Tag Archives: attendees

Julia Golomb 9:15 am on July 4, 2024
Tags: attendees, first-timers, KPI   

First-Time Attendees: A Key Metric of Success for WordPress Events

The Goals

The WordPress Project’s Big Picture Goals for 2024 highlight the crucial need to attract new users to WordPress; and the WordPress events program plays an important role in achieving this objective. As we progress through the second half of 2024 and beyond, a key measure of success for WordPress events is the percentage of first-time attendees – individuals who are participating in a 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 Innovative WordPress Event for the first time ever (note: this does not apply to 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. events).

Our goal is to warmly welcome more first-time attendees at WordPress events, aiming for over 50% of our participants to be newcomers, while also celebrating our returning attendees. To achieve this, we encourage event organizers to make a concerted effort to attract new participants. This goal should inform event design, messaging, and marketing for your WordCamp or other WordPress event.

Of course, we also want all attendees to come away feeling like the event was time well-spent. So, we have an additional goal of 80%+ attendees responding that they are “Extremely Satisfied” or “Satisfied”, as measured through an automated post-event survey sent to all attendees. Currently, only Innovative WordPress Event attendees receive the post-event survey, though we plan to soon extend the survey to WordCamp attendees as well.

Why First-Time Attendees Matter

For WordPress and its events program to grow and thrive, attracting new attendees is essential. So far in 2024, our 29 events (WordCamps and Innovative WordPress Events) have averaged 41% first-time attendees. We believe we can increase this number and exceed our 50% target with your help. First-time attendee data is collected through the event registration form question that asks, “Will this be your first time attending a WordPress event?”

Screenshot of a question from the event registration form: "Will this be your first time attending a WordPress event?" Options: Yes / No / I don't know

In the Make Community blog post titled Current Challenges of WordPress Events, Shaping the Future, we shared data on the recent decline of first-time event attendees:

“The statistics show that while the number of events has increased significantly during our re-engagement project, the number of new attendees has also declined.”

This decline underscores the importance of intentionally attracting and welcoming first-time attendees. They bring fresh perspectives, new energy, and potential for long-term growth of the WordPress community and user base.

So far in 2024, some events stand out for their high percentage of first-time attendees (FTAs). As organizers, we can look to these events for inspiration and replication:

Notably, all of the top FTA events in 2024 are Innovative Events (non-WordCamps) with focused audiences. This trend highlights the potential of specialized and targeted events to attract new participants, which perfectly aligns with the 2024 Big Picture Goals:

“Our event series needs to grow past a ‘one size fits all’ strategy. With more advanced topics and more focused events, we can meet our community where it is – in a moment where time is valuable and joining an event should clearly help them reach their goals.”

The Path Forward: How You Can Help

To reverse the trend of declining first-time attendees and achieve our goal, we need the collective effort of the entire WordPress community.

Event 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.: Please ensure that your mentees (event organizers) are aware of these goals.

Event Organizers: Below are some practices that may help you attract first-time attendees.

  1. Thoughtful event design: Craft your events with first-time attendees in mind. Consider their needs, interests, and potential barriers to participation.
  2. Targeted messaging: Ensure your promotional materials highlight the benefits of attending. What new knowledge, skills, and professional connections will attendees come away with? Share success stories of past first-time attendees.
  3. Engaging outreach strategies: Experiment with a range of marketing channels to reach potential new attendees. Partner with local schools, organizations, and online communities who can help spread the word.

Program Managers: Let’s collaborate to monitor our progress and publish regular updates on the Make Community blog.

Do you have other ideas for reaching first-time attendees? Please share them in the comments!

Join the Conversation

In the coming weeks, we’ll invite members of the WordPress community, including event organizers, sponsors, and Community Team contributors, to join our scheduled calls. Your participation is valuable as we work together to strengthen this area of focus. Let’s ensure that WordPress events effectively attract and engage new attendees, especially those who are just starting their WordPress journey.

Thanks to @peiraisotta @nao and @st810amaze for contributing to this post and @nukaga and @_dorsvenabili for reviewing it.

#attendees, #first-timers, #kpi

Ryan Marks 5:04 am on December 19, 2021
Tags: , allergy, attendees   

Proposal: Automatically send emails to WordCamp attendee requesting details about their accessibility accommodation or life-threatening allergy

When an attendee purchases a 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. ticket and specifies they have either an 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) accommodation or a life-threatening allergy, emails about each situation are sent to the WordCamp lead organizer, the WordCamp city address, and 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. support address. These emails alert the organizers to reach out to the attendee and inquire about the nature of their situation. The emails to WordCamp support are asking a Community DeputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. to follow-up with the organizers to ensure they are reaching out to the attendee.

This proposal replaces the manual step of emailing the attendee with an automated email.

New email messages

The new email messages would be sent at the same time as the other three automated emails described above. The email(s) to the attendee should be from the WordCamp’s city address and BCC the city address. Below is proposed text that might be used to ask the attendee for details.

Hi <first-name>, we're happy to see that you'll be joining us for WordCamp <city>!
You noted on your ticket form that you have accessibility accommodation that we should be aware of. Would you be able to provide additional detail and anything related that we should be informed about so that we can be sure you can fully participate?

Thanks!
WordCamp <city>
Hi <first-name>, we're happy to see that you'll be joining us for WordCamp <city>!
You noted on your ticket form that you have a life-threatening allergy that we should be aware of. Would you be able to provide additional detail and anything related that we should be informed about so that we can be sure that we're providing a safe environment?

Thanks!
WordCamp <city>

Create two new Email Templates

There are currently 7 email templates found in a WordCamp site under Tickets > Setup > E-mail Templates. The text above could be configured as new email templates so the WordCamp organizers can add details about the current state about their venue or catering.

Updating existing emails and handbooks

The current automated emails to the lead organizer, city address, and WordCamp Central support should be updated to indicate an automated email has been sent to the attendee.

These handbook pages should also be updated to indicate an automatic email is sent to the attendee.

  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/first-steps/inclusive-and-welcoming-events/#requests-for-special-accommodations
  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/planning-details/selling-tickets/life-threatening-allergies/

Questions

  1. Are you for or against automating these emails?
  2. Would you make changes to the email message body?
  3. Are you for or against adding these as email templates?

I’d like to get feedback on this by January 14, 2022.

#accessibility, #allergy, #attendees

Timi Wahalahti 3:50 pm on July 3, 2020
Tags: , attendees, , ,   

Proposal: Recognition for event volunteers and attendees in WordPress.org profile

About two years ago Meta Trac ticket (note: please don’t continue in that ticket, this P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. is the more correct place for it) was opened about adding a 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. volunteer and attendee badges to 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/ profiles. A few weeks ago Taco did bring it back to the discussion and I promised to write a proposal to move this forward.

Profile badges are graphics that do show users contributions towards WordPress project.

It is suggested that we should:

  • Give a badge for WordCamp volunteers
  • Give a badge for WordCamp attendees
  • Give a badge for MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. attendees

Let’s dive into each badge for a second.

WordCamp volunteers

Technically giving a badge for WordCamp volunteers is probably the most easiest of the badges to give automatically. In coordination with WordCamp 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, we could find a way to track all volunteers and their WordPress.org usernames as we do for organisers and speakers too.

It’s also almost unarguable that WordCamp volunteers are contributing to the project, so they should get a badge. In 2017 there was a conversation about recognising volunteers in WordCamp websites, that ended up in conclusion that we should do that. At that time the discussion didn’t consider profile badges and as an end result using Admin Flags functionality was suggested.

WordCamp Attendees

This is technically more harder to do, because we don’t ask WordPress.org usernames when attendees purchase a ticket.

Sure we could add a field and ask that, but then comes the question when badge should be added to profile. When a ticket is purchased? Then what happens if that ticket changes owner, is refunded or attendee doesn’t show up. If we add the badge after attendee has marked as attended in Camptix, not all would get a badge because not all WordCamps do use the functionality to mark attendance.

It’s also arguable whether attending to WordCamp is actually contributing to the project and something from which they should get a badge.

In the Trac ticket @andreamiddleton pointed out that in 2014 WordCamp San Francisco worked out a way display event registration and attendance on the activity log. She suggested that we recognise attendees in that way instead of giving badges.

Meetup attendees

Technically this is the hardest thing to achieve, because 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. live totally their own lives in Meetup.com and don’t have strong connection to WordCamp.org or WordPress.org systems. We don’t have a way to link Meetup.com profile to WordPress.org username for giving them a badge. Surely it can probably be done if team invests a lot of time on developing this feature.

The same discussion as with WordCamp attendees on their level of contribution to the project also applies to Meetup attendees.

The proposal

I’m proposing:

Badge for WordCamp volunteers

We should create a new badge for WordCamp volunteers and recognise them the same way as we do for organisers and speakers. Technical aspects need to be decided with WordCamp Meta team, but I’d create a new post type and re-use same functionalities that are used for organisers and speakers.

Log note for WordCamp attendees

We should start asking WordPress.org username during ticket purchase with an optional field in preparations to recognising WordCamp attendees.

I’m in favour of Andrea’s suggestion on showing the attendance on profile log instead of giving them a badge. Log note could be added after the WordCamp, in case the ticket changes owner on the first event day. Logic could be that everyone with a ticket does get the note unless there are at least a certain amount of attendees marked as attended when log note would be added only to those attendees.

What about Meetups and other event formats?

For Meetup and our other event format attendees, I would say it’s a too low-level contribution towards the WordPress project and technically too complicated to implement. Hopefully we can start recognising them at some point, but not for now.

Feedback

Read the original proposal and discussion on Meta Track ticket, there are good arguments and points. Note: please don’t continue in that ticket, this P2 is the more correct place for it.

Please share your feedback on the topic and especially on:

  • Should WordCamp volunteers get a badge?
  • Should WordCamp attendees get a badge or a note in their log?
  • What things do we need to take into consideration in these cases?

Share your thoughts before 2020-08-13.

#attendees, #meetups-2, #recognition, #volunteers, #wordcamps #meetups