, I was unable to generate many talk ideas. Thanks to this session, I am able to see more ways to present my own experiences as solutions to the difficulties that other people may be encountering. I would recommend this workshop to anyone who is looking to achieve a better-creativity state of mind for thinking up topics in a short time.”
—Sabrina Zeidan, WordPress lover, Kyiv, Ukraine

June workshops & group coaching

If you identify as someone from a marginalized or represented group, please sign up for our next set of workshops and group coachings June 9-11, June 16, and June 18 here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wordpress-diverse-speaker-workshops-and-coaching-in-may-june-tickets-105466180184

July workshops & group coaching

The dates for July will be announced soon. When they are, you will be able to use the same eventbrite link to sign up.

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