The Deputy Program

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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 meetupMeetup Meetup 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 .

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Getting Started as a Community Deputy Getting Started as a Community Deputy

Welcome to the Community Deputy Handbook! This page will guide you through what it is to be a Community Deputy. If you have any questions along the way you can ping for help in the #events channel in Slack.

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What is a Community Deputy? What is a Community Deputy?

Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, train organizers, work on the support queue, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. We make sure that new and returning organizers are not overworking themselves, still are following the code of conduct, and generally are making positive contributions to the open source project. Learn more about Community Deputies!

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Why we need deputies, and what they do Why we need deputies, and what they do

The Deputy program was started in an effort to both decentralize management of the overall Community program and help with the large volume of daily emails. It started with a small pilot program in October of 2014 and has subsequently been expanded.

Deputies are vital to our meetup and WordCamp programs. The Community Team trains people from all cultural backgrounds and walks of life to be extraordinary community organizers. Part of that training is done in orientations and through our handbooks, but peer mentoring is an important cornerstone. There is not nearly enough full-time Community Team staff to provide oversight and mentorship to all the meetup groups and WordCamp organizers in the world; our deputy program makes the Community program possible.

Other than being completely awesome, the Deputies do the following types of things:

  • Email routing in the HelpScout queue (for [email protected])
  • WordCamp application processing
  • Meetup application processing
  • Meetup orientations
  • WordCamp orientations
  • WordCamp mentoring
  • WordCamp budget reviews
  • Answering questions in #community-events on WordPress.org Slack
  • Weighing in on Community program discussions and decisions
  • Designing, building, and testing new tools for WordCamp.org

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Helpful Prior Knowledge Helpful Prior Knowledge

While no one is required to know all the things, it is helpful to be a member of a locally organized WordPress community and to have been part of organizing a local WordCamp or Meetup. That way you know the rough outline of what should happen before you even get started!

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Resources Resources

The resources that we use All the Time are listed below:

  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/
  • http://support.wordcamp.org/
  • http://www.meetup.com/
  • http://central.wordcamp.org/
  • Slack and Skype

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Get Involved! Get Involved!

To learn more about becoming a Community Deputy, you can join us in a Community Chat on Slack or ask to join the next Deputy Training Session.

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