Regional WordCamp expectations (alpha version)
Important: this is a new program, and our team is still figuring out how these kinds of events will fit within the broader context of our existing network of meetups and WordCamps. Due to staffing or resource constraints, the team may decide to limit the number of regional WordCamps that we approve per year, to better serve the global community. This set of expectations will definitely change over time.
A Regional WordCamp is a special kind of WordCamp that represents the WordPress communities in a geographical area larger than one city/metro area.
The goal of a Regional WordCamp is to celebrate, represent, and grow local WordPress communities in the affected region. A primary goal for the WordPress Global Community Team is to help support the creation and growth of WordPress meetup groups and annual WordCamps in as many cities as possible in the world. Regional WordCamps work toward that goal by connecting people who weren’t already active in their local WordPress community and inspiring attendees to start communities in their hometowns.
Sounds great! How do I get started?
Before you apply, make sure you have the following:
1. Established WordPress communities in your target region: To celebrate the local community in your region, there has to be some level of local community established already. Before applying to organize a regional WordCamp, there should be at least 3 (but possibly more) cities in your region with a local group that meet monthly, and that have hosted at least one WordCamp. The size of your region (in geography and population) will affect the expected number of established communities.
2. Experienced WordCamp organizers: The organizing team for a regional WordCamp should include experienced event organizers that represent all of the established WordPress communities in the region.
3. Stable, healthy local communities: If more than one of the communities in the region has suffered financial shortfalls in organizing their WordCamp, or has had difficulties meeting expectations for transparency or inclusion in community organizing, we might ask applicants to address those issues before moving forward with a regional WordCamp.
After a regional WordCamp is approved for pre-planning, we’ll expect all the other stuff we ask WordCamp organizers to do, plus:
- for the lead organizer of the event to take the introductory section of the Community Deputy training course.
- for you and your team to be good examples of the values of the WordPress project at work. Inclusion and transparency should be your bywords from start to finish.
- that at least three people on your organizing team have participated on another WordCamp organizing team (they don’t have to have been lead organizers).
- that you organize the event in collaboration with an experienced community deputy, who will help you model our best practices and meet the event goals.
- that a member of your team or your mentor post a regular update (at least every two months, but monthly is preferred) on the progress of your event planning to make.wordpress.org/community.
If you’d like to start apply to organize a regional WordCamp, please fill out this application. (It’s the same one as our regular WordCamp application, so it should look familiar!)
