Creating Diverse and Inclusive Meetups

• For tips on creating a welcoming environment at your 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., see the handbook page Inclusive and Welcoming Events.
• For resources on encouraging speakers from under-represented groups, see the handbook page Building a Diverse Speaker Roster. 
• For a workshop to help you encourage more speakers from under-represented groups to apply to speak, run the Diverse Speaker Training Workshop.
• For more information on inclusion initiatives in the WordPress community, please see the handbook page Community Inclusion Initiatives.

Tips for encouraging diverse meetup speakers

• Ask! It’s so simple, but can be quite impactful. If there’s a member of the WordPress community you admire and have enjoyed a talk they’ve given in the past, you should send them a pingPing 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.”. Be specific about what you are looking for, when you hold your event, and find out if they’re willing to speak to your group.
• Collaborate with other nearby groups to find speakers. This works especially well for online events, where both presenters and attendees are not constrained by location.
• Look within your meetup group. Your meetup group is made up of all sorts of tremendously talented and experienced individuals. Frequently people don’t think of themselves as presenters because no one has given them the opportunity or training to be a presenter. Open up speaker requests internally to your group, and encourage first-time speakers.

Last updated: May 25, 2021