Application Process

Please do not begin organizing a WordCampWordCamp 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. until you’ve contacted us and been approved as an organizer for your city.

To get started, fill out the Organizer Application. Your answers to these 20-ish questions will enable us to provide you with the best resources and/or connect you with other people in your location already in the process of planning a local WordCamp.

When to Apply

First-time WordCamp organizing teams are asked to apply and start the pre-planning process no more than about 6 months before their desired event date.

  • If your team is brand new to WordCamp organizing, apply about 6 months from your target event date.
  • Most events require at least 3 months of planning.

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Milestones to Note

Experience has shown that teams new to WordCamp organizing are best able to create and maintain momentum within a 4-6 month planning window. Learn more by looking over this WordCamp Planning Milestones schedule.

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Application Responses

After the application is reviewed, you will receive one of the following:

  • Approval to move forward to an orientation where a Community team member will share our expectations and discuss your plans.
  • A recommendation to start with 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. group first to grow the community and/or identify and recuit co-organizers to help. If it’s successful, you can recontact us in a few months (we usually recommend about 6) to revisit planning a larger event.
  • A kind, but firm answer that it’s not a good fit based on your responses to the application questions. If you think we misunderstood you, let us know and we can discuss it further.

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After a WordCamp is Approved

The Community team will create a gmail email address and site on wordcamp.org for your event. You will also be introduced to your mentorEvent Supporter 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..

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Populate the Website and Create a Budget

While your team begins building the site, the organizing team should be getting quotes to create the budget. The Budget tool can be found in the left column of the site’s dashboard. Review the budget with your mentor and when it’s ready for review, click Submit for Approval.

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Budget Review and Venue Approval

Once your budget is submitted, you will receive an email with either suggested changes to the budget or to schedule a meeting to review the budget as is. Don’t be alarmed if your budget is rejected. The only way to edit the budget one the Submit for Approval button is pushes is to reject the budget. Every budget is rejected at least once.

You will also need to submit your venue contract for approval. Do not put down a deposit or sign anything. To protect our organizers both financially and with our insurance coverage, WPCSWPCS The collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) used to format and validate PHP code developed for WordPress according to the WordPress Coding Standards. May also be an acronym referring to the Accessibility, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etc. coding standards as published in the WordPress Coding Standards Handbook. needs to sign and approve venues. Any venue deposits can be submit under the Budget -> Vendor Payments for payment once the budget is approved.

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Taking your WordCamp Site Live

After the budget is approved, you will be asked to complete your WordCamp tracker entry with an introduction to your event and possibly an optional banner image. When done, you can publish your site and announce your dates. You can also begin to accept sponsors, sell tickets, and open the call for speakers.

No event should ever begin taking money from sponsors or selling tickets until the budget is approved

Thanks for your interest, and good luck!

Apply to become a WordCamp organizer.

Here is a quiz on this article. Read quizzes page if you have any questions about quizzes and how to navigate them.

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