WordCamp Travel and COVID-19

Over the past few months, the Global Community team and I have gotten many messages asking about COVID-19 and what it means for WordCamps. We’ve all been doing our best to be knowledgeable about the virus while responding in a level-headed way. Now seems like the right time to share some guidance on what to do next.

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. Travel and Contingency Planning

We should do our part, as members of a highly connected global community, to limit the spread of the virus while there are still so many unknowns.

TLDR: Current guidance advises that if you are planning an event scheduled between now and June 1, and there is any evidence of community transmission of COVID-19 in your area, we strongly recommend that you postpone the event until later in the year or 2021 and/or adapt to an online event.

  • As always, WordCamps are encouraged to embrace their local nature, showcasing the WordPress enthusiasts in your own area.
  • I’ve asked some experienced global community team deputies to research ways to support community-organized livestream events. Not to replace all WordCamps, but to offer an alternative for any that decide to cancel.

For the remaining 2020 WordCamps designed to gather international attendees (WordCamp Europe, WordCamp Centroamerica, WordCamp US), I’ll assist the global community team as they continue monitoring the situation while gathering information from organizing teams and providing the same support provided to WordCamp Asia.

Epidemics like COVID-19 are unpredictable and I’d rather err on the side of caution. I recognize “caution” is a subjective term, but here it means making decisions that align with the efforts of the world to contain the impact of this virus.

Resources and Kudos

Huge thank you to the members of the Global Community team who have been monitoring this evolving situation. Here are a few of the resources and metrics they’ve been using: 

Mobile Team Update – June 16th

WordPress iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. and Android version 15.1 is available for testing. Sign up here to join the betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. program on iOS or follow this link on your Android device, tap on Become a beta tester.

Highlights for the last two weeks:

  • 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: We made progress on Unsupported blocks fallback and the monorepo and both of them are now close to merge.
  • Full Site Editing: Added editor support for theme defined colors and theme defined gradients on cover and button blocks. Copy/Cut/Paste/Duplicate blocks close to go.
  • Other Projects: Released IA project on iOS. Worked on UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. implementation for unified login & signup on iOS. Continued with feature announcement work on Android.
  • Infrastructure: We continued to iterate and improve some of our coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. processes, helped investigate some crashes and improved our testing setup

#mobile

Plugin Review Team: 15 June 2020

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 Status Change Stats

  • Plugins requested : 174
  • Plugins rejected : 8
  • Plugins closed : 38
  • Plugins approved : 66

Plugin Queue Stats (current)

  • Plugins in the queue (new and pending)* : 787
  • → (older than 7 days ago)** : 681
  • → (2020-05-18 – 2020-05-25) : 91
  • → (new; not processed or replied to yet)* : 46
  • → (pending; replied to)* : 741

HelpScout Stats

  • Total Conversations: 317
  • New Conversations: 226
  • Customers: 285
  • Conversations per Day: 39
  • Busiest Day: Tuesday
  • Email Conversations: 226
  • Messages Received: 412
  • Replies Sent: 464
  • Emails Created: 127
  • Resolved: 192
  • Resolved on First Reply: 27%
  • Customers Helped: 268
  • Replies per Day: 32
  • Closed: 243

#plugins

Design Team Updates 5 June 2020

Since the last update, the team met on Wednesdays as per usual time at 19:00 UTC, we had a Show and Tell on the last week of May as well as MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress./CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and 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/ triage. You can read meeting notes below

Next meetings coming up:

Core/meta: Monday 16:30 UTC
Gutenberg: Tuesday 16:00 UTC

The following design meetings will be on Wednesdays at 18.00 UTC.

WCEU 202 Contributors day

The design team participated in 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. Europe 2020 Contributors day, we had between 20 and 30 new contributors joining throughout the day.

We walked new contributors through core and Gutenberg triage. @michael-arestad jammed in Zoom and showed contributors about the design process on Full Site editing and how we use tools like Figma in design.

Discussion

  • Catch up with the latest Gutenberg updates #54 

#design-team

Plugin Review Team Status: 8 June 2020

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 Status Change Stats

  • Plugins requested : 179
  • Plugins rejected : 10
  • Plugins closed : 47
  • Plugins approved : 73

Plugin Queue Stats (current)

  • Plugins in the queue (new and pending)* : 760
  • → (older than 7 days ago)** : 658
  • → (2020-05-18 – 2020-05-25) : 84
  • → (new; not processed or replied to yet)* : 35
  • → (pending; replied to)* : 725

HelpScout Stats

  • Total Conversations: 296
  • New Conversations: 200
  • Customers: 261
  • Conversations per Day: 37
  • Busiest Day: Tuesday
  • Email Conversations: 200
  • Messages Received: 372
  • Replies Sent: 439
  • Emails Created: 128
  • Resolved: 174
  • Resolved on First Reply: 23%
  • Customers Helped: 22748
  • Replies per Day: 29
  • Closed: 239

#plugins

Marketing team update, 2 June 2020

Some of the highlights from the Marketing Team in the last few weeks are:

  • more than 40 introduction sessions
  • 10 videos to help with onboarding or showcasing the community
  • multiple projects and campaigns planning
  • support to new and longer-term contributors
  • planning support to contributor events
  • marketing skills sessions and training

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. marketing and promotions survey

We are trialling a survey to help WordPress Meetups with their marketing. If you are a Meetup organizer, we would value your time in completing this form. Thanks to those who provided feedback during the last few weeks.

#ContributorStory

This campaign continues and features are currently appearing on 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. Europe 2020’s website and its social channels. Please support it and celebrate the contributors who make WordPress. Thanks to Abha Thakor and Helen Odia for the latest editions and to the contributors featured.

More updates soon about how you can nominate a contributor for the next series.

Onboarding videos and preparation for WCEU

You can find our videos to help attendees set up a 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/ and 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/. accounts for WordCamp Europe (WCEU) 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/.. A number of translated commentaries and captions are being added.

More long term versions for WordPress.tv and the Contributor Day Handbook on GitHub will be made after WCEU. Thanks to everyone who has been involved in making these. Let us know if you have presenting experience and can help with translating and recording voiceovers in other languages.

#onlinewpmeetup-2, #contributor-day, #contributorstories, #meetup-marketing, #wceu, #wordcamp-europe-2020

Mobile Team Update – June 2nd

WordPress iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. and Android version 15.0 is available for testing. Sign up here to join the betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. program on iOS or follow this link on your Android device, tap on Become a beta tester.

Highlights for the last two weeks:

  • 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: Added verse block support on both platforms and pullquote block support on iOS. The monorepo is ready to be tested by the team.
  • Full Site Editing: We shipped the templates tooltip, improved Undo/Redo behavior, added support for rendering radial gradients, and made the block toolbar collapsible for small blocks. The slider was updated to reflect changes immediately. Performance improvements are now complete.
  • Other Projects: More progress on the unified login/signup project. We’re wrapping up Prepublishing nudges on Android. We shipped a lot of CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Data fixes in iOS and we completed the TabLayout refactoring in Android.
  • Infrastructure: We continued to iterate and improve some of our core processes.

Plugin Review Team Status: 1 June 2020

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 Status Change Stats

  • Plugins requested : 168
  • Plugins rejected : 100
  • Plugins closed : 57
  • Plugins approved : 50

Plugin Queue Stats (current)

  • Plugins in the queue (new and pending)* : 758
  • → (older than 7 days ago)** : 638
  • → (2020-05-18 – 2020-05-25) : 105
  • → (new; not processed or replied to yet)* : 54
  • → (pending; replied to)* : 704

HelpScout Stats

  • Total Conversations: 276
  • New Conversations: 193
  • Customers: 243
  • Conversations per Day: 34
  • Busiest Day: Monday
  • Email Conversations: 193
  • Messages Received: 314
  • Replies Sent: 375
  • Emails Created: 120
  • Resolved: 159
  • Resolved on First Reply: 30%
  • Customers Helped: 227
  • Replies per Day: 28
  • Closed: 216

#plugins

Plugin Review Team: 25 May 2020

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 Status Change Stats

  • Plugins requested : 213
  • Plugins rejected : 15
  • Plugins closed : 26
  • Plugins approved : 120

Plugin Queue Stats (current)

  • Plugins in the queue (new and pending)* : 795
  • → (older than 7 days ago)** : 705
  • → (2020-05-18 – 2020-05-25) : 68
  • → (new; not processed or replied to yet)* : 15
  • → (pending; replied to)* : 780

HelpScout Stats

  • Total Conversations: 325
  • New Conversations: 231
  • Customers: 276
  • Conversations per Day: 39
  • Busiest Day: Wednesday
  • Email Conversations: 231
  • Messages Received: 406
  • Replies Sent: 489
  • Emails Created: 158
  • Resolved: 192
  • Resolved on First Reply: 26%
  • Customers Helped: 267
  • Replies per Day: 33
  • Closed: 265

#plugins

Marketing Team update, May 2020

Supporting new and existing contributors

Thanks to the work of our contributor event communications working group, we have continued to produce materials to encourage participation and provide support in setting up and using the team’s tools.

With the assistance of @macgraphic, @webcommsat and @rahuldsarker we are working on screen videos to show how to set up 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/ and 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/. accounts ahead of 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. Europe (WCEU) Online 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/. on 4 June 2020.

The English version of the video, with captions.

Some contributors have asked for further help with voiceovers or captions in their native languages. We will try to add these where possible. If you would like to help with this, contact @webcommsat or @macgraphic

Marketing Team onboarding (introduction) sessions will run again this week on. Please join the team if you would like assistance setting up the tools or being involved at WordCamp Europe’s Contributor Day on 4 June 2020.

  • Monday 25 May 2020, 19:30 UTC (a Zoom link to the group event will be available either on request through email or shared on the #marketing channel on Slack)
  • Tuesday 26 May 2020, 15:00 UTC
  • Wednesday 3 June 2020, 14:00 UTC – usual Marketing Team meeting which will be held on Slack and Zoom
    • this will focus on any remaining support needed to help WCEU Contributor Day attendees and final preparations with volunteers
    • event attendees are welcome to join, especially if they need assistance preparing for the event

Small group training

For the previous four weeks we have been running small group training and task support to help new contributors to the WordPress project or those starting out in marketing.

Thank you to everyone who has come along and those who have generously provided video conferencing hosting and training. During this last week, we have run daily sessions on onboarding, the tasks we will have available at WordCamp Europe’s Contributor Day, and introductions to marketing techniques used in some of the existing tasks.

Promoting Online WordPress Meetups

We continue to help with marketing and information on WordPress Meetups which are running online during the pandemic.

If your Chapter 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. is planning an event which would welcome or be of interest to a wider, global audience, help us find your details by adding #OnlineWPMeetup to your relevant social media posts. Thanks for all the feedback and help requests that have come in, ideas for contributor stories, and for our survey.

We hope to publish the survey next week to better understand how the team can assist organizing teams.

WordPress Translation Day mini-events

Abha Thakor and Rahul D Sarker have been working to promote interim locale events for the French and Bengali languages in the last two months.

Thanks to @webcommsat and all those involved in producing marketing materials. If you could assist the #WPTranslationDay, Polyglots and Marketing teams in jointly updating a communications pack, please message the @TranslateWP Twitter account or contact @webcommsat on the Make Slack.

After WCEU, the Translation Day team will be exploring when the next international day could potentially take place.

#contributor-day, #onboarding, #wceu

Design Team Updates 22 May 2020

Since the last update, the team met on Wednesdays as per usual time at 19:00 UTC as well as MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress./CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and 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/ triage. You can read meeting notes below

Next meetings coming up:

Core/meta: Monday 16:30 UTC
Gutenberg: Tuesday 16:00 UTC

The following design meetings will be on Wednesdays at 18.00 UTC.

Discussion

#design-team