In December 2022 and January 2023, the #WPDiversity group held diverse speaker workshops in AMER/EMEA and APAC time zones, respectively. Also Italy held a speaker workshop.
Diverse Speaker Workshops
We held two interactive watch parties that included speaking topic exercises and real-time feedback. The attendees were supported by several speaker mentors Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. who helped support them through the experience.
December 2022
How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events #WPDiversity, December 7, 2022
Facilitator: @jillbinder
- Number who attended online: 22
- From number of cities: 21
- From number of countries: 12 (Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Philippines, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Uganda, United States)
- Self-reported increase in public speaking self-confidence scores: 48%
Testimonials
“Studying the material on your own is already very useful, but taking the workshop is another experience! Having the chance to share and receive feedback from the group is the most valuable thing for me. I’d recommend anyone to participate in the next one!” – Isotta Peira, Community Engagement Specialist, Barcelona, Spain
“I really liked seeing new faces and hearing new ideas.” – Ljubica Goranovic, Digital Marketing Specialist, Serbia
January 2023
How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events APAC, January 28, 2023
Facilitator: @jillbinder
- Number who attended online: 31
- From number of cities: 27
- From number of countries: 10 (Australia, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United States)
- Self-reported increase in public speaking self-confidence scores: 40%
- Number from the workshop who applied to speak at WordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Kerala: 5 applications from 4 workshop participants
Testimonials
There were a lot of amazing testimonials shared by participants during the event and in the feedback form afterward. You can read the testimonials under the “Show full post” section below.
Impact
The 4 speakers from the workshop who applied to speak at WordCamp Kerala were all accepted. They all reported back that they had really great experiences speaking thanks to the workshop. One of the speakers wrote a blog post about the workshop and her experience : https://akshayar.online/from-novice-to-wordcamp-speaker-navigating-the-journey/
Speaker Workshop in Italy
January 10, 2023
Facilitator: @simo70
- Language: Italian
- Number who attended: 4
- From number of cities: 3 (Ancona, Milan, Rome)
- From number of countries: 1 (Italy)
“I would like to thank all the people who participated, the #WPDiversity group for the great materials, and all the people who did the Italian translations with me.” — Simona Simionato
Diverse Speaker Support Channel
We have a Slack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel (#diverse-speaker-support) in the Make WordPress Slack for:
- getting to know other speakers and event organizers
- workshopping talks with each other and with mentors
- finding out about WordPress speaking opportunities from 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. and WordCamps
- getting connected with support for speaker travel expenses
Wins these months:
A win counts as:
- Applying to speak at an event
- Speaking at an event
- Getting speaker mentorship in the channel
There have been so many of these (but most of them not reported in the channel itself) that it’s been hard to keep on tracking. We are creating a new system with a form to make it easier going forward! If we do get the numbers, we will update this post.
Thank you
A lot of people contribute to making these workshops successful. Thank you to each and every one!
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Upcoming Workshops
May 13, 2023 @ 10am-12:30pm IST: Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events APAC
The list of upcoming #WPDiversity events is posted on the Diverse Speaker Group (#WPDiversity) page in the Community handbook. Please check there for upcoming events.
#diversespeakerworkshopsreports
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Testimonials: How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events APAC, January 28, 2023
“After taking the workshop, I have two speaking topics I can use right away. I gained more confidence to speak in WordCamps.” – Hardik Gohil
“Really good workshop! It dispels the myths that are holding you back from being a WordCamp speaker. To people thinking about taking the workshop: Attend the workshop to prove to yourself that you can be a speaker! You will walk away with topics to get you started on your speaking journey.” – Karen Leslie, WordPress Fairy Godmother, Australia
“It was a welcoming community. I liked learning about the myths about speaking and I gained more confidence in becoming a speaker.” – Manikk, India
“This was super helpful! I got clarity on different types of talk formats as well as on what I’d like to speak on. The brainstorming session helped me gain more confidence on the topics I shortlisted at the end of the exercise.” – Shreejith Thathampilly, India
“I really liked the interactions and getting feedback on things that I wasn’t sure about.” – Alexander Gounder, Mumbai, India
“The workshop boosts confidence through simple tips. It’s wonderful and I now have an increase in confidence to speak to an audience of up to 500.” – Pramod P Kaimal, Computer Programmer, Malakkara, Kerala, India
“This was an eyeopener for people like me. It felt like a self-awareness workshop for WordPress users 😍It gave me hope that I could speak and share my experiences. Thank you for inspiring confidence in me to become a speaker at Wordcamps.” – Balaji, Tecknologics
“I have more confidence to apply at WordCamps and I now have a couple of solid topics to apply!” – Hari Shanker
“The prompts for topic ideation were great. And I liked learning about the myths about speaking.” – Leonardus Nugraha
“I gained more confidence to share in WordPress.” – Gulzar Ahmed
“Nice, keep it up!” – Nirmal Rabari, WordPress Developer. Vadodara, India
“I gained so much confidence in this workshop. I found my speaking topic right in the workshop and will be using it for Wordcamp 2023 Kerala.” – Renjini Narendranath
“Got acquainted with more #WordPress members. That’s how the community grows. #WPDiversity. A pleasant day!” – @mujuonly (Mujeebu Rahman)
“@HariShanker @jillbinder It was a wonderful experience joining the #WPDiversity workshop for APAC! So many #WordPress enthusiasts from APAC who wish to learn about talking at #WordCamps :)” – @mujuonly (Mujeebu Rahman)
#diversespeakerworkshopsreports
