The WordPress Marketing Team markets WordPress and its community to the wider world.
Our work is tracked on the GitHub Marketing Task Board under the WordPress organization. If you are looking for a card you think should be transferred from the old repos, check the previous repositories and then let the team know the link.
If you are planning a Marketing Table at a Contributor Event, please let us know in the Slack channel.
If you are reading these notes on a website other than the Make WordPress Marketing blog, you can add comments directly to the #marketing 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/. or via the team’s blog. The team may not be aware of comments you add on other sites which replicate the notes.
The Slack thread lists who came along to the meeting live or asynchronously.
@nalininonstopnewsuk shared this week’s question. These questions are a great way to get to know others in the team. Do add your reply even if you could not attend the meeting. The different transport modes may also make fun photographs for WPPhotos.
Question: What is your favorite mode of transport? Walking, cycling, running, cars, boat, rickshaw or anything else?
You can read replies in this Slack thread. It is a good way to start getting to know some of the other contributors in the team if you are new to it.
Thank you to our note-taking volunteers for the next few weeks.
The GitHub card for all aspects of each week’s meeting and any collaboration are linked below by date. We set up cards a couple of weeks in advance of each meeting. Please message Nalini on Slack if you are unsure how to add comments to the GitHub card.
If you have suggestions for the agendas for these meetings or have an update you can give asynchronously, you can also add them to the card (links below) for the relevant week.
21 December 2022 GitHub #145 – @vimes1984
28 December – no live meeting, please add updates to the relevant task’s GitHub card.
Add your name to the GitHub roster / rota at GitHub card #138.
We have a discussion to continue our efforts to make the note taking easier to do. You can join the discussion on GitHub card #148. An alternate coffee break at 09:30 UTC was tried, others being tried as experiments. Please add to the discussion so we can support contributors in other timezones too.
The team is looking for contributors to open the virtual coffee shop in the bi-weekly coffee break. Check out GitHub card #23 and add your name to the list if you’re interested. We even have a complete guide for facilitators to help.
Thank you for nominating people for 2023 Marketing team reps. We will check with everyone nominated if they are happy to stand, and will share an election link. Nalini has also asked in the team reps channel about the election form we can use. The GitHub card (#38) has the most recent updates on this process.
If you have been nominated, you can add whether you are happy to go forward on the GitHub card or the post itself.
The main Marketing Team task board is available in GitHub. If you would like help using GitHub, please reply in this thread. There is help available.
Our WordPress Social Media Amplification (GitHub ticket #7) details how you can help share and amplify WordPress news on social media. You will also find a list of the primary WordPress.org social accounts and campaign contacts if you would like to help craft content.
In case you missed it, the community survey is important to share with your social platforms if you have time this week.
We also have a couple open conversations for folks, even new contributors, to get involved in. These are a couple things we hope to take action on in 2023.
Update from @bjmcsherry: “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/ showed great performances this week. And with our key performance metrics of net-new followers, we had one of the strongest weeks in a few weeks. Mostly the performance of Twitter has finally improved and we are seeing momentum again, leading us to have many new followers on the platform. We gained another 1,383 followers this week and we are seeing that performance steadily climb again. Our strongest campaigns of the week included the WP 6.1 which helped us discuss features and drove conversations online with our audience. This campaign and others continued to drive our audience and provided us with our top posts/campaigns of the week.”
A look at some of the performance numbers for the last week:
2022 WordPress Survey: Each year, members of the WordPress community provide valuable feedback through an annual survey, which is open now. Please answer it and share your experience! You may also take it in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish.
This month’s Polyglots newsletter should go out on Tuesday, December 20, 2022. @evarlese is hoping to share the drafts by Wednesday, December 14 on the GitHub card #149. If you’re able to help review and share any feedback on those drafts, please go to the drafts and leave your suggestions.
People of WordPress December 2022 (GitHub card #133). @nalininonstopnewsuk shared pictures and further information awaited to complete the postponed feature provisionally set for December. The December schedule in previous years has been an optional slot if needed due to the difficulties of contributors availability at the end of the year. Research for January 2023 has been started and efforts will run in parallel. If you would like to help, please add to the GitHub card.
The Month in WordPress: @rmartinezduque shared the next edition will be published next week. Anyone can help by collecting any news or Make team updates that would be valuable and relevant to the post by the end of this week, such as announcements from Make WordPress teams, major updates from flagship WordCamps (WordCamp US, WordCamp Asia, and WordCamp Europe), or testing and feedback calls. More information on how to contribute on GitHub card #142.
This bi-weekly social coffee break is held by the Make Marketing team for all WordPress Marketing contributors, and occasional guests. Stop by and meet some of the friendly faces marketing WordPress.
Follow this Google Calendar with meetings, collaborations, and social activities. We also list important dates in this Forthcoming Diary Dates post.
Next week’s planning – GitHub card #145, December 21, 2022 meeting. You can add to the card on GitHub with anything to include or updates on a specific card to be included.
Thanks to the success of our social media efforts in 2022, one of the most requested tasks for our team has been “Can you amplify this?”
These requests typically fall under one of our active campaigns listed in GitHub, and as part of our 2023 efforts, we’d like to streamline these requests by providing a GitHub issue template. This template will guide requesters through the process of providing us with all the relevant information, and ideally content, for posting to our various social channels and possibly beyond (Ie. eMail newsletters, 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/ posts, etc.).
I would like to call on everyone to help aggregate a list of potential fields and resources for this template. My initial thoughts for these fields are as follows:
I’ll note that this template would not be the place to propose new campaigns or strategies. Those should probably still be submitted as new GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ cards (example TikTok conversation) and discussed 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/.. This would solely be a way for our frequent Marketing Team collaborators to easily submit their requests and would replace the current process (review campaign list, reach out to point of contact, discuss the request, etc.) It should also make things a bit easier for campaign points of contact to manage incoming requests.
Before embarking on building the first version of this, I’d like to gather feedback. What else should we be asking for? What resources should we share through this template? Do you have any other ideas to streamline this process?
#facebook, #github, #instagram, #linkedin, #process, #social, #social-media, #tiktok, #tumblr, #twitter, #youtubeIf you need accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) or language support to participate in any of our work and meetings, please let one of the team reps know in the marketing channel on 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/.. We are keen to try and help promote inclusion and diversity in the team.
This post is updated weekly. Meeting dates and additional updates are also published on the Make WordPress Marketing blog in our weekly agendas and meeting notes.
The global Marketing Team meeting is held weekly on Tuesdays at 15:00 UTC.
The first-quarter dates for the global Marketing Team meetings in the #marketing channel of the Make WordPress Slack will be:
The next coffee break is TBD. The link will be posted in the Marketing Slack channel before the event.
The marketing team has a Google Calendar that lists meetings, collaborations and social activities. If you are using Microsoft Outlook, you can follow this guide to embed Team’s Calendar in your own calendar.
Month in WordPress Newsletter – Deadline to input/ review content is the first week of each month
Meetup Organizer Newsletter – Deadline to input/ review content is the 10th of each month
Polyglot Newsletter – Deadline to input/ review content is the 10th of each month
If you would like to help with updating this post on a regular basis, please let us know on its GitHub card.
This post was last updated on 31 January 2023 by @sereedmedia.
#marketing, #marketing-agenda, #marketing-team, #marketing-team-diary
Hello from your 2023 Marketing Team Reps: Santana Inniss (@santanainniss), Robin (@robinwpdeveloper), and Sé Reed (that’s me! @sereedmedia).
We are excited to announce the first marketing team meeting of 2023 will be held on Tuesday, 17 January at 15:00 UTC.
This is a new time and day for the weekly marketing meetings, which we’ve arrived at after parsing our diverse schedules and the 14 time zones between us! We know we could have kept an asynchronous approach to the meetings, but we wanted to find a time where the three of us could successfully rotate meeting management. We feel that this new meeting time will allow us to have the most productive and inclusive discussions throughout the year.
As we begin this new chapter, we also want to acknowledge the importance of work-life balance. Everyone on this team has responsibilities outside of WordPress contribution, whether it be caring for children and family or caring for ourselves. It is our goal to encourage a team culture that values and supports this balance, so that we can all be our best selves both at work and at home.
In addition to finding a new meeting time that works for everyone, we have also been working to get comfortable in our roles as team reps. Taking on this new responsibility can be challenging, but we are confident that with hard work and collaboration, we will be able to make a positive impact on the marketing team.
We want to thank the 2022 team reps for their hard work and dedication to the marketing team: Nalini Thakor (@nalininonstopnewsuk), Larissa Murillo (@lmurillom), and Nicholas Garofalo (@eidolonnight). We are grateful for the opportunity to learn from them and other previous team reps, and to build on their successes as we move forward. We will be coordinating with them to ensure a smooth handoff and to make sure that we are able to hit the ground running.
We are looking forward to what the future holds for WordPress and the Make WordPress Marketing Team. We hope that you will join us at the meeting on 17 January to be a part of it!
This images shows the consumable PDF handout for to help with onboarding for Contributor Days.
Contributor Days are awesome. People are excited. Sometimes, though, the excitement is tempered by mild to moderate frustration with getting set up on all of the tools.
With feedback from our team and others, we decided to take some initiative and create a Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. onboarding guide in an easy to read PDF format.
Please feel free to download, email, print (responsibly), etc.
Update December 21, 2023
From the list of contributors who were nominated. Five nominations from the team were received for team reps for 2023 by the deadline. Three of those nominees accepted to stand. A discussion took place on whether the team should have two or three team reps for 2023. As there were three nominees, no election was held. The team reps for January 1, 2023 will be @sereedmedia, @robinwpdeveloper, and @santanainnis. A post welcoming them and reflecting on 2022 will be published in due course.
Thank you to everyone who was nominated and helped support the process, congratulations to the incoming team reps, and thank you to the 2022 team reps, and all contributors who put in time and energy to support the team.
An annual informal celebration of the team will take place, hopefully in the week commencing January 16, 2022. More information will be shared when a date and time is set.
The global Marketing Team meetings will change time and potentially day to enable all the 2023 team reps to be able to attend live. More information will be shared soon.
Update December 6, 2023
Thank you for nominating people for 2023 Marketing team reps. Nominees will be asked if they are happy to stand. Once confirmed, an election link will be shared. A request has been made in the team reps group 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/. for the election form to use.
Original post
As we approach the end of the year, it is time to think about Team Reps for next year. We have been highlighting this in team meetings for the last month and encouraging people to consider standing or to become more involved with the team in other ways. Every person in the team, irrespective of timezone or country they live or work in, can express an interest in standing for 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. in 2023.
Three team reps have served this year, in what was initially planned as a role share but these have been full roles over the course of the year. In addition, there was an overlap for a few weeks at the beginning of 2022 with some of the previous team reps to help with the ongoing infrastructure build and handover. Thank you to everyone involved in 2022.
Below are details of nominations and the timetable for the 2023. Nicholas, Nalini and Larissa, the existing team reps hope team members will consider putting themselves forward for next year.
The team continues to value everyone who is co-ordinating, organizing or helping on a task.
The collaboration efforts across the 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/ are divided into teams. They are known as the Make or Contributing Teams. In each of the teams, team representatives can be nominated to help co-ordinate this effort, encourage others, and cover many of the administrative tasks. Read more in the post on what it means to be a Team Rep. Summarizing the definition from this article:
“Team Rep is a leadership role that is mostly administrative in nature; it is not a Lead role. Letting go of the Team Rep title is not a loss of status, just a handing off of responsibilities. Someone who is a leader in a team can lead whether they are doing the team rep job or not.”
In their role, Team Reps in Marketing:
Teams can have more than one rep to enable individuals to share responsibilities, divide tasks, and cover each other when needed.
Every contributor will need to stand for nomination per year. Any member of the team can stand including those who may have other roles or who are currently reps.
The team can have two to three Team Reps every year.
If you would like to stand or know someone who would be a good team rep, please nominate them or yourself. You can do this by putting the name on the google sheet on this GitHub card #38 or by commenting below.
If you have an accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) question and would like to chat with one of the existing Marketing Team Reps (Nicholas, Larissa and Nalini), will be really pleased to talk with you.
Remember that if someone nominates you, but you do not feel like accepting at this time, it is okay to decline. Your nomination will be included in the voting only if you explicitly agree to it.
Please do consider standing and vote. The team reps help the team as a whole to build on the progress and achievements from previous years and all the efforts of contributors since the time the team began.
As there are some major festivals and holidays for those with other responsibilities, we want to enable as much participation as possible in the team rep nominations and elections.
October 2022: start discussions and encourage those who had previously indicated interest to add their name to the GitHub card, as well as highlighting the opportunity to others to start thinking about what they could bring to the role. Check with the project leadership on any new guidelines or processes across the project. [This has been done in the team]
November 2022: encourage nominations and promote in the Marketing Team slack and during team meetings. [This has started]
By 16 November 2022: publish post on the Marketing blog and highlight in the team meeting. [Discussion during meeting]
6 December 2022, 09:00 UTC: close nominations and confirm with those who have been nominated, if they wish to be considered for 2023 before making an announcement on election nominees or results if no election is needed. Share a list of nominations in the Slack and update this post. A link to how to vote, if needed, will be shared during the global Marketing Team meeting. This will give anyone unable to attend an opportunity to vote after the meeting.
14 December 2022, 09:00 UTC: if an election is needed, this will run until this date and time. Results will be announced in the team meeting on 14 December at 15:00 UTC.
Team social, date tbc: invite all the previous and 2023 team reps to a social and thank you on behalf of the team and community. Previous year team reps will also be invited to this. The event will be a creative doodle and sharing of favorite places session, suggested from the year’s social questions.
1 January 2023: New reps will start their role for the year at the beginning of 2023.
If you have any questions, please ask in the comments or in the Marketing Slack. This is your team, please take part in 2023 nominations. A big thank you for everyone who considers putting themselves forward.
Thanks to @eidolonnight and @lmurillom for reviewing this post.
The process and draft has been shared on the team’s GitHub and in team meetings.
This Case Study is published by the Make WordPress Marketing Team. Provided by XWP, a WordPress-focused engineering firm.
Rolling Stone is an exceptionally well-loved brand with millions of readers. When Penske Media Corporation (PMC) made a strategic investment in the property, they worked with XWP in 2018 to migrate the site to WordPress while refreshing the brand’s website design.
The challenges for the project included the need to move hundreds of thousands of articles while simultaneously executing a brand new design. Penske needed to trust that the transition was seamless for both readers and the editorial teams alike.
“From the start, we knew that this project would be a significant undertaking due to the vast amount of historical archive data, dating back to the 1960’s, and the brand’s massive fanbase. We approached this project with the necessary care and foresight to ensure a smooth migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. and an end product that is built on solid technical grounding.”
Matt Geri | WordPress Architect, XWP
Rollingstone.com was transitioning from a Content Management System (CMS) that lacked modern editorial features to enable their writers. Additionally, the prior system was missing many of development efficiencies needed to scale the platform to the next stage of growth for their brand. WordPress was quickly identified as the ideal solution because of the ability to create a great experience for content creators while also providing an enterprise-grade coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. platform to make further development more efficient with the goal of maximizing ad revenue.
The migration to WordPress faced a few unique challenges. With over 250,000 articles in the backlog and millions of image and media attachments, this migration was also coupled with a full redesign of the website. New plans for editorial features to improve the publishing experience were also introduced as well as an integration with Penske’s existing WordPress website. The obstacles involved ensuring the migration accounted for the functional requirements while also delivering the brand new, high profile refresh of the brand’s online experience.
XWP leveraged Google Cloud Platform to build a highly-scalable import process that handled the transformation of data and images into a WordPress compatible structure without any data loss. This migration process, as is the case with any large migration, was successful because of the time spent on architecting, building, and testing. When the time came to push the migrate button, it ran correctly and efficiently.
With performance, stability and security being the top priorities, code quality was a major priority to set the team up for success in the future. Custom plugins and themes give WordPress its competitive edge. Combined with WordPress VIP as the host, this set the site up for success at launch. XWP used Tide and custom code sniffssniff A module for PHP Code Sniffer that analyzes code for a specific problem. Multiple stiffs are combined to create a PHPCS standard. The term is named because it detects code smells, similar to how a dog would "sniff" out food. to ensure the plugins and themes met WordPress VIP’s coding standards without issue.
Rolling Stone regularly breaks down the music, film, and TV industry into list-style articles with a unique layout and design, giving readers a high-level view on a particular topic. The editorial needed an interface that would easily facilitate the production. Working with the editorial team to identify the UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. requirements, XWP was able to do the following:
Additionally, some of these list-style articles can contain 100’s of items, so implementing a custom pagination solution helped the end reader easily navigate through longer lists.
“This was one of our smoothest and most successful launches to date. Everyone who reviewed the site – both before and after launch – commented on the exceptional quality. This was down to an incredible effort led by you all, with a focus and dedication that was a joy to be involved in.”
Nicola Catton | Senior Project Director, PMC
By project completion, Rolling Stone had successfully moved decades worth of digital content from their former system over to WordPress and was able to launch the new online expression of their beloved brand with complete confidence. Launch day proved that the focus on code quality and Quality Assurance paid off, with a public release without any hiccups. The business is now positioned to build on its strong historical foundation and move forward into the next phase of growth.
The marketing team would like to redesign the WordPress showcase and the processes around it. The showcase, when used well, is one of our most powerful marketing tools. We can and should use it to show off the most inspiring and innovative uses of WordPress from around the web.
The showcase lacks a few features that in our eyes are essential to make it truly successful. The things we should add:
The Showcase needs design changes to overcome the following problems:
As we’re building this, we should make sure that the Showcase can also be added to Rosetta sites in the future. Local showcases are much more useful for local marketing teams.
There are a few things in the process around the Showcase that we should change:
When sites get added to the showcase, that should be a thing we as a community (and specifically also the agency and hosting company involved) celebrate.
We’re thinking about the following ways of promotion:
Did we forget things? Should we not do some of the above? Let us know.
It’s easy to forget that in WordPress we use a lot of jargon. So the Marketing Team has created this document and a downloadable PDF as a resource for you.
*Note: Changes have been made to this post and not the PDF 10/4/18.
.htaccess is a configuration file for use on web servers running the ApacheApache Apache is the most widely used web server software. Developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. Apache is an Open Source software available for free. Web Server software. When a .htaccess file is placed in a directory that is in turn ‘loaded via the Apache Web Server’, then the .htaccess file is detected and executed by the Apache Web Server software.
AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) (https://a11yproject.com/). A11y is an acronym for accessibility. The 11 represents the 11 letters that were removed between the a and y to make accessibility shorter to write particularly on social media.
Apache is the most widely used web server software. Developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. Apache is 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. software available for free.
An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways.
Free and Open Source text editor designed for code development- https://atom.io/.
An avatar is an image or illustration that specifically refers to a character that represents an online user. It’s usually a square box that appears next to the user’s name.
A back-end developer modifies database and features of the WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. In other words, it manages everything under the hood.
Incoming links to a web page. Search engines view backlinks as a reputation builder. The more quality (as determined by the search engine) incoming backlinks a site has usually helps a site to rank better in search engine results.
WordPress is a content management system built around the culture of giving. Developers, translators, marketers, designers, and many others contribute their skills and expertise to the world-wide WordPress 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. project.
This widely popular platform helps millions of people across the world create websites and digital services. You can join in and contribute your time and skills like so many others, and bring benefits to you and your work too! Discover why you should become a contributor and join the international WordPress family sharing their experiences in this post.
There are two aspects of WordPress: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. The global open source project is WordPress.org, which everyone around the world can join in to help build, maintain and grow the platform and its digital opportunities.
The project thrives on the skills of developers, marketers, designers, translators, and many more roles. You will be able to find tasks and groups to join, developments to help plan, and be able to work with others to innovate. And while you contribute, you can benefit and learn too! Together with others, you can make the product that you use better, and network with talented and inspiring people.
Interested in joining in? Discover how you can get involved with WordPress. Read on for some personal stories about contributing to WordPress!
Anyone who has knowledge about any aspect of WordPress can contribute! From full-stack developers to JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. users, from experienced web designers to beginner graphic designers, and from marketers to community activists. They all come together to be part of an international learning, sharing, and Open Source community.
Every year, in cities across the world, thousands of people gather for one- to three-day events dedicated to the WordPress global project. These events are known as WordCamps. They are organized by the local WordPress communities and often attended by an international audience. People come together to contribute, talk and share at these events, held throughout the year. WordCamps often include a Contributor session or a whole day dedicated to both the new or long-term contributor.
Contributor events last from a few hours to a full day, and can stand alone or be part of a WordCamp schedule. The best way to discover contributing is by attending one of these events or joining one of the Make WordPress teams and try it for yourself. If you are thinking about contributing, let these stories enthuse you! We’ve asked some WordPress contributors about their contributing experiences.
Maziar Firuzmand, of ArtBees, said: “I was really happy with my first experience helping WordPress at WordCamp Europe in 2018, where I picked the marketing table to contribute. WordPress gave me a chance to start a business which has grown year by year, and I wanted to give back to the project with some of my time. Since then, wherever possible I have joined the contribution days at events and work with others to contribute to the marketing team.”
He added: “I have seen many people, who have different levels of engagement with using WordPress, enthusiastically come and take part in the Make WordPress teams. Many of them have full-time jobs but they are still keen to spend part of their free time contributing to WordPress.”
Maziar echoed the feedback from others attending events saying: “Contributor days are full of people who collaborate on getting things done for a software platform they like. This is accompanied with a lot of fun, chit-chat, snacks and opportunity to try different areas. WordCamp Milan was a great example of this atmosphere. You could see people organized in different teams working in harmony.”
Siobhan Cunningham, of Yoast, attended WordCamp Nijmegen 2018, in the Netherlands: “I had been to a few contributor days before so I was looking forward to seeing my marketing friends from different countries again, and getting more things done together! It was amazing to see a few of my Yoast colleagues, who were first-time WordCampers, really enjoying the experience too. At the Contributor event, like others, they were able to explore what team to join. Soon enough, everyone found their place. Translating, coding, planning community events, there was something to do for everyone.
Two of our interns joined the design team and had a blast! They were really enthusiastic about the people they met, the things they had learned in just one day, and especially at being able to contribute already, as students. They felt more people should know about contributing at any phase of their career.”
WordPress is driven by a commitment to open source, inclusiveness, giving and diversity. There are a lot of reasons people choose to become an active contributor. Find out how you’ll benefit from contributing to WordPress as well.
Firstly, the teams that makeup what is known as Make WordPress, have ways to thanks and recognize contributions.
For the contribution you make to a WordPress team, you will be awarded a contributor badge which will appear on your WordPress.org profile page. This is peer-recognition from a globally known software project which powers more than 30% of websites across the world.
Scott Jones, of Illustrate Digital, said: “I thought for a long time that I would have little to contribute to WordPress, until I stepped up at WordCamp US and realized I could make a difference. To top it off, I got to meet some amazing people and make some great new friends.”
He added: “Ever since then I’ve been displaying my ‘I Make.WordPress.org’ sticker with pride.”
The WordPress community gives you an opportunity to meet many developers, designers, marketers, and writers from across the globe. Through contributing at a WordCamp event you can get to know and share with many amazing people, networking and learning alongside them. You can also develop your skills and contribute to improving the usability and accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) of WordPress.
Piccia Neri, who since joining the community has become a MeetupMeetup All 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. and WordCamp speaker in Spain and many other countries, said: “Contributing to the WordPress community has quite literally changed my life. When I moved to a new country, and a new city where I didn’t know anyone, volunteering with my local WordPress MeetUp gave me an instant circle of close friends, colleagues, and allies.”
She added: “Contributing also gives you access to potential collaborators, staff or contractors to work with on projects. WordCamps frequently have informal job boards showcasing the opportunities currently available in the WordPress ecosystem.
“During the course of three years, I have effortlessly created deep connections, friendships, and joint ventures across the globe. Thank you, WordPress.”
Not many jobs give you the option of learning for free while you are working. In contributing you work with developers, designers and others specializing in different areas. You have the opportunity to learn more about good practices in your area of work, and of course, to take them back to your own company or team. If you’re contributing to a WordCamp Contribution session or helping one of the Make WordPress teams remotely, you have this opportunity for free.
Maria Aragón, from ACOCO Web, said: “I volunteered to help at my first WordCamp in Soltau, Germany, when I was still very new to the community and to contributing. It gave me the chance to meet people who had been contributing for years. It was great! The amount of value, knowledge and great tips that you can learn during a WordCamp and a Contributor Event, has no parallel. I’ve been a volunteer for many different events in my life, and the WordPress community is by far one of the most talented and generous communities I’ve had the pleasure to be part of.
“Most of the people who contribute to WordPress are driven by a desire to give and to help others. This brings together really amazing people. The kind of people we all want to hang around with! And as a contributor, you get to know many of them. Being part of a group like this is always a lot of fun, it fills you with energy, and personally, it makes me very happy.”
If you are running or involved in a remote tech business of any kind, being a WordPress contributor can be a great opportunity for you to learn and execute remote collective working practices in action, for free. You can learn more about what it takes to participate, organize or run different teams across a range of areas as well as lead, collaborate and facilitate workflow.
As WordPress is a global project, being involved in its community promotes cross-cultural harmony and understanding.
Naoto Egusa, from Japan, has attended Contributor Days across the world, said: “Through the WordPress community, I have been able to advance my skills and knowledge of how to work in broader teams, particularly across time zones and cultures. It has helped in maintaining my skills during my break from work, and given me new opportunities.
“Patience, understanding, and collaboration are something we often need to practice. The WordPress community can give you great strength in learning how to work with others from countries and cultures which are not the same as your own. This itself fosters new ideas and advances.”
There is no set requirement for how much time you should put into contributing to single or multiple teams. It can range from a couple of hours in a single contributor session to a weekly commitment. It can also vary at different stages of your life and career.
The two main ways to get involved are through a WordCamp contribution session or by choosing a Make WordPress team to work with remotely.
You can discover more about the teams through the Make WordPress pages on WordPress.org. All you need to do is find a team, or teams, in which you are interested. It is easy to get started. Each team has its own tools and workflow process. You can also approach team representatives and deputies who help coordinate tasks and workflow and ensure people are welcomed. They will be pleased to provide support.
Becoming a contributor can help you make the most of your career regardless of which area and level you are currently working. WordPress gives you the perks of a perfect job, such as reputation, learning, networking and co-working opportunities, without having to move from your existing job and at a time which suits you.
It is not only people who run businesses and careers around WordPress that can benefit from contributing to it. Everyone who specializes in an area related to technology and wants to support Open Source platforms and community-based software, can gain significantly from contributing to the WordPress community.
Your journey can start today, visit make.wordpress.org and find out how you would like to take part.
If you would like to learn more about the WordPress community and how people around the world use WordPress, here are some useful resources.
Thanks to @abhanonstopnewsuk and @antialiasfactory for developing and writing this feature, and to all those who contributed or were interviewed. Images courtesy of photographers at WordCamps Europe and Milan, and WordPress Delhi. Thanks to @siobhanseija, @maedahbatool, and @michelleames for their contributions.
Thanks to @webcommsat, @danmaby, and @Rubio for producing the video interview with Gary Jones at WordCamp London. This is part of a series of contributor interviews to be featured by the Make WordPress marketing team.
