Julia Golomb 9:12 pm on January 31, 2024
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Reflecting on the NextGen Events Pilot Project and Looking Ahead

Background

In May 2023, the WordPress Community Team embarked on an ambitious journey with the “Next Generation WordPress Events” pilot project. Our goal was to explore innovative event formats beyond the traditional 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. or 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., bringing fresh experiences to our community and attracting new audiences to attend WordPress events. Throughout the latter half of 2023, we experimented with a variety of creative events, each uniquely contributing to the WordPress community. Check out the full list of pilot events.

Today, @adityakane, @devinmaeztri, @no249a002, @francescodicandia, @unintended8, @lanche86, @samsuresh, @yoga1103 and I are excited to share our learnings, reflections, and a vision for the future of innovative WordPress events.

Broadening the Horizon of WordPress Events

Based on our experiences with the pilot program, we recommend concluding the NextGen pilot project, and permanently adopting an expanded scope of WordPress Events. This means expanding the WordPress Events program beyond just WordCamps, meetupsMeetup 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. and do_actions, to embrace a broad range of creative event formats. The sky’s the limit, and we encourage the community to keep experimenting with new ideas.

It’s important to clarify that “NextGen” is the name of the pilot project, not a new categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. of events. This project was a playground for experimentation and innovation in the WordPress Events program. Moving forward, we propose simply referring to these events as “WordPress Events.” This term encompasses WordCamps, meetups, do_actions, and an infinite number of other event types that are supported by WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation, 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. and the Community Team.

The Ideal WordPress Event

We’ve learned that the ideal WordPress event should be:

  • Replicable: Easy for other communities to adopt and for the same community to organize again.
  • Desirable: Each event should serve a purpose within the WordPress ecosystem and generate excitement.
  • Sustainable: Events should be financially viable and not overly complex to organize, to prevent burnout among our valued community organizers.
  • Scalable: Ideally, events are able to grow and scale as a community grows. 

We wholeheartedly encourage creativity and experimentation in WordPress Events. Innovation is the lifeblood that keeps our community vibrant and helps grow the WordPress project, its user base, and WordPress communities worldwide!

A highlight from the NextGen Pilot project:

The Rome Community Day event format inspired the Swiss community to organize a Switzerland Community Day, demonstrating that this event format is truly desirable, replicable and sustainable! The Rome event organizer mentored the Switzerland organizing team, a testament to the project’s collaborative spirit.

Tools

To sustainably expand the WordPress events program, we need some new tools, workflows, and documentation that will assist Community Team Event Supporters, Program Supporters, and Program Managers in vetting, onboarding, and mentoring events that don’t fit neatly in the established categories of WordCamp, meetup, or do_actiondo_action do_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.. Our new WordPress Events page (events.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The 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/) is a crucial step in this direction, offering a central URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org and unified platform for all types of WordPress events. Additionally, we have a brand new WordPress event organizer application form, which streamlines the application review process (during the NextGen pilot project, event organizer applications were submitted through a Crowdsignal survey; this was unwieldy for the Community Team to review and process).

What this means for…

WordPress Event Organizers 

We invite you to think outside the box and consider organizing an innovative WordPress Event in your community! Let’s continue to experiment and grow together. Remember, some of the most impactful WordPress events are simple, low-cost, and easy to organize.

Apply now to bring a unique WordPress event to life in your community!

Global Sponsors

Sponsoring the WordPress community’s innovative events provides companies with a unique opportunity to reach new, diverse, and tech-savvy audiences. Global Sponsors already support WordPress Community Events worldwide; innovative event formats offer an opportunity to experiment with new sponsorship benefits and ways to connect with attendees. Do you have ideas that we could test at an innovative WordPress event in 2024? Let the Community Team know by commenting on this post!

Community Team Supporters

In the coming weeks, the Community Team will invite Community Team Supporters to participate in a Zoom session on innovative WordPress Events. This session will provide an opportunity to ask questions and share feedback so that Community Team Supporters are well-equipped to 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. innovative WordPress Events and amplify this exciting new development in WordPress Events. Stay tuned for more details!

Share your thoughts, ideas, and questions in the comments below. Your input is the catalyst for continued innovation and growth in our community. Let’s continue building the next chapter of innovative WordPress Events, making them more inclusive, engaging, and impactful than ever!

Props to the fantastic pilot event and future WordPress event organizers; Community Team NextGen Event Supporters, who reviewed event applications and mentored pilot events; and the entire 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. for their incredible effort to make the NextGen Pilot Project a reality by engaging in discussions, sharing ideas, and spreading the word!

The following people participated in writing this post: @juliarosia @devinmaeztri @peiraisotta @_dorsvenabili.

#community-events, #next-gen-events
harmonyromo 2:50 pm on January 25, 2023  

WordPress Community Support & WordPress Foundation Entity Structure

As the community enters a new year of 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. planning and new organizers join the experience, it’s a fitting time to clarify how WordPress’s operating business & nonprofit entities are set up, and to address some misconceptions.

TL;DR

The key takeaway is that WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation, 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. (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.) and WordPress FoundationWordPress Foundation The 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. (WPFWordPress Foundation The 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.) are two completely separate entities. WPCS is also sometimes referred to as 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.. All WordCamp-related activity is managed within WordPress Community Support and has nothing to do financially with WordPress Foundation. WPCS is set up as a for-profit public benefit corporation, and WPF is a non-profit charitable organization.To keep these two entities in good standing, great care is taken to ensure that all WordCamp activity and finances are conducted through WPCS, not WPF.

Public-Benefit Corporation

It’s important to note that WPCS is a “public benefit corporation” (PBC or B-Corporation), which has several important differences from a traditional C-Corporation. While none of the following points are monitored requirements of PBC organizations, WPCS is managed in a way that is very financially cautious and follows the same transparency guidelines that most non-profit organizations observe.

WPCS is committed to supporting a specific public benefit. WPCS is solely focused on WordCamps, MeetupsMeetup 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., and the sponsorship of WordCamp Central’s operations.
WPCS offers more transparency than traditional corporations. Each year, after the annual audit concludes, financial data for both WPF and WPCS is posted on wordpressfoundation.org for anyone to review.
Whereas normal C-Corporations have shareholders, WPCS differs in that WPF is the 100% sole shareholder of WPCS. No individual person or company benefits from profits generated within WPCS. This ownership structure doesn’t change the fact that WPCS is a tax-paying entity. It is in no way considered a non-profit.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are another area of misunderstanding. WPCS does pay income taxes on any net profit generated during the year. Unlike WPF, which is considered a non-profit or public charity that needn’t pay income tax, WPCS will pay the federal corporate tax rate on any net income at the end of the year.

The goal in a given year is to operate as close to net zero as possible. WPCS wants to ensure that community sponsorship grants are available to WordCamp organizing teams around the globe, and that all of WordCamp Central’s overhead expenses are covered (insurance, meetup.com fees, software subscriptions, bank fees, etc.), without there being a large deficit or surplus at year end. It’s a tricky thing, but it’s also why the WordCamp budget review process is so important.

Organizing teams should focus on budgets that allow for meaningful events, and there should never be a goal of earning excess income for the organization.

WPF and Non-Profit Rules

WPF’s reporting and operating requirements are very strict, so it’s extremely important that certain rules are followed and that WPF is not brought into the realm of WPCS operations. As stated earlier, WPF and WPCS are completely separate entities and only WPCS is involved with WordCamps. Because of how WPF was set up, it can in no way be referenced for discounts associated with WordCamps or meetups, and WPF funds should never be used for expenses related to WordCamps. The ultimate consequence of any misuse of WPF’s funds is the revocation of non-profit status. Organizers should never state that WPCS is a non-profit entity or that WordCamps are events organized by a non-profit, as neither is true.

WordPress Foundation is involved in funding Charity Hack-a-thons, Introduction to Open SourceOpen Source Open 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. Workshops, the Kim Parsell Scholarship program, and grant-making to like-minded organizations focused on providing technology based education to disadvantaged groups. The organization operates with the welfare of the general public in mind and no business or group of individuals benefit from its existence. This is the main requirement of any public charity.

These points are all important things to remember as in-person WordCamp activity increases in the coming year. As always, WordCamp Central is here to help guide and support the planning process in any way possible, so never hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Pooja Derashri 1:39 am on March 8, 2024
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Asia Meetup Revival Project 2024

Following up the WordPress Meetup Reactivation Project in 2022, we aim to revive some 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. Groups in big cities that are inactive or help the local WordPress community that are not yet part of our Meetup Chapter Program to join our program.

We have selected 10 groups to be our focus for 2024.

CityCountryPopulationMeetup URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.orgMeetup MembersNotes
1KarachiPakistan11,624,219https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-karachi-meetup/2683, last active in May 2023
2Ho Chi Minh/SaigonVietnam8,993,082https://www.meetup.com/Saigon-WordPress1511, last active in May 20202022 Reactivation Project
3SingaporeSingapore5,638,700https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-singapore/2662, last active in June 2023Last 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. in 2019
4JeddahSaudi Arabia4,697,000https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-jeddah/2765, last active in October 2022
4ChennaiIndia4,681,087https://www.meetup.com/Chennai-WordPress-Meetup1427, last active in Jun 2020Reactivated in 2023
6SurabayaIndonesia2,874,314https://www.meetup.com/Surabaya-WordPress-Meetup1713, last active in Mar 2023Reactivated in 2023
7SapporoJapan1,973,832https://www.meetup.com/Sapporo-WordPress-Meetup310, last active in Sep 2023Reactivated in 2023
8DavaoPhilippines1,776,949https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Davao-PH336, last active in May 2023Reactivated in 2023, last WordCamp in 2019
9SeoulSouth Korea10,349,312There is no official group.There are 2 WordPress groups on Meetup.com.There were two applications but declined.
10HanoiVietnam8,053,663https://www.meetup.com/hanoi-wordpress-meetup/Removed from the Chapter in 2020 due to inactivity.We just completed processing the recent application, and a new group has been created, as the previous group can’t be revived. 

Please let us know by leaving your comment below if you are:

  • Organizers of one of the groups or part of the local WordPress community in the city listed above and interested in becoming WordPress Meetup Organizers.
  • Community organizers from the same country and region of the groups listed above.
  • Event and Program Supporters from Asia who are available to participate in the project.

We need your support to: 

  • Closely support the inactive Meetup organizers to plan Meetup events.
  • Organize regular check-ins with the inactive Meetup organizers.
  • Share experiences and encourage the group if they are interested in organizing a WordCamp or other WordPress events. 
  • Onboard new groups if you are a Community Team Supporter.

The outreach to all the groups can be done anytime soon. However, in the first quarter of 2024, we will focus on:

  1. Karachi, supported by Yogesh (@yoga1103)
  2. Saigon, supported by Devin (@devinmaeztri)
  3. Singapore, supported by Pooja (@webtechpooja)
  4. Hanoi, supported by Devin (@devinmaeztri)

Thank you to @devinmaeztri and @yoga1103 for contributing to this post!

#asiapacific, #meetup, #reactivation

Courtney P.K. 2:00 pm on March 22, 2024
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Meetup Organizer Newsletter: March 2024

Hi, WordPress 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!

WordCamp Asia in Taipei, Taiwan recently wrapped up, and the energy in the WordPress Community is high! 

Curious to see all WordPress upcoming events worldwide? Check out the WordPress Events site! You can filterFilter Filters 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. by country, month, and event type and connect with the WordPress communities around the world!

News from 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. Asia 

WordCamp Asia just concluded with a high note. Check out the highlights here. The next WordCamp Asia 2025 has been announced and will be held in Manila, Philippines. The Call for Organizers is open!

In his Q&A session at WordCamp Asia, Matt Mullenweg (WordPress Co-founder) announced that State Of The WordState of the Word This is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/. 2024 will be held in Tokyo, Japan on December 16, 2024. You can view the full recording of Matt’s Q&A session on YouTube.

WordPress 6.5 Coming Soon!

WordPress 6.5 is around the corner! The third Release Candidate (RC3) has been released. Please help test WordPress 6.5 RC3 to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.5 is the best it can be.

Asia Meetup Revival Project

The Community Team has announced a project to revive Meetup Groups in big cities in Asia that are inactive, or help the local WordPress community that are not yet part of the WordPress Meetup Chapter Program to join. Please see the project’s post for more details, and let us know if you’d like to be involved!

MeetupsMeetup 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. of the Month

This month, we celebrate the WordPress Meetup groups of Bengaluru (Bangalore, India), Griñón (Spain), and Satkhira (Bangladesh)!

Group photo at Bengaluru WordPress Community Women's Day Special Meetup
Bangalore, India
Griñón, Spain
Satkhira, Bangladesh

Introducing our newest WordPress Meetup groups

Let’s welcome the new Meetup groups recently added to our chapter! Do support them in organizing both local (in-person) and global (online) meetup events, and let’s learn from their experiences and experiments along the way.

  1. Chicago WordPress Community Meetup
  2. Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
  3. Hanoi
  4. Luzern (Lucerne), Switzerland
  5. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  6. San Francisco
  7. Santiago de Chile
  8. Seoul
  9. Surat, India

Meetup Organizers, we want to feature you!

We’d love to publish pictures from Meetups all around the world in each newsletter. Do you want your Meetup to be featured? Share 1 picture with the Community team! Rename your picture as “Meetup-name_event-date” and upload it to this folder. The formats supported are jpg and png. Please remember, always ask for permission from your group members before taking the picture and sharing it with us!

Meetup Tip of the Month

The best way to boost discoverability of your Meetup events is by putting relevant keywords in your event’s title and description (for example, “WordPress”). When writing your event description, be concise and specific. Include the same relevant keyword in your event title and at least twice in your description. The more you use a searchable keyword, the easier it will be for members to find your event. 

A special thank you to our Global Sponsors: Bluehost, GoDaddy, Automattic, WPBeginner, and WooCommerce!

If you have any questions, Community Team Program Supporters are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events Slack channel. Thanks for everything you do to grow and support the WordPress community—let’s keep sharing knowledge and inspiring each other with our contributions!

See you online soon!

The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @courtneypk, @hellosatya, and @bjmcsherry.

#community-team, #meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

Muhibul Haque 12:04 am on March 9, 2024  

Community Team March Meeting Recap

Attendance: @patricia70, @peiraisotta, @flopez1977, @devmuhib, @hellosatya,@krupajnanda, @vivamundo, @harmonyromo, @adityakane, @samsuresh, @courtneypk, @_dorsvenabili, @mauteri, @angelasjin, @alexcu21, @unintended8

Notes: This recap is a summary of the Community Team monthly meeting. It will cover the discussion points, ideas, and decisions that came up during the meeting. The aim of this recap is to provide a quick overview for those who were unable to attend as well as an overview for everyone. These meetings were based on the Agenda for March and are held in our #community-team 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/. channel on Make WordPress.

You can find the meeting chat log here:

Please leave your comments if you have any feedback.

Additionally, each agenda item discussed may have its own Make post related to its topic with more information and you can add to the discussion directly to that post.

Chat Summary

Here are some discussion points from the meeting.

What have you been working on and how’s the progress? Any recent accomplishments, blockers, or ways the team can assist you?

  • @patricia70 is co-organizer for Switzerland Community Day, looking for a last sponsor. Event supporterEvent 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. for WC Bretagne, they are finalizing the budget, mentoring in the current mentorship program, onboarding volunteers as a WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. co-organizer, and handling additional tasks.
  • @peiraisotta, collaborated with @hellosatya on the February newsletter, mentored at WC Gliwice and WC Krakow, and contributed to the WC Europe sponsor team. Transitioning to dedicating nearly 100% of time to support the Five For The Future project, currently learning about its progress to determine the most effective ways to contribute.
  • @flopez1977, Secured GithubGitHub GitHub 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/ access with @devinmaeztri, successfully performed a vetting for 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., considering the establishment of a vetting team to streamline the process. Coordinated with WP Cartagena, obtained budget approval, and identified Github functions as potential blockers.
  • @devmuhib, Creating a tutorial for the Learn WordPress website while actively mentoring in the “Bengali Polyglot Onboarding” team and addressing issues in the Training team’s triage process.
  • @hellosatya, Planning first meetup, mentoring, contributing to WordPress, approved meetup group, volunteering at 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. Europe.
  • @krupajnanda, Collaborating with @oglekler, testing WP 6.5 BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process./RCRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. releases for priority issues.
  • @vivamundo, Working on WCEU, WC Romania, WC Leipzig and WC Rome

Highlighted Things Everyone Should Stay informed: review the financial recap for January 2024 events, support Reactivation of WordPress Latam Communities, and draw inspiration from the Jakarta WordPress Web Challenge.

@peiraisotta @harmonyromo, @adityakane shared their insights about the topic.

@courtneypk. came back to contribute full time to the community team, after some years contributing full time to the Training team

No feedback received on the proposal – Non-editable Footer for all Event Website Pages.

In case you missed them, explore the latest announcements and newsletters, including the February Meetup Organizer Newsletter and updates to the newsletter documentation page. Also, the WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program’s Second Cohort for 2024 Q1 has been announced.

Time for Open Floor:

Next Meeting

Community Team Meetings are held the first Thursday of every month. There are two meetings to support different time zones. The meetings will take place on #community-team on Slack.

Call for Meeting Facilitators

The Community Team Monthly Meetings happen on the first Thursday’s of every month. These meetings can be facilitated and run by any member of the community team, and is a great opportunity to engage with the rest of the community and team.

If you are interested in facilitating any of these meetings in the future, please feel free to comment or get in touch with any of the Community Team Reps.

If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the team reps:@peiraisotta, @st810amaze, @leogopal, or @nukaga.

Lidia Arroyo Vargas 10:30 pm on February 16, 2024
Tags: , community-support, ,   

Project: Reactivation of WordPress Latam Communities

Several months ago, I received a very special invitation from @Isotta to embark on an equally extraordinary project: the Revival of WordPress Communities in Latin America. This call resonated deeply with me, awakening an unwavering enthusiasm and commitment to the revitalization of our WordPress ecosystem in the region.

In this post, we are delighted to present to you the progress and details of this significant project. From the initial planning to the concrete actions we have taken, we want to share with you the journey we have undertaken to revive and strengthen the WordPress communities in Latin America.

Main Objective

Reactivate and strengthen WordPress communities in Latin America to foster collaboration, mutual learning and active participation of members.

Specific Objectives

● Increase active participation
● Create monthly interaction events
● Create strategic and collaborative alliances

Propose activities

  • Form collaborative team to lead the project
  • Translate important handbook material into Spanish
  • Prepare material: Course to become an organizer
  • Organize monthly 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. in LATAM time to teach the course and encourage other communities.
  • Offer individual or group mentoring to the different meetup groups.
  • Have a support channel for organizers.

Project Stages

Stage 1

  • Months: February and March 2024
    • Activities to be carried out
    • Formation of the team
    • Material preparation

Stage 2

  • Months: April – June 2024
    • Activities to be carried out:
      • Course Calendar
      • Communication with the organizers and volunteers of the meetup groups.

We are convinced that together we can achieve great things and build a vibrant and thriving WordPress ecosystem throughout Latin America.

#community-management, #meetups-2, #wordcamps

Hari Shanker R 6:12 pm on March 10, 2023
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Launching the Contributor Working Group: Call for Volunteers

Last month, I shared a proposal in the Make/Project blog, to revamp the Contributor Working Group of the Make/WordPress Community Team in order to build a WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program. Feedback on the proposal was quite positive! Folks supported the idea, volunteered to be a part of the working group, and shared valuable insights on mentorship for WordPress. A big thanks to everyone for their valuable feedback! 

This post aims to start building the proposed mentorship program using the contributor working group!

What is the Contributor Mentorship Program?

At its coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., the contributor mentorship program aims to provide a foundation for new and aspiring contributors to succeed in (and with) the project by helping them build necessary tools and skill set – through cohort-based and 1:1 mentorship. 

The program offers to improve the overall onboarding experience for new contributors in WordPress through effective mentorship opportunities. It is aimed at new contributors to WordPress (mentees) who will be supported by veteran contributors (mentorsEvent 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.). Mentees learn the basics of contributing to the project by working with mentors before they start working on Make/Teams of their choice. 

By being a part of the mentorship program and having access to mentorship, newer contributors can make successful ongoing contributions to the project and stay on to become veterans. In addition to supporting the project by empowering contributors, the program also aims to impart vital skills to participants through contributing, which will support their professional choices and careers.

About the Contributor Working Group

The contributor working group is not new to WordPress. It was originally founded in September 2020 and led by @amethystanswers. The group did a lot of great work around suggesting improved onboarding flows, and organizing online contributor day events, even as the global COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees. 

As I revitalize this working group in 2023, I hope to point its focus exclusively on building a contributor mentorship program based on community feedback from my proposal. Focusing on mentorship will also help the group become more effective and create a significant impact on the community.

The group will initially focus on the following tasks: 

  • Brainstorming and building a structure for the contributor mentorship program
  • Recruiting mentors and mentees to the program
  • Offering support and guidance for mentors and mentees in the program
  • Creating and improving learning content for mentees
  • Running at least one pilot version of the mentorship program in 2023

Call for Volunteers

The mentorship program is going to be an ambitious endeavor, and its success depends on support and contributions from passionate volunteers. Even though this group is tied to the Make/Community Team, its work spans the entire project. Additionally, the group plans to work closely with other Make/Teams, in order to build this program.

Like the WordPress project itself, membership to the working group is open to all. I would like to welcome everyone to join the group! Wondering if this is the right volunteer opportunity for you? You can make a massive impact on the program if you: 

  • Are excited about mentorship and have an idea about how it works
  • Have familiarity with different Make Teams and have experience working with them.
  • Possess a willingness to do outreach 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/.
  • Share a passion for helping others find ways to contribute
  • Can dedicate a few hours per month to the program, especially after the formal launch of the mentorship program. (Note: this is not a requirement – all contributions are welcome!)

Interested in joining the contributor working group? Excellent – we would love to have you with us!

Please express your interest by commenting on this blog post or by joining us for our inaugural team chat on March 20, 2023!
Alternatively, you can also DM me in the Make/WordPress Slack to express your interest (I’m @harishanker over there).

Pinging all the good folks who had previously expressed interest in joining the working group: @dpknauss, @williamsba1, @webtechpooja, @megabyterose, @tobifjellner, @wolfpaw, @soulseekah, @courtneypk, @kirasong, @tobifjellner, and @amethystanswers

Also looping in other folks who had expressed their interest in improving contributor experience for our project: @unintended8 @mysweetcate @sereedmedia @askdesign @lesleysim @adityakane @itsjustdj @evarlese @leonnugraha @javiercasares @jeffpaul, and @desrosj.

Inaugural Meeting times

To kick off work on the contributor working group – we are planning a team chat on the #community-team channel of the Make/WordPress Slack, in a few days. I will also publish a separate agenda blog post before the meeting to kick things off. 

Here’s the link to a handy `.ics` file which contains calendar entries for our upcoming chat. These chats have also been added to the Make/Meetings calendar. I will share reminders in the #community-team Slack to inform participants about these upcoming chats. 

Once again, major props to everyone for expressing interest in an exciting project like the mentorship program. Together, I hope we can all make an impact on our favorite open sourceOpen Source Open 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. project by helping build a program that will also bring positive change to the lives of its contributors.

#contributor-working-group #mentorship-program #wpcontributors

The following folks reviewed or shared feedback on this blog post: @cbringmann @angelasjin @peiraisotta

Patricia BT 2:48 pm on January 22, 2024
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Proposal: Pilot program to test GatherPress on the WordPress.org network as a Meetup alternative

Introduction

We propose a pilot program to test GatherPress, a community-developed pluginPlugin A 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, within interested and active WordPress 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. groups. This initiative stems from our community’s need for an innovative event management tool tailored to the unique demands of WordPress event organizers and participants.

The pilot program would be held in real-world conditions with WordPress Meetup groups.

We have expressed commitments to a trial run from New Jersey and Nashville groups in the USA, French-speaking groups in Switzerland, and potential interest from groups in Spain, Japan as well as from learn.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The 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/.

Overview of GatherPress

GatherPress, led by @mauteri and @hrmervin, is a plugin designed with functionalities akin to Meetup.com, but specifically crafted for the WordPress community by members of the WordPress community. It is the result of the WordPress community’s desire for new event management tools that meet the diverse needs of event organizers and members. 

You can find more information on the website and on GitHub.

Documentation pages, including a demo video, are available on the website.

We welcome everyone to comment here, to test GatherPress (also for accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (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)) or join the GatherPress weekly huddles, 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/. channel or even the team.

Summary of Value Proposition

GatherPress

✅ Members and Attendance data lives on your website and database. Community Organizers define privacy policies, selectively publish attendees lists, gather additional data from attendees, etc.

✅ Democratized access to data and functionality, as WordPress is customizable

✅ Open SourceOpen Source Open 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.: free, and scaled with WordPress

Meetup and Commercial Apps

❌ Data Ownership, Data Integrity, Data Privacy

❌ Control of Roadmap, Enhancements, and Integrations

❌ Cost and Scale

❌ Control UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. and accessibility

Pilot Program Objectives

Real-World Testing

The pilot aims to test GatherPress in a live environment, providing practical insights into its functionality and user experience feedback.

Community engagement

Engage with the participating meetup groups from the international community. 

Feedback & Analysis

Collect feedback from both organizers and participants throughout the course of their use of GatherPress during the trial.

Analyse suggestions, feedback, and bug reports to refine the application into its next version(s).

Reports

Periodic summary posts on how the program is working for the whole community to know about it.

Future Planning

Following the completion of the trial, set the public roadmap of functionality and integrations to be released. Ultimately, the objective of GatherPress is to potentially replace Meetup.com as the centerpoint of the WordPress Community Events and Dashboard WidgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. source data. 

Benefits of the Proposal

1. Community-centric development

This pilot and this project, empowers the WordPress community by directly leading the development process of a tool designed by and for the community at large.

A major challenge of the community is influence over the roadmap of commercially available tools, to build features and functionality needed by organizers, participants, and users with accessibility needs. 

2. Enhanced Event Management

GatherPress promises to offer a more integrated and seamless event management experience within the WordPress ecosystem. Among our goals are to allow community organizers to gather data from attendees unique to each hosted event as needed. Additional capabilities are present for triggering additional reminders, customized waitlist workflows, and selectively publishing attendees lists. The GatherPress plugin is built to be extendable and configurable. Companion plugins will be able to seamlessly integrate with the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. plugin. GatherPress will also be built to leverage features of other community-based plugins (like BuddyPress).

3. Cost-Effectiveness

This project has the potential to reduce the community’s reliance on external platforms like Meetup.com. The estimated cost savings of leveraging our own application is approx $ 215,000 USD per year, coupled with the full control over event management tools and ownership of our community’s data. 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. pays Meetup.com $24.50 per group per month (inclusive of a 30% discount). There were 734 groups as of October of 2023.

4. Use-Case Specific Testing

An example of how this testing can grant case-by-case capabilities includes Localization (translated language). By opening the pilot program to groups from various countries, we ensure that the tool is adaptable and functional in a multilingual context, essential for the diverse WordPress community. Furthermore, communities will benefit from the open source nature of the application, enabling customization of RSVP and onboarding workflows.

5. Data Liberation

The WordPress Open Source community is indeed large, and our data is valuable, as is the privacy. GatherPress hosted by WordPress community proper, will enable organizers and leadership to 1) own the community’s data, and 2) make it selectively available for analysis. Insights learned from our community at large, will inform growth opportunities and strategic initiatives into the future. Today, WordPress operates the Data Liberation project, enabling users of commercial tools to migrate into a WordPress experience. You can learn more about the Data Liberation project at: https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/.

6. Meetup.com Importer

One of the first companion plugins the GatherPress team is currently working on is the ability to import meetup.com data to a GatherPress-powered WordPress site. This will make the transition from meetup.com to GatherPress as seamless as possible and simplify managing both as a group transitions from one platform to another.

Next steps

The ideal setup for the pilot is to run GatherPress on a multisiteMultisite Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core.https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network. within the wordpress.org network, in collaboration with # metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-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., # community-events, # meta, and # learn. This approach ensures seamless integration and alignment with the existing WordPress infrastructure, potentially allowing other meetup groups to join and already be in the definitive environment if the pilot program is successful. 

Alongside this trial, meetup groups should continue to leverage Meetup.com in parallel to GatherPress.

Timeframe

We are prepared to commence immediately and suggest a minimum of a 6 month duration to meet our pilot’s objectives.

Conclusion

This pilot program presents a unique opportunity to shape the future of event management in the WordPress community. By leveraging the collective knowledge and experience of our meetup groups, we can ensure that GatherPress evolves into a tool that truly resonates with the needs and expectations of our global community.

This proposal has been written by @patricia70 and @hrmervin and reviewed by @mauteri.

Suggestions, edition and additional information (thank you): @annebovelett, @devinmaeztri, @harishanker, @harmonyromo, @iandunn, @isvictorious, @javiercasares, @kcristiano, @nao, @peiraisotta, @unintended8, @_dorsvenabili

The draft was submitted for feedback to other community members as well, the above list only includes the persons who commented.

#meetups, #community-management, #community-events, #community-team, #learn, #meta, #meta-wordcamp

Devin Maeztri 11:19 am on February 21, 2024
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Jakarta WordPress Web Challenge

Website: https://events.wordpress.org/jakarta/2024/web-challenge/
Top Participants: https://events.wordpress.org/jakarta/2024/web-challenge/top-participants/
Event Recap Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giz3TYOkrQI&t=10s
Organizer Recap: https://events.wordpress.org/jakarta/2024/web-challenge/web-challenge-2024-recap/

Jakarta WordPress Web Challenge took place on January 27, 2024. The team discussed having a small 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. in 2023, but after the NextGen project was launched in May, we began brainstorming about a new idea in July 2023. @rioburhan, who brought up the original idea, submitted his idea in August, and we started planning the event in October 2023.

The event aims to create a space for WordPress developers to learn from each other. It is a web competition, but the event offers a variety of activities such as:

  • Web pitching by the finalists
  • Web showcase/exhibition for the top 20 websites
  • Workshop for beginners
  • Talk show
  • Sponsors exhibition
  • Community booth

Lessons Learned

  • We started with 3 organizers at the beginning of the event, but we onboarded a few more organizers closer to the event, realizing the amount of work we needed to cover. The more activities, the more details need to be managed.
  • Using government facilities required us to anticipate some bureaucracy and have a plan B.
  • We used a platform called Mayar. We learned how to create and manage the coupon code for all the participants so we could use the Event Dashboard (Tickets –> Attendees) to confirm attendance.
  • We invited sponsors to become more involved as emcees, moderators, and workshop co-facilitators, and to provide prizes such as hosting and licenses.
  • Almost 55% of the participants were first-timers.
  • We tried to reach out to non-WordPress communities and had folks from PHPPHP PHP (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. Indonesia and the Laravel community.
  • We had a great event without a welcome dinner, after-party, and the need to produce swag.
  • We aimed to provide the Transparency Report within 2 weeks and slightly missed our target. It was relatively easy as we collected all the receipts/invoices and updated our budget along the planning process.

#community-events, #next-gen-events, #wordpress

Juan Hernando 10:28 am on February 9, 2024
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2023 WordPress Meetup Survey: Key Findings

Background

The WordPress annual 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. survey was open for responses from November 17, 2023, through January 14, 2024. The following Make Community posts relate to the survey creation and distribution:

About the Survey

In 2023, we didn’t have the bandwidth to prepare and coordinate two separate surveys for Meetup organizers and members in several languages as we did in 2022. Nevertheless, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to collect feedback from the global community before setting the Community Team goals for 2024.

We decided then to create a unified survey for all meetup members and organizers in one language, English. 

After the survey was closed, a working group worked on the analysis and this presentation of the findings. The Community Team members who actively participated in the survey results analysis are Luis Miguel Climent, Juan Hernando, and Isotta Peira.

Two important premises to take into consideration when reflecting on our findings:

  • The survey was open for two months, this limited amount of time might have prevented members from filling it.
  • The survey was only available in English, which might have prevented members from more diverse backgrounds from filling it.

Global overview: 595 community members from 65 countries have participated.

Circle graph of the survey's answers by number and country: USA 186 (31.3%), India 46 (7.7%), Spain 40 (6.7%), Canada 32 (5.4%), Germany 32 (5.4%), Italy 31 (5.2%), Netherlands 21 (3.5%), United Kingdom 19 (3.2%), Australia 18 (3%), Brazil (2%), Costa Rica (1.7%), France (1.7%), and Other 138 (23.2%)

Findings: 2023 Annual Meetup Program Survey

We sought to answer the following questions through the meetup program survey:

  • How can we increase the number of WordPress events?
  • How can we increase the number of WordPress users worldwide?

Challenges

Similar to last year’s survey, we’ve found common challenges that our communities worldwide are facing:

  • The lack of free venues
  • The lack of information about our community and the resources available for the organizers
  • The lack of ideas for engaging event formats
  • The lack of time to organize and contribute to events
  • The lack of speakers and new technical topics
Circle graph titled: Most recurrent challenges for Meetups: Venue and Attendance (39%), Awareness and Perception (29.3%), Organizational Struggles (17%), and Technical Learning Curve (14.7%)

Actionable Insights

Not surprisingly, we noticed many trends related to ideas that we’ve been hearing from many communities in the past months:

  • The need to reach students and collaborate with schools and universities to include WordPress in their curricula
  • The need to increase our community and event visibility on social media and online
  • The need to improve communication and training for community leaders
  • The need to inspire organizers and community members
  • The need of attracting to our community speakers and professionals from outside the WordPress bubble
Bar graph titled 'What ideas do you have to attract more WordPress users to join the community?'. All vary from 8% to 6% in this order: Diverse offer of topics; Promotion & outreach; beginner-friendly initiatives; Community Engagement and Networking; Onoline Presence and Accesibility.

Suggestions of realistic actions to take in 2024

The survey analysis working group suggests the following action to address some of our community’s most impactful challenges.

  • Plan cross-team projects:
    • With the Marketing Team to increase WordPress community and events visibility on social media and with media partners.
    • With the Training Team to prepare training material for teachers to include WordPress in their curricula.
    • With the Training Team to prepare material about the latest WordPress updates for MeetupsMeetup 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. to discuss and for speakers to include in their talks.
    • With the MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team to improve the discoverability of our events and contribution opportunities in the WordPress infrastructure.
    • With Five for the Future to increase the number of sponsorships for active contributors.
  • Improve Community Team documentation, communication, and programs:
    • Increase and diversify the communication channels to share resources (meetup venue fund program, free Zoom accounts for online events, resources for organizers like examples of where to make local contacts: associations, types of businesses, etc.).
    • Highlight one meetup per month in the newsletter/web of events, showcase format ideas used elsewhere, share stories on how to grow the local community, and attract speakers.
    • Create a program for speaker mentoring and make it available to all Meetup groups.
    • Organize dedicated training sessions for organizers about community management, leadership and event organization.
    • Create a program for meetup mentoring with scheduled check-ins between the Community Team and the meetup groups to resolve doubts, and have dedicated volunteers mentoring organizers who need support.
    • Create a starter kit for event organizers with the basic information they need to simplify the onboarding process before using the exhaustive handbook. The kit should include tools and a framework for deciding the day and time for events, better engaging with group members, and attracting speakers from outside the WordPress bubble.

Pinging the Community Team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. so this post stays on their radar for when they will present the discussion to define the 2024 goals. @leogopal, @nukaga, @st810amaze, @peiraisotta.

Discussion

In the comments, please share your reflection on the following questions:

  • What stands out to you in these findings?
  • What feedback do you have about the actions we suggest?
  • What other specific actions would you suggest to the Community Team to include in our 2024 plans?

On behalf of the Community Team, we want to thank everyone who helped create the survey, everyone who filled it, and every person who shared their suggestions. The biggest thank you goes to each of you making the WordPress Community every day with your contributions, your time, and your passion.

The following people have contributed to writing this post: @lmcliment, @unintended8, and @peiraisotta.

#meetups, #community-team, #highlight, #meetup-organizers, #survey