Tag Archives: events

Julia Golomb 7:31 pm on March 30, 2022
Tags: , , DiverseSpeakerSupport, , events,   

Proposal: Steps to Integrate #WPDiversity into WordPress Event Organizing

Context

To fulfill WordPress’s mission to democratize publishing, the Community team seeks to actively reduce barriers to current and future participation, engagement, and sense of belonging in WordPress events.

People who experience marginalization in broader society are more likely to experience barriers to full participation in their WordPress community. As community contributors, we have the ability and responsibility to actively counteract these forces to build a thriving, inclusive community.

The WordPress community is diverse and global. The power of 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. is that anyone can contribute from anywhere at any time, regardless of their background.

The more diverse our community is, the stronger it becomes. With different perspectives come new innovations, ideas, and solutions. This results in better user experiences for all, from bloggers setting up sites to organizers and attendees of our in-person community events.

Inclusive environments don’t happen overnight – or without effort. As our community grows, so have ideas and efforts to help welcome more diverse voices into the fold.

WPDiversity Programs

#WPDiversity programs are designed to empower WordPress community members with skills and resources to organize and contribute to diverse and inclusive WordPress events. This proposal offers a pathway to introduce all 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. and 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 to #WPDiversity programs, with the aim of helping to strengthen their events from inception.

By proactively sharing information about these programs and an invitation to participate with new and existing event organizers, we can shape a culture in which awareness of and action toward diversity and inclusion are embedded in events from the planning outset.

Proposal

Existing WordCamp and Meetup Organizers

All WordCamp and meetup organizers would receive an email inviting and encouraging them to take the following actions in preparation for their upcoming or ongoing WordPress events:

  • Participate in the Allyship training (interactive video watch party or watch the prerecorded video on their own);
  • Organize an Allyship and/or Diverse Speaker training for their local community, or invite their community to join one of the regularly-scheduled global trainings.
  • Join the #DiverseSpeakerSupport 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, participate in the channel discussions, and share their event’s calls for organizers and speakers; and request that their Speaker WranglerWrangler Someone, usually a person part of event organizing team, who looks after certain things like budget or sponsors. do the same.

New WordCamp and Meetup Organizers

All new WordCamp and meetup organizers would automatically receive the invitation described above as they are onboarded.

All WordCamp and Meetup Organizers

Further, all event organizers would be required to:

  • Read handbook pages that cover key concepts and practices for creating a welcoming and inclusive event;
  • Demonstrate comprehension through the completion of a quiz.

An effective starting point would be to add new lessons to the Meetup Organizer Training and WordCamp Organizer Training. The required reading would include links to optional resources to go deeper.

Share Your Feedback!

Please share your thoughts on this proposal by Friday, April 8! I would be interested to know:

  • How might this approach impact your community?
  • What do you like about this approach?
  • What’s missing?
  • What other ideas do you have?

Kudos to @angelasjin, @mysweetcate, @alliennimmons, @wpfangirl, @devinmaeztri, @peiraisotta, @jillbinder, @nao, @tacoverdo and @planningwrite for contributing to this post.

#community-events, #community-team, #event-planning-training-materials, #events-2

Jonathan Bossenger 1:58 pm on July 16, 2020
Tags: events,   

Reimagining Online Event Sponsorships

As we start reimagining what online events look like, so might we also have to reconsider our sponsorship packages and the perks we offer to our sponsors.

Online events do not incur such a high cost as in person events do, so the requirement to gather large sponsorship funds to make a successful 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. no longer exists. This might mean that WordCamp organizers don’t feel the need to reach out to existing sponsors, and get them involved.

On the other hand, with online events, companies could possibly sponsor many more events worldwide, instead of focusing their sponsorships to local only events. So the possible reach of a sponsor could be wider.

It is important to remember that the option to sponsor a WordCamp has traditionally been with the agreement that sponsors don’t receive any “pay to play” type benefits. So typically sponsor perks have included things like advertising at key locations around the event, and sponsor booths/tables to interact with attendees and hand out swag.

In an online event, this is not possible, so WordCamps have had to adapt. One such example is the option of a Virtual Sponsor booth, where attendees can log in to a virtual room to chat with sponsors. This is something that is already being made available at existing WordCamps.

This is equivalent to offering a sponsor a physical booth/table in the general sponsors area at a WordCamp, typically in a space where attendees are very likely to walk past and therefore interact with sponsors.

The problem with such an option is that, if attendees have to log off the regular WordCamp platform, then go find some other link to the Virtual Booth, the experience becomes arduous and full of friction for the attendee making, it highly unlikely they’ll attend.

This ends up meaning that the Virtual Booth has no real benefit to sponsors, and as such, may opt out of choosing a higher tier sponsor package, that would include such a perk.

This post serves to open a discussion around the concept of sponsorships for virtual WordCamps, how they might need to change to fit into the new world of the all online event, and how we can better marry the needs of sponsors to the needs of attendees, to make an online event successful.

Please leave suggestions/ideas as comments on this post, which I will leave open for one week until Thursday 23 July 2020 at 3:00pm UTC. After that I will filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. the comments in a follow up post, where we can discuss them in detail, with an aim to turn them into an actionable plan for sponsorships of our online events.

Thanks to @hlashbrooke for reviewing this post and making sure I don’t sound foolish 🙂

#events-2, #wordcamps

Angela Jin 8:01 am on July 13, 2020
Tags: , events,   

Reimagining Online Events

This year, the WordPress Community has faced an unprecedented challenge. In response, we took big steps in moving WordCamps, Meetups, and other community events online, and together, we provided the community with some stability during this global crisis, by bringing the in-person 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. experience online.

Now that we’ve had a number of outstanding online WordCamps, including WordCamp Europe, we have the opportunity to think beyond simply recreating in-person events. 

Instead, we can take this chance to get creative and take our online WordPress events to the next level, exploring how we can transform online events to better serve our community.

Let’s innovate and iterate!

Successful WordPress Community events help people learn to use and contribute to WordPress. Community organizers make this possible by connecting WordPress enthusiasts and inspiring people to do more with WordPress, making it easier for people to contribute to WordPress.

How can we best achieve these goals, advancing the growth and adoption of WordPress, through online events? As an attendee, what would inspire you to participate in an online event?

A few concepts that have been brainstormed by 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. include:

  • WordCamp JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/.
  • WordCamp Portuguese Online
  • Advanced Developer WordCamp Online, August Edition
  • WordPress 101 Online, Hindi Edition
  • BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Builders Bi-Weekly
  • WordCamp “How It Works”**
  • Documentation Contributor Workshop
  • WordCamp for Non-Profits
  • Content Creators Weekly Round-up

**Wins the prize for worst event title.

Other, broader ideas include: 

  • Decouple online events from geography
  • Encourage events and workshops defined by topics, languages, etc.
  • Explore shorter, “snack-sized” online events
  • Experiment with the frequency of events

Share your ideas 

What can online events make possible for WordPress? What do you think about these ideas, and what other ideas do you have? What online events have impressed you? What online events have been successful in your local community? 

Please share as many ideas as you can, in comments to this post by 17 July, 2020. 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. will then start working on how to support organizers in creating effective and powerful online WordPress events, to be discussed in a follow-up post. 

Thanks to the following deputies for their feedback and contributions to this post: @andreamiddleton, @bph, @camikaos @courtneypk, @harishanker, @hlashbrooke, @kcristiano, @monchomad, @sippis

#meetups, #events-2, #wordcamps
Jenny Wong 1:28 pm on August 5, 2016
Tags: , , , , , , , events, , , team-thing   

Community Team Slack Channels

Hi all,

I want to propose that we rename #outreach to #community-team and follow CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. in their sub team channel naming convention which for the Community team would be #community-usage.

For example, the events room would be renamed to #community-events. The way 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/. works means that any channel name changes will not effect or kick anyone out of any room they are currently a part of, just that they will see the name has changed.

Part of the reason why is because many people who are looking for the community team do not look or realise we are in #outreach. This includes a core committer who i would label as an advance Slack user. In fact, when I told them the community team uses #outreach for our community channel their response was

Oh, that’s what that channel is
Weird
I’d expect #community and #community-usage
#events I can see potentially being different
But #outreach I always thought was like for engagement with the wider community
Kinda like #marketing

They also pointed out that when searching for a channel, people automatically search for community and get a response of No match found. Did you spell it correctly?

Screenshot of the result when you type Community into the Slack channel search. It responds with No match found. Did you spell it correctly?

I have also noticed that the #outreach gets messages regarding people doing outreach for their products. Although not often, the mistake is understandable considering what the channel is called. Back when 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/ took to Slack, we were called #community – but many people thought it was a water-cooler location for anyone to have a natter. This was the reasoning behind the switch to #outreach. Instead, I would like to propose we call it #community-team which makes it clear that the channel is for the Community team.

The other reason why I would like to propose these changes is because I’ve been trying to get into updating the handbook, but it’s a really boring process to do on your own and talking about it in #events or #outreach, the conversation gets lost in all the other conversations that are happening in there.

I think that the Core team and the Meta team’s use of #team-thing has meant that conversations are kept focused on the channel topic. It allows for people to only follow conversations that they are interested in and helps with the timezone issue where we have people across the world wanting to follow one particular topic.

At a minimum i can in vision the following channels

It could be extended to – if people feel like it could be helpful to 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. 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. #community-mentors – a support location for people mentoring WordCamps in a similar vein to the forum support for the moderators.

And later maybe #community-deputies – a support location for people who are doing 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. work in a similar vein to #community-mentors. It would also give a clearer view of what it is that 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. do for anyone wanting to join the deputy program as they can see the things deputies discuss and talk about.

All these channels will still be accessible to everyone so there is no issue with transparency.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Jenny

#deputies

Hugh Lashbrooke 9:43 am on July 8, 2016
Tags: , , events, , , , , ,   

Notes from Community Team Chat | July 7, 2016

We held the monthly Community Team Chat yesterday (July 7, 2016) at 19:00 UTC in #outreach on the Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.. You can view the full Slack logs here (Slack account required to view).

Mentorship Programme

@brandondove gave a report on the current status of the 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. mentorship programme (Slack logs):

  • 29 total 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. (17 active, 4 maxed out, 8 inactive)
  • 37 camps actively being mentored
  • 9 camps that need mentors

In general the mentorship programme is working well and being very effective. Given that the number of active WordCamps fluctuates over the course of the year, there are times of the year when we do not have enough mentors and times when we do. Right now we do not have enough to cover all of the camps that need them.

WordCamps

@camikaos reported on the status of WordCamps at the moment (Slack logs):

  • 5 camps needing vetting
  • 2 camps needing orientation
  • 34 camps in the pre-planning stage
  • 49 camps scheduled
  • 37 camps closed in 2016 so far

Given that some of those camps are for 2017, we’ll be looking at around 115 camps in total for 2016.

WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. 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/.

@miss_jwo gave some feedback about what the Community achieved at the WordCamp Europe Contributor Day on July 26, 2016 (Slack logs):

  • @camikaos and @chanthaboune lead a workshop on WordCamps and 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.
  • @kcristiano and @camikaos led a Q&A session
  • Testing sessions were held for new WordCamp organisers using WordCamp.org
  • A number of people worked on improving the handbooks

Meetups

@chanthaboune gave an update on Meetups (Slack logs):

  • We have 305 total 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 (97,130 members)
  • 21 new groups created in the last month
  • 28 applications received in the last month
  • 0 groups closed in the last month
  • 63.2% groups are outside the US
  • 36.7% groups in the US
  • We average ~350 events a month

She noted that we have not been sending out the monthly emails to meetup groups around the world and some discussion was had about possibly making those email quarterly instead of attempting to do them monthly.

Miscellaneous

@chanthaboune had a few miscellaneous items at the end of the meeting (Slack logs):

  • We are in the process of moving our P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. to an O2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. (much like the Meta blog has already). Everything will continues to work as it should, but it’s worth mentioning.
  • The team at WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. has grown with the addition of @courtneypk and @hlashbrooke – this means we have more effective coverage across most time zones.

Remember that these monthly Community team chats are on The first Thursday of every month at 19:00 UTC in #outreach on Slack. Have a look at the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. of this P2 for other meeting & office hoursOffice Hours Defined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time. times.

#agenda, #debriefs, #events-2, #meeting, #meetups-2, #mentorship-programs, #report, #team-chat

Jenny Wong 10:57 am on June 8, 2016
Tags: , events, , , ,   

WordCamp Europe Contributor Day – Community Team Plans

With WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe quickly coming up, I would like to do a call out for anyone coming to the 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/. and can lead one of the following groups/ sub groups to please comment below.

We have had p2 call out, a chat on Slack where we reviewed the p2 results and have grouped the following things as items for the Community team to concentrate on.

  1. Community Documentation

    This would include, but not limited to:

    • Internationalising the handbook as required to give better support for non North American events and/ or organisers whose primary language is not English.
    • Translating the WordCamp Organising Handbook into different languages (and to find at least 2 contributors per translation to subscribe them to the make/comm blog for updating changes)
    • Work on the Contributor Day handbook
    • Work on the Meet Up Handbook
    • Set up a single location for community team documentation such as flyers, wappus and any other material

    Call for community help:

    We need as many people as possible. People with any of the following will be great:

    • Anyone who likes reading
    • Experience in organising a WordCamp
    • Experience in organising a local meet up as part of the chapter program or as a independent
    • People who enjoy writing/ checking spelling mistakes/ grammar etc.

    Please have your own laptop for this.

  2. Organiser Orientations

    Note for WordCamp and Meet Up organisers:

    If you are thinking or have already submitted a meet up or WordCamp application, please let us know. We will try and do as many orientations as possible during the Contributor Day.

    Call 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. help:

    We’ll need a minimum of 2 deputies :

    • Group orientations for people interested in moving their meet up group to the WordPress chapter account.
    • Group orientations for people interested in organizing a WordCamp, to give folks an idea of the process and what’s expected.

  3. Community Support Desk

    Note for WordCamp, Meet Up organisers and everyone in our Community:

    Have a question about organising a WordCamp, meet up, about the Chapter program or the community team?  Got an issue you would like help on? Have a issue or pain point when you are organising community events for your local community? We’re here to listen and help!

    This is where we invite every one from the community regardless of your background to find the help you need.

    Call for deputies help

    We did this last year and it was really beneficial. It also enabled local community organisers to share their pain points of working with the guidelines which you rarely hear them talk about otherwise.

    It would be good to have a minimum of two deputies on this roll at any given time.

  4. 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. Training

    For those interested in becoming a 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. and are mentoring WordCamp organisers.

    Call for new deputies:

    Please comment that you would like to be mentored at the WordCamp Europe Contributor Day.

If you do have any other ideas of things that you would like the Community to team to do during WordCamp Europe Contributor Day and it doesn’t fit into one of these groups, please let us know in the comments below.

#community-management, #events-2, #meetups-2, #training-workshops, #wceu-contributorday, #wordcamps

Andrea Middleton 9:19 pm on February 17, 2016
Tags: , events,   

Switching PayPal accounts for CampTix registration on March 1

Heads up! On March 1, we’re going to change the PayPal account that’s connected to CampTix from the account owned by the WordPress FoundationWordPress Foundation The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org. to an account owned by the Foundation’s subsidiary, WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a subsidiary of WordPress Foundation. It is created specifically to be the financial and legal support for WordCamps, WordPress Meetup groups, and any additional “official” events organized within the WordPress Community Events program., PBC.

Since we have already talked to PayPal about making this switch, they know to expect high volume on this new account, and we don’t anticipate any issues with payment processing for 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. tickets. If you notice issues with ticket purchasing, please notify us in wordpress.slack.com in the #meta-wordcamp channel, and we’ll investigate.

This change will, unfortunately, break self-serve refunds for folks who have purchased tickets in the past 2 months. We’re going to handle those refunds manually. This will be inconvenient, but we think the hassle is worth the benefit of creating a clean financial break with the Foundation for ticket revenue.

Self-serve refunds, if a WordCamp has them turned on, will still be functional through February 29.

After March 1, 2016, if you are contacted by an attendee requesting a refund for a ticket purchased between 1/1/2016 and 3/1/2016, please email support@wordcamp.org with the following info:

Purchaser’s name:
Purchaser’s email address:
PayPal Transaction ID for the ticket purchase:
Date of the ticket purchase:
Date of the event:

As long as the ticket purchase happened between between 1/1/2016 and 3/1/2016 and the refund request came in before the event, we will refund the ticket within a week of receiving the email to support@wordcamp.org. We’ll probably do refunds in batches on a weekly basis.

Again, this change won’t happen for another couple of weeks, but we wanted to let you know about it with some advance notice. 🙂 Got a question? Ask in the comments!

#community-management, #events-2, #wordcamps

Andrea Middleton 12:07 am on January 16, 2016
Tags: events,   

Global Sponsorship update for mid-January

Curious about what companies have signed on as global sponsors for 2016? Here’s a list of confirmed sponsors, which I’ve broken up by region, for ease of reference.

As we receive payment for each sponsorship (all the confirmed sponsors were invoiced between Jan 7 and today), either I or @kcristiano will add these sponsors (with updated descriptions) to the website of each active 2016 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. and then send that informative intro email to each sponsor for each active WordCamp on the schedule in their region.

Western region (the Americas):

Gold sponsors: Bluehost, Jetpack, WooCommerce
Silver sponsors: GoDaddy, Pantheon
Bronze sponsors: DreamHost, WPML, Plesk

Eastern region (Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific):

Gold sponsors: Jetpack, WooCommerce
Silver sponsors: Bluehost, GoDaddy
Bronze sponsors: WPML

I’m updating the planning handbook documentation with the updated info as well. Got questions? Ask ’em in the comments!

#events-2, #global-sponsors

Andrea Middleton 10:10 pm on June 16, 2015
Tags: events, , ,   

Stickers for Community Events

We currently ship WordPress stickers (supplied by Sticker Giant) and buttons (supplied by Busy Beaver Button Co.) to every 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., and to every 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. group that requests them. (If your meetup would like to request a swag pack, just <a href=”mailto:support@wordcamp.org?Subject=Swag%20request” target=”_top”>send us an email</a>.) In an effort to bring more of these activities into the public eye, I’m posting the pricing we’ve been given by Sticker Giant for a sticker re-order.

We generally order a large quantity of stickers twice a year and ask Sticker Giant to divide them into small packs of 250 for WordCamps as well as some smaller packs of 50 for 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.. An order of 20,000 stickers will yield 70 WordCamp packs and 50 meetup packs.

The pricing of the diversity stickers is higher because of how many colors are on the sticker — rainbows have lots of colors — and it’s a 4-color process rather than screen printing because screen printing all those colors would be more expensive still.

I’ll be ordering 20,000 stickers today and sending them to our shipping fulfiller asap so we can get them shipped to community organizers! Yay swag!

Kwik-Ship Decals – Screen Printed
Q1075897
Product #: 22102
Stock: White Vinyl
Size: 1 x 1
Shape: Circle
Ink(s): 1 (6 color ways)
PMS 1665, PMS 7468, Black
Finish: Individual stickers with split paper backing
Ink choices: http://www.stickergiant.com/ink-options-b
Minimum quantity of 125
10000 Stickers: $959.96 – 10% discount = $863.97 ~ $0.086 each
15000 Stickers: $1359.50 – 10% discount = $1223.55 ~ $0.082 each
20000 Stickers: $1419.00 – 10% discount = $1277.10 ~ $0.063 each

Kwik-Ship Decals – Screen Printed
Q1075897B
Product #: 22302
Stock: White Vinyl
Size: 2 x 2
Shape: Circle
Ink(s): 1 (6 color ways)
PMS 1665, PMS 7468, BlackFinish: Individual stickers with split paper backing
Ink choices: http://www.stickergiant.com/ink-options-b
Minimum quantity of 125
10000 Decals: $973.40 – 10% discount = $876.06 ~ $0.088 each
15000 Decals: $1359.50 – 10% discount = $1223.55 ~ $0.082 each
20000 Decals: $1419.00 – 10% discount = $1277.10 ~ $0.064 each

4 Color Process Outdoor Decals
Q1075897C
(Diversity Stickers)
Product #: 49902
Stock: White Vinyl
Size: 1 x 1
Shape: Circle
Ink(s): CMYK
Finish: Individual stickers with split paper backing
Ink choices: http://www.stickergiant.com/ink-options-b
Minimum quantity of 125
10000 Decals: $1582.80 – 10% discount = $1424.52 ~ $0.142 each
15000 Decals: $1717.00 – 10% discount = $1545.30 ~ $0.103 each
20000 Decals: $1851.00 – 10% discount = $1665.90 ~ $0.084 each

Note: We’re not looking for a new sticker supplier at this time. Sticker Giant very kindly donates stickers to most/all WordCamps that request them, and we’re happy to give them our business. We’re also not looking at any new sticker designs just yet, but if you’re interested in donating some design time to making WordPress community events fantastic-er (which might include sticker design down the road), then let us know by commenting here: https://make.wordpress.org/community/2015/06/10/designers-for-community-stuff/

#events-2, #meetups-2, #swag, #wordcamps

Jen 1:45 pm on June 10, 2015
Tags: events,   

I’ve been approached by a couple of people…

I’ve been approached by a couple of people who want to apply for their city to host WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event., and there is some confusion about what the application is actually for, and what is required. I want to share those questions here so that we can all be on the same page.

Q. Is there a Dream Team post in the making, or is the expectation that the local team would be the organizers?

WCUS has been compared to WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event., and the city host survey was in part based on the one WCEU did. But, WCEU put out a call for people to apply to be on the organizing team at the same time, so experienced organizers from all over Europe would make up a pan-Europe organizing team. There has been no such post for WCUS, but will there be?

Thoughts: If it’s really WCUS (or North America), then we ought to follow WCEU’s example and have a pan-US organizing team. Local teams would obviously provide an important on the ground role, and would probably have at least one person on the dream team, but having one group of people shift so completely from a local focus to one that is significantly broader seems awkward (and it makes me think that could hurt their 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. in the short-term, since all the organizers would be focused on WCUS). A dream team would take advantage of multiple points of view, offer more opportunity for diversity, and ensure that WCSUS doesn’t turn out to be just “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. [City] with fewer local speakers.”

Q. How much research is expected around budgets, dates, etc? There was almost no criteria to go by.

This is pretty big. We all know how long it takes for WC organizers to research venues and services and vendors to come up with their budgets. If this survey is just to get to a short list of potential cities, after which additional research and/or budgeting could be done, it seems like we need to provide more parameters. Having people call a dozen potential venues and get available dates without even an inkling of a desired date range or blackout dates seems like a lot of people might be wasting their time.

Could we shift some of the wording so it’s clear around when we’re looking to have this event, how many breakout rooms are desired, etc? WCEU includes this type of information in their city call, and it has been successful. If a whole team has to spend a month researching and writing all the potential combinations, that means a) that’s a month they’re not focused on their meetup group, and b) they’re going to give us way more information than is useful. If we give some parameters and are clear about how much or how little information is desired, then apples can be compared to apples for a speedier review process. Getting to a short list faster means people can spend meaningful time digging deeper instead of potentially wasting a month of people’s time.

Also, the sample budget that is provided with the application is a full WC budget, not just a sheet for listing venue costs. Why do we have people doing a budget for tshirts and stuff at this point? Shouldn’t we have them just be focused on the venue/lodging opportunities? I’m mostly concerned that we are asking for way more work than is needed to get to the first decision stage, and it will both slow down the decision and burn up our local organizers’ time.

Any and all clarification greatly appreciated! cc @camikaos and @matt

#events-2, #wcus