Meetup Program Basics

If you’re interested in learning more about attending 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., organizing a meetup, transferring ownership of a meetup, or joining the WordPress Chapter Meetup program, you’ve come to the right place!

No WordPress meetupsMeetup 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. in your area? Read on to learn about organizing one!

What are Meetups?

Meetups are locally-organized groups that meet for events on a regular basis (commonly once a month) and power year-round WordPress communities. They are a vital part of the overall WordPress open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project.

These events are intended to be relaxed, open to all, and can take many formats:

  • presentations/lecture series,
  • hackathons,
  • social gatherings,
  • workshops,
  • co-working,
  • running a WordPress help desk,
  • contributor sprints/drives, and others.

However, anything that brings together 2 or more people to share their WordPress experiences counts — there’s no minimum number of attendees or required format. Regardless of whether you want to learn about WordPress or meet others who work with it, Meetup events are a way to build a strong WordPress community in your local area.

As WordPress Meetups are organized and run by local communities, anyone can show leadership and no single person is necessarily the owner of what may be organized or hosted. WordPress Meetups are groups in which anyone is welcome to organize an event.

Are you interested in seeing if you have what it takes to be a Meetup organizer? Read on for more information!

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The WordPress Chapter Meetup Program

WordPress has a Meetup account that is used to create the WordPress Chapter Meetup Program. WordPress meetup groups that are part of this account receive certain benefits, including having the meetup.com dues paid by the WordPress Community Support, PBC.

Having a meetup group on this account does require following the Five Good Faith Rules that were created by a group of volunteer meetup organizers.

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The Five Good Faith Rules:

  1. WordPress Meetups are for the benefit of the WordPress community as a whole, not specific businesses or individuals. All actions taken as an event organizer are with the best interest of the community in mind.
  2. Membership in the local meetup group is open to all who wish to join, regardless of ability, skill, financial status or any other criteria.
  3. Meetups are volunteer-run with volunteer speakers.
  4. Meetup groups allow events to be organized by any reliable/trusted member of the community.
  5. Meetups are welcoming places where everyone works to foster an accepting environment which is free of discrimination, incitement to violence, promotion of hate, and general jerk-like behavior.

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Upholding the GPL

We also ask everyone that organizes WordPress Chapter Meetup to uphold the principles of the WordPress open source project, including the GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples.. This helps protect the user/attendee, who might not realize that by using a non-GPL pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party or theme, they are giving away the rights that WordPress provides them.

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Facts About the Chapter Meetup Program

  • Meetups are supported by our own WordPress Meetup chapter program, which underwrites the fees for meetup.com, and provides a central support structure for Meetups globally.
  • Joining the Meetup chapter program provides support, information, and help to both new and established meetups.
  • Chapter Meetups provide a consistent experience regardless of where you attend in the world as each group has committed that they will follow a code of conductCode of Conduct “A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party.” - Wikipedia and that they agree to our five good faith rules for meetups.

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Apply to Organize a Meetup

First, check whether there is already an active WordPress meetup group in your community.

If there is no meetup group in your community and you would like to start one, fill out our meetup interest form. If you are approved, we will work with you to set up a new group for your city and make you the first organizer.

Already organize a WordPress meetup group and want to bring it into the Chapter Program? Learn more about that on the Applying as an Existing Meetup Group page.

To learn more, take the Meetup Program Basices 2 quiz. Read the quizzes section of the welcome page if you have any questions about quizzes and how to navigate them

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