Meetup Organizer Newsletter: February 2024

Hello, Organizers!

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 just around the corner, and there are still a few tickets available. If you’ve been waiting until the final moment to decide whether to go, now is the time to grab your ticket!

WC Europe Call for Volunteers closes on February 28, apply now!

Curious to see all WordPress upcoming events worldwide? Check out the new event page! 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!

Watch the 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/. 2023 in your language!

At the last State of the Word we experimented with AI technology! Now you can watch the whole event while listening to Matt Mullenweg speaking the following languages, assisted by AI: Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, German, and Japanese.

Choose your favorite language and enjoy! 

Feeling bold and creative? Apply to organize a brand new event!

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 are the pillar of the WordPress community. With your experience in community and event management, you have probably come up with several ideas for events that would have a powerful impact on your community, but would not fit the format of traditional WordCamps. 

Don’t let this prevent you from giving your community a wonderful event! Apply to organize a creative WordPress event. Innovation is encouraged!

Talking about new and inspiring WP events, have a look at the winners of the Kerala WordPress Photo Festival!

GatherPress Pilot Program

A group of community leaders published the proposal for 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 meetup groups. For detailed information and join the pilot head to the proposal.

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, let’s celebrate the WordPress Meetup Groups of Terni (Italy), Delhi (India), and Gdynia (Poland)!

Gdynia, Poland
 Delhi, India
Terni, Italia

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!


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 Meetup newsletter: @peiraisotta, @bjmcsherry, @courtneypk, @devinmaeztri, @mysweetcate, @hellosatya#community-team, #meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

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

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

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 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. 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

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

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

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: December 2023

Whew! What a year it has been, as was highlighted in the kick-off to the 2023 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/.. 77 WordCamps were held in 33 countries, a small part of the 3,300 WordPress gatherings worldwide. Our events have more than doubled since the pandemic, and as we all know, our 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 at the heart of that.

It wouldn’t happen without organizers like you; thank you!

Speaking of incredible organizer accomplishments, read on to see how the community embraced this year’s State of the Word watch parties and get an update on a new communication tool the Make Teams are experimenting with.

State of the Word Watch Parties: A Look at the Numbers and Beyond

This year, over 475 community members RSVPed to attend one of the 47 State of the Word Watch Parties (27 online, 20 in person) held in 18 different countries. Imagine the fun they had celebrating together.

While both WordPress’s anniversary and the State of the Word celebration are ideal times to gather as a community, watch parties can be organized anytime! 

Many of the resources available for hosting those events can be applied to others as well. Plan now to watch the live streams for WC Asia, WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event., and WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. together. Additionally, WordPress.tv has a library of presentations you could watch together and discuss.

Whatever it is, consider making watch parties a part of your meetups regular routine!

More From the WP Community

  • WCEU needs you: Help to spread the word that both the Call for Speakers and Call for Sponsors are now open.
  • Contribute to WordPress in 2024: No matter your skill set, there is a place for you on one of the more than 20 Make WordPress teams. To make things even easier, you can now use the new contributor tool at make.wordpress.org/contribute to find the perfect WordPress Contributor Team to join. Whether you contribute as 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. or individually, there’s never been a better time to start than now!

The Move to Matrix is On Hold

It was recently announced that starting in 2024 Community Team meetings would be held in Matrix. Due to usability concerns and a change in Matrix’s licensing, this move has been paused.

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/. will remain the primary chat platform for the WordPress community, but this does not mean that Matrix is going away. 

As Alex Kirk states in his post, “The Slack-Matrix bridge and integrations, such as Chatrix, are still valuable for contributors and will keep working. This allows for flexibility and the continued use of the achievements made so far, especially to help onboard new contributors. We encourage Make teams to further explore and take advantage of all the opportunities that Make team chat pages have to offer.”

So, if you’re interested in trying something new for 2024, check out Matrix and be a part of its feedback and testing.


A special thank you to our Global Sponsors: GoDaddy, Bluehost, Automattic, SiteGround, Weglot, 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: @mysweetcate, @peiraaisotta, @juliarosia, @bjmcsherry, @devinmaeztri @eidolonnight

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

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: November 2023

November is an exciting month! New event formats continue to spring to life, WordCamps are in process, and new 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. applications are coming in from across the globe. 

As if that weren’t enough, three great opportunities are available this month:

  • Apply to speak at WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event..
  • Schedule your local 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/. watch party.
  • Complete the 2023 Meetup Survey.

Read on to learn more and please encourage your community members to take part.

WCEU Call for Speakers is Open

Connect, be inspired, and share our knowledge and stories with the global WordPress community by applying to speak at WCEU 2024. Be a part of the friendly, welcoming, and diverse flagship event that highlights what brings us together around the world’s most used CMS.

Schedule your State of the Word Watch Party Today

The State of the Word is an annual event during which WordPress Co-Founder Matt Mullenweg shares the latest updates and vision for our beloved platform. 

This year’s State of the Word 2023 will be held in Madrid, Spain on December 11, 2023 at 15:00 UTC and will be live-streamed via 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/ social media platforms for those who choose to watch from elsewhere.

Whether you watch the live stream or the recording at a time that is convenient for your community, State of the Word watch parties are a fantastic opportunity to come together with your local WordPress enthusiasts to connect, learn, and celebrate the future of our favorite content management system.

Want help getting started?

Check out the information in the Meetup Organizer handbook. It has all you need to organize a State of the Word watch party in person or online. All the tips, tricks, and resources you need in one place.

If you have questions or need additional help, you’re always welcome to ask questions in the Community Team channels on Making 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/. or email the team at support@wordcamp.org.

The 2023 Meetup Survey is Out

It’s annual survey time, an opportunity to work together to get a pulse on the local WordPress 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..

By taking 15 minutes to fill out the annual survey, you contribute to a more complete view of your community as well as adding your own unique perspective to the global program, both of which are invaluable. 

The more responses we have, the more data we have to work with and the greater the impact is for WordPress meetups around the world.

This year’s survey has been simplified into one survey for both organizers and attendees, with a focus on your experience and how to best support growing communities. About two thirds of the questions are true/false or multiple choice, with the remaining questions providing opportunities for you to share your thoughts and ideas.

Submissions will be accepted through 14 January, 2024.


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


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 Meetup newsletter: @mysweetcate, @peiraisotta, @bjmcsherry, @devinmaeztri

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

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: October 2023

The year may be winding down, but our talented community continues to find new ways to contribute! 

In this newsletter, we will:

  • Introduce you to one of the newest contributing teams, the Photos team and share their recent milestone.
  • Showcase new events being organized by the community.
  • Update you on the details for this year’s 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/. so you can start planning your watch party early.
  • Share a Meetup.com resource for getting to know other 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.

Ready? Here we go!!!

Celebrating the 10,000 Photo Team Submission

On 11 October, the 10,000th photo was approved! 

Submitted by Sithara Koramprambil and approved by moderator Michelle Frechette, this photo of Sithara’s 10th wedding anniversary celebration cake which was taken on 27 January, 2022 at the Rock Cliff resort, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.

The Photo Team is one of the newest ways to contribute 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. You can submit photos, learn to review photos, and – like many team members – do both!

Whether you want to submit photos, help moderate, or need CC0 photos to use for a project, check out the Photos team’s contribution to WordPress. Want to participate? Consider making your next meetup a photo walk!

New Event Ideas Become a Reality

  • The Italian community gathered in Rome for its first ever WordPress Community Day to train and support new organizers. 
  • The Gdynia community chose to focus its one-day camp around the theme of optimization for both work and WordPress. 
  • 84 local WordPress enthusiasts will gather to learn from four experienced WordPress experts who will serve as 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 facilitators at the one-day “Scale Up” workshop in Tegal, Indonesia. The focus will be on enhancing participants’ WordPress skills for the enterprise world.

Would a new type of or topic-focused event benefit your community? If so, use this form to share it with the Community Team.

More from the WP Community

Community Team Training #11: Using the Translate Live tool. On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 12:00 UTC uncover the potential of the “Translate Live” tool. It’s ideal for presenting at your local 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 engage and onboard new translators for your native language. If you’re organizing 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., consider introducing this tool during your Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/..

Learn WordPress: The Training team is creating new material and resources – don’t miss their latest updates.

State of the Word Watch Parties

Save the date for this year’s State of the Word 2023! This year’s event will be streamed live on YouTube from Madrid, Spain, December 11, 2023 at 15:00 UTC.

Not in Madrid? No problem! Organize a Watch Party with your local community to watch live, or use the replay to meet at a time that’s convenient to you. 

As usual, we have resources to help make organizing a Watch Party simple and fun. Head to the Meetup Organizer handbook to find information on requesting a Zoom account for online parties, or a venue support for in-person parties, and event and invitation templates you can use on Meetup.com. 

Meetup Tip of the Month 

Did you know there’s a thriving community of Meetup organizers on Discord? The Meetup Organizer Community allows Meetup Organizers to connect, share, and build a community for Organizer success. There you will find mentors and Meetup employees available to help. Check it out and join, assuming you haven’t already!


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


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 Meetup newsletter: @mysweetcate, @pierraisotta, @juliarosia, @bjmcsherry, @devinmaeztri

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

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: September 2023

It’s September and a lot has happened recently in the WordPress community. Sit back, relax, and read on to discover this month’s highlights. But first, meet these Marlborough, MA USA 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. members!

7 members of the Marlborough, MA meetup standing in a restaurant.

Community Summit Notes are Published – Leave Your Feedback

Let’s keep the discussions going! The in-person phase of the WordPress Community Summit  was only the beginning of very important conversations around issues impacting our global WordPress community. Fortunately, the intention is always that these conversations would continue long after the in-person phase concluded.

In Phase Two, everyone can now read and comment upon the session notes. Visit the full list of Community Summit 2023 sessions to find a link to the corresponding session notes. Read and comment to share your unique and valuable perspective on these important issues.

Don’t Miss the Upcoming Diverse Speaker Workshop

Meetup organizers in India! Would you like to encourage more women to speak at your WordPress 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., WordCamps, and Next Gen events? Then this upcoming #WPDiversity workshop is for you. Invite your community to share this opportunity and sign up for the Speaker Workshop for Indian Women in the WordPress Community, September 23–24, 2023.

Not in India, but still interested in growing the diversity of your speaker lineup? Reach out to the #WPDiversity team to schedule an event for your community. You can find them on Making 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/. in either the #diverse-speaker-support or in the #community-team channels.

More from the WP Community

Next Generation WordPress Events: Looking for a new way to engage your community? A new WordPress event format might be just what you need! Use this form to share your idea with the Community Team.

Learn WordPress: The Training team is creating new material and resources – don’t miss their latest updates.

Reaching Out to Include New Meetups in the Chapter Program

In partnership with Meetup.com, we tested a 13-day, 3-touch email campaign to invite 144 groups related to WordPress to join the WordPress Chapter Meetup program, and we contacted the entire leadership team of each group to increase our chance of success. 

How did it work? Of the 144 groups contacted, 5 or 6 groups confirmed they submitted an application. We also had a nearly 40% open rate which means that approximately 35 meetups were informed of the program. Who knows what the future holds; they may join yet!

Meetup Tip of the Month – Optimize Your Topics

If you’re looking to maximize your reach on Meetup, evaluate the topics listed for your events and for your group.

Topics are a key element of the Meetup algorithm – the more topics you include, the more members will learn about your events & group. When 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. creates a new Meetup group, we apply our best guess as to what topics you will cover. You can change these listed topics at any time to best represent your specific community and focus. 

Additionally, meetups evolve overtime. The topics that fit at the beginning may no longer be relevant to your group.

Now, you can take advantage of the Event and Group topics to optimize your presence on Meetup. You can add up to 5 topics for each event you schedule and up to 15 topics for your group. Follow these instructions for Meetup to see how


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


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 Meetup newsletter: @mysweetcate, @peiraisotta, @juliarosia, @bjmcsherry

#meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) AMER/EMEA on August 23, 2023

Attending: @coachbirgit , @franrosa, @jillbinder, @martatorre, @onealtr

Host: @jillbinder

Start: wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1692810111358429

Summary

0 – Check-ins (everyone)

1 – First time here

Information for newcomers

2 – Who we are (@jillbinder)

Our goals, our 3 initiatives, how people can help

3 – WPDiversity Member Updates (everyone)

@martatorre starting to prepare material for diversity in Spain

4 – New DEIB group (@jillbinder on @coachbirgit’s behalf)

Please join #deib-working-group

5 – Setting you up for my time away (@jillbinder)

6 – Bonus meeting next week! Zoom call (@jillbinder )

  • @jillbinder will be holding a Zoom call next week
  • Walk-through of all of the #WPDiversity workshops, systems, and resources.
    • All of the material is available for the whole WordPress community to keep doing our material in 2023 and beyond.
  • Wednesday, August 30, 2023 @ 5pm-6:30pm UTC  (just in case there are a lot of questions)
  • Ask me for an invite. I also might put it up on Meetup Learn.

7 – Workshops (@jillbinder)

8 – Comments, questions, ideas (anyone)

End: wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1692813789894869