Hello, organizers!
Welcome again to the new Monthly Meetup 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. format. This month we have a new release in the news and a whole list of community-generated thoughts on reactivating meetups 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.. It’s a little bit longer – there were a lot of ideas – and we hope they help!
News From Around WordPress
WordPress 6.0 “Arturo” was released on May 24, 2022. This WordPress 6.0 video and the announcement post give a handy overview of what’s new.
Speaking of new, this Roadmap to 6.1 post and demos are a great look at what’s to come.
And if you want a glimpse into the future of the WordPress dashboard, take a minute to read Mathias Ventura’s post, Thinking Through the WordPress Admin Experience.
Ideas to Reactivate your Meetup Group
As communities around the world return to in-person events, there is a lot of competition for people’s attention. In the midst of this, some meetup organizers are facing a new dilemma: how to reignite their local community’s interest?
How do we know this?
This year at WCEU 2022 Contributor Day, we sat around a table with current and future organizers from around the world and talked. We shared struggles and concerns, and brainstormed the following approaches to reignite interest and re-engage our meetups:
Work together on a common project. Work on something suggested by a meetup member. Maybe a member is stuck, and the meetup can rally to help solve their problem. Whatever it is, allowing attendees to be involved in choosing will help keep everyone engaged.
Help a WordPress.org contributor team. Contributor teams are composed of people just like you who want to be part of building WordPress. These teams are simple to connect with on the Making WordPress Slack 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. Collaborating with them can be a great way to link your local community with the global community, all while helping WordPress grow.
Plan a do_action event. Speaking of connecting with communities, do_action do_action hackathons are community-organised events that are focussed on using WordPress to give deserving charitable organisations their own online presence. Learn more on doaction.org. events are a great way to connect with your local group. Whether you take on multiple projects or simply focus on one, do_action events allow participants to grow everyone’s skills, build relationships, and have fun, all while helping a local nonprofit.
Hold a show and tell. People in general like to talk about themselves and what they’re working on and this is a great way to introduce, or reintroduce, community members to each other. This format also showcases different ways to use WordPress while allowing participants to see the range of skills within their local community.
Use the free resources from Learn.WordPress.org. The WordPress.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/ Training Team continually creates a variety of resources that the community can use. Choose from workshops, lesson plans, interactive social learning spaces, and more. This is a wonderful way to expand your meetup’s knowledge with minimal effort on your part.
Consider a multi-format meetup. There’s no set rule about what a meetup must include. Though meetups often feature talks, that’s not the only option. Consider pairing a short talk with Help Desk time, or a short talk along with Show and Tell. Maybe your first few meetups consist of a longer social time and brainstorming session about what to include in future events.
Host multiple types of events in a month, at varying times. Some people like talks. Others want a social activity. Maybe they enjoy co-working and a chance to discuss problems as they pop up. Want even more to consider? Check out our list of event formats in the Meetup Organizer Handbook.
On a final note, I want to remind you that all members of the Meetup group can host an event. This can make it easier to host events at various times, which gives all community members more flexibility to attend.
Plus, once attendees start hosting, they are more likely to become co-organizers and help with the work of running a meetup!
If you have any questions, Community Team deputies Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events Slack channel. Thanks for everything you do to grow and support the WordPress community—let’s keep sharing knowledge and inspiring each other with our contributions!
See you online soon!
The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @eidolonnight @bjmcsherry @mysweetcate @_dorsvenabili @devinmaeztri @juliarosia @nao @peiraisotta
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