The WordPress 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. Reactivation Project is well underway. Read on for an update!
Is your meetup currently active? Tell the world by posting a photo on social media with the hashtag #WordPressMeetup
Background
Why meetup reactivation?
Many WordPress 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. around the world have been dormant due to the COVID-19 pandemic and organizer burnout. Yet thriving meetups are crucial for the health of the global WordPress community!
How does meetup reactivation work?
In July, the Global Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. published a Call for Supporters and launched the Meetup Reactivation Project. Since then, Meetup Reactivation Supporters started directly reaching out to the organizers of every dormant WordPress meetup to:
- Check on the status of the meetup
- Encourage reactivation
- Ask how we can best support the organizers
- Identify whether new organizers are needed
We define a dormant meetup as one that has not held an event in the past six months (virtual or in-person). There were more than 400 dormant WordPress meetups at the launch of this project — which means there is significant opportunity to reactivate our global community!
The numbers (so far)!
There are currently 764 WordPress chapter meetups in 112 countries, with 494,736 members. Yet at the start of the reactivation project, we identified that 416 of these groups were dormant.
The project currently has 39 meetup reactivation supporters globally. These amazing volunteers are reaching out directly to the organizers of each dormant meetup group.
As a result of their efforts:
- 117 meetup groups have reactivated or plan to reactivate in 2022 (🎉)!
- 14 dormant meetups were removed from the WordPress meetup chapter program, because the previous organizers were not available to reactivate the group and no member came forward to serve as organizer.
Next Steps
In the months ahead, Supporters will continue to reach out to organizers of dormant groups, share resources to help them reactivate, and help find new organizers when needed. We will continue to share updates here on the Community Team blog.
Thank you to our wonderful meetup reactivation supporters, the hundreds of meetup organizers who are reactivating their groups, and the energetic new organizers who have come forward to lead meetups!
Want to reactivate your local meetup group or form a new meetup?
Contact the Community Team at support@wordcamp.org. We’re here to help!
Relevant posts:
#meetups, #outreach, #reactivation
