Continuing on our theme of questions Community 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 frequently asked, this week’s question was recommended by @nao! If you have a question you think we should answer please share it in the comments below. Or if you’re feeling shy send an email with Tuesday Trainings Question as the subject to support@wordcamp.org attention Cami!
Now before we dive into HOW we recruit new co-organizers some of you might be asking why. Let’s talk about that first.
Why would I want to recruit co-organizers?
Having a supportive and productive group of co-organizers isn’t just important for you as an organizer it’s important for the health of your 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. group. A diversity of people brings with it a diversity of thoughts, ideas, organizing styles, knowledge, and life experience. All things that can benefit your community. Give your meetup the gift of more minds leading it. When we talk about organizers for a WordPress meetup we like to make clear that any trusted member of your community can organize a meetup event. It’s important to share both the joys and the hard work of organizing your meetups 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.. It’s not just the logistics that takes so much work, there’s a ton of emotional labor too. So help yourself. Help your group. Get some co-organizers.
My best advice on recruiting co-organizers.
As with a lot of the things we discuss here there are very simple answers that can be very complicated to carryout. I’ll share with you a few “simple” solutions and we can discuss these in the comments.
Announce it
If you’re looking for someone to co-organize your meetup group let your meetup group know. Make an announcement at the beginning or end of your meetup and provide them with a way to contact you to talk more about it if they’re interested. Or put a post up on your meetup site with a call for volunteers. There might already be someone who is interested but doesn’t know that the opportunity exists.
A 1:1 ping The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.”
You may already have someone in mind. If there’s someone in your group who people tend to look to for support and answers, who you think would make a good counterpart just ask them.
Give someone a task
If there are people who seem to want to help or are always quick to respond and reply within your group, see if they’d like some responsibility. Task them with deciding what kind of meetup format you should have next time or recruiting a speaker. Ask them to speak. Or ask them to help you brainstorm. Some folx lack the confidence to volunteer, but if you give them a little project to work on and they do well you might see their confidence rise and before you know it, maybe they’ll be ready to be an organizer too.
Your best advice on recruiting co-organizers
And now the time has come for you to share your best advice. If you have co-organizers for a group you founded, how did you bring them in. If you joined a group as a co-organizer were you recruited or did you ask to help? What’s your best advice on how to recruit more organizers for your meetup?
Even if you think it’s common sense, I’d love for you to share your approach to organizer recruitment. Remember common sense is based on a lifetime of lived experience, which means your common sense is only common to you.
