Following up on older applications

Sometimes, after receiving a 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. application, we don’t hear back from the applicant after we have reached out to them. Program supporters can follow up with these applicants to check if they are still interested in organizing events.

New meetup applications land in the “Needs Vetting” queue where we process them initially. In some cases, we reach out to the applicants for more information or ask them to pursue the meetup organizer training. These applications land in the “Awaiting Feedback” queue. In other cases, if the applicant has passed the vetting process, we move them to the “Scheduling” status, where we reach out to them via HelpScout, asking them to schedule an orientation with us. If the applicants don’t reply, these applications continue to remain in these statuses, without any movement.

Program supporters can help process old applications in the “Awaiting Feedback” and  “Scheduling” queues. Like other queues, please start working on meetup applications from the oldest to the newest. 

To help clear these queues, open the Meetup application in the tracker, take a look at the changelog and take the following steps::

  1. Find the date when we last contacted the applicant in the tracker. If it is more than a month old and we haven’t received an answer, proceed to the next step.
  2. Check the vetting notes from other Program supporters. In some cases where a Program supporterProgram 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. has requested more information, the vetting will not be fully complete.
  3. Open the linked HelpScout ticket, and note when we last contacted the applicant. If a linked Help Scout ticket cannot be found, search in HelpScout with the name of the meetup or with the email address of the primary applicant.
  4. If we haven’t received a response from the applicant, send a follow-up note using the same ticket to see if they are still interested in organizing the meetup. Saved HelpScout replies that you can use are MEETUP: No replies from the applicant (in case the applicant has not replied to our request for more information) and MEETUP: No replies after training request (in case the applicant has not replied to our request to undergo self-training),
  5. After sending the first reminder, update the Meetup application in Central with the date of the last contact. 
  6. If a month passes after we’ve sent the first reminder, and we still haven’t heard back, we can decline the application. In this case, send a follow-up email on the same ticket using saved HelpScout reply MEETUP: Declining – No replies after follow-up, update the Meetup application in Central that we are declining due to lack of response, and decline the application. 

Please note: Sometimes, the application may not get saved in the Meetup tracker if the applicant’s WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ username is incorrect. In that case, please scroll up to the top and leave the “Primary organizer WordPress.org username” field blank, before clicking the update button. You might need to re-type your notes in that case. 

If we do get a response from the applicant, please make sure that they have been fully vetted before moving them to the next step, and remember to update the status of the application. 

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