Title: Documenting the Successful Launch of Japanese Online Workshops
Author: Kaito Hanamori
Published: August 27, 2022

---

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kaitohm/) [Kaito Hanamori](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kaitohm/)
12:39 am _on_ August 27, 2022     
Tags: [localization ( 7 )](https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/localization/),
[online workshops ( 2 )](https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/online-workshops/),
[social learning ( 2 )](https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/social-learning/)

# Documenting the Successful Launch of Japanese Online Workshops

On August 17th and 24th, [@piyopiyofox](https://profiles.wordpress.org/piyopiyofox/)
and I co-hosted the Training Team’s first Japanese Online Workshops. These were 
also the team’s first non-English Online Workshops! The workshops received positive
feedback, and we’re already seeing people sign up to the third and fourth workshops
happening in September!

This post documents the process we took to plan, publicize, and execute the first
non-English Online Workshops. We hope this will give others some ideas as to how
they can host Online Workshops in their locales, too!

---

# Preparation

Destiny and I had both previously been vetted as Online Workshop facilitators. Anyone
interested in hosting Online Workshops can submit an application here: [Applying to facilitate (handbook page)](https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/online-workshops/applying-to-facilitate/).
We had also conducted Online Workshops in English, so we were familiar with the 
general processes behind [Planning an Online Workshop](https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/online-workshops/planning-an-online-workshop/).

The process of scheduling the workshop was mostly the same as scheduling English
workshops ([Scheduling an Online Workshop](https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/online-workshops/scheduling-an-online-workshop/)).
A few things we did differently were:

 * Created the 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/](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. event in Japanese: [ブロックエディターでホームページを作ろう！](https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/287489190/)(
   English: Let’s make a homepage with the BlockBlock Block is the abstract term
   used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or
   layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of
   what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery
   into a single consistent API and user experience. Editor.)
 * Included information _in English_ that the event would be hosted in Japanese.
    - We added this information to the event thumbnail on Meetup.com, and in the
      event description itself.
 * We published the event a few weeks in advance so that we had enough time to publicize
   the event to the Japanese community.

# Publicity

People can find out about upcoming Online Workshops in a few different ways:

 * Those who are already members of the [Learn WordPress Online Workshop Meetup group](https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/)
   are notified of new events.
 * Those with their location set in or around San Francisco will see upcoming events
   in their wp-admin dashboard.
 * Events are published on [https://learn.wordpress.org/online-workshops/](https://learn.wordpress.org/online-workshops/).

None of these would get the word to the Japanese community about the workshops, 
though. So, we took some time to spread the word through other means.

 * We published a blog post on the Japanese team blog to inform the community about
   what Online Workshops are, and announce the planned workshops: [Learn WordPress のオンラインワークショップを紹介します](https://ja.wordpress.org/team/2022/07/29/2954/).
 * We announced the workshops in the [Japanese WordSlack instance](https://ja.wordpress.org/support/article/slack/).
 * We worked with the Marketing team to [tweet the workshops on the WordPress Twitter account in Japanese](https://twitter.com/WordPress/status/1557520173455769602).
    - The tweet received 18 retweets, 8 quote tweets, and 44 likes
    - [Our second Tweet about the workshops](https://twitter.com/WordPress/status/1561502662830473217)
      received 13 retweets, 1 quote tweet, and 24 likes

**We were particularly excited to see the organic publicity the tweets generated!**

# Results

We were interested in finding out when the best time to host workshops would be 
for the Japanese community, so we hosted the workshop twice spaced out over two 
weeks; both on a Wednesday, but one at 2 PM and another at 5 PM JST. We had a total
of 14 people attend the two sessions, with a slightly higher number at the session
hosted in the evening over that hosted early afternoon.

The feedback submitted in the Zoom chat was greatly positive with many mentioning
they learned something new from the session! We also noticed [some attendees tweeted](https://twitter.com/takiasahi/status/1559939332974465026)
that they had a [positive experience in the session](https://twitter.com/ume_sayo/status/1560036262178074624).

At the end of the second session, we took time to announce the next Japanese Online
Workshops we’ve scheduled for September. This seems to be a success, as one participant
mentioned in the session that they would be back, and we see a couple have already
signed up to attend! These next sessions are being [planned and tracked on the Training Team’s GitHub repository](https://github.com/WordPress/Learn/issues/907).

 * Session title: 10 種類のテキストブロック　〜使い分けのコツ〜  (English: The 10
   Text blocks ~tips to choosing the best block~)
    - Hosted on [September 7th, 5pm JST](https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/288018957/)
      and [September 17th, 10am JST](https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/288019101/)

# Post-session Processes

In English sessions, we generally turn Live Captions on in Zoom, and use these to
generate subtitles for the video recording we submit to WordPress.tv. Unfortunately,
Zoom does not yet have live caption capabilities in Japanese. While we weren’t able
to turn live captions on during the session, we were able to generate good quality
subtitles through [Sonix.ai](https://sonix.ai/) after the session concluded. You
can now find a recording of the workshop on WordPress.tv: [ブロックエディターでホームページを作ろう！](https://wordpress.tv/2022/08/17/%e3%83%96%e3%83%ad%e3%83%83%e3%82%af%e3%82%a8%e3%83%87%e3%82%a3%e3%82%bf%e3%83%bc%e3%81%a7%e3%83%9b%e3%83%bc%e3%83%a0%e3%83%9a%e3%83%bc%e3%82%b8%e3%82%92%e4%bd%9c%e3%82%8d%e3%81%86%ef%bc%81/)

# Conclusion

As a team, we are excited about growing the non-English resources we provide on 
Learn. The experience documented above shows it is possible to host Online Workshops
in other languages, too! 

The biggest hurdle we had to cross was publicizing the event to the Japanese community.
If you have any ideas as to how we could do this better, we’d love to know!

The [Training Team Faculty members](https://make.wordpress.org/training/faculty-program-members/)
are ready to help launch Online Workshops in other locales also. If you are interested
in hosting an Online Workshop, come [apply to become a facilitator](https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/online-workshops/applying-to-facilitate/)!
Faculty members are ready to help you facilitate in your locale, too.

[#localization](https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/localization/), [#online-workshops](https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/online-workshops/),
[#social-learning](https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/social-learning/)

### Share this:

 * [  Threads ](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?share=threads)
 * [  Mastodon ](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?share=mastodon)
 * [  Bluesky ](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?share=bluesky)
 * [  Facebook ](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?share=facebook)
 * [  X ](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?share=x)
 * [  LinkedIn ](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?share=linkedin)

 * [Login to Reply](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Ftraining%2F2022%2F08%2F27%2Fdocumenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops%2F%23respond&locale=en_US)

 1. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5463e1794423dfcc9a1e56ab51c235c2c41f9519c8c147aea1724cdd363b7009?
    s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 2.  [Dan Soschin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/)  2:50 pm _on_ August
    31, 2022
 3. It was really exciting to see the positive response from the WordPress community
    with regard to the social promotion of these events (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn).
    It demonstrates that we could continue to do this from time to time to help spread
    the word.

### Leave a Reply 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/27/documenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿

You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Ftraining%2F2022%2F08%2F27%2Fdocumenting-the-successful-launch-of-japanese-online-workshops%2F&locale=en_US)
to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. [Learn how your comment data is processed.](https://akismet.com/privacy/)

# Post navigation

[← August 24th / 30th Supplemental SME Meeting](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/24/august-25th-30th-supplemental-sme-meeting/)

[Training Team Meeting Recap – August 23 →](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/08/29/training-team-meeting-recap-august-23/)