Angela Jin 5:16 pm on January 7, 2021

Proposal: Decision making checklist for safe, in-person meetups

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the discussion about how the WordPress Community can return to in person events. As a quick recap, there were a few takeaways from that discussion:

Many areas around the world are still unsafe for in-person events at this time. However, there are countries that have been successful in controlling the spread of COVID-19.
In addition to communities following local government ordinances, organizers have voiced a strong preference to rely on reputable public health authorities to help assess risk.

Given the extraordinary circumstances, it seems that a COVID-19 risk-assessment checklist is the most effective way to help community organizers around the globe determine whether, and how, it will be safe to hold in-person 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. events.

Summary of Proposal

The proposal is that the Community Team create a procedure for meetup organizers to use before deciding whether or not to host an in person meetup, and one that organizers can use leading up to the event. Organizers will be asked to complete the following steps to understand if their community can host in person 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 not:

Review updated data from reputable global and/or local health authorities: This could be global resources, to more regional or local organizations that provide information on positivity rates, number of cases, etc.
Complete an “In-person Meetup Decision Checklist”: Using data from the health authorities, along with knowledge of local ordinances, organizers answer some questions that help decide whether or not the community can meet in person or not.

Read on to explore what this could look like in greater detail!

Global and/or local health authorities

The Community Team could pull together a list of public health authorities and examples of local resources that organizers can look to for data such as positivity rates, number of cases, etc. If no currently listed health authority applies to that community, the organizer can recommend another resource that provides that data for review.

Here are some examples of health authorities that provide such data:

World Health Organization (WHO)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (for reproduction numbers)
Your own state, province, district, or county health authority Example: Oregon Health Authority (OHA)

In-Person Meetup Decision Checklist

This checklist will enable organizers to apply health data and local ordinance as part of their decision making process. It will also help organizers understand if their community can meet in person by the WordPress community’s standards. The checklist would include questions or like:

Is your country’s (or state’s) average positivity rate over the past 28 days under 4%?
In the past 28 days, has your country or area’s basic reproduction number stayed under 1?
In the past 14 days, have there been under 50 new cases per 100,000 people reported?
Does your local government allow for in-person events?
If there is a cap on the number of people who can meet at a time, will you as an organizer follow this guideline?
If there is a cost associated with your venue, is that fee fully refundable or transferable to another date?*
Does your venue allow for safe social distancing practices?
Does your venue have cleaning protocols in place to sanitize the space between uses?
Are you and other organizers willing to enforce the use of masks, hand sanitization, and social distancing, as recommended in your country or area?
In order to use local data to predict the safety of attendees, in-person events are required to be open only to residents of your immediate area. Are you and other organizers willing to enforce this expectation?
Are you and other organizers ready to require RSVP in the Meetup.com, or to gather attendee contact lists in some other way?

In order to have an in-person event, the organizer must be able to answer “yes” to ALL these questions.

*At this time, 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. will not be able to cover the costs of a meetup venue. If a venue deposit isn’t refundable or transferable to another date, due to rising infection rates, another venue should be found.

One additional challenge presented by COVID-19 is that circumstances can change quickly. I sincerely hope this does not happen, but communities that are deemed safe will need to be prepared to move back to online events if the local situation changes for the worse. As such, it may be prudent for organizers to review the checklist up to three times: once before planning the event, before announcing the event, and once again the day before or day of the event. In addition to this system of double checking, all planned in-person events should have a simple backup plan should they need to pivot to an online event at the last minute.

But what about WordCamps?

As much as returning to in person WordCamps would be incredible, given the amount of travel across greater distance, longer length of time together, and larger gathering size, it does not seem prudent to return to WordCamps just yet. The Community Team will continue to review this decision on a quarterly basis.

Next Steps

Can you please share your feedback by next Friday, January 15?

What is your opinion of this proposal?
Are there other global, regional, or local health authority resources that you review for regularly updated COVID-19 data?
What other questions should be added to the checklist?
Are there any safety concerns that are not addressed in this proposal?

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. The WordPress community continues to do its best to move forward, and together we can do so safely!

Many thanks to @camikaos, @nao, @jenniferswisher, @evarlese, @sippis, @courtneypk, @harishanker, @kcristiano, @kdrewien, @andreamiddleton for helping to write this post!

Cami Kaos 10:52 pm on January 7, 2021

I love the idea of a checklist to determine if it’s safe/reasonable to have an in-person 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., but I feel like I want to acknowledge/be mindful of just how many areas are not going to meet the health and safety requirements on the checklist.

Is it possible that we can compile/share a list of places that have already been vetted for compatibility with the standards for in-person 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 not met requirements.

My hope is that this would reduce a lot of duplicated time and effort for areas that we already know aren’t yet, by the standards we’re setting, safe. It would save time and disappointment for organizers hoping to meet in person and also contributor time and energy for those deputiesProgram Supporter 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. who will vet the applications to hold in-person events. It could also keep available more time to support those groups who are eligible for in-person events and those who continue to organize online events.

The list could be revisited on something like a quarterly basis if there is interest in organizing in-person.
- Angela Jin 9:36 am on January 8, 2021
  
  I could see that list quickly helping organizers. Great suggestion!
- Kathy Drewien 6:57 pm on January 8, 2021
  
  Excellent suggestion! What is the best way to start such a checklist?
- Timi Wahalahti 8:18 pm on January 8, 2021
  
  +1 for making the list of already vetted places and adding a link to it somewhere before the checklist.
  
  Also +1 for re-checks on a quarterly basis. It’s a long period tho, as the virus situation can change so rapidly. On the other hand, more regular checks would cause a lot of extra work for deputiesProgram Supporter 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..
xwang 9:14 am on January 8, 2021

I’d like to recommend COVID-19 Data Repository by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University as a resource for review, their data is aggregated from lots of global and local health authorities including WHO, ECDC, US CDC, they also have visual dashboard, and they do have separated data for Taiwan.
- Angela Jin 9:37 am on January 8, 2021
  
  Excellent, thanks for the recommendation!
Mary Job 9:38 am on January 8, 2021

To begin with, this checklist is very good enough, number 11 though, does 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. collect phone numbers when people RSVP, if not, I think it is important for the organizer to have not just name record and meetup RSVP, but also mobile number and just maybe living location of each physical attendee.

And yes, physical WordCamps can wait a little bit longer as we still live in a lot of covid uncertainty!
- Kathy Drewien 6:59 pm on January 8, 2021
  
  As far as I know, Meetup.com does not ask for phone numbers when people RSVP.
- Timi Wahalahti 8:23 pm on January 8, 2021
  
  Is phone number necessarily needed, since organisers and Central do have their email address? Organisers and Central can also reach out to all RSVP’d attendees via email en masse if needed.
- dd32 2:13 am on January 11, 2021
  
  While meetup.com doesn’t track phone numbers, it is possible to send out email messages to everyone who attended/RSVP’d to an event, which might suffice in that case.
  
  I would have to verify, but at least prior to COVID19 there was a change in how 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. RSVP’s worked, where once the event started you could no longer RSVP or edit the event.. which might make RSVP’ing people who show up at the door harder.
  
  Some countries (Australia as my example) do require collecting more information, at the door (not prior to, or afterwards), Name + Phone number + (Email or Physical address) as part of the venue restrictions, so 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. would need to follow that process in addition to meetup.com RSVP’s.
  - Andrea Middleton 1:03 am on January 12, 2021
    
    My assumption is that contact tracing requirements will vary, depending on the local community. This is probably another example of public health/legal requirements that local organizers should be aware we’ll be expecting them to follow, as I mention in my comment below.
    - JenniferSwisher 5:37 pm on January 15, 2021
      
      While meetup.com doesn’t track phone numbers, it is possible to send out email messages to everyone who attended/RSVP’d to an event, which might suffice in that case.
      
      Users can turn this off IIRC, so contact through meetup.com may not be a great option. We may need to ask 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 to collect emails (at minimum) for contact tracing.
      
      Perhaps #11 needs to be updated to 2 questions:
      
      Are you and other organizers ready to require RSVP in the Meetup.com, or to gather attendee contact lists in some other way?
      
      Does your local government have requirements for contact information collection for contact tracing?
      
      Are you and other organizers ready to require RSVPs to the Meetup.com event and collect contact information as your local government requires?
Mariano Perez 11:14 am on January 8, 2021

That’s good enough for me. There don’t seem to be many places in the world that can meet the requirements but hopefully there will be more as the year progresses.
David Ryan 5:19 pm on January 8, 2021

As important as it is that organizers are willing to enforce safety protocols, I think it’s perhaps worth expanding that point to “organizers have discussed and agreed to how to respond to violations of safety protocols in advance of meetings.” In cases where 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. are held in locations with onsite security, that planning should include coordination with security.
Timi Wahalahti 8:35 pm on January 8, 2021
Few concerns related to requiring an RSVP or some sort of a list in another way of attendees. In my opinion, some sort of list is mandatory, as there surely will be a situation sooner or later when all attendees of certain 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. needs to be reached because of positive covid test amongst attendees.

There might be attendees that aren’t using their full or real name in Meetup.com. We sure do want to give them the opportunity of doing so, but it can lead to a tricky situation if attendee list needs to be handed out to officials.

If we encounter a situation where a person with confirmed COVID-19 attended to meetup or some attendee did get a positive result after attending, what will be the protocol? I think it’s needless to say that organisers must inform Central in such situations, but there’s more to it than just getting the information:
- Who is responsible for letting other attendees know?
- If the attendee list and information needs to be handed out to officials, who and how will ensure that the request is legitimate?
- If the list is something other than Meetup.com RSVP, how we will make sure that the information isn’t wrongly used?
- How long the (manual) list will be stored and by whom? How we ensure it’s destroyed securely?
I don’t have answers to these questions, but I strongly feel we need to work those out before allowing any in-person events.
Timi Wahalahti 8:42 pm on January 8, 2021

In Finland, we have an app called Koronavilkku, which is contact tracing app to help you find out whether you may have been exposed to coronavirus. It has quite a large userbase.

I wonder if other countries do have something similar, as Koronavilkku basically uses technology Apple and Google introduced in their mobile phone operating systems. Could we make using contact tracking app mandatory?
Andrea Middleton 1:01 am on January 9, 2021

I think this checklist is a great start! I suggest we remove this from it, though:

4. Does your local government allow for in-person events?
5. If there is a cap on the number of people who can meet at a time, will you as an organizer follow this guideline?

Instead, I think we should simply remind organizers that we expect them to follow local laws and venue capacity limits, etc.
Angela Jin 1:56 pm on January 19, 2021
Thank you all so much for weighing in on this! Based on the feedback, it seems that there is support in moving this idea forward. In addition to some suggested heath references, a lot of great ideas surfaced, including:
- a list of areas that the Community team already reviewed and do not meet the health and safety requirements, and quarterly checks for updates
- a few edits to the proposed checklist, including the expectation that organizers will follow local laws and venue capacity limits
- support to organizers in responding to violations of safety protocols
- more thought process into how to gather attendee contact information for contract tracing purposes, and responsibly handle that information
In coming days, I will begin setting up some handbook pages to implement this process, along with a new post to describe how it works, and inviting suggestions for further improvement. If anyone would like to help me in creating this new process, some handbook pages, or any other action items here, I welcome your participation! Thank you all so much for your thoughtful feedback, and for helping to create this important process for our community.
Cami Kaos 12:25 am on January 26, 2021

I know that everyone is going to follow these guidelines out of concern for public health and out of respect for the hard work we all do in this program. But… what if someone ignores the protocol or doesn’t know about the checklist and breaks the rules that we all agree upon. Do we have an idea what the consequences for those actions should look like?
- Angela Jin 10:27 am on January 26, 2021
  
  Excellent question! I’ve added this as a question in the update to this proposal. If anyone has feedback on this particular item, please share your thoughts on the new post.