Meetup Organizer Newsletter: March 2023

Hello 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,

Time indeed flies as we are in March already! After the first 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 took place in Bangkok in February, WordPress community gathering continues to happen.

Folks are excited to start a new meetup group or reactivate the existing one, and plan for a WordCamp.

WordCamp Asia 2024 will be in Taipei and the Call for Organizers is open until April 15, 2023.

Contributor Working Group: Call for Volunteers! 

The Contributor Working Group of the Make/WordPress Community Team has been revamped to focus on building a WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program. The membership to the working group is open to everyone. So, if you are interested in volunteering, you can comment on the article that @harishanker published or reach out to him directly on 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/.. The first team chat will be on March 20, 2023.

Getting Feedback from Your Event Attendees

Reviewing feedback from attendees is a great way to improve your events and the overall experience for your group members. Meetup has made some improvements on the post-event feedback feature on the Meetup App (iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. & Android). Check this page out to learn more about viewing feedback from your members. 

WP20 Celebrations and Wapuu Contest

#WP20 is coming soon and a fun way to bring your community together to acknowledge the power of WordPress and the love we have for it is with a party!

Don’t wait to schedule your meetup’s Celebration event. Planning resources are available in the Meetup Organizer Handbook. Sign up to have a bundle of event-specific swag shipped right to you! Once scheduled, you’ll be showcased on the event site alongside all of the Meetup Celebrations from around the world.

Additionally, show off your community’s creative side by joining the Wapuu Coloring Giveaway. Follow the link to learn the details and prizes available to win!

Keep an eye on https://wp20.wordpress.net/ for updates and new information!


A special thank you to our 2023 Global Sponsors: Bluehost, Weglot, GoDaddy, Automattic, and WooCommerce


Need support or guidance from the WordPress 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.

You can always reach the Community Team by sending a message to #community-events in Making WordPress Slack or an email to support@wordcamp.org.  

Thank you for your contribution to the 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/ projects and supporting the WordPress Community! Let’s keep growing together, and inspire each other!

The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @bjmcsherry @devinmaeztri,@mysweetcate and @nao.

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

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

Community Team Goals for 2023 : Chat session

We will have our first chat session on March 22nd at 12:00 UTC about Community goals.
The chat will be held on the #community-team channel of the Make/WordPress Slack.

Please See previous posts about Community Goals here.
Community Team Goals for 2023: Call for Suggestions
Community Team Goals for 2023 : Next Step

Agenda

Community Team 2023 Goals Trello Bord

  • Have people look over the proposals we have.
  • If you have any additions, I’ll ask you to write them down.
  • Scrutiny of categories
  • Categorize the cards

This is the first time that we are facilitating a community goal in a chat session.
Please join us.

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

Community Team Goals for 2023 : Next Step

Thank you all so much for sharing your suggestions for the Community team’s 2023 goals, there are A LOT of excellent suggestions here to be excited about!

Over the next 2 weeks, suggested goals will be put into a new, public Community Team 2023 Goals Trello board as separate cards.

In March, we will hold a few chat sessions in the #community-team channel (if you don’t have an account already, sign-up for an one here: https://make.wordpress.org/chat/), where 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. and anyone interested are invited to chat about specific goals, and add details to goal cards. The 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. board will be open for the next 2 weeks, so that people can share input outside of those sessions.

You can put your comments on the cards you consider high priority.
It can be just +1.

Then we will discuss final additions and priorities at our regular April chat meeting, 6 April. If you would prefer to have a Zoom hangout before then to discuss the goals, let us know what time zone and we’ll try to make that happen.

After that, the Team reps will summarize our goals and top priorities for 2023.

If any deputies are interested in helping with putting goals in Trello, or facilitating discussions and recapping goals, please pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” @mysweetcate or @leogopal or me(@nukaga)!

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

​​Community Team Meeting Agenda for 2 March 2023

The Community Team chat takes place the first Thursday of every month. 

This meeting is meant for all contributors on the team and everyone who is interested in taking part in some of the things our team does. Feel free to join us, even if you are not currently active in the team!

Asia-Pacific / EMEA friendly meeting: Thursday, 2 March 2023 at 12:00 PM UTC

Americas friendly meeting: Thursday, 2 March 2023 at 21:00 PM UTC

You will find a preliminary agenda for the meeting below. 

If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the team reps: @leo, @nukaga, or @mysweetcate. It does not need to be a blog post yet, the topic can be discussed during the meeting nevertheless. We use the same agenda for both meetings.

Check-ins: 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. / 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. / Contributors

  • What have you been doing and how is it going? 
  • What did you accomplish after the last meeting? 
  • Are there any blockers? 
  • Can other team members help you in some way?

Highlights to Note

Here are a few things everyone should be aware of.

2023 Global Sponsors: Announcement – The Global Community Sponsors for 2023. Thank you to all the sponsors that support the WordPress community programs, including WordCamps and WordPress Chapter 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.

Updates to the WordCamp Site Setup Handbook Page – Updated the DeputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. Handbook 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. Listing & Site Setup page with the current step by step guide to set up WordCamp websites in 2023.

Suggested update to Events Code of Conduct – It is proposed to add a Statement about Socials or Supplemental Events to the 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 by @angelasjin
Deadline for comments: 6 March 2023

WordCamp Asia 2023 Contributor Day@tacoverdo and @mysweetcate Thank you for leading the community table at WordCamp Asia. This is on the agenda for WC Asia, but it is also an ongoing issue for the community, and although WC Asia has passed, please feel free to comment if you have an opinion.

Open Posts

Check out these new and ongoing discussions needing review, feedback, thoughts and comments.

Update: APAC Meetup Reactivation Project – This is a report on the Meetup Reactivation Project, which has been active since last July. The next update has not been released yet this year, but there are stories to share that will give you an idea of what to expect in the future.

Discussion: Refining the Mentor Program@mysweetcate and @devinmaeztri  are working to improve our current 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. program. This post contains 4 issues and 3 Discussion Posts for support a growing community team.

Upcoming #WPDiversity Events: March 2023 – March 2023 #WPDiversity schedule. Please join us and help us spread the word!

Feature request: additional roles for WordCamp sites – Discussion about adding roles to WordCamp sites. Deadline for comments: 21 March 2023

Proposal: Modify the Events and News widget to show topic-based meetups worldwide – Proposal by @alh0319. Allow events from topic-based 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 show in the Events and News 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. worldwide.

Announcements / Newsletters

Open Floor

This is your chance to discuss things that weren’t on the meeting agenda. 

We invite you to use this opportunity to share anything that you want with the team. If you currently have a topic you’d like to discuss, add it to the comments of this post and we will try to update the agenda accordingly.

Hope to see you on Thursday, either in the Asia-Pacific / EMEA (12:00 UTC) or Americas-friendly version (21:00 UTC) of the meeting!


Thanks to @mysweetcate for checking this post!

#community-team, #meeting-agenda, #team-chat, #team-meeting

WordCamp Asia 2023 Contributor Day

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/. is fast approaching and we couldn’t be more excited. We had some great suggestions and all of them seem worthwhile to pursue!

So how will the Community Team be using our time?

  1. We will provide space for #WPDiversity to meet with attendees who would like to hold an open discussion about diversity in the WordPress community in Asia. 
  2. Be available to attendees who have questions about starting 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 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 their area.
  3. Help any new contributors apply to the Meetup Reactivation project or to be a WordCamp 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..
  4. Improve the documentation 
  5. Discuss:
    1. What blockers prevent women from being involved as organizers and how can we support them?
    2. What people want to see on a WordCamp attendees page. What information would add value for other attendees?
    3. Discuss what the benefit and impact is of not allowing branded slides for WordCamp speakers, and why we should keep that rule.

Can’t attend in person?

Join the conversations that happen all year long in the Make Community 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/.. It’s simple to join and allows you to connect to all of the Make WordPress contributor teams!

Comment on the post to share your feedback, particularly around the two items we’ll be discussing. You’ll also have a chance to approve any updates to the handbooks so be looking for that opportunity.

Additionally, consider amplifying the event on your personal social media. I’ll be tweeting pictures from my @mysweetcate account using #CommunityTeam.


Thanks @devinmaeztri, @tacoverdo, @nukaga, @onealtr, and @peiraisotta for contributing to this post.

#meetups, #community-team, #contributor-day, #wordcamps

Discussion: Refining the Mentor Program

To better serve the community and the Community Team, @devinmaeztri and I are working to improve our current 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. 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 “DeputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook.” 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. 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 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 DeputiesProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters 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 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./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 DeputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. 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 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 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 DeputyProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters 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

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

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 2021202020182017, 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

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 DeputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. 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?



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

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 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!


#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