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 Thursday 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
.
Your WordPress meetup event can be anything you like. Who are the people you have talked to about setting up your meetup interested in? Start there.
If you are looking for inspiration about the kinds of meetupsMeetupMeetup 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. that people host, here are some ideas.
Where you hold your meetup will depend on the kind of meetup you have. If it’s a casual hangout, then coffee shops and public spaces are a great idea. If you are keen on doing some educational or informational meetups, you may want to look at your city or town’s public education locations.
Your meetup group members and their network of contacts can be a great resource for meetup venues; ask group members to suggest venue ideas for future gatherings if one of your favorite spots suddenly becomes unavailable or if you’re struggling to find somewhere to meet.
Here are some locations that other WordPress meetup/user groups have found work for them:
public library
coffee shop
community college
state university
co-office/co-working space
community center
the conference room of a friendly local business
restaurant
food court at a mall
To ensure that meetups are as inclusive as possible, we now ask organizers to avoid holding events at venues that have ties to religious or political organizations. Our goal is for any event to be welcoming for every member of the WordPress community (regardless of economic or social status, race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or disability), and thus we avoid venues with affiliations that might not be inclusive.
In the center column of your group’s meetup.com home page just below the title of your group you will see a plus sign (+) and the text “Suggest a new meetup�?. Select that and complete the following information.
Because meetup.com will update your members as you make adjustments to the page, in order to help the group retain a non-“spammy” feel, we ask that you have the following items ready to go when you post your suggestion.
Title
Description
Location
Time duration
Event Type (Presentation, Q&A, Hangout, Social, Help Desk, Other)
Here are some suggestions for event title formats that start with a targeted user level or event type to help your members quickly decide if the event is for them:
Beginner: Managing images in WordPress
Intermediate: How to troubleshoot a 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
Event organizers for meetups should follow the same rules as WordCamp when finding eligible speakers. We do ask that individuals do not schedule meetups in order to sell products or services.
Teaching a workshop organized by an official meetup group is a contribution to 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, just like submitting a patch to coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., writing documentation for the codex, or answering questions in the support forums.
There are no specific rules around sponsorship, other than the set of expectations for participation with official WordPress events (External link 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. handbook). However, we want local communities to focus on sharing knowledge and connecting with each other, not on providing a cheap marketing platform.
Handling money for a community event can get complicated quickly (taxes! transparency!), so we suggest that any and all sponsorship be approached as “in-kind” — for example, when a company sponsors by ordering pizzas or a sandwich platter for a certain event. Meetup group organizers should not use the group as a sponsorship/marketing platform, according to the five good-faith rules.
There are many ways to help attract members to your event. Please keep in mind that it may take one or two tries to gain traction while others may be a smash hit from the start. Some suggestions for the event itself:
Find a time when people can attend.
Choose a location that is easy to find and has easy or free parking.
If you select a topic choose one that you are interested in or knowledgeable about.
Meetup.com: Any scheduled events will be shared with the meetup group via email. Please keep in mind users have the option to turn this feature of meetup off and may not receive your meetup emails.
Meetup.com: group message board
Other Groups: contacting local 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., 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/., social media, blogging, or open source groups (etc) to tell them about a new WordPress group in town
Websites: city blogs, local tech community message boards or event listings
Twitter: connect with local users who have an interest in WordPress and community
Flyers: if there’s a local coffee shop where you see other people blogging or coding, put up a flyer there. Same thing with your local co-working space.