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.
Community team Mentor check-in: results and summary
Recently the Community team conducted a survey to 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.mentorsMentorSomeone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.. The goal of this survey was to check with our mentors, find out who still wants to be active, and hear their thoughts on what kind of support they need moving forward.Â
The following steps were taken to complete the mentorMentorSomeone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. outreach:
Create a survey to send to all mentors and try to get as many responses as possible.
Gather feedback and write up a summary.
Support next steps, including training, documentation updates, and some offboarding of mentors who no longer want to be active.Â
Respondents
Currently, there are 49 mentors and deputiesDeputyCommunity Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. in the community team. A total of 39 (79.6%)Â respondents participated in this survey.Â
Survey Results
The survey results indicate that a total of 35 people showed interest in mentoring WordCamp and 5 people indicated that they will be doing deputyDeputyCommunity Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. tasks only. The remaining 9 people will be off-boarded from the active deputy and mentor list.Â
Status
No of Deputies / Mentors
Active (Deputy and Mentor)
22
Active (Deputy)
5
Active (Mentor)
13
Offboard
9
Grand Total
49
As the community team oversees WordPress events around the globe, the team members are composed of global community members. The following is the respondents breakdown by region:
Region
No of Respondents
Africa
4
Asia
7
Europe
13
North America
12
Oceania
1
South America
2
Grand Total
39
As the COVID-19 pandemic forced WordCamps events to move from in-person to online, 10 out of 39 respondents indicated that they have mentored Online WordCamps in the past year. A total of 25 WordCamps were mentored in 2020 by the respondents, compared to 74 WordCamps in 2019.Â
Respondents were asked if they are willing to mentor WordCamps this year and the majority of the respondents indicated that they are interested in mentoring online or in-person WordCamps:
Answer
No of Respondents
No
6
Yes, but I’d like more training first
8
Yes, but only for in person events
2
Yes, for online or in person events
23Â
Grand Total
39
Observations
Respondents were asked what the Community Team can do to better support their work. Most respondents indicated they receive adequate support from the community team. The following observations were made from the answers:
A number of respondents indicated that they need training and guidance.
Mentors would benefit from further development of WordCamp tools: the WordCamp websites, the internal administrative management tools, and documentation.
Mentors agree that WordCamp organizers would benefit from saved replies or email templates.Â
WordCamp mentors were asked where they feel their contribution is most impactful. Common thoughts included:
Knowledge sharing & training
Problem-solving & mediation
Follow up & advice
Sponsors & logistics
Others (kids events, translations)
Finally, respondents also asked if there any blockers in mentoring WordCamps. Most of the respondents indicated that they have no blocker in mentoring WordCamps. One mentor indicated WordCamp Handbooks should be translated in other languages to help them understand better.Â
Next Steps
As for the next steps, the mentors who indicated that they will no longer participate as mentors will be offboarded. The Community team will plan on providing more training for active mentors who requested training and think through implementation of suggestions as future projects.Â
Comments
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below.Â