#WPDiversity team
Since 2017, the #WPDiversity team has been encouraging people from underrepresented and marginalized groups in WordPress to participate and speak at WordCamps and WP 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. in their local community and the ever-expanding global WP community.
Most of the activities of the #WPDiversity team have been scheduled in the North American (AMER) time zones, sometimes in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) as well. While there have been a few workshops held in India, Indonesia, Africa, and the Philippines, the regular meeting makes it difficult for those in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to participate.
Demand for WordPress Group Activities Grows Steadily in the APAC Region
WordPress has been present in the APAC region for many years now. Over the last two years alone, there has been a sharp increase in the demand for WordPress events. For example, in 2019, there were already 127 WordPress 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. groups with 73,000 members in 23 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. During the pandemic that started in 2020, this number has only gone up.
In 2022, the number of Meetup groups in APAC has grown to 141, an 11% increase. What’s more, total Meetup membership and countries represented also increased to 120,000 members across 25 countries– an increase of 64% and 8% respectively. This is a significant increase even if most of their activities in the past 2 years have been primarily online, these meetup groups are now starting to hold face-to-face activities like meetups and even WordCamps.
This is timely, as the flagship event WordPress in Asia, WordCamp 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. Asia 2023 is fast approaching.
APAC #WPDiversity Network Building
To help meet the growing demand for in-person and online WordPress events in APAC, the APAC #WPDiversity Network Building meeting was started. Volunteers around the Asia-Pacific region voted on the most convenient schedule and we have held 9 meetings since May.
The main intention of this meeting for APAC is that we want to walk the talk. We want to make the WordPress community as diverse and inclusive as possible and we need you to be part of the journey!
The APAC region is host to some of the most diverse selection of WordPress users in the world, with differences in culture, language, life experiences, and knowledge. By encouraging more underrepresented individuals who are usually not as engaged in the tech community to participate in our meetings, we can help foster growth and collaboration among groups of people, who would not normally have the opportunity to work with one another if not for the global WordPress community.
During these meetings, we report on activities that are relevant to the APAC region and encourage discussion about other concerns affecting the WordPress community. We also promote events like WordCamps in the region. Especially Call-for-Speakers, Call-for-Sponsors, and when tickets go on sale. This is another way for you to get people to see what is happening in your WordPress community and help get more people to participate.
We also need your help to spread the word so more community members can join the meeting and so we can learn from each other about making the WordPress community in our region more diverse and inclusive.
Ideas on how to grow our APAC WPDiversity Network?
We would be honored if you would join us.
This is for you if:
- You are based in Asia-Pacific
- You care about diversity and inclusion in WordPress, particularly in Asia-Pacific
- You are able to join most of the meetings (2 hours a month – 1 hour each meeting)
If you would like to participate in the activities held by the #WPDiversity team, please comment on this post with your 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/. name to indicate that you are interested in joining the meetings with us.
Meeting Schedule
This meeting happens on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 0300H-0400H UTC. We have a related meeting for AMER with a different agenda on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 0500H-0600H UTC.
Changes in the schedule are posted on the Community-team P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. blog and in the Slack channel.
If you don’t have a WordPress Slack account yet, here is how to get set up: https://bit.ly/setupwp2slack
Thank you to @devinmaeztri, @onealtr, @jillbinder
#WPDiversity
#community-management, #community-team
