Tag Archives: events

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 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. 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 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. Training

    For those interested in becoming a 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. 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 Public Benefit Corporation, 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

Cami Kaos 6:01 pm on March 12, 2015
Tags: , , events,   

Community Chat and Office Hours Today!

A reminder that Community Chat is coming up at 19:00 UTC.

And at 20:00 UTC you can join Josepha and I for 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.. Today’s topics are WordCamps and Finances. We have no formal agenda but will be hanging out in #events if you have any questions.

#agenda, #community-management, #meeting

Josepha 6:04 pm on March 10, 2015
Tags: events   

Office Hours Today!

A reminder to the Community that Cami and I have 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. today starting at 20:00 UTC in the #events channel 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/. We will be discussing MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and Volunteering, so stop by if you have any questions about those topics!

For more information on this and other meeting times, check out the sidebar and the Welcome box on https://make.wordpress.org/community/.

<edit>
I should mention that there is no formal agenda. We will be available to answer any questions you have, but will not be posing questions on our own. 🙂
</edit>

Cami Kaos 9:25 pm on January 7, 2015
Tags: , , events, ,   

Community chat reminder

Happy 2015!! Tomorrow is the first community chat of 2015 at 19:00 hours UTC in the #events channel of 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 will be an update extravaganza! If you’re leading a team come ready to give us all an update.

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

Jen 1:15 pm on September 8, 2014
Tags: events,   

WCSF Tickets

Please read the post at https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2014/09/08/wcsf-tickets-and-stuff/ for information about WCSF ticket sales and the contributor days following the main conference. Please read that post *before* asking questions in the comments on this thread. 🙂

If you are planning to attend the community team 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. but I have not been in touch with you regarding hotels/travel dates, 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.” me in IRC (jenmylo) or shoot me an email (same username @wordpress.org) so I can include you in the planning. Note: we will be sending out the actual booking information (booking codes, etc) so if we have talked in general but you haven’t actually booked anything, don’t freak out — we have a spot on hold for you and you’ll be able to book it this week.

Thanks!

#events-2, #wcsf2014

Jen 3:30 pm on May 7, 2014
Tags: events, , rules,   

Meetup Sponsorships and Other Local Community Stuff

Current Status: I tell 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. on the chapter account that the Foundation will cover meetup.com dues and approved venue fees (based on reasonable budget, etc), and that they can allow local sponsors to provide refreshments if desired. I’ve tried to stay away from having a lot of clunky rules, but we’re starting to get so many meetups on the account, with so many organizers (including many who weren’t around when the group joined/we went through the rules) that I’m starting to see some questionable/inappropriate stuff come up around sponsorships.

I do not want to make top-down rules that squelch the freedom and individuality of the local communities.

I do want local communities to be about sharing knowledge and connecting with each other, not about selling the community/events as a cheap marketing platform.

To that end, I need your help! I think we do need to come up with some (preferably light) rules around sponsorship and what’s okay to do under the WordPress name.

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. sponsorship example I’ve liked:

  • Asking local sponsor to cover refreshments and putting a tent sign near those refreshments with thanks, and noting in the meetup event description (which also is emailed to group members) that they are sponsoring the refreshments and who from that company will be in attendance if anyone is coming.

A meetup sponsorship example that is pressing every button:

  • Paid speaking time at meetups, printed signs and tablecloths at meetup (paid for by meetup group), and forcing attendees to go to sponsor table for drink tickets.

The example I mentioned above had these three issues off the bat:

  • Pay-for-play. Letting anyone give money to the group in order to buy speaking time is not cool. Meetups are short, and people are giving up time with their families to attend, so we should not be using up their time with advertising.
  • Plastering marketing materials. Covering the meetup space with logos and signs is distracting and unnecessary. It definitely should not be getting paid for by the meetup group. Acknowledgement/thanks and explicit marketing are different things, and we should err on the side of acknowledgement. We’re talking about pizza money here, not a new hospital wing.
  • Forcing interaction with sponsors. Sponsors who attend the meetups because they are interested in the topics, love WP, and want to engage with the community are excellent. Forcing the attendees to interact with sponsors is not excellent, it should be optional.

We’ve discussed the idea of merging the currently-separate 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./Meetup programs into one Local Communities program for easier administration and to make the multi-event sponsorship program even more robust, but until we get to something bigger like that, I’d love some help figuring out where to draw the line for meetup sponsorships.

What do you all think about meetup sponsorships? What rules would you suggest as appropriate? Or do you think we don’t need rules, we just need better education? Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated, and since we just had our meetups team chat last week, if there’s a lot to discuss based on comments, maybe we can discuss this week after the diversity/mentorship stuff is taken care of.

#events-2, #meetups-2, #rules, #sponsorship