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The Process of Transitioning Out a WordCamp Organizing Team Member
We are currently updating the names of our contributor roles throughout our resources. The new role names are Community Team Event SupporterEvent SupporterEvent 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. (formerly MentorEvent SupporterEvent 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.), Community Team Program SupporterProgram SupporterCommunity 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. (formerly DeputyProgram SupporterCommunity 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.), and Program ManagerProgram ManagerProgram Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. (formerly Super DeputyProgram ManagerProgram Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule.).
WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. organizing teams often find themselves in situations where a member of the organizing committee can no longer be part of the committee. Some of the main reasons for this are:
Personal Reasons:
Work or family life no longer allows time to serve on the WordCamp organizing committee
Illness or other medical issue
Performance Reasons:
Unable to keep in touch
Communication problems within the team
Minimum workload is not being met
Violation of 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 or Organizer Agreement
What to do as a Lead Organizer
If you receive a request to withdraw for Personal Reasons
If you receive a notification that someone wishes to leave for personal reasons, please respect the member’s decision and promptly enter the withdrawal process shown below.
Things to try before dismissing a member for Performance Reasons
Remember, communication is key. If the reason a team member wishes to step down is communication issues, we recommend having an open conversation with them first as discord can arise from small misunderstandings. Also, there may be a path for improvement in the whole team through discussions. You may be able to continue by making adjustments to a person’s responsibilities. Don’t be afraid to change teams or responsibilities midway through.
It is important to make multiple attempts to contact the team member if they are not responsive as there are possible life events that may affect their ability to communicate with other organizers.
If there is a member of the Organizing Team who wants to withdraw, you can also consult with your assigned Event Supporter for a solution. If this person is not available, please reach out in the #community-teamslackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel or send an email to support@wordcamp.org for further assistance.
If the solutions above do not improve the situation, or the team member still wishes to leave, proceed to the transition process below.
Violation of the Code of Conduct or Organizer Agreement
If you have any serious problems please send an incident report. If there are any other violations of the Code of Conduct or the Organizer Agreement, first try to discuss whether improvements can be made.
If it is decisive to leave after trying to improve, proceed to the process of leaving.
Withdrawal Process
Qualified people must send a message with their decision to leave to a lead organizer(s). If a knowledge transfer is required, do it as early as possible
As soon as the necessary work is completed, delete the user’s login accounts to planning tools etc. within 3 to 7 days
Google account, Slack, GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/, WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/ website, P2P2P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/., management tools (Backlog, TrelloTrelloProject management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing., etc.), other tools (SNS, graphic tools, etc.)
Change tool access password if necessary
The decision to leave the organizer listing on the WordCamp website should be decided based on the reason for leaving and the status of contributions up to that point.
If the Lead Organizer is stepping down, please include the information of the new person in that role in an email to support@wordcamp.org and let the community know of this change in leadership. You may need to update your WordCamp tracker contact information, etc.
For Members Considering Leaving the WordCamp Organizing Team
If an issue arises where an organizing team member considers resigning, make sure to communicate this openly and as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transition in leadership.
Even if you leave the organizing team for the event, you still have the chance to participate as an attendee as long as Code of Conduct violations didn’t occur.
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WordCamp Speaker Selection
How you choose the speakers for your WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. matters!
WordCamps are a big part of community building. It is often a place where new members start to interact and actively take part in the project. Speaker representation will affect how attendees and future speakers feel about your event. If speakers or attendees feel outnumbered or not represented, they are less likely to engage with the event and less likely to return next year.
Choosing the speaker lineup for your WordCamp is a big deal. It’s one of the main attractions of the conference. It’s also one of the main elements that people will notice and comment on.
You have quite a few factors to consider when selecting your WordCamp speakers:
Interesting mix of topics that will make for an engaging and cohesive event
Topics and speakers that will draw a crowd and generate ticket sales
Percentage of local speakers vs out of town speakers
Ratio of male speakers vs women / non-binary / other genders
How the demographics of your region compare to those of your event’s speakers, organizers, and attendees. Ensuring you have a significant mix of different underrepresented groups: races, ethnicities, sexualities, physical abilities, neurological abilities, cultures, class, caste, countries, age, etc.
A balance of fresh, new voices vs seasoned speakers
Reflective of your WordCamp’s audience: Developers, designers, implementers, users, spoken languages, attendees from different regions, etc.
Selecting Speakers based on name alone can cause unexpected problems
It’s important to have a speaker selection process that is inclusive and equitable.
When speakers are selected based on their names and reputation, this deprioritizes diversity and prevents the inclusion of new voices (people from well-represented and under-represented groups alike). This results in a lack of equity and opportunity for fresh, lesser-known speakers.
By repeatedly featuring familiar voices and perspectives, the events become repetitive and don’t offer fresh insights, engage the audience in new ways, or represent who is in the audience.
By embracing a diverse range of speakers (this will vary based on the demographics of your region) — including new and experienced speakers — WordCamps can offer a rich tapestry of ideas, expertise, and experiences, creating a dynamic and enriching event.
When attendees see people speaking with whom they identify, they tend to feel more included, inspired, and encouraged by the end of the event.
A fully blind selection process doesn’t get ideal results either!
What is a fully blind speaker selection process? The identities of the potential speakers are concealed throughout the evaluation and selection process. In this approach, the focus is primarily on titles and pitches/proposals.
With a fully blind selection process, diversity is not prioritized at all. When diversity is prioritized, organizers make specific choices to ensure that a lineup contains a diverse group of individuals. Blind selection removes that ability.
While you may think a blind selection is more fair, there are other biases that come into play with fully blind selection approach:
Seasoned speakers who have been doing the WordCamp circuit for a while already know how to write great pitches and will be more likely to be accepted to speak based on their pitch/proposal alone. People who are newer may not have pitches that are as well-written and will be less likely to be considered.
People for whom the language spoken at the WordCamp is not their first language, or who have a disability that affects how they write, will be unlikely to be considered. Their proposal may appear to the curators that they are coming from someone careless who is not taking the opportunity seriously, and may therefore be rejected on those grounds outright. However, how someone writes and how someone speaks are not equal, and these voices can bring enriching perspectives to the event.
Why Your Speaker Selection Process Matters
A mix of voices — experienced and new speakers, well-represented and under-represented, a mix of different identities and cultures — is a better, more interesting WordCamp!
Bringing in more underrepresented voices will make for an interesting topic lineup: 1. It can bring in completely new topics. 2. It can also bring in topics that have been done many times before, but from completely new perspectives. Even experts on the topic will be likely to learn something new.
Many people — both well-represented and under-represented — look to the diversity of the speaker lineup to decide if they will attend. Not having a diverse lineup can hurt ticket sales.
When people see themselves represented on stage, they are more interested in attending. (Not all minorities are visible, but even invisible minorities can contribute to people feeling represented.) Higher attendance equals more ticket sales.
Who is represented on stage will impact your community. Want more diversity in your local community? Have more diversity on your stage!
Want more diversity in your MeetupMeetupMeetup 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 WordCamp’s leadership team? The people speaking on stage are more likely to be asked to become organizers and leaders, or may even step up themselves. The same holds true for those in the audience who feel represented by who is speaking on stage.
If the speaker lineup is not diverse, the community will notice and address the lack of inclusivity publicly
There shouldn’t need to be a reason. More diverse speaker lineups are just the right thing to do.
The recommended method to select speakers:
Before Speaker Selection Begins
Read Building A Diverse Speaker Roster on how to generate more applications from people of underrepresented identities → a very important step!
Plan to do the speaker selection as early as possible. People from underrepresented groups may need time to plan in advance for getting reimbursed for travel expenses by their employer or by a sponsor, or raising/saving the funds themselves. Also, a late confirmation that one has been selected as a speaker can also lead to some groups of people per se being discouraged from applying.
Define your WordCamp’s attendee personas: developer, designer, implementer, user, spoken languages, attendees from different regions, etc.
Define what numeric ratios you are aiming for each of your underrepresented groups in your speaker lineup. For example:
50% women / non-binary / other genders speakers
60% local speakers
60% who speak _________ language
etc.
If possible, assemble a diverse speaker outreach team. A diverse outreach team will help you reach more underrepresented networks as well help potential speaker applicants feel valued, and not feel as much like they are being tokenized.
Workshop how outreach is phrased. Always begin with the value that the person can bring to the event — be it their skills or experience. Don’t be afraid to tell them that you are prioritizing diversity, and their presence will mean a lot to attendees like them.
Start speaker outreach as soon as applications are announced.This is an active process; you cannot wait for underrepresented speakers to reach out to you! Never ask an applicant to apply in a way that makes them think they will definitely be selected. Not being selected after thinking it is a certainty is even harder to take.
Speaker Selection Process
This method has several rounds. At least one “blind” round and at least one “with names” round. In this way, you can work on the joint goals of both content AND diversity.
Blind Round
Remove names and companies from speaker submissions
Rank the submissions
A suggested quick method:
Rank from 1 to 10 on whether each member of the speaker selection team likes the topic and abstract description. The goal is to see what talk submissions have the most universal interest.
A suggested multi-faceted method:
Relevance (1-5 Points): How relevant is the proposed topic to the WordPress community and the theme of the event? Is it something that attendees would be interested in and benefit from?
Originality (1-5 Points): Does the proposal present a unique perspective or fresh insight on the topic? Does it offer something new that hasn’t been covered at previous WordCamps?
Clarity (1-5 Points): Is the proposal clearly written and well-structured? Does it clearly explain what the speaker will talk about and what attendees will learn?
Speaker Knowledge (1-5 Points): Based on the proposal, does the speaker appear to have a strong understanding of the topic? Do they present well-researched points and sound arguments?
Engagement (1-5 Points): Does the proposal include elements that will engage the audience, such as interactive activities, real-world examples, or compelling storytelling?
Each proposal can be scored on these five criteria by multiple reviewers. The scores from all reviewers are then averaged to get a final score for each proposal. Proposals with the highest scores are selected for the next round of the selection process.
Save a copy of this ranking
With Names Round
Think about how the demographics of your region compare to those of your event’s speakers, organizers, and attendees. What underrepresented groups do you want to ensure are represented in your speaker lineup? (Examples: genders, races, ethnicities, sexualities, physical abilities, neurological abilities, cultures, class, caste, countries, age, spoken languages, attendees from different regions, etc.?)
Do another round looking at the names and the companies of the speaker applicants
Look at the program for diversity of all types:
Local vs out of town
New speakers vs seasoned speakers
Male speakers vs women / non-binary / other genders
Well-represented vs how you defined your under-represented voices in previous steps above
Final Rounds
Ensure you have topics that interest all attendee personas, and that represent the community
Review it again to see if you need to alter the content to achieve the joint goals of content and diversity
Keep reminding the team that everyone has something worth sharing. It is not the goal to have as many marquee names as possible. It’s okay to have some big names, but that is not the only priority. The goal is to make sure all voices are heard!
After the Speaker Selection Process
Make sure that everyone has received an acceptance or rejection email before anyone in the speaker lineup is announced publicly. No one wants to hear the news online before getting the news privately first.
If you had publicly announced in your speaker outreach process that you were actively seeking a diverse range of voices at your Camp, consider the negative effect on those from underrepresented groups who were not accepted. Therefore, when sending a rejection email, it is important to provide a clear explanation for the decision along with some encouraging words, such as:
We had many apply with this topic and we could only accept one. We would love to see you speak on this at our Meetup. (Then actually provide direct details and instructions on how to make that happen.)
This topic did not fit into our programming this year, but we loved it and hope that you apply again next year.
Your topic sounded great but it did not comply with the WordCamp guidelines re: (specify guidelines, such as no advertising).
If an applicant who was rejected asks why, always make sure to respond and explain.
When announcing the lineup to the public, make sure to distribute underrepresented speakers evenly throughout your serialized announcements. Placing them all at the end, even accidentally, can communicate a less accurate percentage toward the start of the announcements.
Better yet, if you can, announce all of the speakers at once. If your lineup is not finished yet when the first announcement is set to go out, and the first announcement would not be a good representation of the diversity of the lineup, it is better to hold off on the first announcement.
Publishing your full speaker lineup still allows you to do social announcements in thoughtful/even batches, but also is a transparent way to display your attention to diversity and inclusion.
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Venue Accessibility Checklist
Considerations when selecting a venue for WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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.
As an organizer, venue selection can be challenging considering the accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) of convention centers, university or office buildings, and local hotels for all attendees. The following overview can help you assess potential venues for accessibility.
As a side benefit, facilities that are accessible often have more modern amenities, including retrofitted or updated structures, and may better support our technical requirements.
As organizers, make sure to assess each facility (conference, hotel blockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.) in the following areas:
Building entrances
Tracks/rooms for speaker presentations
Restrooms
Dining areas
Registration, Sponsor Halls, Hallway Tracks or event gathering areas, and pathways
Signage and wayfaring
Tour the venue with someone with a disability
Building entrances
All doorways should be wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair or scooter and have a power-assist feature to allow easy entrance into the building.
Tracks/rooms for speaker presentations (green room, quiet rooms, and organizer meeting rooms)
Offer a ramp to the presentation stage (in addition to standard stairs), to provide access to those using wheelchairs or canes.
Make sure rooms have paths that are large enough to allow turning space for people using mobility aids (wheelchairs, scooters, and walkers). Also, if possible provide tables or areas for easy parking of mobility aids.
Evaluate the room’s acoustics and sound system to ensure that attendees can clearly hear presentations and see the speakers.
Restrooms
Accessible washrooms (with wide entrances, wheelchair stalls, etc.) should be close in proximity to all meeting or dining areas and be able to accommodate a large number of attendees.
Dining areas
Similar to restrooms, dining areas should be near the main rooms of the event and have accessible restrooms nearby.
Registration, Sponsor Halls, Hallway Tracks or event gathering areas, and pathways
Look for wide, barrier-free travel routes to and from all conference meeting areas. Provide barrier-free routes of travel to and from all conference meeting areas. Watch out for things that impede access like sudden changes in level or flooring.
If your event takes place on several floors, be sure there is enough elevator capacity to accommodate those who can’t use the stairs.
Signage and wayfinding
Provide an accessible large-format floor plan and event signs for attendees.
Ensure that maps and signs are simple, clear, and have sufficient color contrast for key information.
Tour the venue with someone with a disability
If you have the resources, tour potential facilities with someone from the disabled community, who may be able to point out considerations that the larger team may miss. This will offer an invaluable perspective on the venue, and help you create the most accessible event possible.
Finally, reach out to members of the disabled community for feedback during the planning process including them in meetings or to review plans as needed.
WordPress Community Support, PBC, was created to handle funds for WordCamps and to relieve organizers of legal and financial liability. When a WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. chooses to run funds locally, it is likely because there are local laws in place that make international transfers difficult, whether due to tax reasons or general banking regulations. Vendors may not be able to accept international wires, and sponsors may find it difficult to send funds internationally.
Making the decision to handle WordCamp funds locally should be a last resort, as it does place liability on the party handling the funds of the WordCamp.
One very important note for WordCamps running funds locally; in order for an application to be considered in a locale where the prior year’s WordCamp managed funds locally, the prior WordCamp must have submitted a complete Transparency Report, and that report must have been reviewed and accepted by Central. A WordCamp running funds locally has to be closed before a successor WordCamp will be considered.
What are the processes for those events running funds locally?
The planning steps for events running funds through WPCSWPCSThe 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. OR running funds outside of WPCS “locally” are the same all the way through the budget review process. These first steps are listed below:
Send your preliminary budget to WordCamp CentralWordCamp CentralWebsite for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. for review by making a request through the dashboard
Insurance Requirements
Even if WPCS is not handling the money for the event, WPCS should still sign the venue contract, this way the liability protection provided under WPCS’s insurance policies is extended to the WordCamp. Most venues will require certain levels of insurance coverage, so it is important to inquire about this when in discussions with the venue.
Creating Sponsorship Agreements
Most sponsors will not need a sponsor agreement, but there are some cases when one is required:
If the sponsorship package is an amount higher of $10k
If it’s a legal requirement of the sponsor’s country (like the case of SiteGround)
Whether or not a WordCamp is running funds through WPCS or locally, they can utilize the sponsorship agreement tool on the WordCamp dashboard.
Creating Sponsorship Invoices
Due to the fact that most sponsorship funds will be received directly by the organizing team to an account of their choosing, invoice creation will work differently from those WordCamps running funds through WPCS. Not to worry, it’s still a fairly simple process. Organizers can utilize this template to create invoices to email to their local sponsors. Occasionally, there may be sponsors who are able to go through normal channels to make payments directly to WPCS. In this case, organizers can use the invoice creation tool on the dashboard to create and send an invoice. Once the sponsorship invoice is paid, WPCS will include those funds with the Global Community Grant.
It’s important to note that copies of all sponsorship invoices sent locally should be retained in the Google Drive Folder created for the WordCamp.
Receiving a Global Community Grant to get started
The Global Community Sponsorship Grant is a grant from WordCamp Central to help bridge the gap between what can be raised locally through local sponsorship grants and micro-sponsorships and the amount needed to fund the WordCamp. The amount of the Global Community Grant is determined during the budget review process. Once a WordCamp is ready to move forward with making deposits for the event, organizers should submit a vendor payment request using this process for the amount of the grant approved in the budget and any additional sponsorship funds that may have been paid directly to WPCS.
Paying Vendors when running funds locally
Just like with local sponsorship invoices, copies of any vendor invoices that are paid locally should be retained in the Google Drive folder created for the WordCamp. This is a very important step, as copies of all sponsorship invoices and vendor invoices will need to be submitted to WordCamp Central once the event concludes. When a WordCamp decides to handle the funds for a WordCamp locally, all responsibility to make payments to vendors in a timely manner falls on the organizing team.
Ticket Sales when running funds locally
Tickets can be sold and attendance tracked using the Camptix plugin whether or not a WordCamp is running funds locally or through WPCS. If you want to use Stripe or PayPal and your event is handling the money locally (outside the US/Canada), then go to CampTix > Setup > Payment tab, and select “None” in the Predefined Account field, and click on the “Save Changes” button. Fields for entering your Stripe/PayPal APIAPIAn API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. details will then appear. Enter the details of the account you plan to use to collect ticket revenue, then click “Save Changes” again.
If Stripe/PayPal don’t support your currency, or attendees in your city prefer another gateway, then it’s very important that you select a gateway early on in the organizing process. We’ll need to coordinate the setup with you, and if we don’t already have a pluginPluginA 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 to support that gateway, we’ll ask your community to create one.
That process might only take a few days, but if a new plugin needs to be created, then it could take a few weeks, or even a few months. If you don’t get started on that process early, then you might not be able to open ticket sales when you plan to. To get started, contact your mentorEvent SupporterEvent 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. or a deputyProgram SupporterCommunity 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.. Make sure the gateway you want to use is approved before you start writing code.
The gateways/currencies we currently support are:
KDCpay: INR
Instamojo – INR
MercadoPago: ARS, BRL, MXN, VEF, COP
PayFast: ZAR
PayPal: AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, USD, NZD, CHF, HKD, SGD, SEK, DKK, PLN, NOK, HUF, CZK, ILS, MXN, BRL, MYR, PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php., TWD, THB, TRY
The additional steps for using the CampTix plugin and ticketing can be found here.
Wrapping up and submitting a Transparency Report
The event is over, but there’s just one more task to complete before wrapping up. As stated previously, organizers must retain copies of all sponsorship invoices, records of ticket sales (preferably a report from the payment gateway showing all receipts and refunds), and vendor invoices/payment receipts in the Google Drive folder for their specified WordCamp. Once the event has concluded, organizers are required to submit a “Transparency Report” recapping total income and expenses of the event. You will find a template in your Google Drive folder.
The Transparency Report consists of 3 separate tabs. The first tab is a quick recap of the Working Budget from the WordCamp dashboard. Only input information and formulas in those cells highlighted in yellow. It is recommended that as actual vendor invoices are received and sponsorship invoices are sent and paid, the Working Budget is updated to reflect the final totals. If there are multiple invoices for any one categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging., utilize the formula approach to enter data. In the appropriate cell, input ‘=’ and then the amounts of each invoice separated by the ‘+’ sign. The total will populate once you hit ‘ENTER’. By entering the Working Budget figures here, it will make comparing these totals to the invoices and receipts listed later in the report much easier.
Please also take a screenshot of the Approved Budget and paste in this same tab.
The 2nd tab is the Income tab. Select a category of income from the dropdown in the first column, then enter the Payor, Amount, and a link to the invoice in the Google Drive for the WordCamp. For ticket income, simply list a total amount and a link to the report pulled from the payment gateway that was added to the WordCamp Google Drive. Once all invoices have been entered, a total should populate at the bottom. This total is then compared to the total entered on Tab 1, Working Budget. If there are any differences, please investigate.
The 3rd tab is the Expense tab. Similar to the Income tab, select a category of expense from the drop down list in the first column, then add the Payee name, amount, and a link to the vendor invoice/receipt. As with Income, there will be a total calculated at the bottom of this tab. The total is compared to the Working Budget, and should be zero. If not please locate any differences and either add the additional expense to the Working Budget, or locate the missing invoice/receipt.
Central realizes the planning process and managing the event is a big task, so it is ok to take a little time to rest before tackling this last step. The Transparency Report should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than 1 month after the conclusion of the event. If possible, it would be ideal to also submit banking records showing the inflow and outflow of funds that coincides with the receipts and invoices listed on the Transparency Report. If a personal bank account was used to accept sponsorship funds and pay vendors, feel free to redact the lines on the bank statement that are not related to the WordCamp before submitting.
One very important note for WordCamps running funds locally; in order for an application to be considered in a locale where the prior year’s WordCamp managed funds locally, the prior WordCamp must have submitted a complete Transparency Report, and that report must have been reviewed and accepted by Central. A WordCamp running funds locally has to be closed before a successor WordCamp will be considered.
Here is more information on what happens if a Transparency report if not submitted.
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Venue Contract
For any venue – particularly a hotel, wedding banquet, convention hall, or any other professional space – we want the organizers and the venue to prepare an official contract to be signed by both parties: the venue and WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support PBC is a subsidiary of WordPress Foundation. It is created specifically to be the financial and legal support for WordCamps, WordPress Meetup groups, and any additional “official” events organized within the WordPress Community Events program., PBC (WPCSWPCSThe 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., PBC).
Please, don’t sign the contract yourself. Make sure that only the venue signs the agreement, and then send it to support@wordcamp.org in one PDF document. A representative of WordPress Community Support, PBC will sign it and send it back to you.
Components of a complete contract:
An official letterhead
Addressed to:
WordPress Community Support, PBC, 660 4th Street #119, San Francisco, CA 94107
Description of the items booked, as per the approved budget and the rate
Some venues, such as schools, libraries, etc., might not have a procedure or template to create a formal contract that describes the booked venue package and cancellation policy and is signed by the venue. In such situations, please complete this Simple Venue Agreement Template and have it signed by the venue and WPCS, PBC.
Why we require a signed contract before announcing the WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. date
A signed venue contract is an official and legally binding document that we need in order to file an insurance claim if anything unexpected happens.
With a signed contract, the venue and WPCS accept some conditions in case of event cancellation, etc.
A contract signed by an international entity like WPCS elicits a bigger commitment from the venue.
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Using FreeScout for email collaboration
Overview
Shared inbox software provides a collaborative space for WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. teams to answer emails jointly. Shared inboxes can also aggregate multiple email accounts into one inbox for streamlined management. Below are some of the benefits of using a shared inbox for your WordCamp;
Multiple inbox support for flagship WordCamps (flagship@wordcamp, flagship-sponsors@wordcamp, flagship-venue@wordcamp etc)
Assign user permissions
Tags / labels
Workflows (auto-assign, auto-reply etc based on conditions)
FreeScout is the super lightweight free open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. help desk and shared inbox written in PHP7 (Laravel 5.5 framework). It is self-hosted and very similar to HelpScout or other shared mailbox services.
Some of the additional features require paid modules ranging from $2 – $20 one-off payment.
Requirements
FreeScout is a pure PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php./MySQLMySQLMySQL is a relational database management system. A database is a structured collection of data where content, configuration and other options are stored. https://www.mysql.com/. application just like WordPress, so it can be easily deployedDeployLaunching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. even on shared hosting.
Installing in a Shared Hosting server
Many shared hosting comes with the Softaculous script installer pre-installed. From your control panel, navigate to Softaculous and search “FreeScout”.
Installing in a Cloud hosting provider
Please follow official installation instructions from Freescout here; https://github.com/freescout-helpdesk/freescout/wiki/Installation-Guide
Setting up WordCamp email with FreeScout
As a WordCamp organizer, you should have received a WordCamp Gmail address such as city@wordcamp.org.
In order to set up your WordCamp Gmail with Freescout, please follow the following steps;
Step 1: Setup a Two Factor Authentication Visit https://myaccount.google.com/security and click 2-Step Verification and set up your phone number to secure the account.
Step 2: Create an App password Visit https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and create a new App Password for FreeScout. Copy the password that you created in this step to be used in your FreeScout setup.
Step 3: Setup new Mailbox in FreeScout Go to Manage > Mailboxes > New to add a new Inbox in your FreeScout instance. Enter the basic details as required.
Step 4: Setup Outgoing Mails In the next screen, set up the outgoing mails or SMTP. Use the settings below to set up your WordCamp email. Replace the username with your WordCamp email and the Password is the app password you created in Step 2 (Take note that this is not your WordCamp Gmail password).
Step 5: Setup Incoming Mails Finally, set up the incoming email. Click on the Fetching emails tab and set it up as the following example. Replace the username with your WordCamp email and the Password is the app password you created in Step 2 (Take note that this is not your WordCamp Gmail password).
Important Note: Make sure you save all settings before clicking “Check connection” or “Send test mail”.
Repeat Step 1 to Step 5 to add other inboxes if you have more than one email ID for your WordCamp such as sponsors@ or venue@.
Managing Users
Now that you have configured FreeScout inboxes, the next step is to add fellow organizers to access and collaborate in conversations.
Adding a new Organizer / Co-Organizer / WranglerWranglerSomeone, usually a person part of event organizing team, who looks after certain things like budget or sponsors.
To add new users to your FreeScout, go to Manage > Users > New. Fill up the form and the user will receive an invitation email.
Useful Modules
Below are some of the useful modules (which are not free);
TAGS – Allow tag issues such as “Sponsors”, “Attendee” https://freescout.net/module/tags/
WORKFLOW – Allow set automation. Such as auto-forward email, Add tags when containing specific subject, etc. https://freescout.net/module/workflows/
WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. organizing teams have always been provided a city@wordcamp.org email address in order to look more official when contacting venues, sponsors, etc. Historically, we had created email forwarders for all camp organizers and set up POP/IMAP access as well as cPanel based email accounts for some organizers upon request. However, the cPanel based webmail client we used was not very user-friendly and didn’t work well when multiple people are using it. Organizers have found it challenging to track emails from a central location, and to send outgoing emails from the city@wordcamp.org account.
The WordPress FoundationWordPress FoundationThe WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org. was approved for a Google Workspace for Non-profits account in April 2020, which we can use for the wordcamp.org domain. Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) provides a host of tools (including Gmail, Drive and Docs, Google Meet, and YouTube) that WordCamps can use, along with a modern, user-friendly interface. We reached out to organizers to get some feedback on how they would like to use the WordCamp email accounts. The feedback we received was that existing email service implementation had several shortcomings and realized that Community Members would benefit immensely from a Google Workspace account.
Hence the team decided to implement Google Workspace for all WordCamp accounts in August 2020.
Getting a Google Workspace Account for your WordCamp
All approved WordCamps from August 2020 will get a Google Workspace account automatically. We can also set up a collaborative inbox for the organizing team upon request.
All WordCamps in 2020 (both scheduled camps and events that had at least made it to pre-planning), as well as all successful (closed) WordCamps from 2019 will also get a Google Workspace account. The preset email forwarders in these accounts will continue to be active.
Email addresses of all older camps (Camps that last had an event held in 2018 or before) will be deactivated. If those camps require a Google Workspace based email address, they can email to support@wordcamp.org to request access for the same (access will be provided on a case-by-case basis).
Features
Here is a comprehensive list of all the tools we have made available for WordCamp organizers, listed along with training docs for the respective tools.
Calendar: For scheduling events amongst WordCamp organizers.
Drive: You get 30 GB of Google Drive space for all your information.
Docs, Sheets, and Slides: You can use these tools to store your docs, create/manage spreadsheets, or even store talk slides.
YouTube: You can live-stream your online events and host local Camp/MeetupMeetupMeetup 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. videos.
Google Sites: Some teams use this feature for internal documentation. Contact support@wordcamp.org if you need a new site created under your account.
Setting up a Google Workspace Account
WordCamp CentralWordCamp CentralWebsite for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. will provide organizers with the credentials for the Google Workspace account over email (after a successful WordCamp orientation, or directly by email for existing camps that are eligible for their Google Workspace account). They can use those credentials to sign in to the Google account by visiting: https://accounts.google.com/ or (https://mail.google.com/ to access their emails). We recommend that you set up a recovery email and a phone number for account security. If you want, you can also set up Two Factor Authentication (2FA) for your account to bolster account security; however, this will make it difficult for sharing credentials between organizers. If you do set up two-factor authentication, and wish to share credentials with your organizing team, you can use options like security keys, or a Two Factor software such as Authy (which provides accounts) for sharing two-factor authentication credentials.
By activating your Google Workspace account, you automatically get access to all the Google Workspace tools listed above.
Google Workspace Tips and Tricks for Organizers
Using Email Labels and Filters for Speakers/Sponsors/Organizers and more
Gmail allows users to add labels and filters, making it a lot easier to filterFilterFilters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. out emails. As WordCamp organizers, you are going to use the inbox to do a lot of communication. You can filter these communications into different sections using Labels, and order them by colors.
Labels To create a new Label, after logging into the Gmail interface, in the left sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme., scroll down, then click More, click on the Create new label button, enter your label name and click on the Create button. You can assign the label to existing messages (Select messages that you’d like to label from the Gmail interface, click Labels at the top, select a one from existing options, or create a new one), or assign a Label to a message you are writing. You can read more about labels in the Google support doc. It would make sense to add Label for commonly-used WordCamp topics, such as Speakers, Sponsors, Attendees, Volunteers, etc.. Feel free to experiment with Labels as much as you want!
Filters
You can create filters by clicking on the Gear icon on the top right corner of the Gmail web interface, followed by See all settings. Then, navigate to Filters and Blocked Addresses, where you can manually create filters. You can also create filters from the Gmail search interface. In the search box at the top, click the Down arrow, and enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
Then, at the bottom of the search window, click Create filter. Here, you can choose what to do with the filter you have just created.
As you can see, you get a variety of options. Some of the options that you can try out are:
Automatically assign labels (e.g., the Speaker label for speaker emails using the: “Apply the label” option)
Forward the email (for instance, you can forward the speaker emails directly to speaker wranglers).
Mark it as important
Assign categories
Clicking on “Apply filter to matching conversations” applies the filter to all existing conversations as well.
If you send an email to an address by appending a plus (“+”) sign and any combination of words or numbers after your email address, your email will get delivered. For example, if a WordCamp email address is narnia@wordcamp.org, you could send mail to narnia+speakers@wordcamp.org or narnia+sponsors@wordcamp.org, and your email will get delivered to narnia@wordcamp.org.
You can add these custom emails as aliases by navigating to Settings (the gear icon on the top right corner), followed by “See all settings.” Choose “Accounts” from the top menu and add aliases like: narnia+sponsors@wordcamp.org, narnia+speakers@wordcamp.org, and more, if you like.
Upon setting this up, organizers can send emails using these aliases, as shown below:
You can add signatures for each account in the Settings > See all settings > General > Signature field, and choose between different email signatures when sending emails too by clicking on the “pen icon” in the tool field.
Each team can set up custom labels and filters, and email forwarding based on these aliases as well, as mentioned in the tips listed above. If you already have filters set up for sponsors or speakers (or if you want to create new filters), you can add the custom email address (e.g., “narnia+sponsors@wordcamp.org”) to the “to” address field in the filter creation screen, as shown below.
The best use-case for this technique is to forward speaker emails to the personal email addresses of speaker wranglers, sponsor emails to sponsor wranglers, and so on. This will ensure that they don’t miss any updates. A copy of these emails will also remain in the shared inbox, available to everyone for viewing, thereby maintaining transparency.
Create email templates
As organizers, you will get a lot of common questions, or you might need to send the same reply to several users. Setting up templates will help you solve this problem. You can compose your response once and save the email as a template. Later, you can open the saved template and send it again with just a few clicks.
You would need to enable templates first. To do this, click on the Gear icon (Settings) on the top right corner of the screen, followed by See all settings. You can then choose the Advanced menu item from the top. Check the “Enable” radio button alongside “Templates” and then click: “Save all changes.”
To create a new template, open the Compose window, enter your template text. Then click on More (the three dots button on the bottom right corner of the compose window), followed by “Templates.” You can then choose the option to create a new template or to change an existing template.
To insert a new template, click on the same More icon (the three dots button on the bottom right corner of the compose window), followed by “Templates.” Choose your template from the list, and it will auto-populate on the composer screen:
Many organizers like setting up tools such as FreeScout, may require you to enable POP/IMAP for your Google Workspace account. One can enable these settings in Settings (the gear icon on the top right corner of the Gmail screen) > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. When you enable POP or IMAP, please preserve the emails in the Google Workspace inbox. You can read about this in the documentation.
Other tips and tricks
You can play around with email priority, and choose to display what email first, so that you don’t miss out on important messages.
Gmail comes with Tasks, comes with your Google Workspace account. If you wish to incorporate task management, you can use this tool.
Email forwarding will be disabled for the Google Workspace account. However, if you would like to create forwarders for the account, you can contact WordCamp Central to set this up.
You can forward emails to a Google group address, or enable a support inbox if you want to (You will need to contact WordCamp Central if you would like to enable this feature).
If you are hosting an online event for your community, you are encouraged to use the built-in YouTube account to broadcast your videos and Google Meet to facilitate organizer meetings or hangouts with WordCamp organizers.
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Community Inclusion Initiatives
The WordPress community is diverse and global. The power of open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. is that anyone can contribute from anywhere at any time, regardless of their background.
The more diverse our community is, the stronger it becomes. With different perspectives come new innovations, ideas, and solutions. Our diversity helps to create a more accessible user experience, whether that’s as a blogger setting up a site or a contributor to our community of in-person events and meetupsMeetupMeetup 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..
Inclusive environments don’t happen overnight – or without effort. To fulfill WordPress’s mission to democratize publishing, the Community team seeks to actively reduce barriers to current and future participation, engagement, and sense of belonging in all WordPress events. This guide is a living document to support contributors in creating diverse, welcoming and inclusive WordPress communities.
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
The Code of Conduct (for in-person events and for virtual events) is a living, community document that was adopted to help ensure safe meeting spaces for all community members. You are always welcome to provide input on and ask questions about the Code of Conduct in the #community-team channel in the WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
Diverse Speaker Training: A live, pre-recorded, or interactive (hybrid of live and pre-recorded) workshop that empowers speakers whose identities are underrepresented in WordPress to overcome personal obstacles, develop, and deliver a WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. or meetupMeetupMeetup 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. talk. This program aims to cultivate a diverse pool of prospective speakers for WordPress events. A recording of this workshop is available on Learn WordPress: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events workshop: A pre-recorded or interactive (hybrid of live and pre-recorded) workshop that empowers community members to cultivate welcoming and diverse WordPress events and communities. A recording of this workshop is available on Learn WordPress: Part 1 and Part 2. All WordPress Meetup and WordCamp organizers are encouraged to complete this training!
Diverse Speaker Support: A Slack channel that brings together alumni of the above #WPDiversity trainings, speaker mentorsEvent SupporterEvent 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., and WordPress event organizers. The purpose of this channel is to build meaningful community connections, provide ongoing support to diverse speakers as they develop talks and build confidence as speakers, and connect diverse speakers with speaking opportunities (for example, by sharing WordCamp calls for speakers, etc).
Are you a multilingual community member who would like to contribute? The Diverse Speaker Training working group welcomes your support translating #WPDiversity materials into different languages. See translations by the Japanese, Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese BR (Brazil), and Italian WordPress communities.
do_actiondo_actiondo_action hackathons are community-organised events that are focussed on using WordPress to give deserving charitable organisations their own online presence. Learn more on doaction.org.
do_action events are hackathons in which WordPress communities volunteer time and expertise to help local nonprofits develop an online presence, so as to be more impactful and effective in their work.
Five for the Future is a community initiative to encourage organizations to contribute five percent of their resources to WordPress development. Receiving sponsorship from an organization to contribute a certain amount of time to the WordPress community can help individuals from various backgrounds to participate in a way that may not have been accessible before.
If you’re an organization interested in donating time and resources to the community, check out the Contribute as an Organization page.
Introduction to Open Source Workshops
In 2019, the WordPress FoundationWordPress FoundationThe WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org. organized an Introduction to Open Source workshop in Ghana, India, Colombia, and St. Lucia. The workshops are organized to help educate and engage potential contributors in regions where there is less participation in Open Source Projects.
Youth Events are locally-organized events dedicated to engaging and educating kids and young adults about WordPress. They provide an opportunity for young adults to learn more about open source software, technology, and community organizing; they provide parents and organizers with an opportunity to engage the next generation in tech.
If you’re interested in organizing a Youth Event in your area, please follow the Organizer Handbook.
Additional Resources and Groups
Many individuals and organizations are dedicated to improving inclusion in the WordPress ecosystem and beyond. Below are some of those resources.
Affinity Groups
BlackPress (on Slack and Meetup): This is a global WordPress community that aims to raise awareness about WordPress among creators of Black African descent by connecting them to other community members, and growing participation and sponsorship toward WordPress.
Mulheres do WordPress: A public Facebook group for women based in Brazil who are involved in the WordPress open source project.
Balkan Women WP: An online meetup encouraging and empowering women to not only watch or attend a webinar, talk, Q&A session but participate actively, get involved, contribute and speak. You can also find them on Instagram.
WordPress Women of Color: Connects cis and transgender women and non-binary people of color throughout the WordPress community.
WPAfrica.org: A directory of WordPress users on the African Continent with the goal of bringing us together. The mission of WP Africa is to form a strong bond between communities in different countries on the African Continent, a bond that encourages us to grow individually and give back to WordPress thereby allowing us to lend our voice to the conversations surrounding WordPress as an Open Source Software.
Perempuan WordPress was created in October 2019 and aims at providing a safe space for female WordPress users in Indonesia to participate in WordPress events, support each other and get involved in WordPress.org projects in Indonesia. It also aims to invite the wider community members to respect and support diversity and inclusion within the WordPress sphere.
WPFem.org aims to make visible and increase the participation of women within WordPress events and Community. The project aims to be a resource for women who have already been encouraged to collaborate with the WordPress Community, and a reference and point of support for those who have not yet taken the plunge. WordPress Fem es un proyecto sin ánimo de lucro que pretende visibilizar y aumentar la participación de las mujeres dentro de los eventos y la Comunidad WordPress. El proyecto pretende ser un altavoz para las mujeres que ya se han animado a colaborar con la Comunidad WordPress, y un referente y punto de apoyo para aquellas que todavía no han dado el paso.
Third Party Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives
Yoast Diversity Fund: This fund aims to increase the diversity of the WordPress community by taking away financial barriers for people from typically underrepresented groups in tech. The fund reimburses travel and accommodation costs for speakers, up to €1,000 per event.
Support Inclusion in Tech: Assists underrepresented groups in the WordPress community in overcoming the financial burden that holds them back from participating in WordCamp programming. It provides a directory for speakers of underrepresented groups accepted to speak at WordCamps to connect with companies and organizations for financial support.
Underrepresented In Tech: A free database meant to connect skilled members of underrepresented groups with people who have open job positions or other opportunities.
Big Orange Heart: An organization dedicated to mental health support for remote workers.
Further Learning
In addition to the Allyship training, the following resources contain helpful information and concrete actions that community members can take to create more diverse, inclusive WordPress spaces:
Women in WordPress: A bi-monthly podcast dedicated to highlighting women in the WordPress community.
HeroPress tells the stories of a diverse mix of people around the globe who have leveraged WordPress and its community to change their lives and achieve their goals.
Are you aware of additional resources, efforts, or organizations dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the WordPress community? If so, please offer a suggestion via the form below or in the #community-team channel in the WordPress.org Slack.
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Speaker Feedback Tool
For Attendees
Providing feedback for speakers
After you’ve attended a WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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., one way to show your appreciation and contribute back to the community is to provide constructive feedback to the speakers of the sessions you attended at the event. This not only helps speakers know what worked in their presentation and what didn’t, but it helps organizers get a sense of how successful the event was as a whole.
Most WordCamp sites will have a page called Leave Feedback where you can choose a session from a dropdown list and be taken to the feedback form for that session. You can also access the form by looking at the event schedule, following the link for a session that you attended, and clicking the “Leave feedback” link at the bottom of the page.
Note that there is a limited window in which you can submit feedback! The form is only open for two weeks after the event. Feedback is most impactful when it is timely and the experience is fresh in the minds of both the attendee and the speaker.
For Speakers
Accessing feedback provided by people who attended your session(s)
Once a WordCamp session is complete, attendees can fill out a form to provide direct feedback about what they liked in the session and what, if anything, they thought could have improved it. The WordCamp event organizers will moderate the feedback before it becomes available to speakers so that they only see relevant and constructive feedback. If a session has multiple speakers, all of the speakers will be able to see this approved feedback, but it is not visible to the public.
When new feedback is available to view for a session, speakers will receive an email notification with a link to go and view it. The email will only be sent once per day, and only for feedback that was not included in a previous notification. After following the link, the speaker must log in with their WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/ account in order to view the feedback.
When reviewing feedback, a speaker can optionally mark specific comments as “helpful”. This feature serves two purposes: it provides a way to filterFilterFilters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. only the most useful feedback comments to revisit later, and it helps the WordCamp program assess the effectiveness of the feedback tool as a whole.
For Organizers
Encouraging attendees to provide feedback
Your WordCamp site has a special page titled “Leave Feedback” that provides a convenient access point for attendees to look up sessions they attended at your event and submit feedback about them. This page cannot be deleted, but it can be renamed to whatever makes the most sense for your event. Each individual session page will also have a link at the bottom for leaving feedback, once that session’s start time has passed.
The feedback forms only become available once the event has started. Then they will stay open for two weeks after the event. This is because feedback is most impactful when it is timely and the experience is fresh in the minds of both the attendee and the speaker.
Some ideas for encouraging attendees to provide feedback:
Add a button or link to the Leave Feedback page on your homepage and/or the Day of Event page.
Add a link to the Leave Feedback page in your site navigation once the event has started.
Promote the feedback form in social media.
Announce the feedback form during the opening and/or closing remarks.
Moderating submitted feedback
Once an attendee has submitted feedback on a session, it goes into a moderation queue. Members of the WordCamp organizing team who have Administrator or Editor capabilities on the site must review and approve all feedback before the session speakers can view it. This protects speakers from abusive and inappropriate comments.
The feedback moderation screen is found under the Sessions item in the main menu of WP-Admin.
For each feedback comment in the queue, a moderator can take one of three actions:
Approve it
Mark it as “Inappropriate”
Mark it as Spam
If a comment is accidentally marked one way when it should have been another, it can be reverted to “Unapproved” and then marked the correct way.
When a session has new feedback comments that have been approved, the speaker(s) for that session will receive an email, up to once per day, notifying them about their feedback and providing a link where they can view it. Speakers view their feedback at the same link that displays the feedback form to attendees. A speaker must be logged in using their WordPress.org account, and then the form will be replaced by a list of the approved feedback comments. On this list, speakers can optionally mark feedback comments as “helpful”, though the feedback author is not notified of this action.
In order to make sure that speakers can see their feedback when logged in, please ensure that their WordPress.org usernames are saved correctly in the session details.
Letting speakers know that session attendees will be providing feedback
It is recommended that speakers be notified before the event that attendees will be able to submit feedback to them. This way they can be mentally prepared and expect the email notifications that they will receive once their feedback has been moderated.
