Tag Archives: community-team

Cate DeRosia 5:54 pm on February 13, 2023
Tags: , community-team, , , , , ,   

Discussion: Refining the Mentor Program

To better serve the community and the Community Team, @devinmaeztri and I are working to improve our current MentorMentor 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. program. We believe this project will help get rid of gaps in our current roles and create a smoother functioning Community Team with room to grow.

An Overview

  • End date: 31 March
  • 4 Issues addressed in this post
    • update or create role information and tasks
    • add in new Mentor roles to help our growing community and team
    • retire the “DeputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook.” title
    • build for the future
  • 3 Discussion Posts planned starting with this one

The Main Elements

Craft More Accurate Role Information and Task Lists

The project will start by looking at where we are and end with clearer information about new and existing roles.

  1. Evaluate the current roles and their descriptions, qualifications, and expectations.
  2. Evaluate the current assigned tasks and see if they need better descriptions or adjustments to make them more manageable to accomplish.
  3. Create descriptions, qualifications, expectations, and clearly described tasks for any new mentor roles added.

For reference, find the current roles and expectations on the Community Team’s Team Projects page.

Add in 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. MentorsMentor 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 Mentor of Mentors

Meetup Mentors: We currently have a group of Meetup Reactivators that we would like to invite into the Community Team to continue their meetup outreach. If 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 the heart of what we do, then having a group and system in place that provides regular check-ins should help keep them strong. It also provides a nice first level of activity for new members.

Mentors of Mentors: These would likely be our current Super DeputiesSuper deputy Super Deputies are Deputies who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. with opportunities to promote other veteran mentors as they qualify. 

Mentors of Mentors would continue to support our other mentors and have responsibilities within the Community Team around nurturing growth. They could also mentor WordCamps as they choose.

We would continue to have the existing roles of WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Mentors and Community DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook./Community Mentors with similar responsibilities to what they have now.

Current Contributor Roles
WordCamp Mentors
Community Deputies
Super Deputies
Future Contributor Roles
Meetup Mentors
WordCamp Mentors
Community Mentors
Mentors of Mentors

Change the Community DeputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. Title

The word “deputy” has two significant drawbacks.

  1. It’s difficult to translate in some languages while in others the word doesn’t even exist.
  2. In the US, it’s a term used to describe enforcement which does not represent the nature of the role well.

Our deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. are already mentors who are working to nurture the community, often in more technical ways, but still interacting with the community. 

Because of that and the reasons above, we suggest changing:

  • Community Deputy → Community Mentor
  • Super DeputySuper deputy Super Deputies are Deputies who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. → Mentors of Mentors

The responsibilities would be similar (with some refinement) to current duties, but we’d have names that fit a more global community and better reflect what the Community Team is trying to accomplish.

Build a Foundation for Future Growth

A Single Unified Application: Along with refining the names, descriptions, and tasks, we also plan to create a single unified application and onboarding process as well as a clear contribution ladder. We think this will provide a smoother introduction to the Community Team and give contributors goals to grow towards.

A Removal Process: With onboarding, we’ll also need to create a path for removing inactive contributors as well as people who end up in the wrong roles. Not everyone fits every role. Let’s create other opportunities where contributors can make the best use of the skills they have instead of being stuck in a role that doesn’t fit. Maintaining a healthy community requires attention to this aspect as well.

Overall, we’re hoping all of the changes mentioned in this post create one solid foundation for the future of all of our programs.

The Community Team’s Role

We want to work alongside the group as a whole to refine our Mentor Program to better benefit us all. In order to do that, we need your support and feedback. 

Please comment below your thoughts regarding the project, and particularly about some or all of the following:

  • Changing the name of Community Deputies and Super Deputies.
  • If it’s too confusing to have all roles under the Mentor heading.
  • What current tasks function effectively, and which don’t.
  • New tasks you think it could be useful to add.
  • Adding in a Meetup Mentor role.
  • Adding in a Mentors of Mentors, and if the name is a good fit.

This post will close March 3.

#meetups, #community-team, #mentors, #mentorship-programs, #wordcamps

#q1, #refining-mentor-program, #updates
Devin Maeztri 10:56 am on February 3, 2023
Tags: , APAC, , community-team, ,   

Update: APAC Meetup Reactivation Project

Last July, 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. Reactivation Project was launched. We sought support from around the world as we believe local community leaders have the networks and experiences to help reactivate 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..

Three updates on the Global Meetup Reactivation Project have been published: in September, November, and December. We have yet to share the next update this year.

In December 2022, the APAC Meetup Reactivation team met and decided to share stories from the APAC community to learn from and inspire each other. We also want to appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm of the APAC supporters for this project. Kudos to everyone!

APAC Meetup Reactivation Supporters

  1. Ricky Blacker from Australia @rickyblacker
  2. Wil Brown from Australia @developerwil
  3. Afshana Diya from Bangladesh @afshanadiya
  4. Ahmed Chaion from Bangladesh @chaion07
  5. Mainul Kabir Aion from Bangladesh @aion11
  6. Mizanur Rahaman Mizan from Bangladesh @technocrews
  7. Aditya Kane from India @adityakane
  8. Aditya Shah from India @ethicaladitya
  9. Abhishek Prabhu from India @abyshakes
  10. Pooja Derashri from India @webtechpooja
  11. Yogesh Londhe from India @yoga1103
  12. Kharis Sulistiyono from Indonesia @kharisblank
  13. Sinar Hadi Wijaya from Indonesia @sinarhadiwijaya
  14. Junko Nukaga from Japan @nukaga
  15. Naoko Takano from Japan @nao
  16. Shusei Toda from Japan @st810amaze
  17. Yam Chhetri from Nepal @yamchhetri
  18. JC Palmes from Philippines @khleomix
  19. Lax Mariappan from Philippines @lakshmananphp
  20. Oneal Rosero from Philippines @onealtr
  21. Muhammad Usman Khalid from Pakistan @usmankhalid 
  22. Shakir Ali from Pakistan @engrshakirali

APAC WordPress Meetups in Numbers (as of Feb 2023)

  • 95 chapters were dormant as of May 2022.
  • 1 chapter in Japan was closed/removed from the program.
  • 51 chapters were reactivated.
  • 43 chapters are still in progress.

The APAC Meetup Reactivation Stories

Ricky Blacker, Australia

WordPress meetups in Australia are slowly coming back online, we have seen a few already getting back on track, the Sydney meetup has led the charge not only in being among the first to have in-person meetups again but have kept the community informed and engaged during the worst of Covid with regular online meetups and presentations, much Kudos to Wil Brown for his tireless hard work here.

The Melbourne meetup also resumed in-person meetups but seems to have stagnated for now. We saw the welcome return of the Sunshine Coast meetup in January, with the plan to carry this on every month.

The Brisbane meetup is looking to resume in-person meetups in March with a focus on finding a long-term solution for a venue and how the community would like to see the meetups proceed in the future.

Generally, across all meetups in Australia, we are battling with trying to get the momentum going again, as well as trying to solve the problem of finding a suitable venue for meetups as many have lost their regular space during covid, but the community is keen to get back to having monthly in-person meetups again and I can envisage that by the end of this year, we should see most resume back to normal.

Mainul Kabir Aion, Bangladesh 

We had two big meetups in November 2022 in Dhaka. They covered more than 200 people and created the biggest buzz ever and bringing many WP veterans together. Bangladesh is all about diversity and it was amazing to witness individuals coming together to celebrate during meetups.

The Sylhet group was reactivated thanks to the supporters. They followed the footsteps of the mega meetups and organized their version of it. Folks from the Dhaka community went there as well and 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. Sylhet was planned.

The Rangpur meetup chapter was also reactivated and continues their meetup after a long time. They have invited experienced developers as speakers. The most unique part is – they will treat everyone with tasty ducks and traditional pitas after the event!

Pooja Derashri, India

I am so happy to be a part of this Reactivation project because it has given me the opportunity to interact with other Meetup chapters in India. Overall, the project has been a mixed experience for me. Some groups have been very responsive, and we have been able to quickly schedule Meetups, while others have been less responsive. In some cases, they have assured me that they will organize a Meetup soon or next month, but when I follow up a month later, they are still saying they are in the planning stage. In my opinion, these groups may have limited bandwidth and are unable to run a Meetup, but they do not want to give up their role as organizers, so they are making false commitments. With perseverance and consistent efforts, we will be able to reactivate our fellow Meetup chapters.

Kharis Sulistiyono, Indonesia

I used the strategy of educating organizers and members about the importance of Meetups and the benefits of being part of the WordPress community. I also encouraged them to collaborate and share their experiences and ideas. This helped increase their motivation to revive the Meetups.

Here are key points I shared with the community:

  • Host a meetup on the home’s terrace: https://www.instagram.com/p/CiWFKvTv-Hn/
  • Host a meetup without an external speaker, instead be confident in leading the gathering format with a specific topic for discussion.
  • While choosing a meetup topic, avoid using generic wording and instead use persuasive language. For example, instead of a generic topic like “How to create a website with WordPress,” use an attractive topic such as “How to create an effective sales funnel with a landing page.”
  • Write a blog post about reactivating your dormant meetup strategy and share it with the community on social media channels: https://kharis.risbl.com/2022/08/03/5-strategi-sederhana-dalam-mengaktifkan-wordpress-meetup-tegal/

Junko Nukaga, Naoko Takano and Shusei Toda, Japan

In 2022, a total of 133 Meetups were held in Japan, both online and offline, in a style suited to each region. In addition to the regular Meetups, two Mega Meetups were held in Japan, where Meetup organizers from across the country came together.

Some groups returned to holding in-person events, others continued to hold online events, and some of them even introduced new styles of Meetup such as photo walks and inter-group collaboration.

Although one group was deactivated, a new group was started. Some regions were not able to hold meetups due to the pandemic, but some groups restarted through the Reactivation Project, and the Japanese community is still very active.

JC Palmes, Philippines

The WordPress Meetup Reactivation for Iloilo was a success due to the willingness of everyone involved. Despite a nearly three-year hiatus, the community had remained connected online

but not officially. This made it easier to get everyone together again and discuss plans for reactivating the group.

The coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. group had no issue with meeting right away and discussing our plans for WordCamp 2023 and other activities for the year. Everyone seemed eager to resume after such a long break, which made decision-making smooth and effortless.

This experience showed the strength of our community bond, even after such a long break, both in person or online. We are all willing and ready at any given moment if ever needed! The experience also served as motivation that despite everything else going on around us, we can still come together and work towards something bigger than ourselves!

Oneal Rosero, Philippines

In late 2022, after some prompting from the Meetup Reactivation team, the WordPress Manila meetup group held a hybrid meeting in October 2022, with about five attendees in person at the local Pantheon office and seven more over zoom. This helped create a nice balance of online and in-person participation. They held a translation workshop led by the Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/.. Four people got the badges for helping translate content into Tagalog. The last time the Manila Meetup group held an in-person meeting was in late 2019.

In January 2023, the Manila Meetup team organized an in-person meetup at the Pantheon office in BGC, there were 23 people in attendance. The talks ranged from site builders to security and I was able to talk briefly to invite people to contribute to the learn.WordPress.org teams.

Among the attendees of the Manila meetup in January 2023 were people who live in Cavite but work in Manila and they expressed interest in reactivating the Cavite Meetup with new and more experienced members.

In late 2022, the Meetup group in Baguio was also contacted, but they felt  like they didn’t have enough active members to run a WordCamp, but they are looking to restart Meetups early in 2023

I also got in touch with the Meetup group in Cebu. They held an in-person Meetup in December 2022. In February 2023, they will host WordCamp Cebu 2023 with local and international speakers.

If you are aware of an inactive WordPress Meetup group in your area and are keen to help reactivate it, please get in touch with us! You can become a co-organizer and play a role in bringing together WordPress enthusiasts in your area.

You can locate your nearest Meetup group by visiting this page. If there is no WordPress Meetup group in your area, you have the option to start one by joining the Meetup Chapter Program.

#meetups #reactivation #outreach #community-team #community-management #APAC

Cate DeRosia 4:09 pm on January 23, 2023
Tags: , community-team, , ,   

Community Team Goals for 2023: Call for Suggestions

It’s time to add your voice to what you’d like to see the Community Team accomplish as a group for 2023. As you can see in brainstorming posts from 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, and 2016, every year we collected and shortlisted a long list of goals for our team.

This is an open thread for suggestions about what this team ought to focus on and/or try to accomplish this year. It’s ok to include:

  • Ideas that have already been suggested in the past
  • Propose things that maybe no one has ever mentioned.

Once the group has had time to make suggestions, we’ll recruit someone to summarize all the suggestions (example), and then discuss as a group, to set priorities. We’ll close comments on February 2.

Because of the short time frame, we’re looking at splitting the goal planning into two phase. We’d like to plan an initial set of goals for the first half of 2023 and then open the conversation again in May for the second half of the year. That doesn’t mean we can’t have overarching goals for all of to 2023. It simply opens our thinking to short term initiatives while also making sure that we are tracking our progress throughout a long and busy year.

Consider these as you think through your suggestions:

  • What would do you think the 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. should or could work on?
  • What would help further our mission to connect WordPress enthusiasts?
  • What would inspire people to do more with WordPress?
  • How can we encourage contribution 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, in 2023? 

Comment below!!

#community-team, #goals, #highlight, #team-goals, #2023-team-goals

#2023-team-goals

Leo Gopal 1:45 am on January 19, 2023
Tags: , community-team, github, , , team-projects   

Proposal: [Experiment] Adopt Standardised Team-wide Project Management Tools – already utilised by other Make Teams for a Quarter.

This proposal is focused towards improving our project management and goal and progress tracking by using the same transparent tools that other Make Teams already utilise.

Background and Skeleton

Currently we have many spreadsheets, trelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. boards, 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/. groups and many other disparate ways of working on our various ongoing projects outside of helpscout.

From my personal experience having returned as a Community DeputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. and now as Community Team RepTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts., I believe that the first action – before further planning and goals discussions – is to standardise and fully utilize the power of the tools already available to us. We can benefit by learning from other teams that already consistently use these tools.

…and possibly this demo of a Make Community Team →

Benefits of adopting 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/:

GitHub is a powerful and widely-used platform for project management and issue tracking already in full use by @WordPress.

Adopting GitHub for these purposes within the Community Team would bring a number of benefits, including:

  1. Improved collaboration and communication: GitHub provides a central location for team members to access and work on project tasks and issues, as well as a built-in system for commenting, tracking progress, and assigning tasks. This makes it easy for team members to stay informed about the progress of a project and to contribute to it, even when working remotely.
  2. Increased transparency and accountability: With GitHub, team members can easily see the progress of tasks and issues, as well as who is responsible for them. This increased transparency helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that tasks and issues are not falling through the cracks.
  3. Better organization and prioritization: GitHub provides a number of tools for organizing and prioritizing tasks and issues, such as labels, milestones, and project boards. These tools make it easy for team members to understand what needs to be done and when, and to focus their efforts on the most important tasks.
  4. Standardisation: By adopting GitHub for project management and issue tracking, the Community Team will standardize our way of working, making it easier for new team members to get up to speed and enabling more effective cross-team collaboration. This standardization also makes it easier for Community Team members to track progress, identify issues and make data-driven decisions.

Overall, adopting GitHub for project management and issue tracking would bring improved collaboration, increased transparency, better organization, and standardization, ultimately leading to a more efficient and effective team.

Next Steps, the Experiment:

I propose we adopt these tooling methods similar to other make teams, and experiment with its usage for a month, having monthly meetings reviewing its success or not, and gathering data for more data-driven decision making

If after the first Quarter the consensus is that this does not suit our team, we will revert back to initial project and tracking practices and explore more.

Update: Other teams using github already were kind enough to share some of the resources they use and workflows which would be extremely beneficial should we move forward with this adoption standard.

Proposal Adoption Feedback Form

Please comment on this proposal!

What excites you about potential Community Team adoption of GitHub?

What concerns do you have?

Take the Proposal Poll →

Thanks to @mysweetcate @juliarosia @megabyterose @peiraisotta for their help editing, offering invaluable advice, and their support for this proposal by @leogopal

#community-management, #community-team, #github, #proposal, #team-goals, #team-projects

Julia Golomb 6:11 pm on January 18, 2023
Tags: , community-team, , ,   

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: January 2023

Hello Organizers,

Wishing you and your 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. communities a happy and fulfilling 2023. This is a particularly special year, as WordPress turns 20 in May!

Read on to learn about how we’ll celebrate this exciting anniversary, an upcoming 26 January training for meetup organizers, and a discussion about strengthening the Five for the Future contributor journey.

26 January Community Team Training: Use Learn Wor​dPress at Your WordPress Meetup

You are invited to our Zoom Training Session on 26 January! This session will cover how you can use 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/’s free Learn WordPress platform in your WordPress meetup events.

Learn WordPress offers a variety of resources that help people learn to use, extend, and contribute to WordPress through synchronous and asynchronous learning. The learning materials on Learn WordPress include tutorials, courses, and online workshops, as well as downloadable lesson plans that instructors can use in live environments.

Register here to attend the training!

WordPress Turns 20! 🎉

May 27, 2023 marks the 20th year of WordPress. Starting now, a number of different events will bring together the WordPress community to celebrate this important milestone, reflect on the journey, and look toward the future. 

Be sure to follow WordPress’s official social media accounts along with the official anniversary website for updates on how you and your meetup can be involved in this exciting celebration by contributing content, collecting cool anniversary swag, organizing a special 20th anniversary meetup, and much more. Use the hashtag #WP20 on social media to share the excitement! 

Seeking Feedback: How Can We Improve the Five for the Future Contributor Journey?

Launched in 2014, Five for the Future encourages organizations to contribute five percent of their resources to WordPress development. The initiative intends to foster “generous collaboration toward the long term health and stability of [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 for the future.” 

This post shares research on the contributor journey for individuals and organizations committed to the Five for the Future initiative. Your feedback will be valuable in further refining the contribution experience for pledged contributors. Please read and comment on the post to share your ideas for strengthening the Five for the Future contributor journey!

If you have any questions, Community Team deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy 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!

#WP20 will be here sooner than you think. Don’t forget to start planning for your Watch Party! Keep an eye out for it at: https://wp20.wordpress.net/

See you online soon!

The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @mysweetcate @juliarosia @bjmcsherry

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

Isotta 3:00 pm on December 22, 2022
Tags: community-team, ,   

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: December 2022

Hello, organizers!

It’s been a big year of reactivation and improvements in our 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. world. This month we take a look at a few of those: 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) battle won, a new way to highlight your speakers, and useful updates to the handbook.

Meetup.com Updates & Tips

Meetup.com Accessibility Overlay Update

In November, WordPress meetup organizers expressed their disappointment in Meetup.com’s new accessibility overlay, and brought this to the attention of the Community Team. Since then, we met with Meetup’s Director of Engineering, their Head of Customer Success, and their GM of Meetup Pro, who understood the WP community, removed the overlay, and planned the next steps. Read here the latest updates.  

New from Meetup.com

We had a lot of new product releases in November, including:

  • Event Chat! Accessible via event pages, this new feature enables you and your members to talk in real-time—before, during, and after an event.
  • The new display of a group’s average event rating.
  • Messages tab in Meetup for Organizer app.

Find out all the updates and new features here. 

Meetup Tip of the Month for WordPress Local Leaders

You can now display event speakers in a more prominent way on your Meetup event pages. Try this new feature for your next event!

Updates to the Meetup Organizer Handbook

Alongside our meetup reactivation work, we’ve also been updating our meetup documentation to make it as smooth as possible to manage your meetup. 

You may have noticed the changes already, particularly if you held a State of the Word Watch Party, but there’s now a clear Table of Contents and Welcome pages, as well as easy-to-access information on how to get started, how to step down, and our current COVID-19 guidelines.

We’ll be continuing these updates in 2023, so if you have any suggestions on areas to improve or content you find confusing, please email us at support@wordcamp.com and let us know!

The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open

Each year, members of the WordPress community (users, site builders, extenders, and contributors) provide valuable feedback through an annual survey. This survey helps those who build WordPress understand more about how the software is used, and by whom. It also helps leaders in 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 learn more about our contributors’ experiences. 

The survey is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish. Learn more about it and share your feedback.

A special thank you to our Global Sponsors: Jetpack, WooCommerce, Bluehost, Nexcess, Weglot, and WordPress.com!

If you have any questions, Community Team deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events 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. 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 #community-team, #meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

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

Megan 3:50 pm on December 20, 2022
Tags: , community-team, ,   

Community Team 2022 Goals Recap

Throughout 2022, the Community Team has been focused on a wide range of goals. These goals encompassed improvements to our programs and projects, creating new educational content, and improved outreach and coordination across the various sub-groups of the team.

  1. Support the return of in-person events
  2. Check-in and reactivate 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. Chapters worldwide
  3. Increase training and support for DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. and MentorsMentor 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.
  4. Work on efforts to improve diversity and inclusion within our community
  5. Create more opportunities for community members to interact with each other

Return of In-Person Events

Throughout 2022, the Community Team has been discussing how to safely return to in-person events. In January, the team published updated guidelines for in-person events. The WordCamp Handbook and Meetup Handbook are up-to-date with the decisions from the ongoing discussion.

We are also supporting event organizers by having open discussions about the challenges and hopes for the future with returning to in-person events.

In 2022, we had 22 in-person WordCamps, along with 3 which were online. At the moment, we have 12 WordCamps on the schedule, plus our in-person Community Summit. 16 more WordCamps are in pre-planning stages and 7 are pending review from the Community DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook.. ✨ Kudos to @peiraisotta for gathering these stats!

Meetup Chapter Reactivations

The Meetup Reactivation project has been underway since July. At the start of the reactivation project, 416 of the chapters were identified as dormant. Thanks to the help of 41 contributors:

  • 126 Meetup chapters have been reactivated
  • 15 additional 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. have plans to reactivate
  • 16 dormant Meetup chapters were removed

Need help to reengage your community, or assistance in finding new ideas for your Meetup events?

Reach out to the Meetup Support team at meetup-support@wordcamp.org!

Check out the latest Meetup Reactivation update shared by @juliarosia!

Community Team Training

We have had 5 Community Team Training sessions over Zoom, covering the Deputy program, Meetup/WordCamp application vetting, WordPress events organizing, WordCamp processes, and active listening.

Kudos to @samsuresh for kicking off and coordinating/facilitating the Community Team Training series (previously known as DeputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. and Organizer Training). 💥

WP Diversity

Program 1: Underrepresented Voices Speaker Workshops: Increase in public speaking confidence: 54%

Program 2: How to Organize Inclusive and Welcoming WordPress Events: Increase in feeling prepared to run an inclusive event: 40%

Program 3: Speaker support and speaking opportunities (#diverse-speaker-support 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): over 225 speakers, speaker mentors, event organizers, and allies in the Slack channel.

Held 15 workshops, which reached: 248 participants from 117 cities, across 32 countries.

Increased number of contributors to the team

  • 2020-2021: 5 contributors
  • 2021-2022: 32 contributors

Speaker workshop materials are in English, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

Community Engagement

Community Summit

The 2023 WordPress Community Summit was announced for August 22-23 in National Harbor, DC, UAS. This event will bring together WordPress contributors, team leads, and diverse community voices to discuss the challenges and clarify the vision for WordPress in the years ahead.

Suggest a Community Summit topic by January 16, 2023! 📝

Other Activities

Another goal mentioned in our 2022 goals announcement post was to implement a revised Camera Kit program in Europe, which will be available beginning in January 2023! Shout out to @sippis for the hard work on this. 💪

With a new Contributor Handbook, a new Community Code of Conduct was introduced in 2022! In support of the new code of conductCode of Conduct “A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party.” - Wikipedia, incident response training was made available to anyone interested in learning more. Additionally, a new cohort led by @angelasjin and @juliarosia was announced and run, creating the WordPress community’s first Incident Response team. 

Looking Towards 2023

There were so many great ideas submitted for 2022 which I’d like to highlight for us to keep in mind when we move into the new year:

  • Organize regular Deputy and MentorMentor 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. roundtables on a monthly basis with a focus on learning.
  • Finalize and launch the Code of Conduct (CoCCode of Conduct “A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party.” - Wikipedia) Training for Deputies.
  • Identify gaps and start working on revamping our existing contributor training, with a goal of eventually moving them to 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/
  • Formalize the contributor path for the Community Team and make community members aware of leadership and growth opportunities.
  • Plan regular Community Organizer check-ins.

The following goals are ongoing and should be continued:

  • Encourage community organizers in different locales to apply as Mentors or Deputies.
  • Find ways to make sure that community organizers stay updated.
  • Explore new event formats.

#2022-team-goals, #community-team, #community-team-goals, #team-goals

Julia Golomb 6:28 pm on December 9, 2022
Tags: community-team,   

December Update: Global Meetup Reactivation Project

The 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. Reactivation Project is well underway. Read on for an update!

Since the last update:
+7 new Meetup groups have joined the WordPress meetup chapter program
+12 dormant 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. have been reactivated

Is your meetup currently active? Tell the world by posting a photo on social media with the hashtag #WordPressMeetup

Background

Why meetup reactivation?

Many WordPress Meetups around the world have been dormant due to the COVID-19 pandemic and organizer burnout. Yet thriving Meetups are crucial for the health of the global WordPress community!

How does meetup reactivation work?

In July, the 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. published a Call for Supporters and launched the Meetup Reactivation Project. Since then, Meetup Reactivation Supporters started directly reaching out to the organizers of every dormant WordPress meetup to:

  • Check on the status of the meetup
  • Encourage reactivation
  • Ask how we can best support the organizers
  • Identify whether new organizers are needed

We define a dormant meetup as one that has not held an event in the past six months (virtual or in-person). There were more than 400 dormant WordPress meetups at the launch of this project — which means there is significant opportunity to reactivate our global community!

The numbers (so far)!

There are currently 778 WordPress chapter Meetups in 113 countries, with 509,647 members. Yet at the start of the reactivation project, we identified that 416 of these groups were dormant.

The project currently has 41 meetup reactivation supporters globally. These amazing volunteers are reaching out directly to the organizers of each dormant meetup group. 

As a result of their efforts:

  • 126 meetup groups reactivated in 2022 (🎉)!
  • 15 additional meetup groups indicated that they plan to reactivate, but haven’t yet held an event
    • Note: The data now distinguishes between groups that Reactivated (held an event or have one scheduled) and groups that Plan to Reactivate (indicated that they plan to reactivate, but haven’t yet scheduled an event). We combined these two numbers in previous updates.
  • 16 dormant Meetups were removed from the WordPress meetup chapter program, because the previous organizers were not available to reactivate the group and no member came forward to serve as organizer.

Next Steps

As we enter the next phase of meetup reactivation, Supporters will seek new organizers for dormant meetup groups and follow up with organizers who indicated that they plan to reactivate a group, but haven’t yet scheduled an event. We will continue to share updates here on the Community Team blog.

Thank you to our wonderful meetup reactivation supporters, the hundreds of meetup organizers who are reactivating their groups, and the energetic new organizers who have come forward to lead meetups!

Want to reactivate your local meetup group or form a new meetup?

Contact the Community Team at support@wordcamp.org. We’re here to help!

Need help to reengage your community, or assistance in finding new ideas for your Meetup events?

Reach out to the Meetup Support team at meetup-support@wordcamp.org!

Relevant posts:

#meetups, #outreach, #reactivation, #community-team

Sam Suresh 3:24 pm on November 28, 2022
Tags: community-team,   

WordPress Community Team Training #5: Active Listening

As part of WordPress Community Team Training series, we are excited to invite the community members to attend our upcoming Zoom Training Session scheduled as follows:

TitleActive Listening
Date8th December 2022
Time2022/12/08 12:00 UTC (1 Hour)
Open toAll WordPress Community members 
LocationZoom Video Conference
RSVPhttps://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkf-mvrTgiH9LrA66GF33cXNYfsxDDGaoG

Active Listening – Hear What People are Really Saying

Communication is also one of the most challenging and important facets of our work, and we sure do a ton of it! In this workshop, we’ll explore how to communicate empathetically through active/reflective listening so that we accurately hear, validate, and respond to what others are saying, whether it’s a community member, a client or customer, or a teammate. We’ll also examine different instances where active/reflective listening techniques can be utilized. You’ll learn enhanced listening skills that can be applied to everyday conversations, and will bolster trust and strengthen relationships.

MentorMentor 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.: Angela Jin

Angela Jin is the Head of Programs and Contributor Experience at Automattic. She is a dedicated volunteer with a passion for building strong, inclusive communities. Originally from Seattle, Washington, Angela is currently trying out Madrid, Spain, where she delights in learning Spanish, exploring by eating, and reading a good book.
View Angela’s WordPress Profile. 

RSVP

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

#community-team, #training

Isotta 4:00 pm on November 22, 2022
Tags: community-team, ,   

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: November 2022

Hello, organizers!

This month’s 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 newsletter is dedicated to sharing the progress we’ve made together as a community and improvements to the tools we all use, as well as coming together to look ahead at what 2023 may hold.

Hint. Hint. 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 parties are back!!!!

Meetup.com Updates & Tips

New from Meetup.com

Are you making the best out of the meetup.com app? Check out the following tips for an incredible organizer and member experience!

  • Want to know how many attendees showed up after registering for your event? Try the Event Check-In Feature for Organizers!
  • Watch the recording of the latest Meetup Product Team’s Meetup Live event for an overview of new Meetup features coming up 

Meetup Tip of the Month for WordPress Local Leaders

As we’re approaching the end of the year, it’s a great time to survey your members to find out what they’ve enjoyed the most in 2022 and get ideas to bring even more engagement into the next year. 

You can use the survey to ask them what they value the most out of the events, what topics they’d like to hear more about, feedback on ways to improve the community, and offer them the opportunity to get more involved. 

There are many ways you can send an end of year survey to your Meetup group members. Here are three to consider: 

  • Start a group discussion
  • Use the ‘Contact members’ tool
  • Send an email to your group mailing list

Here’s a helpful list of the best free online survey tools. 

Meetup Reactivation Progress

The WordPress Meetup Reactivation Project is well underway. In June, the reactivation project identified that 416 of our meetup groups were dormant. 

Since then, 40 meetup global community members have joined as reactivation supporters. These amazing volunteers are reaching out directly to the organizers of each dormant meetup group, and through their efforts, 127 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. have been reactivated!

If you are interested in learning more about the project, check out the latest updates on the project monthly post.

Need help to re-engage your community, or assistance in finding new ideas for your Meetup events? Reach out to the Meetup Support team at meetup-support@wordcamp.org!

State of the Word Watch Parties

It’s time to plan your meetup’s 2022 State of the Word watch party!

When: December 15, 2022, 6:00 p.m. UTC

How: The live stream will be embedded in this post and available through the
WordPress YouTube channel.

Gather together to look back on how WordPress has grown in 2022 and what is ahead for 2023. Stay updated as a group on the latest happenings in the WordPress world and have the opportunity to ask questions directly to Matt Mullenweg!

If you have a question to ask, you can either send it ahead of time to ask-matt@wordcamp.org or ask during the event in the live stream chat on YouTube.

Like last year, you can find information and templates in our handbook to help plan your watch party event. And if you’re meeting online, request a community zoom pro account for your online watch party right away!

  • Is State of the Word happening at an odd hour in your timezone? Meet to watch the replay of the live stream at a date/time that is convenient for your group.
  • Need swag for your in-person event? Fill out this form so that we can ship you some swag for your meetup group to celebrate! Request yours by November 30, 2022.

Even if a watch party isn’t right for your community, meetup organizers can help promote State of the Word by emailing your attendees about the event. Once again, we have some email templates that make it easier!

A special thank you to our Global Sponsors: Jetpack, WooCommerce, Bluehost, Nexcess, Weglot, and WordPress.com!

If you have any questions, Community Team deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events 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. 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#community-team, #meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

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