The WordPress Community Summit is a by invitation…

The WordPress Community Summit is a by-invitation conference being held at the end of October 2012. We’re still in the planning stages, and this site will grow in the coming weeks to include information for attendees as well as event sponsorships, agenda, possible livestreaming, etc. In the meantime, here’s an FAQ based on the tweets and emails coming my way in the past day.

How Did You Decide Who to Invite?

The contributor group team reps from coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., support (forums/docs), ui, theme review, pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party review, polyglots, and events formed the summit invite selection committee. A total of 18 people reviewed the list of potential invitees based on the nominations (both self and other) that we received from the original call for nominations. Some of the reviewers were familiar with many of the names submitted for consideration already, while others knew hardly any and had to go look people up online.

In voting on each name, we kept several things in mind:

  • Active contributions to 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/ project
  • Influence/reach in the broader WordPress ecosystem (not necessarily within WordPress.org)
  • Area of expertise (wanted a good spread between core, themes, plugins, consultants)
  • Company (wanted to get multiple theme companies to the table vs having 5-10 people from 1)
  • Location (tried to get a decent international contingent so we wouldn’t be so US-focused)
  • Opposing Points of View (wanted to get people who typically take aim on Twitter talking to each other instead)

The selection committee members voted Yes, Maybe, No, or I don’t know this person (generally reserved for an unknown without enough of an online presence to form an opinion about their involvement). Anyone with more than 50% yesses and 0 “no” votes went on the invite list. Anyone who received “no” votes but still got more than 50% yesses/maybes was the subject of a discussion. Anyone who got less than 50% yes or maybe votes was reviewed, but not as much since by the time we finished the first two rounds we were having size issues already. Then we had to start cutting names, which sucked, because they were people we’d wanted to have there, but we were pretty far over our intended size already, even with the assumed 20% non-accept rate. So those people moved over to a Maybe list, and if we wind up with any room on the list later on we will reach out. Then we had Matt take a look to see if he thought we’d made any egregious omissions before sending invites (he didn’t think so).

What Did the Invites Say?

When it comes to WordPress, you’re kind of a big deal! We think so, anyway, and we’d like to invite you to participate in the community summit being planned for October 2012 by the WordPress.org contributor group team reps.

Who’ll Be There?
• Representatives from all the WordPress.org contributor groups: core development, forums/docs, theme review, plugin review, events, polyglots, 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), mobile apps, and any new contributor groups formed between now and then
• WordPress lead developers
• Co-founder and project leader Matt Mullenweg
• Other big deals from the community of WordPress makers: themers, plugin devs, consultants and agencies, hosting companies, translators, 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. and 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. organizers, etc.
• The event will be kept small to ensure that everyone can meet everyone else

What’s the Purpose of this Event?
• Build bridges between the people making WordPress (via the contributor groups) and the people doing the best and most influential work built on top of it
• Open channels of communication between project leaders, volunteers, and professionals in the community
• Learn more about each others’ goals, challenges, and ways we can help each other
• Share best practices
• Have a few drinks and get to know each other better 🙂

What’s the Format?
• Combination of flash talks, peer discussions, workshops, q&a, town hall, social time
• Agenda to be determined in part by the interests of the participants
• Since we’re trying to keep it small, hopefully we can livestream some portions to benefit your colleagues back home and the broader community

What Are the Logistics?
• Date: Monday, October 29, 2012
• Location: Tybee Island, GA
• Ticket Price: $100
• RSVP: By August 20 to reserve your spot
• Sponsorship Opportunities: Will be announced August 20
• Housing: Hotels, condos, and rental cottages are in walking distance and will have lodging discount codes
• The scheduled conference is one day long, but staying a day or two longer for hack days will be an option
• Some travel scholarships will be available

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or 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.” me on Skype.

You can RSVP yes, no, or maybe at [rsvp-poll-link]. We would love for you to be a part of the group, so hopefully you’ll RSVP yes and we’ll be in touch with more details soon!

Thanks for all you do for the WordPress community,

Jane

So Who Was Invited?

Had planned to focus more on who was participating after getting the RSVPs, but since there seems to be a lot of interest in knowing who was invited, here’s the list:

Aaron Brazell
Aaron Campbell (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.)
Aaron Jorbin
Adii Pienaar
Aleksandr Stankevic
Alex Concha
Alex King
Alex Mills
Alex Rabe – NextGen Gallery
Amy Hendrix
Andrea Middleton (team rep)
Andrea Rennick (team rep)
Andrey Savchenko (rarst on wpse)
Andrew Nacin (team rep)
Andrew Norcross
Andrew Ozz
Andy Peatling
Andy Skelton
Andy Stratton
Barry Abrahamson
Ben Balter
Ben Metcalfe
Bill Erickson
Boone Gorges
Brad Williams
Brandon Dove
Brian Gardner
Brian Layman
Bryan Petty
Carl Hancock
Cátia Kitahara
Chip Bennett (team rep)
Chris Coyier
Chris Olbekson
Chris Pearson
Chris Wallace
Christine Rondeau
Clay Griffiths
Collis Ta’eed
Cory Miller
Cristi Burca (team rep)
Dan Milward
Daryl Koopersmith (team rep)
Dave Martin
Diana (Katayama) Cury
Dion Hulse
Dominik Schilling
Dougal Campbell
Dre Armeda
Drew Strojny
Elliot Condon
Emil Uzelac (team rep)
Eric Mann
Frederick Townes
George Stephanis
Helen Hou-Sandi (team rep)
Ian Stewart
Isaac Keyet
Jake Goldman
James Farmer
Jan Dembowski
Jane Wells (team rep)
Japheth Thomson
Jared Atchison
Jason Schuller
Jeff Starr
Johan “Spocke” Sörlin
John Hawkins
John James Jacoby
Jon Cave
Jonathan Davis
Joost de Valk
Jorge Bernal
Josh Strebel
Justin Tadlock
Kailey Lampert
Kevinjohn Gallagher
Konstantin Kovshenin
Konstantin Obenland
Kuraishi (tenpura)
Kurt Payne
Lance Willett
Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Mark Jaquith (team rep)
Marko Heijnen
Marty Thornley
Matt Martz
Matt Mullenweg
Matt Thomas
Max Cutler
Mel Pedley (team rep)
Michael “Mitcho” Erlewine
Michael Pretty
Michael Torbert
Mika Epstein (team rep)
Mike Adams
Mike Schroder (team rep)
Milan Dinic
Miyoshi Takayuki
Nathan Rice
Nikolay Bachiyski
Nitzan Miron
Noel Tock
Orman Clark
Otto Wood (team rep)
Ozh Richard
Paul Gibbs
Pete Mall
Peter Chester
Peter Westwood
Pippin Williamson
Ptah Dunbar
Rachel Baker
Remkus De Vries
Ron Rennick
Ryan Duff
Ryan Imel
Ryan McCue
Sara Cannon
Scott Gonzalez
Scott Reilly (team rep)
Scott Taylor
Sergey Biryukov
Simon Wheatley
Siobhan McKeown
Stephanie Leary
Syed Balkhi
Thad Allender
Thomas Scholz (toscho on wpse)
Tom Auger
Tony Perez
Vid Luther
Vladimir Prelovac
Will P Davis
Xavier Borderie
Zé Fontainhas (team rep)

I Want to Know More!

That’s awesome, and we want to be as transparent as possible. We also need to get a bunch of stuff done, so the main focus right now is getting RSVPs, putting together a budget, and then raising sponsorship money to pay for the thing. So we’ll turn this into a site with lots of information, but please be patient while we attend to the more time-sensitive details first. Thanks!