Welcome to the official blog of the community/outreach team for the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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!
This team oversees official events, mentorship programs, diversity initiatives, contributor outreach, and other ways of growing our community.
If you love WordPress and want to help us do these things, join in!
Getting Involved
We use this blog for policy debates, project announcements, and status reports. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to comment on posts and join the discussion.
You can learn about our current activities on the Team Projects page. These projects are suitable for everyone from newcomers to WordPress community elders.
You can use our contact form to volunteer for one of our projects.
Communication
We have Office HoursOffice HoursDefined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time. four times a week in the #community-events channel on Slack: Mondays & Wednesdays 22:00 UTC, Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00 UTC.
We also have regular Community Team meetings on the first and third Thursdays of every month at 12:00 UTC and 21:00 UTC in #community-team on Slack (same agenda).
Events WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most WordPress events are online. Please refer to our
online events handbook.
For communities where COVID-19 has been more effectively contained or have easy access to COVID-19 vaccination and/or testing,
returning to hosting an in-person meetupMeetupMeetup 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. event is possible, with caution, using
the resources provided.
If you plan to move forward with an in-person meetup, you must use
the provided checklist
.
WordCamps are a great opportunity for companies that benefit from a free and open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. software like WordPress to give back to the project that’s given them so much. Many companies are built around WordPress. A company that sponsors might have a lot of customers who love WordPress; other companies might just use WordPress, love it, and want to give back.
WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. sponsorship packages #WordCamp sponsorship packages
Setting up your local sponsorship packages can be a challenge. Not everyone is accustomed to fundraising, and some organizers develop a nasty case of impostor syndrome when they start looking at how to acknowledge companies that give their event a chunk of cash to help make WordCamp happen. The WordCamp program has an established set of sponsorship rules, which apply to your event. So how do you set up WordCamp sponsorship packages that show gratitude to your sponsors but don’t give away the store?
We’ve assembled some common WordCamp sponsor acknowledgement methods that are appropriate, respectful of attendees, and easy for your volunteer organizing team to follow through on. Mix and match to create your own packages*!
Logo on the site
Company description on the site
Thanks in a blog post thanking all sponsors just before the event
Tickets (reserved and/or complimentary) for company representatives of the sponsor
A certain number of items on the self-serve swag table
Logo on slide projected between presentations
Tweet(s) and/or posts to Facebook (etc) thanking the sponsor
Logo on name badge (good for the top package)
Thanks in pre- and/or post-event emails (good for the top package)
Thank you in opening or closing remarks (good for the top package)
A table at the event in a high traffic area (good for the top package)
*You don’t have to use all of them! Really!
In general, sponsors are not looking for a laundry list of perks, they want to support WordCamp and WordPress. Offering space for your top sponsors to connect with the attendees is generally the most desirable benefit, but not a requirement. Certainly attendees should never be inconvenienced by sponsor acknowledgement, and WordCamps never provide a speaker slot or attendee information to sponsors.
More questions? Ask our Sponsorship Squad in the #community-events channel at wordpress.slack.com!
Slogans that are an established part of the sponsor’s image
The sponsor’s brands and trade names
Sponsor contact information (such as telephone numbers, email addresses, and URLs)
Factual (value-neutral) displays of actual products
Displays or handout materials (such as brochures) with factual, non-comparative descriptions or listings of products or services
Price information, or other indications of savings or value, if factual and provable
Inducements to purchase or use the Sponsor’s products or services, for example by providing coupons or discount purchase codes (subject to approval)
Calls to action, such as “visit this site for details�?, “call now for a special offer�?, “join our league of savings�?, etc.
2. Sponsors may not provide:
Promotional or marketing material containing superlative messages or unprovable claims about the Sponsor, its products or services, such as “the first name in WordPress hosting�?, “the easiest way to launch your site�?, or “the best e-commerce pluginPluginA 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�?
Claims that WordPress, WordPress FoundationWordPress FoundationThe WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org., meetup organizers, WordCamps, or WordCamp organizers endorse or favor a Sponsor or its products or services (such as “certified WordPress training�? or “WordCamp’s favorite plugin�?)
3. Sponsors agree that the WordPress Foundation, any subsidiary or related entity of the Foundation, and WordCamp organizers have the right to request and review sponsor materials in advance of an event, to require changes to any materials in advance, and to require that any materials that do not meet the above expectations be taken down or that any practices that do not meet the above expectations be discontinued during a WordCamp or event. The above restrictions also apply to material placed on any self-serve swag tables reserved for sponsor use.
4. All sponsors are expected to support the WordPress project and its principles, including:
No discrimination on the basis of economic or social status, race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, caste, social class, or disability.
No incitement to violence or promotion of hate
No spammers
No jerks
Respect the WordPress trademark.
Embrace the WordPress license; If distributing WordPress-derivative works (themes, plugins, WP distros), any person or business officially associated with WordCamp should give their users the same freedoms that WordPress itself provides: 100% GPLGPLGPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. or compatible, the same guidelines we follow on WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/. ***Note: this is one step above simple compliance, which requires PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php. code to be GPL / compatible but allows proprietary licenses for JavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/., CSSCSSCSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site., and images. 100% GPL or compatible is required for promotion at WordCamps when WordPress-derivative works are involved, the same guidelines we follow on WordPress.org.***
Don’t promote companies or people that violate the trademark or distribute WordPress derivative works which aren’t 100% GPL compatible.
5. Sponsorship is in no way connected to the opportunity to speak at an official WordPress event and does not alter the WordPress or WordCamp trademark usage policy found at http://wordpressfoundation.org/. The WordPress Foundation and any subsidiary or related entity of the Foundation reserve the right to modify the above requirements and expectations at any time by providing written notice to the sponsor.
6. Due to the variety of regulations surrounding the act of selling physical goods and the potential for liability to fall on the WPCSWordPress Coding StandardsA collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) to validate code developed for WordPress. It ensures code quality and adherence to coding conventions, especially the official standards for WordPress Core., selling physical goods at a WordCamp is not allowed.
Tip: Here is a quiz on this article. Read quizzes page if you have any questions about quizzes and how to navigate them.