Postponing or Cancelling a WordCamp

This page is a work in progress. If you have any additional tips, please contact the Global Community Team, or comment on the “Event Cancellation Guidelines and Procedures” post.

Assess whether to postpone or cancel your WordCamp

  • What are the circumstances that have lead to thinking about postponing or cancellation and can those change drastically (to better) in a short period of time? If not => cancel
  • Will the majority of the organizing team still want to be involved if 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. is postponed? If not => cancel
  • Does the WordCamp gather attendees and sponsors from wide region (for example from multiple countries) rather than from local areas? If does => cancel
  • Would the WordCamp be postponed past the current calendar year? If yes => cancel
  • Is the same venue or some other sensible alternative available for the date(s) postponing is planned? If not => cancel

Once you have determined if you will postpone or cancel your WordCamp, please email support@wordcamp.org to let the Community Team know about your decision. Please also follow the guidelines below. Items marked with an asterisk (*) will be completed by a DeputyProgram Supporter Community 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./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.. Items marked with a double asterisk (**) need to be performed by a Super DeputyProgram Manager Program 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. with Proxy Access. PingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” in slackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. #community-team if you need help

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If postponing:

WordCamp postponement is defined by a change to a date in the same calendar year. If you’re postponing to the next calendar year, please see the Cancellation section below.

  • Remove tickets from public-facing page so tickets can no longer be purchased (This is done by setting the ticket availability to an end date in the past – see screenshot).*
  • Send postponement email to attendees via Tools -> Notify.
  • Refund all purchased tickets after email goes out**. Why refund in the case of postponement? Our concern is holding on to funds if the situation gets any worse, so we would prefer to refund now so that we aren’t holding on to people’s money. So unless you can confirm a rescheduled date very quickly, we strongly recommend refunding all tickets.
  • Contact venue to confirm postponement and find new date
  • Contact Speakers
  • Contact sponsors about the postponement. If the new date is in the same calendar year, offer them the choice between a refund or carrying their sponsorship over to the rescheduled event. If the new date is in the next calendar year, sponsors should be refunded.
  • Refund paid sponsors that request refunds.*
  • Void sent (but unpaid) sponsor invoices*
  • Email vendors and ask if their any payment/deposits made can be applied to the postponed date, and request refunds if necessary.
  • Change event status (back to “Pre-planning” if postponing to next year. Mark as “Cancelled” if pushing to the next calendar year).*
  • Draft announcement on WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. (then notify a deputy to publish, which auto-posts to Twitter and Facebook)

*Items marked with an asterisk will be completed by a Deputy/Mentor.

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If cancelling:

Cancellation is for moving to a new date in the next calendar year, or cancelling for the foreseeable future.

  • Remove tickets from public-facing page so tickets can no longer be purchased (This is done by setting the ticket availability to an end date in the past– see screenshot)*
  • Send cancellation email to attendees via Tools -> Notify.
  • Refund all purchased tickets after email goes out*
  • Email venue to start cancellation process
  • Email paid vendors to cancel and request refunds if necessary
  • Contact all invoiced sponsors
  • Refund all paid sponsors*
  • Void sent (but unpaid) sponsor invoices*
  • Contact global sponsors*
  • Contact Speakers
  • Change event status to “Cancelled”*
  • Draft announcement on WordCamp Central (then notify a deputy to publish, which auto-posts to Twitter and Facebook)

*Items marked with an asterisk will be completed by a Deputy/Mentor.

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Opting for a livestream event

For WordCamp organizers who are considering cancelling or postponing their eventp, deputiesProgram Supporter Community 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. are currently researching how to provide infrastructure and support for livestream alternatives. Please see the post “Researching livestream infrastructure and support” for more information.

You can also refer to the handbook page for 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. organizers titled “Organizing Virtual Events” for some more livestream ideas and tips.

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