Tag Archives: WordCamps

Isotta Peira 3:17 pm on December 6, 2022
Tags: , WordCamps   

WordCamp Mentors’ December check-in!

Hello MentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.!
If you are currently mentoring a 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., please share how the team is doing and any other insights, interesting ideas, or innovations that they’re planning.

Leave a comment on this post and share your update. Thanks! 😀

#mentors, #wordcamps

Timi Wahalahti 4:39 pm on November 17, 2022
Tags: , europe, WordCamps, wptv   

Announcement: New European Camera Kits

The Community Team started discussions around 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. Camera Kit program in 2018. During these discussions, it was agreed that the Camera Kit program still has its place, but the equipment is hopelessly outdated.

In 2019 @angelasjin asked for recommendations for possible new equipment. Because of the pandemic, plans for new Camera Kits were halted. Early this year, I revived the refurbishment by proposing the composition of new equipment. The first batch of equipment was ordered in late July to run some tests.

Finally, it’s time to say hi to the new European Camera Kits! Please welcome Europa, Callisto, Triton, Dione, Mars, Sedna, Eris and Neptune to the community! These eight brand new WordCamp Camera Kits will be available for all European WordCamps starting in January 2023.

All new European Camera Kits are capable of live streaming and recording WordCamp sessions. Equipment is put together with ease of use, good audio quality and easier processing of raw footage in mind. These are significant improvements compared to old Camera Kits.

Camera Kits include a Zoom Q8n-4k camera, Zoom SSHSSH Secure SHell - a protocol for securely connecting to a remote system in addition to or in place of a password.-6 microphone, Rode Wireless Go II microphones, camera stand and necessary cables* and accessories. Six of the kits include a device that transforms the camera output into a webcam so that any computer can be used for streaming.

Currently, two of the kits include capabilities for more advanced live streaming, allowing organisers to mix multiple video sources like camera and stage screen into the stream. Video stream mixed with ATEM Mini and transferred via USB-connection acts like a typical webcam when connected to any computer.

Camera Kits travel in pairs of two. That creates even more possibilities for events with a single track, as the camera of the second kit can be connected to a video mixer, making it possible to change the angle of view in the stream. If you wish to take advantage of the video mixer at your WordCamp, mention that in the Camera Kit request form.

I will update the handbook pages shortly to contain all documentation needed for using and making the most of the new Camera Kits. European WordCamps taking place in 2023 can already submit Camera Kit requests.

What about other continents? If the new European Camera Kits prove to be effective and wanted by organisers, 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. will consider having similar equipment available in the Americas and Asia in future. Meanwhile, the original Camera Kits are still available in the U.S. and Canada.

What happens to old European Camera Kits? WordCamp Central and I plan to donate the equipment to communities in need, primarily for WordPress or other 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. communities. Details about this and the application process will be shared in 2023.

Timi, what’s up with the names? Kits have been given names of different astronomical objects. Moons, to be exact. This helps with tracking and handling the logistics of kits.

If you have questions about the new European Camera Kits, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or connect with me in 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/.!

I want to thank everyone who shared their thoughts or in some other way helped during this process: @grapplerulrich, @tjnowell, @00sleepy, @drivingralle, @desafio, @fstaude, @sbddesign, @peterhebert, @otto42, @jerrysarcastic, @drbe4t, @ubernat, @stk_jj, @andreamiddleton, @weslinda, @pablo-moratinos, @roseapplemedia, @jtleathers, @angelasjin and @harmonyromo.

* Extra HDMI cables are needed for more complex setups.

#camera-kits, #europe, #wordcamps, #wptv

Sjoerd Blom 7:53 pm on October 6, 2022
Tags: WordCamps   

Idea: Freescout for WordCamp organising teams

When organising a 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., the organisers have to handle a large number of emails. Large is actually an understatement. For the past years, WordCamp Europe has been using email addresses in the domain wp-europe.org, every team had their own mailbox: sponsors@wp-europe.org, content@wp-europe.org, and so on. Somehow this is ideal, as it allows to structure mailboxes across the teams, but it does not allow teams to see each other’s emails, nor an easy email handover from one team to another.

WordCamps have its own email address in the wordcamp.org domain by default: berlin@wordcamp.org, madrid@wordcamp.org, europe@wordcamp.org, and so on. And since October 2020 WordCamps are given Google Workspace because of the non-profit status of the Foundation (https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/first-steps/web-presence/g-suite-for-wordcamps/). 

For the past editions, the WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. organisers have been pleased with Freescout as it is right now: it’s mature, it’s stable and allowed us to handle large numbers of emails. Freescout started as an 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. clone of Helpscout. We discovered that it has a very powerful search engine for emails. 

Advantages of Freescout over Google Mail

  • no need to share the credentials of Google Mail with 40+ organisers
  • Google Mail credentials are only known to Freescout, not to the users of Freescout
  • grant individual access in Freescout to the general inbox
  • keep track of which user did what in Freescout (replied to customers, moved/deleted emails)
  • assigning emails to users (handlers)
  • adding internal notes to emails
  • smart tagging and structuring of incoming emails
  • quickly handing over emails from one team to another
  • notify 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/. about new emails
  • keeping track of previous conversations for a particular email address
  • email is still received in the Google Mail
  • email is still sent out via Google Mail

The only disadvantage of Freescout is that it needs a web server to offer its service. Since WCEU 2021 we’re using a small Digital Ocean VPS to host our Freescout instance.
I’ve had a couple of talks with the organisers of WordCamp Asia and WordCamp US, they both have a similar setup. We have come to the conclusion that we’re reinventing the wheel here and that it would make sense if Freescout would be part of the default stack for WordCamp organising teams. Especially the larger WordCamps would benefit from Freescout, as they have to handle very large quantities of correspondence with sponsors, speakers, volunteers and other external parties (WCEU 2022 had over 3,000 emails to process!)

Let me know what you think.

#wordcamps

Megan 10:54 pm on September 20, 2022
Tags: , , WordCamps   

WordPress Events Organizer Training (Americas Timezones Version)

As part of WordPress Deputy / Organizer training series, we are excited to invite all 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. and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizers around the world to attend our upcoming Zoom Session for WordPress Organizer Training.

@samsuresh hosted this training earlier this month on the 15th at 8am ET, but it was requested that we also host one that is Americas timezone-friendly. We will go over the same topics as last time, just with different participants. 🙂 If you attended the previous session, you are still welcome to attend this one, as the questions and tips shared may differ.

Date & TimeThursday, September 29, 2022 at 5:00 PM EDT
LocationZoom Video Conference
RSVPZoom RSVP

WordPress Meetup organizers and WordCamp organizers from all over the world are invited to this chat. This is also a wonderful opportunity to meet other people involved in the WordPress community and exchange advice and ideas with other event organizers!

Agenda

TimeAgenda
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 5:00 PM EDTMeet and Greet
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 5:15 PM EDTWordPress In-Person Events Briefing
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 5:30 PM EDTWordPress Meetup Reactivation Project
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 5:45 PM EDTQ&A by Community organizers
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 6:15 PM EDTClosing

Please RSVP to receive an invitation via email with the Zoom link! If you have any questions, feel free to email support@wordcamp.org.

#meetups, #community-team, #wordcamps

Sam Suresh 3:05 pm on August 31, 2022
Tags: , , WordCamps   

WordPress Events Organiser Training

As part of WordPress Deputy / Organiser training series, we are excited to invite all 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. and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organisers around the world to attend our upcoming Zoom Session for WordPress Organiser Training, scheduled as follows:

Date15 September 2022 (Thursday)
Time2022/09/15 12:00 UTC
LocationZoom Video Conference
RSVPZoom RSVP

WordPress Meetup organisers and WordCamp organisers from all over the world are invited to this chat. This is also a great opportunity to meet our global volunteers, share ideas and find new friends in the community.

Agenda

The agenda of this training is as follows:

TimeAgenda
2022/09/15 12:00 UTCMeet and Greet
2022/09/15 12:15 UTCWordPress In-Person Events Briefing
2022/09/15 12:30 UTCWordPress Meetup Reactivation Project
2022/09/15 12:45 UTCQ & A by Community organizers
2022/09/15 1:15 UTCClosing

Please RSVP, so you can receive an invitation in your email that will include the Zoom link. If you have any questions, feel free to email support@wordcamp.org.

#meetups, #community-team, #wordcamps

Cate DeRosia 5:31 pm on March 23, 2022
Tags: , brainstorming, , WordCamps   

Return to In-Person Events: Blue Sky Thinking

When we come together we step outside of our comfort zones and regular thinking and open ourselves to new, innovative ideas. When you’re gathered together, away from the distractions of regular life, your mind opens and creativity flows.

While there was lots of innovation around online events, COVID stopped in person events in its tracks, but that seems to be changing.

This post gives us a place to share ideas on how we can support organizers who are trying to restart in-person events in their communities.

What is Blue Sky Thinking?

Blue Sky Thinking is just another way to say “brainstorming”. The idea is simply that the sky is the limit to any ideas you might have to share. Even if it seems unachievable now, who knows when the right pieces might exist to make it possible.

So, for our purposes here, share your ideas below with kindness and compassion as your only limits.

The Goals of This Exercise

We have three goals to meet in this exercise:

  • support organizers as they navigate COVID concerns
  • help attendees feel safe and comfortable
  • offer resources and options that make being together at in person events exciting and interesting

If we don’t meet the first two, then the community is unlikely to use our ideas.

Why? The people we’re trying to bring with us have changed. This article from Andrea Middleton dives into that a little more.

The Organizers We’re Helping

As people, we’ve been through a lot. We’ve all made some painful choices and worked extra hard just to manage what used to be simple tasks. We’re tired and we’re more cautious than ever.

If we’re feeling that way in general, how much harder must it be for those organizing and attending events?

However, if our organizers feel supported and our attendees feel safe, they’ll more readily embrace ideas we’ve laid out for them to implement.

There’s a very good chance this could be achieved by continuing to clearly state our COVID guidelines and how we help organizers implement them, as well as easy to access channels for both organizers and attendees to ask questions.

It’s Time for Your Ideas to Reactivate In-Person Events

Once people are more comfortable being together, we can move one step further and help make organizing events a little easier.

Fortunately for us, WordPress has been far from idle in the pandemic. New programs like Learn and the Photo Directory have been launched, just to name a few. Along with what’s new, there are also some resources that are still relatively unknown to the community like the do_action events.

These new and existing resources could be used to help ease the weight of planning and streamline a return to events with less additional effort on our part.

But let’s not stop there!

Through brainstorming, we can look at the resources we have with new eyes, and possibly even use them as a prompt for more ideas. Who knows where your creativity and unique perspectives can take us!

This is Blue Sky Thinking after all. Don’t let what we have done or current resources limit your creativity. Any and all ideas are welcome here. How we do it or if we can do it are irrelevant. This is a purely open sandbox.

Before You Share

Remember:

  • this is asynchronous brainstorming
  • there are no wrong answers
  • be kind to fellow brainstormers
  • the discussion on implementation will come later

Guidelines:

  • Share your Concept
  • Answer what you can from this list (no pressure here)
    • Why do you think this is a good idea?
    • Who would benefit?
    • Does this meet Community team goals?
    • Does it use any existing resources?
  • Post your response by April 22, 2022

Let the brainstorming begin!

#discussion #wordcamps #meetups #brainstorming

Anjana Vasan 2:00 pm on March 14, 2022
Tags: , , , WordCamps,   

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: March 2022

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the March 2022 edition of the MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. Organizer Newsletter. We sincerely hope all our community members in Ukraine are safe and sound. WordPress Co-Founder Matt Mullenweg shared his thoughts on Ukraine, community and WordPress in the 26th episode of WP Briefing.

To learn about the latest news and resources from the WordPress community, keep reading this month’s edition and don’t forget to share the updates with your local meetup groups! For more news from the WordPress community, check out the latest Month in WordPress.

Here’s what’s inside this issue:

  • WordPress 6.0
  • Contribute to WordPress
  • A blog for developers
  • WordPress events

🎷 WordPress 6.0 set to release on May 24, 2022

The release schedule for WordPress 6.0, the second major releaseMajor Release A set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. of 2022, has been published. As an iteration over the Go/No Go demos, WordPress leads will host a live-streamed walkthrough of features slated for the release on April 5, 2022. Follow the schedule to keep up with key dates in the next major WordPress release, and keep your local community in the loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop.!

While you’re waiting for WordPress 6.0, check out the WordPress 5.9.2 maintenance release which was released last week!

🤝 Contribute to WordPress

If you’re looking for new ways to get involved in the WordPress community, the following opportunities are a great way to get started. 

📷 WordPress Photo Directory gets a new Make team

The WordPress Photo Directory has a new Make team! There is currently a poll to vote for team reps and the collaboration is happening at the new #photos channel of the Make 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/.. If you’re interested, join the conversation or contribute by submitting your photos.

🏳️‍🌈 Join the #WPDiversity working group

The #WPDiversity working group is looking for volunteers, and it’s not too late to sign up. Check out this recap of the latest volunteers meeting to see the available roles. Spread the word in your local community, and if you’re interested in joining the group yourself, go ahead and apply! 

Interested in widening your pool of Meetup and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. speakers from underrepresented groups? Join the #diverse-speaker-support channel on the Make WordPress Slack.

 💻 Proposal for a new blog for developers

Birgit Pauli-Haack published a proposal to start a blog on developer.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/ to share news and updates relevant to developers. Read the proposal and share your thoughts and ideas for improvements by March 18, 2022.

🌍 What’s happening with WordPress events?

We’d like to thank our global community sponsors for 2022 who make WordPress events possible! 2022 has many exciting WordPress events, both in person and online. As always, we strongly urge you to follow the mandatory safety guidelines and also learn about the legal protections available to you for in-person events. 

🎪 WordCamps on the horizon

We have plenty of WordCamps taking place this year. Below are some of the WordCamps coming up soon—feel free to attend or share them with your meetup groups!

💛 Upcoming WordPress meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.

Check out the WordPress meetups coming up in March:

📚 Support the Learn WordPress initiative

Help make Learn WordPress the official resource on WordPress! Share your knowledge with others by organizing a social learning space based on any of the Learn WordPress workshops. Alternately, use lesson plans on Learn WordPress to organize WordPress meetups in your community! See the Tuesday Training for Meetup Organizers for an overview on how to use lesson plans.

✏️ Check out the latest lesson plans:

🤝 Sign-up for free to the upcoming WordPress Social Learning Spaces:

And that’s a wrap!

If you have any questions, Community Team deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events Slack channel. Thanks for everything you do to grow and support the WordPress community—let’s keep sharing knowledge and inspiring each other with our contributions!

See you online soon!

#meetup-organizer-newsletter #newsletter

The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @rmartinezduque, @eidolonnight, @harishanker, @mysweetcate, @webcommsat, @lmurillom.

#community-team, #wordcamps

Anjana Vasan 4:50 pm on February 15, 2022
Tags: , , , WordCamps,   

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: February 2022

Hello, hello!

It’s hard to believe that we’re just two months into this year. Nevertheless, we have some exciting stuff to share in the February 2022 edition of the monthly 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. Organizer Newsletter. 

Last month marked a significant milestone for WordPress, not only because of the release of WordPress 5.9. As WordPress Co-Founder Matt Mullenweg announced at last year’s State of the WordState of the Word This is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/., WordPress News also got a new look—be sure to check out the new design tomorrow (February 16, 2022), when it goes live!

Here’s what’s inside this issue:

  • New guidelines for in-person WordPress events
  • Diversity in WordPress 
  • WordPress 5.9 Joséphine 
  • WordPress events

Keep reading to learn about the latest news and resources from the WordPress community, and share them with your local meetup groups!

✅ Follow the latest safety guidelines for in-person WordPress events

Following the recent proposal for updated safety measures for WordPress events in 2022, we’ve announced new safety measures for in-person 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.. 

If your local guidelines allow in-person events, you can still host meetups. However, to ensure the safety of the community, we require you to fulfill the safety checklist for in-person WordPress. For more information, read the mandatory safety guidelines published recently.

A chart explaining the steps for hosting in-person WordPress events in 2022 while following safety protocols.

🏳️‍🌈 Help strengthen diversity in WordPress

We believe that diversity leads to a stronger, more innovative, and resilient WordPress community. On that note, the Community Team has recently published an open discussion on diversity in WordPress events. This discussion has been translated into several languages so far, including Indonesian, Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Japanese, and Portuguese (Brazil).

If you’re comfortable sharing your experience, we want to hear from you. Please share your story by commenting on this post.

✊ Join the Diverse Speaker Training volunteers meeting 

There’s an open invitation for the Diverse Speaker Training zoom call for volunteers that will be held on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, between 5 pm and 6 pm UTC. Join the meeting to learn more about #WPDiversity and how you can contribute to creating a diverse and inclusive WordPress community.

Interested in widening your pool of Meetup and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. speakers from underrepresented groups? Join the #diverse-speaker-support channel on the Make 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/..

🎷 WordPress 5.9 Joséphine released on January 25, 2022

Keeping with WordPress tradition, WordPress 5.9 Joséphine was named in honor of the acclaimed jazz singer Joséphine Baker. This much-awaited release holds many exciting updates, such as the introduction of 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. themes which makes full site editing a reality. For more information, read the WordPress 5.9 Field Guide and check out the talking points for WordPress 5.9!

Download WordPress 5.9 and organize an event to help spread the word among your meetup groups!

🌍 What’s happening with WordPress events?

2022 has many exciting WordPress events, both in person and online. As always, we strongly urge you to follow the mandatory safety guidelines and also learn about the legal protections available to you for in-person events.

🎪 WordCamps on the horizon

We have plenty of WordCamps taking place this year. Below are some of the WordCamps coming up soon—feel free to attend or share them with your meetup groups!

💛 Upcoming WordPress meetups

Check out the WordPress meetups coming up in February:

📚 Support the Learn WordPress initiative

Help make Learn WordPress the official resource on WordPress! Share your knowledge with others by organizing a social learning space based on any of the Learn WordPress workshops. Alternately, use lesson plans on Learn WordPress to organize WordPress meetups in your community! See the Tuesday Training for Meetup Organizers for an overview on how to use lesson plans.

✏️ Check out the latest lesson plans:

🤝 Attend upcoming WordPress Social Learning Spaces:

And that’s a wrap! For more news from the WordPress community, check out the latest Month in WordPress. 

If you have any questions, Community Team deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events Slack channel. Thanks for everything you do to grow and support the WordPress community—let’s keep sharing knowledge and inspiring each other with our contributions!

See you online soon!

#meetup-organizer-newsletter

#newsletter

The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @rmartinezduque @eidolonnight @harishanker @courane01 @evarlese @webcommsat

#community-team, #wordcamps

Angela Jin 8:25 am on January 24, 2022
Tags: , WordCamps   

Updated Guidelines for In-Person WordCamps and Meetups 2022

TL;DR: The Community team has new, mandatory guidelines for all 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., which include following local guidelines, checking for vaccinations where legally permissible and mandatory masks. In areas where the venue cannot legally check for vaccination status, the area must pass the in-person checklist. See “New guidelines” below for full details.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent proposal for updated safety measures for WordPress events in 2022. It speaks volumes of the WordPress community that so many of contributors shared their thoughts on this topic.

Some background

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Community team has worked to continually adapt 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. program — a formidable challenge in this dynamic environment. I am grateful to the 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., organizers, sponsors, volunteers, and attendees who continue to support this team. 

It could make things easier if organizers were simply asked to follow local guidelines when planning a WordCamp. In reading comments on the recent post, I am reminded that many local governments are in similar situations: at the whim of when and what the next variant will bring, and debating best approaches to safety. 

For the WordPress Community team, the priority since the start of this pandemic has always been the safety of community members. 

To be clear, the Community team is not recommending safety guidelines outside of official WordPress events. That is best left to health professionals to determine. For the WordPress Community, another important consideration needs to be the health of the events program. As you might imagine, the people who support this program really, truly, deeply want events that connect and inspire WordPress enthusiasts to continue! Moving forward with in-person events that risk the health of community members is unacceptable, and also poses risks to the program itself. 

New guidelines 

It is with all of this in mind that the following new guidelines will be mandatory for all WordCamps, and all Meetups that anticipate more than 50 attendees.

  1. Follow local laws and guidelines. If your locality has suggested guidelines on top of mandatory ones, follow those too. 
  2. If you are in a location where local laws or guidelines require or permit venues to limit admission based on a person’s vaccination status and masking, then WordCamps can only happen in venues that are willing to provide staff to check for vaccination status at the door and to remind participants to wear masks during the event. 
  3. If your area or venue legally cannot check vaccination status, your area must pass the in-person checklist at the time of the application, and again at the time of the event. Additionally, the venue must be willing to provide staff who will remind participants to wear masks and check for temperature during the event. Organizers in these areas must be prepared to move online or cancel if the region fails the safety checklist.

Here is a visualization of these new guidelines.

The Community team will also continue to support online events at this time. If your meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. has fewer than 50 attendees, you can move forward with your event following local guidelines/laws. The Community team recommends that you organize the event only for attendees who are fully vaccinated or recently tested negative (within 2 days). 

Next steps and feedback

These new guidelines will be added to all the appropriate places in the WordCamp organizers handbook, and a summarized version of this decision will be included in upcoming Meetup Newsletters. If you have questions, concerns, or feedback, please share them in a comment on this post.

Update (25 January) 

The WordCamp and Meetup Handbook pages have been updated to reflect these changes:

WordCamp Handbook

Meetup Handbook

#meetups, #wordcamps

Hari Shanker R 11:30 am on January 10, 2022
Tags: , , safety-guidelines, WordCamps   

Proposal: Mandatory Safety Measures for In-person WordPress Events in 2022

Last year, the Community Team opened up a pathway to return to In-person WordPress meetups, WordCamps, and do_action charity hackathons. In addition to following local laws and safety guidelines, the Community team’s current guidelines recommend that only individuals who are fully vaccinated, recently tested negative, or recently recovered from COVID-19 could participate in in-person WordCamps. However, 2022 has brought in new challenges related to the pandemic such as new variants that are more contagious, in addition to a spike in infection rates in many regions. 

To address the safety concerns around in-person events, 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. have been discussing potential, additional safety measures for in-person WordPress events. These safety measures include:

  • Mandatory masks for all attendees (even in regions that do not have a mask mandate at this time). 
  • More prominent messaging in 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. websites, emails, and social media posts about COVID-19 safety guidelines.
  • Mandatory temperature checks for all attendees at the event (if permitted by local authorities).
  • Accessible hand sanitizing stations in the venue.
  • Maintaining social distancing practices during the event (Larger meeting rooms and seating arrangements with good spacing can be a good way to implement this).
  • Having a plan for contact tracing measures in case of infections (can be done using WordCamp registration data, meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. are a bit tricker).

I propose that, for regions that do not pass guidelines on page one of the in-person safety checklist (but where vaccines and testing are available to everyone), these guidelines become mandatory for all in-person WordPress events, going forward.

In addition to these proposed guidelines, I also recommend that we remove our existing guideline of allowing recent-recovered community members from attending a WordPress event since new COVID variants like Omicron are known to cause reinfection.

Please note: These guidelines are in addition to any local laws for events.
For example, if a region requires mandatory vaccination proof for attending the event, organizers must be willing to verify the same, even though they are not a part of our guidelines. Alternatively, even if a region does not have a mask mandate, organizers must be willing to enforce the same for their event since our guidelines specify the same. 

To support organizers in these important safety measures, 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. is prepared to budget for additional safety measures such as free masks (providing masks as attendee swag for example), hand sanitizing stations, etc. The Community Team is also continuing to support online events, and encourage your community to explore multiple ways to connect online. 

Please share your thoughts

What questions or concerns do you have about the proposed guidelines? What more can WordPress Community Team do to support organizers in organizing safe in-person WordPress events? If you are planning an in-person WordPress event, what safety guidelines would you follow? Please respond in the comments with your thoughts by January 22, 2022. Based on your feedback, the team will finalize the guidelines and publish them in our handbook by early February 2022. 

This post was jointly written by: @angelasjin @harishanker @mauteri @mariaojob @mpc @samsuresh @sippis @sunsand187 @tacoverdo and @yoga1103 

#in-person #meetups #wordcamps #safety-guidelines