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Hari Shanker R 3:46 pm on April 9, 2021
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Tuesday Training announcement: How to organize an online do_action charity hackathon?

As mentioned in the last Tuesday Training post from @camikaos, we have a live Tuesday Training session on do_action charity hackathons, scheduled on April 13, 2021, 02:00 UTC!

In this discussion, I will be joined by @hlashbrooke, @nao, and @yoga1103 – who are all experienced do_action hackathon organizers. The discussion will be held in YouTube live on the WordCamp Central YouTube channel, and will be open to all! Community members can also participate in the discussion by asking questions in YouTube live chat, which will be answered by the panelists live, in our call!

do_action hackathons are community-organized events that are focused on using WordPress to give deserving charitable organizations their own online presence. Each do_action event includes participants from the local WordPress community coming together to plan and build brand new websites for a number of local organizations in one day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, do_action hackathons have moved online. In this session, we talk about do_action events, and their importance in this post-pandemic world, and on how to effectively organize an online do_action hackathon.

Join the discussion

Date and time: April 13, 2021, 02:00 UTC
You can sign up for notifications on the YouTube live link below!

Come, join us to learn how you can support the global community by organizing an online do_action event!

#tuesdaytrainings #do_action

Erica Varlese 2:17 pm on April 9, 2021
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X-post: Improving the Learn WordPress Working Group meetings

X-post from +make.wordpress.org/training: Improving the Learn WordPress Working Group meetings

jillbinder 9:59 pm on April 8, 2021
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Report: Diverse Speaker Workshops February and March 2021

During the pandemic, the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) has been delivering our Diverse Speaker workshop to the global WordPress community online directly.

Each month, we are reporting at the tag #DiverseSpeakerWorkshopsReports how these workshops and trainings are going.

February 2021

Workshop / “Learn” Watch Party Hybrid

In February, we tried out a new format for the first time: A 1.5 hour “Interactive, Transformational Watch Party” for WordPress event organizers and their underrepresented community members. We played the video on Learn, paused for exercises on camera, and held discussions in the text chat.

We got a great response from attendees. It was a successful format!

Number who attended: 7

From number of cities: 7

From number of countries: 3 (United States, Philippines, and Italy)

Increase in public speaking confidence after taking the workshops: 40%

March 4, 2021

Workshop for Ontario and New York (Great Lakes)

For March 4, 2021, I worked with Hamilton, Ontario, Canada 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. organizer @tantienhime to put on an event for the Great Lakes Area, including Ontario and New York meetups. (Hamilton, Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara, Toronto, Mississauga, London, Kingston, Durham, and any other meetups that may wish to include their members).

Members of the Diverse Speaker Training group @volkswagenchick and @sparklingrobots facilitated the live workshop.

Number who attended: 13

Not all let us know where they are from, so this is the info we were able to gather:

From number of cities: 5

From number of countries: 2 (United States and Canada)

March 18, 2021

Impromptu Panel / Discussion

We scheduled the workshop / watch party hybrid again for March 18, 2021. The only attendees were 3 volunteers from the Diverse Speaker Training group. We turned it into a panel / discussion about what organizers can do to help more people from marginalized and underrepresented groups to speak at events, especially regarding:

– what immediate actions organizers can take
– reaching more people with our team’s workshops
– helping to create a more direct path from our workshops to speaking at meetups/WordCamps

Plans for May 2021: Philippines

In May 2021, Diverse Speaker Training team member @onealtr is planning to hold a hybrid workshop / watch party for the Philippines and countries that work in similar time zones!

How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events

The potential date may be Sunday, May 16, 2021 in the afternoon.

Please watch https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/wpdiversityworkshops/ for this workshop announcement soon!

Thank you

A lot of people contribute to making these workshops successful. Thank you to each and every one!

#diversespeakerworkshopsreports, #wpdiversity

Kathy Drewien 2:33 am on April 8, 2021
Tags: team-goals   

The Community Deputy Round Table is Coming in June

One of the WordPress Community Support (WPCS) team goals for Q1&Q2 is to host an online deputy round table.

On Monday, March 29th, Ryan Marks and I co-hosted a gathering of Advisory Team members to begin shaping ideas and goals for an online Community Deputy Round Table in June 2021.

Project Co-Leads: Kathy Drewien (@kdrewien), Ryan Marks (@rmarks)
Advisory Team: Angela Jin (@angelasjin), Junko Nukaga (@nukaga), Kevin Cristiano (@kcristiano), Mary Job (@mariaojob), Sam Suresh (@samsuresh), and Timi Wahalahti (@sippis)

In alignment with the team goals, and to share ideas and experiences, make connections, and support each other, we hope to achieve the following:

  1. Deepen connections between Deputies and build stronger relationships.
  2. Boost and clarify the role of Deputies within the WordPress community.
  3. Facilitate understanding of how/where/when Deputies can contribute and find support.

Format: Zoom video discussion with small topic-driven breakout rooms
Time investment: 1.5 hours

Doodle Poll for Event Dates

We are offering two times for you to consider. They’re not our traditional split of Asia-Pacific/EMEA and Americas since Ryan and I want to attend and facilitate both meetings. This event would occur at two different times on the same date. The time options have been selected to accommodate as many deputies as possible to attend during typical working hours (0800-1700 in their local time zone).

  • 1200 UTC for Eastern US, Brazil, Europe, Middle East. Africa and Western Asia
    for those from Missouri (0700 CDT) to Nepal (1745 NPT). time.is/compare
  • 2300 UTC for Eastern Asia, Oceania, and Western US
    for those from Japan (0800 JST) to Oregon (1600 PDT). time.is/compare

Action Items for each WPCS Deputy:

  1. Vote for as many options that work well for you no later than April 16 at 1200 UTC.
    https://doodle.com/poll/yemyxrgr2fcm7u2k
  2. Provide us feedback. It’s okay to DM myself (@Kathy Drewien) or Ryan (@rmarks), or share your feedback as a comment on this post..

I’m looking forward to our Community Deputy Round Table conversation!

Conversations are the most powerful learning technology ever invented.
Conversations carry news, create meaning, foster cooperation, and spark innovation.
Open, honest conversations throughout our workspace spreads intellectual capital, improves cooperation, and strengthens personal relationships.  ~ Jay Cross

#team-goals

Christina Workman 12:22 am on April 7, 2021
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Contributor Working Group Agenda | April 7 2021

Here is the Agenda for our meeting on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at 19:00 UTC in the #community-team channel 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/.. As always, you can add comments to the meeting afterwards, and/or add comments to the recap post.

Agenda

  1. Team check-in
  2. Group check-ins and updates
    • how are we doing with and feeling about goals?
  3. Any blockers?
  4. Next steps

#WPContributors

Courtney P.K. 12:13 am on April 7, 2021
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2020 Annual WordPress Meetup Organizer Survey

A similar message to this post was sent to all WordPress 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. Organizers via meetup.com, but we are also sharing below.

If you are a Meetup Organizer, please feel free to share the survey link with your co-organizers.

Hello Meetup Organizers!

It’s time for the annual meetup organizer survey, and we have a bunch of other stuff to tell you about, too! 

Organizer Survey

The annual survey is how we track progress in the meetup program. Because of the pivot to largely online events in 2020, this year’s survey is a little different from previous years, so be sure to share your thoughts in the survey!

Here’s your organizer survey:
http://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/annual-meetup-organizer-survey

If your meetup group has multiple organizers, each organizer should fill in the survey, but please decide among your group who will be the main point of contact with WordPress Community Support in 2021 — we ask for that information in the survey. 

In order for your feedback to be included in the results, please complete the survey by 30 April, 2021.

Meetup Program Survey

We’ve recently shared the annual meetup program survey with all members. We’ve revised the questions due to the pivot to mostly online events in 2020, and the survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete. It would be great if you could mention it at your next event and encourage people to respond! In the email to members, we’ve reminded them that all meetup group members are encouraged to plan events that interest them so that there are more things happening in each group without the primary organizers having to do more work. If members of your group offer to organize events, we hope you will encourage them and make sure they feel welcome on the organizing team!

Organizing Team

Speaking of the organizing team, it’s time for a round of clean-up on your meetup.com leadership team. If there are any organizers on your team who haven’t planned an event in 2020, please communicate with them about changing their role to Member so that people can see who is active and can help answer questions. 

WordPress Global Community Sponsors

A big thank you to our 2020 Global Sponsors!

Their generous support keeps the meetup program free for the whole community and helps to make sure ticket prices for WordCamps (when in-person events return) stay affordable.

The 2021 Global Community Sponsorship program was recently announced, and is offered on a quarterly basis to keep the program nimble, if our path to global in-person events accelerates in ways we don’t currently expect.

Meetup Sponsorship

  • If a company is donating an online event tool or a venue to your meetup group, it is appropriate to list them as a sponsor.
  • It is not appropriate to list any company as contributing to the meetup.com dues, since WordPress Community Support pays for those through the central account.
  • Companies providing financial support to cover the cost of a Meetup group’s expenses are appropriate to thank, but should be recognized on an even level with their support. Paying for snacks all year? 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. recognition is great. One-time sponsor? Leaving them listed as a sponsor all year doesn’t quite match; it’s better to thank them in the event listing for the event they are sponsoring.
  • Organizers of the meetup group and its events are volunteers, and should not be listing their businesses as sponsors unless they are providing a venue or financial support/refreshments like an outside company. 

Event Host Designation

This is a small thing, but sometimes meetup organizers set the “WordPress” user as the event host for their meetup events. Please set the actual event organizer as the event host — when the user named “WordPress” is designated as the event host, people send the Community Team Deputies questions about the event that we cannot answer.

Community Team Blog and 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/.

Meetup organizers are considered part of the Community Team at 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/. If you haven’t stopped by the community team’s blog in a while, check that out! In addition, if you haven’t joined the WordPress Slack instance, you can do so at https://chat.wordpress.org. The #community-events channel in Slack is where Meetup and 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. organizers can chat with each other, ask questions of Community Team Deputies, ask for community feedback, etc. 

Thank you for your efforts in 2020, and your continued contributions to the WordPress Community in 2021!

–The WordPress Global Community Team

#meetups, #survey

#meetup-organizers

Cami Kaos 4:51 pm on April 6, 2021
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Tuesday Trainings: Can I use “WordPress” in my product name? part 2 of 2

Last week kicked off part 1 of this 2 part Tuesday Training topic about use of the WordPress trademark. Last week I explained the WordPress Trademark policy and some of the thoughts behind it. This week, in order to make sure the explanation of the WordPress Trademark policy is clear I thought I would answer a few questions I commonly see come in about the trademarks for WordPress and 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.. Let’s get right back to it, shall we?

Does this mean I can’t build something for WordPress?!?!?

No. Not at all. And I’m sorry if I made you think that. WordPress, both the software and the community surrounding it, is open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL.. It takes all kinds of contributors to create, build, support, maintain, educate, and energize WordPress. But it does mean if you are creating something within the WordPress space that is not officially part of the WordPress project you should use “WP” instead. 

I want to pause for a moment to address any of you who have already created something using “WordPress” in the name or with “WordPress” in the URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org and tell you something you might need to hear. When I see someone using “WordPress” without permission I always assume it’s because they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to. Not because they’re doing it with ill intent. So if you happen to be in that position and you want to figure out how to fix things, please feel free to reach out to [email protected] and someone will help you bring your site, event, or product into compliance with the WP Trademark. 

But t-shirts and stickers are cool, right?

Mostly not. In a typical year I see a lot of swag (shirts, stickers, bags, hand sanitizer, stuffed animals, sweatshirts, mugs, cups, pencils… the list goes on and on) with the WordPress or WordCamp logo or name on it. And most of that swag is okay because it is being given out for free at a WordCamp and has been approved. It’s common for WordCamps to give out branded event swag. And it’s not uncommon to see sponsors give out branded WordPress swag at events. And usually that’s alright. One of the key factors here is that it is being given away. It’s not for profit. Another one is that, if this has all been done “by the book” those items have been reviewed by the organizing team to ensure they uphold the standards of the project. 

But in this time of very few in-person events I’m not seeing a whole lot of swag. And that is to be expected, because without express permission from WordPress Foundation you can’t sell WordPress goods or co-brand your goods to make them seem affiliated with WordPress.

Reading all this, I realize someone I know is not in compliance with the Trademark. What should I do?

First thing is to remember that they’re probably not aware they’re not complying with the trademark. We want to assume good intent whenever possible. You can talk to them about it if you feel comfortable, or even just share this post with them. Alternatively you can submit information to a WordPress Foundation contact form and let someone there do the work of assuming good intent and reaching out to them.

I’ve already reported this site/thing/person and nothing has been done!

Yep. And that is super frustrating. This is a process that takes a while to get a handle on. It’s been slow going but it’s something that, even as I type this, more bandwidth is being given to. So if you’ve reported something in the past, know that it’s being worked on in the coming months. If you’re worried that it got lost you’re welcome to send it in again. 

Is there anything I can do to help?

The biggest help anyone in WordPress can give is to respect the Trademark themselves. I know for many that seems like passive work and you may be looking to actively do something. Being an active and respectful part of a community is a big help though.

Next week on a very special episode of Tuesday Trainings

Next week, we will have yet another live session as part of Tuesday Trainings, on do_action hackathons, organized by @harishanker. Hari is organizing a live panel discussion on Tuesday April 12th on how to organize a successful do_action charity hackathon online. Stay tuned for more details! 

#tuesdaytrainings

WordCamp.org 4:00 am on April 5, 2021
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Weekly Updates

Hello to all our Deputies, 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. organizers, 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. wranglers, and WordPress Community builders! You were probably hard at work this weekend. Tell us what you got accomplished in our #weekly-update!

Have you run into a roadblock with the stuff you’re working on? Head over to #community-events or #community-team 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/. and ask for help!

Courtney P.K. 7:09 pm on April 3, 2021
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2021 Global Sponsors: Quarterly Update

I am excited to announce the Global Community Sponsors for Q1–Q2 2021! Thank you to all the sponsors that support the WordPress community programs, including WordCamps and WordPress 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. groups.

Full details on the 2021 Global Sponsorship program and packages can be found here. Since this year’s program is available on a quarterly basis, we will announce any changes to this list every quarter.

The Global Sponsor information for event organizers page in the handbook has been updated, and we’ll be updating the rest of the handbook pages in the coming days. WordPress Chapter Meetup group pages have also recently been updated to acknowledge our global sponsors.

Please join me in giving another big thanks to all the global sponsors for their continued support!

#global-sponsors, #global-sponsorship

Courtney P.K. 11:58 pm on April 1, 2021
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2020 Annual WordPress Meetup Program Survey

A similar message to this post was sent to all WordPress 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. members via meetup.com, but we are also sharing below.

If you are a Meetup Organizer, please feel free to share the survey link via discussion boards, email, social media, or even announce at a Meetup event!

Hello WordPress meetup members!

As we’ve reached a full year of online Meetup events, we would like to get your feedback on WordPress meetups in 2020. Even if you did not attend meetup events this past year, your opinion would be valuable! The survey takes less than 5 minutes to fill out, and the results will be shared by the Global Community Team to help all WordPress meetups improve.

Here is a link to the survey:
http://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/annual-meetup-program-survey

This survey contains general questions relevant to the global WordPress Meetup program, and closes on 30 April, 2021.

WordPress Global Community Sponsors

A big thank you to our 2020 global sponsors!

Their generous support keeps the meetup program free for the whole community and helps to make sure ticket prices for WordCamps (when in-person events return) stay affordable.

The 2021 Global Community Sponsorship program was recently announced, and is offered on a quarterly basis to keep the program nimble, if our path to global in-person events accelerates in ways we don’t currently expect.

Become an Event Organizer

WordPress is an open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project, open to anyone who wants to join. That is true for event organizers, too! Many groups still have one event per month, often a presentation or lecture followed by Q&A or a social hour. These regular events are great, but it means that people who cannot make that time each month are left out, as are people who are interested in different topics. 

All meetup groups on the WordPress chapter account allow any trusted, reliable member of the group to organize an event. If you’ve been wishing for a particular kind of WordPress event in your town, this is a great time to become a WordPress organizer. 

Here are some ideas for event formats to inspire you: Meetup Event Formats

The possibilities are endless, and if it relates to WordPress, you can organize within your meetup group! Start a conversation on your group’s discussion board or contact the local organizing team with your ideas!

Contribute to the WordPress Project

One of the things we have heard from people is a desire for their meetup group to be more connected to the overall WordPress open source project. If you haven’t stopped by the community team’s blog in a while check that out! There may be a few new projects you might be interested in.

Thank you for being a part of our community, and as always, thanks for using WordPress!

–The WordPress Global Community Team

#meetups, #annual-survey, #survey