20 Days to Celebrate 20 Years of WordPress, From Blogs to Blocks

The title of the campaign and #WP20 logo in white against a WP20-blue background.

As we approach the 20th anniversary of WordPress on May 27, 2023, the Make Marketing team is excited to announce #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks, a campaign to celebrate WordPress and the incredible WordPress community.

From Blogs to Blocks creates intentional moments for the WordPress community to reflect on the journey we’ve gone on so far and to dream of what’s to come.

Each daily action symbolizes the millions of individual actions that have come together to make WordPress what it is today.

Here’s how it works:

In the spirit of recognizing and empowering our diverse community, #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks celebrates a range of different interests and skill sets. Each day, from May 7 to May 27, 2023, the WordPress Make Marketing blog will feature five WordPress-related prompts:

  • Blogging: WordPress-related questions or suggestions for a related action that can be expressed through writing, video, audio, or visual/digital art. The key is to post your responses on a WordPress blog or website, showcasing the versatility of WordPress as a platform.

  • Developing: These prompts are for those who want to participate on the technical side of the platform, from testing and pull requests to building blocks. 

  • Designing: With an emphasis on designing and creation, these prompts aim to inspire the creative minds who bring WordPress to life visually.

  • Photography: Aimed at anyone who likes to take pictures, prompts for contributions to the WordPress Photo Directory will bring our worlds together while enriching our community’s visual resources.

  • Community: Actions to support the WordPress community and the project as a whole. These prompts are meant to foster contribution and connection among community members.

Mix and match your focus for each day, or create your own daily action and let your WordPress memories, skills, and passion shine!

Participants who share at least one action during the campaign as a comment on a #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks post will have the achievement acknowledged by the Marketing team (and possibly on their WordPress.org profile). Participants who share an action on all 20 posts before WCUS in August 2023 will get an additional acknowledgement of their accomplishment. We can’t wait to celebrate your commitment and your contributions to our thriving community!

Let’s celebrate the past, present, and future of WordPress, and continue empowering each other to build a better web for everyone.  

#WP20 From Blogs to Blocks starts May 7, 2023.

  • Subscribe to the marketing blog to get the daily prompt post sent directly to your inbox (sign up in the sidebarSidebar A 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.)
  • Want to help draft the prompts? Last day for prompt suggestions is May 2, 2023

Start here: Day 1: #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks

(added 23 May, 2023)

#fromblogstoblocks, #community, #contribute, #marketing-team

Marketing Team Notes – December 19, 2018

Marketing Team Vision

Our vision for the Marketing Team is to be the go-to resource on strategy and content for other WordPress teams. We reiterate our mission each week so that everyone who is new to the team understands what our goals are. This helps with onboarding.

We’d love you to join the Marketing Team. If you have any questions or feel lost (all of us do at some point), please feel free to pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” any of us 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/.. We’re here to help guide and mentor you. xoxo ~ Bridget (@gidgey on Slack)

Getting Involved

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects. And, yes, you can add yourself to any Trello Card you’d like to work on.

Today’s Meeting

Slack Timestamp

Meeting Attended By: @siobhanseija, @maedahbatool , @yvettesonneveld, @saurabhkulkarni

Last Week’s Successes

  • We’re celebrating a successful contributorsday at WCTessaloniki, last weekend, and look forward to learning more about what was accomplished after the Holidays.

Task Lead Updates

  • No updates this week.

New Business

  • None suggested.

Next meeting

Due to Christmas holidays the marketing team has decided to take a break and skip the meetings for 26th December 2018 and 2nd January 2019. We will resume from the second Wednesday of January which is the 9th.

#community, #marketing

Marketing Team Notes – December 12, 2018

Marketing Team Vision

Our vision for the Marketing Team is to be the go-to resource on strategy and content for other WordPress teams. We reiterate our mission each week so that everyone who is new to the team understands what our goals are. This helps with onboarding.

We’d love you to join the Marketing Team. If you have any questions or feel lost (all of us do at some point), please feel free to pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” any of us 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/.. We’re here to help guide and mentor you. xoxo ~ Bridget (@gidgey on Slack)

Getting Involved

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects. And, yes, you can add yourself to any Trello Card you’d like to work on.

Today’s Meeting

Slack Timestamp

Today’s notes taken by: @maedahbatool

Meeting Attended By: @maedahbatool, @siobhanseija, @daveloodts, @gidgey, @miker, @harryjackson1221, Jesse Owens, @gtarafdar@jenblogs4u, @coachbirgit, @abhanonstopnewsuk

Last Week’s Successes

Task Lead Updates

New Business

  • @abhanonstopnewsuk: From 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. Milano 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/.. @Max has started a draft blog on ‘why someone should contribute to WordPress’. He has had input in from a number of other contributors and some feedback/fact checking has now been received. I am working with him on this and we are setting up the TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. card. We are aiming to have this ready for the first edit by next week’s meeting.
  • @abhanonstopnewsuk: Request from WP&UP Charity if we can promote its mental health campaign in the WordPress community which has started this month with DecemBuddies (@gidgey has been featured already), will have a survey in Jan and the main campaign in February. Some pointers are being drafted and will be shared with marketing if it is felt this is something that can be promoted on Make WordPress Marketing. 
  • @abhanonstopnewsuk: There is a new sustainability channel being set up by WordCamp organizers and with the community. A draft blog submission to get some help from marketing to promote this. There are questions for the community team on the link to use for the channel so that organizers in other countries can access it. Once they have this, a draft submission will be added to a Trello.
  • @daveloodts: I mentioned this idea of an ‘adopt-a-volunteer’-campaign; or ‘sponsor-a-volunteer’ in this post: https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2018/12/09/why-your-company-should-contribute-to-wordpress/. Don’t know if #marketing is the place to be or #community. I see it as marketing the community.
  • @miker: https://trello.com/c/IkToXlnz/225-wcus-2018-contributor-day-recap. This would be a great opportunity for a new contributor! This card is for a blog post that will highlight the successes from the WCUS contributor day. The community team also publishes what was accomplished. However, I think we should do a marketing post as well. We spoke a lot about the Five for the Future (FFTF) initiative, and posts like this that show what can be accomplished through contributions are important.
  • @miker: I have one other thing to share from WCUS! We had a number of conversations with different hosts and the Hosting Community team. (Thanks to @Breann McDede and others for participating!). The main takeaway was a strategy to improve our communication with the Hosting Community through more regular direct updates with that team. Using the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ rollout as an example, the consensus is that it would be useful to have a more formal and defined communication 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.. So we are getting direct feedback about what their users are asking, and the types of things they would like to have to distribute to their customers about WordPress. This being said, I will make an effort next year to attend that group as well. The main objective is to establish a communication loop, so we can be more targeted and responsive when creating time-sensitive content.

NOTE: Due to Christmas holidays the marketing team has decided to take a break and skip the meetings for 26th December 2018 and 2nd January 2019. We will resume from the second Wednesday of January which is the 9th. The formal announcement will be made by @siobhanseija in the next week’s meeting. Till then happy holidays folks! 

Marketing Meeting Notes – December 6, 2017

Marketing Team Vision

Our vision for the Marketing Team is to be the go-to resource for strategy and content for other WordPress teams.

Getting Involved

All are welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects:

Today’s Meeting

The marketing team has unified at WCUS. Here is the document for our meeting notes. Feel free to read the scroll back in Slack.

WCUS Outcome

  • No more subgroups, we are one unified group. TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. board collapsed into one entity. Thank you  to @mcdwayne and @annelieke who did this merging
  • To reiterate EVERYONE has the ability (AND PERMISSION) to make a Trello Card. We have instructions here: https://trello.com/c/GcNFAQ7x/32-welcome-heres-how-to-get-started
  • The projects from the former subgroups are still valid. We just want to continue to work and function as one team.
  • Be sure to subscribe to the Marketing Blog so you read our weekly updates. Our blog is at https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/
  • Reminder to us all to say and use make.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/ on things and not just use the jargon “P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/.”. Make it easier for all who are not as up on jargon to follow along.

To Do List:

We have 4 main things at the moment:

  1. 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/. Suport: https://trello.com/c/wzvtWjzi/8-wcus-contributor-day-support
  2. The End User Persona card is something we are still working on. @Miker updated the card.  We have resources allocated to a formal WordPress User Persona Research project starting in January.  We are basing this on the persona research from the Nielsen Group.  @Miker will provide the results of this research as the project progresses. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YROsrDhUUNHMD0Ph9vdXteSympo2CcTMhHw0pD6H0lo/edit#heading=h.iy9n8zagee9w @harryjackson1221 is also currently working on this today
  3. There are a few pieces of content regarding WCUS teams that need to be merged. A post on our blog will be put together regarding this by @gidgy https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9wRJsOfSKgzbzFSYkRHZkZhM0U

Task of the Day: Getting word out about Make.WordPress.org

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11X21OcsrNI709QM7fpYKadEF5DMxFN8jC194LMGiNBA/edit

  1. Challenges include that the current naming is a mouthful and not self-explanatory to newcomers
  2. What should we call make.wordpress.org when we tell people that’s how you contribute?
  3. Perpetual Confusion between .org and .com is a consideration and a hurdle
  4. I Make WordPress.org stickers designed by @harryjackson1221 and distributed during WCUS  trying to help alleviate the confusion
  5. Messaging like this on Twitter by @jenblogs4u (in fact everyone Tweet it out!) is important “Do you #design, #develop or #blog in #WordPress? Did you know you can get the latest news, discover events and get involved with the #community at http://make.wordpress.org?” We cannot repeate this message too much https://twitter.com/JenBlogs4U/status/938444151821017088
  6. Vital Hashtag information: We all should be using #MakeWordPress and #Community is to get the other people seeing that tweet.
  7. This is a possible resource, but it’s a little hard to navigate https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2017/07/05/what-is-a-contributor-wordpress-contributors-speak-out/ that is where the making of a hanbook comes in. @Mcdwayne and @skarjune are on this https://wordpress.slack.com/team/U893BCC13
  8. We are writing copy that promotes make.wordpress.org to the general public (meaning people who want to contribute but don’t know where to start). @tlctara has volunteered to start this.
    1. @angelkiss might provide some graphics
    2. Needs to be language that doesn’t have too much jargon
    3. Must be newcomer friendly, but also understandable for “old timers” who are up on the jargon. So unless something is done to change the term/announce a change in term, leads will still use P2. Currently team reps like @gidgy have the experience that when they were newcomers that this term “confused me and made me feel left out and confused … made it harder to contribute and feel helpful” therefore let’s use new and old terms side-by-side to make all feel welcomed and to stay informed. For example, “Our marketing blog (A.K.A. the P2) recaps the work the marketing group of volunteers is tackline.”
    4. @newyorkerlaura suggested that we need a jargon guide for newcomers. @Mcdwayne made a Trello card for this. https://trello.com/c/kpXnCGls/96-wp-jargon-glossary-for-new-people
    5. Possible resources for several items above from WCUS 2017 website
      1. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day-info-resource-of-team-listing/
      2. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/2017/10/03/slack-101-connecting-with-other-wordcampers-on-slack/
    6. Photos taken from WCUS going to the Google Drive soon via @NewYorkerLaura

 

Notes taken by: @NewYorkerLaura

Meeting Attended by: @bridgetwillard @meher @NewYorkerLaura @skarjune @mcdwayne @maedahbatool @alicestill @harryjackson1221 @dhruvpandya @jenblogs4u @taraclaeys @miker @bseekins @chanthaboune @westcountymedia

Marketing the Community – January 4 2017 Meeting Notes

The Community Marketing team met for the first time after 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. US. We reviewed what was left from that previous meeting and brainstormed a number of new suggestions and deliverables to discuss and work towards completing.

If you’re interested in contributing, please have a read through our chat and the items listed below and leave a comment with which you’d like to help build! You can read the whole meeting in Slack here or the recap below.

Recap of Goals/Scope: Marketing the WordPress Community: this subgroup feel strongly that the community is a very big selling point of the software, and promoting some of the things that are coming out of the community would raise awareness and encourage adoption of the software; that could include raise awareness about 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 internationalization advancements, or even helping local groups with marketing materials or resources for their community. (Read about the other marketing subgroups in The Four Horsemen of WordPress.org Marketing)

Immediate Priorities and Projects Suggested for the Future

The following were suggested in the chat – these are not a definitive nor finalized list of projects, just suggestions! Other suggestions are welcome (please bring them to the next monthly chat).

If a particular suggestion strikes your interest and you have time to work on it, please raise your hand in the comments with a mention about which one so those interested can start coordinating 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/..

The first two items were leftover suggestions from WCUS working with the community team. Please refer to the content in this GDoc for that.

  1. Editorial Calendar for 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. to help promote 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. events – currently unassigned.
  2. Email Newsletter Content for Meetup Organizers – @jenblogs4u will review what’s been created in the document linked above
  3. A collection of videos on what makes a meetup great, for both small and big towns. There may be existing content on WordPress.tv on this subject! We can add these to the Meetup Organizer Handbook. @jenblogs4u will take a look and see what we have.
  4. Marketing templates for local meetups to self-promote: posters, written copy for local community listings, etc
  5. A Foundation-backed online advertising strategy (for the Community) for 2017 – if there’s a solid advertising proposal, it’s possible funds could be allocate for this, but not guaranteed.
    1. @rosso99 notes: “in the open-source way, let’s see what we can do for free, first – we should be using our efforts and ideas to help as many in the community as possible, whether or not they have access to funds. Let’s assume they don’t.”
  6. Testimonials from meetup attendees, talking about the value of these meetups. Can be written, video, audio. @andreamiddleton will look at adding this recommendation to the monthly Organizer email.
  7. A guide with tips on promoting one’s local meetup, such as co-promoting with other relevant local meetups, coworking spaces, other open-source projects. @gidgey started a Google Doc with ideas here.
  8. A “Humans of WordPress” style of promotion – showcasing what WordPress has done for the lives of people who use it, what happens at meetups and WordCamps, etc.
  9. Support for meetups with low content – a list of interesting WordPress.tv talks + blog posts for group discussion, improving and sharing a list of Meetup ideas, or a list of speakers that can Skype in for meetups that have no speakers. @meaganhanes and @andreamiddleton are continuing chats about this.

#community, #meeting-notes