Thanks for taking part in our mentoring program! This is a great way for every 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. organizer to get structured support and guidance. The format we have been using has been to ask groups/pairs to meet every two weeks for 12 weeks to talk over the following points:
Session 1: Recruiting organizing team / Finding a venue / Drawing up a prelim budget
- building an organizing team
- identifying what you want in a venue and how to get it for free or cheap
- budget setup: fixed vs variable expenses, “must haves” vs “nice to haves”
- event revenue: ticket pricing, multi-event sponsorship, local sponsorship packages, in-kind sponsorship
Session 2: Website setup, design, and management
- how to use WordCamp.org tools successfully
- event site design best practices
- WordCamp website content management
Session 3: Recruiting & selecting speakers/sponsors
- setting goals for your schedule
- how to recruit local, diverse speakers.
- setting the length of sessions and breaks
- how to make a call for speakers and review applications
Session 4: Registration / Food and parties
- setting up registration with Camptix (badge design), coupon codes, managing sell-outs
- planning lunch, coffee, snack for the event
- planning (speaker and after-) parties/events
Session 5: Recruiting & scheduling volunteers
- how to make a call for volunteers that attracts reliable people
- how to set a volunteer schedule
- tips for wrangling volunteers
Session 6: Designing swag & badges / Day Of: best practices and back-up plans
- badge design best practices
- swag design best practices
- before-event emails to attendees, speakers, sponsors
- back-up plans
Bonus Session: Week-before WordCamp check-in
- review backup plans
- where’s your towel
- don’t panic
And then talking as often as necessary outside that schedule for ease of mind and all that. Volunteers in the global community teamGlobal Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. will still be available for tricky questions, but we’re hoping to make peer mentoring our first line of awesomeness for WordCamp organizers.
