Should You Be an Organizer?

tl;dr: If you want to organize a 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., apply here! Successful applicants are already active in their local WP community where they want to organize an event and understand that organizing is a volunteer, group effort.

 

Local organizers are what make each WordCamp unique. Organizing a WordCamp is a volunteer labor (a lot of labor!) of love for WordPress and your local community, and earns you untold karma points on the path to WordPress nirvana. Moving forward, we will be creating a system that shows community activity (such as organizing a WordCamp) as a contribution to the WordPress project on your 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/ profile, as we recognize that organizing events like meetupsMeetup 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. and WordCamps is just as important to our community as contributing code or design.

If you’ve never organized a large event before, we suggest that you start by organizing a WordPress meetup first for a few months. This helps gauge community interest, allows you to make contacts with the local WordPress community, and provides you with some low-key event planning experience. WordCamp organizing teams should have 5-10 members, and preferably will include a variety of people from the meetup group, not just one company, school, or group of friends. Inclusion and transparency should be the bywords from start to finish.

WordCamp organizers and events are approved by the WordPress FoundationWordPress Foundation The 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., a non-profit organization that exists to promote WordPress and provide education regarding WordPress and related 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. software. WordCamps are meant to benefit the local WordPress community through live events and the broader WordPress community through the sharing of online video and other materials. They are not-for-profit events.

Leftover funds from a WordCamp budget should be disposed of in one of the following ways: used to fund the continuing WordPress meetup group’s activities, donated to the Foundation to support other WordCamps and community initiatives, fund the development of a contribution to the WordPress.org community (such as releasing a free 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 or theme), or provide partial refunds to attendees and sponsors. Excess funds are not to be pocketed by the organizers; organizers are considered community volunteers. If you are interested in putting together a for-profit WordPress conference, you should do so under another brand, as this is not allowed under the WordCamp brand.

Last updated: August 12, 2016