Community Team Training #12: WordCamp Budgeting Tips

We are excited to invite you to attend our upcoming Zoom Training Session scheduled as follows:

TitleCommunity Team Training #12: 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. Budgeting Tips
Date08 February 2024
Time & RSVP2024/02/08 12:00 UTC (1 Hour) 
Open toAll community members
LocationZoom Video Conference

Training Brief

How much money do I need to raise? How much is “normal”? How do I keep the budget review call from being a sleepless night? How do I get Central to pay suppliers as soon as possible? How do I know if everything is going according to plan or if we’re going to have problems in the last month? Why does everything need to balance?

Event organizers and community team members alike face event budgets with more questions than answers. In this session, we will try to answer many of these questions and look at ways to make life easier for all of us.

Reading Materials

Related article:
https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/first-steps/budget-and-finances/

Presenter

Juan Hernando
@unintended8 has twice been a budget team leader at WordCamp Europe and collaborated in four editions of the local WordCamp in Pontevedra, as well as reviewed other event budgets I have mentored and have seen many things we can share to improve together. We welcome all your ideas and experiences as well!

RSVP

Please RSVP, so you will receive an invitation in your email that will include the Zoom link. If you have any questions, feel free to comment.

RSVP: 2024/02/08 12:00 UTC (1 Hour)

REGISTER HERE:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUufuCorjkiGtHfa7KLmmpu_48cNjs4E25K

#community-team, #wordcamps

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: January 2024

Thank you for joining us for another year of contributing to the WordPress 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! 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. are the heart of this project, and your willingness to host one is invaluable. Thank you for all you do to make meetups a reality in your part of the world.

A particular Community Team focus this year is our meetups. We’ll be looking at new ways to get them the support they need to help them grow. 

To highlight events, we have created a new centralized WordPress Events landing page in WordPress.org! It’s a site with infinite possibilities, and we need your suggestions and ideas on how to shape it as it grows for the future.

Feedback Requested on the New WordPress Events Page

First, a little about the site.

This site aims to give more visibility to all kinds of WordPress events around the globe. Here you’ll find upcoming WordPress events like scheduled WordCamps, Meetups, Next Gen WordPress Events (WordPress Events from now on), as well as how to organize them. 

So far, the site consists of the following three pages:

Those three pages are just the beginning of a vision where we bring the WordPress Events our local meetups are organizing closer to our users and visitors of 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/.

The goal is for this site to become the central source of information for all WordPress Community events and organizers. From getting started to finding an event to attend, we can have one resource that supports them all.

Share your ideas here and help us shape the future of this resource.

Grab your ticket for WC Europe 2024

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 2024 will be in Torino, Italy on June 13 – 15 2024. Tickets are now on sale! Grab your ticket today, you can choose between general admission and micro-sponsor.

Thank you and bye (for now), Jill!

After a decade of leadership, Jill Binder has decided to step away from her work with WordPress. Jill has been a key player in our community as the leader of the Diverse Speaker Training (#WPDiversity) working group and as the co-creator & maintainer of the Diverse Speaker Training Workshop. Her dedication to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in the Project has been inspirational. Check out the extraordinary impact of #WPDiversity and use the invaluable open source resources created for WordPress event organizers, underrepresented speakers, Diversity and Community workshop organizers and #WPDiversity workshop translators.

Want to join us in wishing her the best for her next big adventure? Leave your comment to this post.


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


If you have any questions, Community Team 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 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 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. newsletter: @mysweetcate, @pierraisotta, @juliarosia, @bjmcsherry, @devinmaeztri#community-team, #meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

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

Events of the Month – November & December

In a continuing effort to provide some real-time information for event organizers and the community alike, below is a month-in-review post with recaps of the prior month’s events and how they fared financially, in terms of ticket sales and budget.

Of note, the end of 2023 was particularly active with a total of 12 events in November and December.

Updates on WordCamps Held Before November
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. Nairobi, Kenya (Aug 16-17)
Final Tickets Sold: 160
Approved Attendee Total: 200
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed

Final cost $8,265 USD and cost per person/day of $26 USD.

Event closed on budget.
Open Items – Finances: No Open Items
WordCamp Finland (Sept 14-15)
Final Tickets Sold: 407
Approved Attendee Total: 500
Budget Notes*: Budget closed.

Final cost $36,805 USD/ 34,397 EUR and cost per person/day of $45 USD/ 42 EUR.

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship fund of approximately $11,249 USD/ 10,513 EUR
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Pontevedra, Spain (Sept 16-17)
Final Tickets Sold: 254
Approved Attendee Total: 300
Budget Notes*: Budget closed

Final cost $24,125 USD/ 22,546 EUR and cost per person/day of $47 USD/ 44 EUR.

Event closed on budget
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Biarritz, France (Oct 6)
Final Tickets Sold: 304
Approved Attendee Total: 300 
Budget Notes*: Budget closed

Final cost $50,874 USD/ 47,546 EUR and cost per person/day of $167 USD/ 156 EUR.

Event closed with additional Global Sponsorship funds used of approximately $715 USD / 668 EUR
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Bhopal, India (Oct 7-8)
Final Tickets Sold: 353
Approved Attendee Total: 350 
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed. 

Final cost $10,399 USD/ 866,544 INR and cost per person/day of $15 USD/ 1,227 INR.

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship fund of approximately $297 USD/ 24,778 INR
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Taiwan (Oct 14)
Final Tickets Sold: 321
Approved Attendee Total: 500
Budget Notes*: Budget closed.

Final cost $25,892 USD/ 835,240 TWD and cost per person/day of $81 USD/ 2,602 TWD.

Event closed with additional Global Sponsorship funds used of approximately $5,506 USD / 177,600 TWD. The main reason for this need is related to invoicing errors by the venue. The invoices issued were lower than the quoted prices, but this was not noticed until after the event. The venue issued an invoice for the unbilled portion post event. 
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Tokyo, Japan (Oct 21)
Final Tickets Sold: 424
Approved Attendee Total: 400 
Budget Notes*: Still awaiting Transparency Report submission and final numbers. 
Open Items – Finances: Still Awaiting final Transparency Report**, and the team has been in communication to say the information will be submitted as soon as possible.
WordCamp Tegal, Indonesia (Oct 22)
Final Tickets Sold: 83
Approved Attendee Total: 75
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed. 

Final cost $2,164 USD/ 33,298,615 IDR and cost per person/day of $26 USD/ 401,188 IDR.

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship fund of approximately $86 USD/ 1,324,385 IDR. 
Open Items – Finances: No open items.
WordCamp Mumbai, India (Oct 28-29)
Final Tickets Sold: 495
Approved Attendee Total: 500
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed. 

Final cost $23,351 USD/ 1,945,944 INR and cost per person/day of $24 USD/ 1,966 INR.

Event closed on budget
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp and Events Held in November
WordCamp San Jose (November 4 – 5)
Final Tickets Sold: 411
Approved Attendee Total: 450 
Budget Notes*: Budget closed.

Final cost $41,481 USD and cost per person/day of $50 USD

Event closed with additional Global Sponsorship funds used of approximately $4,770 USD. 
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Madrid (November 4 – 5)
Final Tickets Sold: 619
Approved Attendee Total: 600
Budget Notes*:  Budget closed.

Final cost $85,951 USD/ 80,300 EUR and cost per person/day of $69 USD/ 65 EUR

Event closed on budget. With some special negotiations, the organizing team was able to apply a payment of approximately 7,000 EUR from a 2020 venue deposit towards the 2023 chosen venue.
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Montreal – ONLINE (November 8 – 9)
Final Tickets Sold: 79
Approved Attendee Total: 200
Budget Notes*: Budget closed.

Final cost $326 USD/ 446 CAD and cost per person/day of $4 USD/ 6 CAD

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship fund of approximately $755 USD/ 1,034 CAD. 
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Valencia (November 10 – 11)
Final Tickets Sold: 394
Approved Attendee Total: 390
Budget Notes*: Budget closed.

Final cost $34,206 USD/ 31,968 EUR and cost per person/day of $43 USD/ 41 EUR

Event closed with additional Global Sponsorship funds used of approximately $1,160 USD / 1,084 EUR
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Manila (November 11)
Final Tickets Sold: 289
Approved Attendee Total: 230 
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed but awaiting a few answers to open questions
Open Items – Finances: Open questions sent 1/10/2024
WordCamp Verona (November 17 – 18)
Final Tickets Sold: 295
Approved Attendee Total: 300
Budget Notes*: Budget closed.

Final cost $25,974 USD/ 24,275 EUR and cost per person/day of $44 USD/ 41 EUR

Event closed with additional Global Sponsorship funds used of approximately $4,481 USD / 4,188 EUR
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Hong Kong (November 18)
Final Tickets Sold: 77
Approved Attendee Total: 70
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed. 

Final cost $7,927 USD/ 60,975 HKD and cost per person/day of $103 USD/ 792 HKD

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship fund of approximately $2,264 USD / 17,417 HKD. 
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Islamabad (November 25 – 26)
Final Tickets Sold: 176
Approved Attendee Total: 200
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed. 

Final cost $5,404 USD/ 1,512,951 PKR and cost per person/day of $15 USD/ 4,298 PKR

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship funds of approximately $489 USD / 135,764 PKR
Open Items – Finances: No open items
WordCamp Udaipur (November 25)
Final Tickets Sold: 300
Approved Attendee Total: 350
Budget Notes*: Awaiting Final Numbers
Open Items – Finances: Still Awaiting final Transparency Report**, and team has responded to say they are working on the final numbers
WordCamp and Events Held in December
WordCamp Ahmedabad (December 9)
Final Tickets Sold: 1051
Approved Attendee Total: 800 
Budget Notes*: Awaiting Final Numbers
Open Items – Finances: Still Awaiting final Transparency Report**, a post event email has been sent to the team requesting their submission
WordCamp Lahore (December 9-10)
Final Tickets Sold: 363
Approved Attendee Total: 350
Budget Notes*: Transparency Report reviewed and budget closed. 

Final cost $6,200 USD/ 1,722,361 PKR and cost per person/day of $9 USD/ 2,372 PKR

Event closed with a contribution to the Global Sponsorship funds of approximately $3,600 USD / 1,000,000 PKR
Open Items – Finances: No open items

Budget Notes*: An event closed on budget if the approved Global Sponsorship amount is what was utilized. If an event is able to raise more sponsorship income or ticket income, or the expenses are less than amounts listed in the approved budget, the additional funds are contributed back to the Global Sponsorship fund. If, on the other hand, an organizing team raises less sponsorship income or ticket income than planned, or expenses are higher than originally budgeted, the additional amount needed to cover all expenses is covered by the Global Sponsorship fund and will be stated as additional Global Sponsorship funds used. This amount represents funds in addition to the approved Global Sponsorship amount.

The goal of WordPress events is to provide a space where community members can come together and share knowledge, build relationships with other members and sponsors, and spread love for WordPress. The goal is never to make money. Because WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress 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. pays taxes on any income at year end, we strive to hold events where income is equal to expenses.

Transparency Report**: WordCamps that run funds through WordPress Community Support (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.) – meaning WPCS collects ticket income and sponsorship income, and pays vendors directly – are not required to submit a Transparency Report. 

Alternatively, organizing teams that run money locally collect all or some of the ticket income and sponsorship income directly. The team then uses the collected funds to pay expenses of the event. The organizing team is responsible for completing a transparency report after the event where they submit receipts/documentation for all expenses, support for ticket income collected, and support for sponsorship income collected. More info can be found here

#community-team, #wordcamps, #events-of-the-month

WordCamp Asia 2024 Contributor Day: Help Needed!

As we kickoff 2024, one of the three flagship WordCamps, 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, is around the corner.

WordCamp Asia 2024 organizers have been in contact with the team reps asking for the potential table leads for the event. As two of the current team reps, Junko and Shusei, being organizers and Leo and Isotta not being able to attend the event, we are asking for help with anyone who would like to lead the Community Team Table.

Who would like to lead the table?

The organizers are looking for someone who could lead the table. Those who will be leading the table will be in contact with the organizers to prepare for the event.


If you are interested in leading the table, please comment in this post so that the current team reps can get in touch with you.

What will the table lead do?

Table leads will be the facilitator of the Community Table. The Community Table often has various topics to discuss and work on. Table lead(s) will be in charge of making sure that people who attend the event have a smooth experience. The tasks may involve the following:

Topics for discussion

Lastly, one may have a topic they would like to discuss during the day. If you have any topics you would like to discuss or work on, please comment here so that the table leads and team reps can work together to decide on the focus points for WordCamp Asia 2024 Contributor Day.

Thank you all for showing interest in joining the Community Table at WordCamp Asia 2024. Beside the table leads nominations and topic proposals, if you have any comments regarding the preparation of WCAsia 2024 Contributor Day, please leave a comment.

Additional Resources

Here is some additional information from WCAsia, WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. and WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. 2023 Contributor Day.

#community-team, #contributor-day, #wcasia, #wordcamp

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

Recap of the Contributor Working Group’s Mentorship Chat on January 18, 2024

Agenda: 
https://make.wordpress.org/community/2024/01/17/contributor-working-group-mentorship-chat-agenda-january-17th-0700-utc-apac-emea-and-1600-utc-amer/

Meeting links (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/.): APAC/EMEA, AMER

Hosts: @adityakane (EMEA) @harishanker (AMER)

Notes: @patricia70

In Attendance:
APAC/EMEA @adityakane (host) + @angelasjin @harishanker @hellosatya @javiercasares @KafleG @kirasong @nao @oglekler @onealtr @patricia70 @ratneshsonar @unintended8 @webtechpooja @yoga1103 + async @coachbirgit @josepmoran

AMER: @harishanker (host) + @alexcu21 @alexdeborba @annezazu @askdesign @gusa @hellosatya @nilovelez @tobifjellner @tokyobiyori @topher1kenobe @voboghure + async @ninianepress

Last meeting recap:
https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/12/28/recap-of-the-contributor-working-groups-mentorship-chat-on-december-21-2023/

Notes

We shared the agenda and latest win:
@adityakane: “Currently, we have received 10 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. and 13 mentee applications”

Mentorship Cohort Details

Program Schedule and status

  • Call for 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. and mentees – Published :tada:
  • Cohort selection & program building: (Jan 8 – Feb 15) – Ongoing
  • Announce selected mentees/mentors (Feb 14)
  • Mentorship Program: 4-6 weeks (Feb 19 – March 29; 6 weeks leading up to the release week)
  • Graduation & Retrospective: 2 weeks (April 1 – April 12)

@gusa asks if it’s possible to publish which teams are selected by applicants.

More Mentorship Projects Wanted

Here is a summary of the ideas we have received thus far:

@ninianepress mentions potential projects for the Marketing and Docs:

@annezazu suggests a dedicated release-oriented mentoring project that offers participants an inside view of releases with dedicated projects. She also shared that as part of the Queeromattic Employee Resource Group of Automattic, scholarships could be made available for participants. The idea was welcomed with great enthusiasm. 

Request for Feedback

We had a discussion around @gusa proposal and comment about scholarship/stipend.

Additional ideas for Mentorship Projects:

Amplify the Mentorship Calls

All working group members were encouraged to amplify the Mentorship calls. The Make/Marketing team already has published the following posts in social platforms on official WordPress accounts:

Additionally, the Make/Marketing team has an Amplify entry in their 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/ profile.

@hellosatya proposes to involve the Make/Marketing team to have the mentorship program mentioned in every team’s meetings.

Criteria for Selecting Mentors and Mentees

Discussion around the criteria:
https://github.com/WordPress/wp-contributor-working-group-tracker/issues/9

Upcoming Tasks (Help welcome!)

We also reviewed upcoming tasks for the mentorship program. Working group members are encouraged to leave a comment on the relevant GitHub issue or help us by creating an issue.

Open discussion

@angelasjin proposed “office hoursOffice Hours Defined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time.” for mentors where she will be answering questions and providing support to mentors as needed. 

Notes by @patricia70, reviewed by @harishanker and @nao 

#wpcontributors, #contributor-working-group, #meeting-notes, #mentorship-chat, #mentorship-chat-recap, #mentorship-program

Community Team January Meeting Recap

Attendance: @bobdunn-trainer, @golosins, @jonoaldersonwp, @joostdevalk, @michelleames, @nukaga, @patricia70, @peiraisotta, @samsuresh, @st810amaze, @tacoverdo, @webtechpooja

Notes: @peiraisotta, @st810amaze

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 January 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.

New WordPress Events Page

Contributor Working Group

Action Items

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 thursdays 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, @Shusei, @leo, or @nukaga

#community-team, #meeting

Contributor Working Group: Mentorship Chat Agenda |January 18th 07:00 UTC (APAC/EMEA) and 16:00 UTC (AMER)

It’s time for the next Mentorship chat of the WordPress Contributor Working Group. We’re meeting this Thursday (January 18th) to continue our work on improving the contribution experience of WordPress. For more information on the working group and its plans, check out our launch post and past chats.

Note that this is our first chat of 2024, and today’s chat is exciting because we just published the call for mentees of the Mentorship Program’s second cohort!

Meeting times

We will hold these chats in multiple time zones to accommodate as many participants all over the world as possible. These chats will continue to be held on the Third Thursday of every month.

The chat will be held on the #community-team channel of the Make/WordPress Slack. Here’s the link to a handy `.ics` file containing calendar entries for our upcoming chat so you won’t miss it. These chats have also been added to the Make/Meetings calendar. Everyone interested in improving the contributor experience in WordPress and building future mentorship programs is welcome to attend!

Pinging some of our active working group members:

@adityakane, @alexcu21, @angelasjin, @casiepa, @cbringmann, @coachbirgit, @courane01, @devmuhib, @foosantos, @gusa, @harishanker, @javiercasares, @jeffpaul, @jominney, @josepmoran, @juliarosia, @kafleg, @leogopal, @leonnugraha, @matteoenna, @meher, @kirasong, @milana_cap, @mrfoxtalbot, @mysweetcate, @nao, @ninianepress, @nomadskateboarding, @oglekler, @onealtr, @onemaggie, @patricia70, @ratneshsonar, @realloc, @sereedmedia, @st810amaze, @sumitsingh, @thehopemonger, @thewebprincess, @tobifjellner, @topher1kenobe, @unintended8, @webtechpooja, and @yoga1103

Agenda

In the last mentorship chat, we finalized plans for our next cohort. Last week, thanks to y’all’s timely feedback, we published the call for mentors and mentees for the next cohort!

1. Welcome, introductions, and check-ins
How is everyone doing? New members joining the group can also introduce themselves.

Any volunteers for notetaking, next agenda drafting, or next meeting host?

2. Mentorship Cohort #2 planning

2-1: Program Schedule and status

  1. Call for 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. and mentees – Published 🎉
  2. Cohort selection & program building: (Jan 8 – Feb 15) – Ongoing
  3. Announce selected mentees/mentors (Feb 14)
  4. Mentorship Program: 4-6 weeks (Feb 19 – March 29; 6 weeks leading up to the release week)
  5. Graduation & Retrospective: 2 weeks (April 1 – April 12)

2-2. More Mentorship Projects Wanted
We are moving ahead with the Team Projects idea for this cohort. We have three active ideas right now: 

Are there any other projects that should be included?

More info about Mentorship Projects: https://github.com/WordPress/wp-contributor-working-group-tracker/discussions/7

3. Call for Volunteers and Request for Process Feedback

We need volunteers to help with program tasks. Requesting group members to express their interest to help out with various available tasks:

  • Criteria for selecting mentors/mentees as well as selecting mentors and mentees. 
  • Amplifying our mentor and mentee calls for maximum impact
    • Follow up on the Marketing Team request
    • Sharing the announcement in various communities & 1on1 outreach
    • Emailing past applicants
  • Documentation Tasks
    • Revise & establish a Mentor guide (handbook, resource guide)
    • Revise & establish a Mentee guide
    • Show running document
    • Status checklist template for each mentee
      • Check-in templates (30-day, 60-day, 90-day)
  • Scheduling sessions and managing shared calendar
  • [Low Priority] Follow-up on the Mentorship Program participant spotlight articles
  • Any additional ideas on making our program more effective

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/.

  • Please make use of the Slack #contributor-mentorship channel for open discussion.
  • Don’t hesitate to share any relevant information for mentorship in general.

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/

4. Questions, thoughts, and open floor!
If we still have time after all that intense discussion, we’ll open up the floor to discuss mentorship broadly and our program!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

The following folks contributed to this post: @nao @patricia70 @adityakane

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

Share your feedback about the new WordPress Events Page!

As announced in December, we have a new centralized WordPress Events landing page in WordPress.org that aims to give more visibility to all kinds of WordPress events around the globe. It shows next WordPress upcoming events like WordCamps scheduled, 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 Next Gen WordPress Events (WordPress Events from now on).

For context, that landing page was the result of an initiative that I started with a post back in August 2023 that ended up with a first GitHub issue and a series of other related issues.

What we have now

The first iteration of this project created the following three pages:

Call for feedback!

Those three pages are just the beginning of a vision where we bring WordPress Events closer to our users and visitors of 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/.

The most important goal how I envision it, it’s for the Events landing page and the Organizers Landing page to become the main and only pages that anyone would need to check and/or share when want to check for upcoming WordPress events and/or when want to check or share any info about how to become a WordPress event organizer.

We want to keep iterating and your feedback is key to doing it! Please leave your comments with any relevant feedback about how you would improve those pages, and texts… are you missing anything relevant? Any ideas are welcome!

#events-2, #feedback, #highlight, #homepage, #next-gen-events

Thank you and bye (for now), Jill!

Today, I invite you to join me in expressing our collective thanks to Jill Binder (@jillbinder) for her remarkable contributions to the WordPress 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. After a decade of leadership, Jill has decided to step away from her work with WordPress, so let’s send her off with our best wishes for her next big adventure! 

Jill has been a key player in our community as the leader of the Diverse Speaker Training (#WPDiversity) working group and as the co-creator & maintainer of the Diverse Speaker Training Workshop. Her dedication to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in the Project has been inspirational. She’s been an incredible 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. and guide, offering motivation, practical tips, and support to aspiring speakers from underrepresented groups. Her dedication to training others to run these workshops propelled this vital work globally; people have taken this workshop in 100 cities in over 50 countries and in 6 languages. Under her guidance, two additional projects were created: a Workshop focused on organizing diverse and inclusive WordPress events and a Diverse Speaker Support channel in the Make WordPress 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/.. Jill’s tireless advocacy has profoundly influenced the diversity of speakers at WordPress events and fostered more inclusive gatherings. Check out the extraordinary impact of #WPDiversity and use the invaluable open-source resources created for WordPress event organizers, underrepresented speakers, Diversity and Community workshop organizers and #WPDiversity workshop translators.

Jil’s next chapter naturally embraces new challenges, including pursuing her passion for art, self-care, and 1:1 DEI consulting for individuals and companies. Please join me in celebrating her numerous accomplishments and to wish her well in her future endeavors. Thank you, Jill!

There’s still more DEIB work to be done! The DEIB working group is keeping the momentum going in the Making WordPress #deib-working-group channel and warmly welcomes your participation.