When I proposed the Polyglots Outreach Effort, I was inspired by the Community team’s Meetup reactivation project. While the format is different, many goals are the same: to help support various WordPress communities in their efforts.
A few 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. reactivation supporters have kindly included me – or my idea! – in some of their check-in calls recently. I’ve gotten some good feedback and support for the idea, and I’d like to share it more broadly to invite others to help.
Translation events for Meetup groups
For the Meetup reactivation program, I’d like to suggest encouraging and facilitating translation events for Meetup groups! This can help accomplish a few things:
- Meetup organizers often benefit from easy-to-organize event types
- Contributor events may target new attendees, especially if there is a “how to” portion
- New translators can contribute more effectively with hands-on experience
- Translation communities exist within the broader, local WordPress community – growing one may help grow the other!
Many Meetup organizers and Meetup reactivation supporters are already Polyglots. After all, there are currently 209 locales into which WordPress can be translated! The challenge of needing more contributors – from active translators and translation editors to active organizers and attendees – is a shared challenge for various communities. How can we work together to help?
Creating a translation event kit
I think we can build a resource kit that makes it easy to set up a translation event. For example, need a backup option when you don’t have any other ideas or can’t find a speaker? Use the kit!
An event kit can include everything from:
- A default template that can be copied and pasted right into Meetup.com (or translated first!)
- A suggested agenda or schedule template
- A list of suggested tasks for translators to tackle
- A list of resources, including relevant Handbook pages and videos
- Social media templates
- Any other ideas you may have
My goal is to create a resource that allows organizers to use all the available materials to organize a small translation event quickly and easily.
How to help
I’d like to invite Meetup reactivation supporters to help me with this. In particular, I would love your help with the following:
- Writing or reviewing the event kit documents
- Sharing feedback or ideas on any other items that would help organizers
- Sharing this with the Meetup groups you’re working with
- Letting Polyglots know when you’ve successfully helped someone organize a translation event by posting a comment on the monthly outreach posts – let’s celebrate!
If you’d like to help or have any feedback on this idea, your comments are welcome on this post. The Community team’s work with the Meetup reactivation project has been so impactful. I’m excited to explore ways our efforts can help support both contributor teams!
