Welcome to the official blog of the community/outreach team for the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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!
This team oversees official events, mentorship programs, diversity initiatives, contributor outreach, and other ways of growing our community.
If you love WordPress and want to help us do these things, join in!
Getting Involved
We use this blog for policy debates, project announcements, and status reports. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to comment on posts and join the discussion.
You can learn about our current activities on the Team Projects page. These projects are suitable for everyone from newcomers to WordPress community elders.
You can use our contact form to volunteer for one of our projects.
We also have regular Community Team meetings on the first and third Thursdays of every month at 12:00 UTC and 21:00 UTC in #community-team on Slack (same agenda).
Events WidgetWidgetA 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.
This year we’ve changed the format of Tuesday Trainings to reflect questions that are frequently asked of those of us in the Deputy program, or to clear up confusion that we see in everyday planning and discussion. If there’s a question you’d like to see answered please share it in the comments or email me at support@wordcamp.org with the subject line Tuesday Trainings. Now onto this week’s topic.
When can we start having meetups in person again?
I know that many communities are anxious to get things back to normal. Or at least as back to normal as can be found in these trying times. But we can only get back to seeing one another in person when it is safe for us to do so.
There have been a lot of conversations around this and what stands out most strongly to me is that everyone is sharing the answer that they feel is right. When so many people have such heightened feelings on a topic it is often more challenging for an entire community to come together and agree. I’m seeing and hearing a lot of frustration around this topic, and that is understandable. But mostly I am seeing people assuming good intent and working together to find what’s right for our community at large, and that is wonderful.
Because there are some countries, states, cities, or areas where Covid-19 risk is very low, we see that there is an opportunity for those communities to gather together in a safe way. So while I can’t answer for all meetups in this post, I can tell you that we’re on our way to seeing one another in person once again. But only in locations in which it is allowed by local public health rules and that meet the program expectations shared in this Community Handbook page on returning to in person meetups.
If you’re curious if your group qualifies you can go through the in-person meetup decision checklist to learn if your group is eligible. If you feel that you are eligible you’re required to submit your form before you move forward with organizing. If you don’t meet the criteria there’s no need for you to submit the form.
We qualify to proceed (with caution!!) to organize an in person meetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area.. Does that mean we HAVE TO?
Nope. It absolutely doesn’t mean you have to. This option is available because there are a few pockets of the world that seem to really have this thing under control with nearly no new infections. If groups in those areas would like to meet in a permitted, safe and cautious way we don’t want to stop them. But no one is required to switch back to in person meetups.
If your local conditions do qualify for in person meetups, please make sure you fill out the checklist form before you proceed, and keep all of the expectations and precautions shared in mind.
My meetup doesn’t qualify but that’s okay, the meetup group two cities away is hosting an event. I’ll go to that.
For everyone’s safety, I’m going to have to ask you to refrain from attending any meetup event that is outside of your immediate, local meetup. The expectations we’ve put into place do not account for people traveling from other areas to attend events. We ask that for the time being you only attend events in your own area.
I’m so excited about seeing people! Does this mean we can have a WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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 real life too?
I’m excited to see people again too, but we’re not there yet. Meetups are traditionally much smaller and on an event by event basis, much easier to organize. They also present little financial risk if they must be cancelled. At this time we’re not approving any in-person WordCamps, contributor days, or other larger format events. Just the Meetups that fall into the expectations we’ve shared with communities that would like to meet in person.
But how was this all decided?
I’m so glad you asked. A lot of time, effort, and conversation went into this decision. And all the while we kept in mind a need to be morally, legally, and financially responsible about any decisions made for the future of the program. The conversation started with a post from current Community Team RepTeam RepA 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.@sippis back in July of 2020. You can read his post here, and will also be able to find links to continuing posts in the comments.
I have another question!
I always love another question. If there’s something you don’t feel was covered here or in the linked handbook or discussion threads please ask in comments so we can start a conversation about it.
What’s coming next with Tuesday Trainings?
I’m taking a couple of weeks off to unwind, but I didn’t want to leave you all without something to learn on upcoming Tuesdays. Please be sure to join us the next three for Tuesday trainings posts from @kcristiano and a Tuesday Training discussion on March 16 with @harishanker! I can’t wait to see what they’ve shared when I return!
A similar message to this post was sent to all WordPress Chapter MeetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. Organizers via meetup.com, but we are also sharing below.
If you are a Meetup Organizer, please feel free to share the survey link with your co-organizers.
Hello Meetup Organizers!
It’s time for the annual meetup organizer survey, and we have a bunch of other stuff to tell you about, too!
Organizer Survey
The annual survey is how we track progress in the meetup program. If your meetup group has multiple organizers, each organizer should fill in the survey, but please decide among your group who will be the main point of contact with WordPress Community Support in 2020 — we ask for that information in the survey. Here’s your organizer survey:
In order for your feedback to be included in the results, please complete the survey by 15 March, 2020!
Member Survey
We’ve recently shared the annual meetup program survey with all members. We’ve revised the questions and edited it down to a shorter survey that takes less than 3 minutes to complete. It would be great if you could mention it at your next event and encourage people to respond! In the email to members, we’ve reminded them that all meetup group members are encouraged to plan events that interest them so that there are more things happening in each group without the primary organizers having to do more work. If members of your group offer to organize events, we hope you will encourage them and make sure they feel welcome on the organizing team!
Organizing Team
Speaking of the organizing team, it’s time for a round of clean-up on your meetup.com leadership team. If there are any organizers on your team who haven’t planned an event in 2019, please communicate with them about changing their role to Member so that people can see who is active and can help answer questions.
WordPress Global Community Sponsors for 2019
A big thank you to our 2019 global sponsors! Their generous support keeps the meetup program free for the whole community and helps to make sure ticket prices for WordCamps stay affordable.
Jetpack *
WooCommerce *
Bluehost *
Liquid Web
GoDaddy *
HubSpot *
GreenGeeks
DreamHost
* These sponsors support WordPress events worldwide.
Meetup Sponsorship
If a venue is donating space, it is appropriate to list them as the venue sponsor.
It is not appropriate to list any company as contributing to the meetup.com dues, since we pay those through the central account.
Companies providing refreshments or financial support to cover the cost of refreshments are appropriate to thank, but should be recognized on an even level with their support. Paying for snacks all year? SidebarSidebarA 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. recognition is great. One-time sponsor? Leaving them listed as a sponsor all year doesn’t quite match; it’s better to thank them in the event listing for the event they are sponsoring.
Organizers of the meetup group and its events are volunteers, and should not be listing their businesses as sponsors unless they are providing a venue or financial support/refreshments like an outside company.
Venue Rental Costs
We encourage organizers to get free or donated space, but if your venue charges a fee, you can submit a request for payment, which we will review and let you know if that is something we can help cover. Keep in mind that the guideline for cost is about $5 USD per person. Venue rental costs are paid from the central budget. If you’d like to submit a payment request, you can do so here by completing the Meetup Venue Approval Request form.
Event Host Designation
This is a small thing, but sometimes meetup organizers set the “WordPress” user as the event host for their meetup events. Please set the event organizer as the event host — when WordPress is the event host, people try to ask us questions about the event that we can’t answer.
Meetup organizers are considered part of the community team at WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/. If you don’t stop by the community team’s blog often, please drop by every once in a while! In addition, if you haven’t joined the WordPress Slack instance, you can do so at https://chat.wordpress.org. The #community-events channel in Slack is where meetup and WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. organizers can chat with each other, ask questions of Community Team deputies, ask for community feedback, etc.
Thank you for your efforts in 2019, and here’s to an even better 2020! –The WordPress Global Community Team
With most of the Automattic sponsored staff members of the Global Community, who routinely handle WPCS banking, and many deputies offline to celebrate end of year holidays we’ll be pausing our payments programs Saturday December 21 through Sunday December 29.
During this time we’ll halt WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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 MeetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. vendor payments, reimbursements, sponsor invoicing, sponsor payment attribution, and contract review and approval. If you’ll need to pay for goods or services during that time please submit all requests no later than 9am Pacific Friday, December 20, 2019.
Payments submitted leading up to the payment intermission may have additional delays from year end postal, bank, and business closures so expect additional processing time.
Payment requests submitted after that time will not likely be processed until Monday, December 30, 2019. Sponsor invoices paid December 21-29 won’t be marked paid until after December 30. Contracts will not be reviewed and approved until the following week.
Some deputies, mentors, and community members will still be available by email at support@wordcamp.org or on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. in the #community-events channel but response times are expected to be slow.
Additional note: Our banking is done through US accounts and all US banks will be closed Wednesday, January 1, 2020. No payments will be processed that day.
Normal vendor payment and sponsorship attributions scheduled will resume Monday, December 30 2019 though it may take through the end of the week to get fully caught up.
If you have any concerns or question please let us know as soon as possible!
Thanks to all the WordPress meetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers who responded to our recent survey. We received 23 submissions from around North America and abroad.
Many of the responses were very detailed and thorough. They’re too long to include here verbatim, so we’ve curated some common themes.
We added a bit of commentary in this post, and we’ll discuss these topics in more depth during our Grow Your Meetup! workshop at WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. US. You’ll find us in the Community Room, Room 274.
Tell us a bit about your group
Many Meetup groups are established vs new, at least a few years, some 10+ years
Covering a range of topics: beginners, advanced users, development
Active members are a small subset of overall membership
Comment: There’s an oft-cited model of community participation: 90/9/1. Out of your entire community group, 90% will be passive (lurkers); 9% will be active; and 1% will be very engaged regulars.
How big is your group?
Ranges from 100’s to 1000’s of total members
Average turnout ranges from 20-50 depending on the topic
Presentations attract more people than socials
Comment: 30 seems to be the sweet spot for a reasonably-sized meetup group, regardless of the total number of members registered in the meetup, nor those who RSVP for each event.
How often do you meet?
65% meet once a month
35% meet more than once a month
No respondents said less than once a month
Comment: Consistent, routine events are a must if you want to build a strong meetup group. An active meetup group should meet at least once a month. This consistency builds momentum that helps make future meetups more likely to happen.
How do you promote your group?
Meetup.com is the primary method
Social media (Facebook & Twitter) and word-of-mouth
WordPress Dashboard, if part of the Chapter program
Comment: In general, it seems like meetup organizers don’t do a lot of outreach or promotion — we rely on Meetup.com to bring members to us, as well as word-of-mouth referrals through existing group members. This could be a big opportunity for us to find new members.
What’s worked?
Consistency – same day of the month, every month
Mixing it up – different locations, times, appeals to different people
Involve the group – planning, choosing topics, online groups
Setting topics in advance; focusing on peer/user support
Comment: Two things here. First, consistency leads to routine which leads to habit. But what works for some people won’t work for others. That’s where options come into play: different days, different times, different formats, different topics, different locations.
Issues?
Finding locations/venues
Finding speakers/presenters
No-shows, low turnout vs RSVPs
Comment: Totally consistent with our experiences as organizers, and an ideal topic for our group brainstorming session on Friday morning.
Advice for new meetup organizers?
It takes time. Start small, persist, keep showing up
Don’t overthink/overcomplicate; have a structure/template
Plan in advance, get experts in as speakers
Have a team of committed co-organizers
Other advice?
Don’t try to do everything yourself; you’ll burn out
Recognize other leaders, invite others to step up
Diversity and inclusion takes effort, but it’s worth it
You’re growing a community, not just hosting a meetup
…
That’s just an overview of what we’ve heard through the survey. We’ll address all of these points, and much more, during the Grow Your Meetup! workshop at WordCamp US in the Community Room, Room 274.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the survey!
It’s about that time again, when we start preparing the September 2019 edition of the meetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers newsletter.
If there are any topics you’d recommend we include, or any interesting meetup event formats you think are worth highlighting, please comment/leave your ideas/suggestions in the comments on this post.
We’ll leave this post open for comments until the 20th of September 2019.
The newsletter typically spotlights:
an interesting event format that organizers might want to try out
news about global community team projects
news about the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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
The Automattic sponsored staff members of the Global Community Team, who routinely handle WPCS banking, will be at a company offsite September 10-17. During this time we’ll halt WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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 MeetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. vendor payments, reimbursements, and sponsor payment attribution. If you’ll need to pay for goods or services in mid-September, please submit all requests no later than 9am Pacific Friday, September 6, 2019. Payment requests submitted after that time will not likely be processed until Wednesday, September 18, 2019. Sponsor invoices paid September 10-17 won’t be marked paid until September 18.
If you have an urgent payment request that must be handled that week, but did not submit your request prior to September 6, please reach out to @kcristiano. He can be found on slackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. “kcristiano”.
Deputies, mentors, and community members will still be available by email at support@wordcamp.org or on Slack in the #community-events channel.
Normal vendor payment and sponsorship attributions scheduled will resume Wednesday, September 18, 2019 though it may take us a day or two to get fully caught up.
There have always been some casual recommendations for how the WordPress logo should be incorporated into logos for WordCamps and WordPress chapter meetups, but we’ve never really had an open discussion about it. Following, you’ll find a proposal from Mel Choyce, Kjell Reigstad, Sarah Semark, Mark Uraine, and Tammie Lister for how the WordPress logo should be used for official events of the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. Please read through the guidelines, and share your feedback and concerns in a comment on this post.
The following pages provide some important context on the WordPress logo, logotype, and the WordPress trademarks
While you are free to include the WordPress logo, or reference the W, in your logo, you don’t need to do so.
Example:
The WordPress logo has two variants.
If you do use the WordPress logo, know that it comes in two variants: W Mark and Simplified
W MarkSimplified
Here are some examples of the variants in use:
Say “No!” to the Fauxgo.
If you are using the WordPress logo in your WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. logo, please make sure you are using the correct WordPress logo.
The correct logo has a higher cap height, and rounded serifs:
Don’t change the logo.
Do not:
Remove the ring around the logo.
Cut or splice the logo.
Skew, distort, or add 3d effects to the logo.
Don’t use the Dashicons logo icon.
The Dashicons logo icon is specifically designed for use at smaller sizes; do not use it for your WordCamp logo. Instead, use the official logo files.
Color
Ensure that the logo has sufficient contrast.
Your logo should have sufficient color contrast to pass AA guidelines for text. You can check your design using a tool like Stark (for Sketch) or Logo Rank.
Design your logo in black & white first.
Designing your logo first in black & white is a good way to ensure that your logo will communicate effectively without color. We recommend designing your logo first in black and white, and then adding color near the end of the process.
RGB vs. CMYK
When designing your logo for digital devices, it’s good practice to use the RGB (red, green, blue) color model. When preparing your logo for print, use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Screens differ from tangible paper products by emitting light instead of absorbing light. For this reason, RGB values work as additive colors for the screen and CMYK values work as subtractive colors for print.
Typography
Typography should be easily readable.
Your WordCamp name is one of the most important pieces of information, so make sure people can read it! Generally speaking, it’s best to use a relatively simple typeface without a lot of flourishes. This ensures that text is readable even at very small sizes, or when printed on a badge of which attendees may only catch a brief glimpse.
Avoid using Mrs Eaves.
Mrs Eaves is the WordPress brand typeface. It’s best to avoid using it for your WordCamp to avoid confusion with the WordPress brand.
Inclusion
Consider a range of users when designing.
When designing your logo, think about users who may have trouble reading or parsing your logo. Ensure your text is readable and color contrast is sufficient. It’s good practice to design your logo first in black and white, to ensure that those with color blindness are still able to understand your logo. (See also the color and typography sections.)
Ensure your logo is appropriate for all audiences.
A WordCamp is welcoming to everyone. Part of ensuring a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment is ensuring that your logo (and other materials) are family-friendly. This means that logos should contain:
no sexually suggestive imagery
no profanity
nothing that would constitute implied or explicit exclusion of a group
no characterizations of a minority group in your area
Context and Formats
Ensure that your logo is recognizable in a wide range of contexts.
WordCamp logos typically appear in many different places: on top of websites, on shirts and merchandise, stickers, in social media, signage, etc. Ensure that your logo is adaptable enough to be recognizable and readable in all of these contexts. Your logo should be flexible enough to work when it appears on a giant presentation screen, but also when it appears in a tiny social media icon.
Provide the final logo in a variety of file formats for different uses.
The logo should be in a scalable vector format (Sketch, Figma, and Illustrator all produce vector graphics). The final file should also be available in the following formats:
.svg (preferred) or other open scalable graphics format (.eps)
.png (with a transparent background)
Provide the final logo in a variety of color formats.
To ensure maximum compatibility with different usage contexts, the recommended color formats for the logo are:
black & white
RGB (screen)
CMYK (print)
Pantone (print, optional)
Feedback?
Please share your thoughts on the proposed guidelines and how best to share them moving forward.
It’s time to start preparing the the June 2019 edition of the meetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers newsletter.
If there are any topics you’d recommend we include, or any interesting meetup event formats you think are worth highlighting, please comment/leave your ideas/suggestions in the comments on this post.
We’ll gather comments here for one week until the 17th of June 2019.
The newsletter typically spotlights:
an interesting event format that organizers might want to try out
news about global community team projects
news about the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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
It’s that time again, we’re starting to draft the February 2019 edition of the meetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers newsletter — if there are any topics you’d recommend we include, or any interesting meetup event formats you think are worth highlighting, please comment leave your ideas/suggestions in the comments on this post?
I will leave the comments open for one week until the 13th of February 2018.
The newsletter typically spotlights:
an interesting event format that organizers might want to try out
news about global community team projects
news about the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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
Howdy folks, we’re going to start drafting the December edition of the meetupMeetupAll local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers newsletter — if there are any topics you’d recommend we include, or any interesting meetup event formats you think are worth highlighting, could you please comment leave your ideas/suggestions in the comments on this post?
I will leave the comments open for one week until the 12th of December 2018.
The newsletter typically spotlights:
an interesting event format that organizers might want to try out
news about global community team projects
news about the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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
