Function: Organize
Type: Task
Level: Intermediate
Help keep your Make WordPress team running by volunteering to facilitate a meeting or take notes. Most teams need volunteers for these roles every week, and it’s one of the most direct ways to contribute once you’ve joined a team.
Before you start
Complete the common setup first, then:
- Complete: You should have already joined a Make WordPress team and attended at least one of their meetings
- Read: Take the Community Meeting Etiquette course on Learn WordPress
- Connect: Join the 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/ channel for your Make team. The Make WordPress teams page lists each team’s channel and their next scheduled meeting time
Steps
- Attend a meeting as a participant. Get a feel for the format, the agenda structure, and how the facilitator and note-taker work together. Read a few published meeting notes on your team’s blog to understand what the output looks like.
- Volunteer when the call goes out. Most teams ask for volunteers to take notes or facilitate at some point during the meeting. Offer to help with whichever role you’re comfortable with. Note-taking is a good first step if you’re new to the team.
- Confirm the process with your team. Each team handles meetings differently. Check with a team repTeam Rep A 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. about how they publish agendas and notes. Some teams want a blog post on their Make site, others have different formats. If your team uses Slack Huddles, the auto-generated notes can be a useful starting point to work from, but they should always be reviewed for accuracy.
- Publish the agenda or notes. Depending on your role, publish the agenda before the meeting or the notes after it on your team’s Make blog. If you don’t have blog access, ask a team rep to help.
Contribution checklist
- Attended at least one meeting and read published meeting notes for your team
- Volunteered to take notes or facilitate
- Agenda or meeting notes published in the format your team uses
What happens next
Most teams need facilitators and note-takers every week, so there’s always an opportunity to do it again. As you take on these roles more often, you’ll build a deeper understanding of your team’s projects and priorities. Some teams rotate the role regularly; others rely on whoever volunteers.
Help
Stuck? Check the getting help guide, then ask in your team’s Slack channel.
Further reading:
– Make WordPress meetings calendar for meeting times across all teams
– Facilitating weekly meetings (Docs team) as a detailed example of how one team handles facilitation and notes
– Hosting Training Team Meetings covering both team meetings and coffee hours
– How to Write Meeting Agendas and Recap Posts (Training team)
– Writing in the WordPress Voice for writing clear meeting notes
