Latest updates on changes to WordCamps

COVID-19 has impacted many WordCamps globally. To help you keep track of the latest changes to WordCamps, we will be updating this list periodically.

Note that “Cancelled” means that the 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. will not happen in 2020, but there may be plans for a 2021 event. “Postponed” indicates that the organizing team is working towards making an event happen later this year.

Last updated March 31, 2020 at 9:00 UTC

  • WordCamp Asia, February 21 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Cebu, February 29, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Lancaster, March 14, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Albuquerque, March 20, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, March 20, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Geneva, March 20, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Kolkata, March 22, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Washington DC, March 27, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Antwerp, March 28, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp San Antonio, March 28, 2020 – Moved to livestream
  • WordCamp Jacksonville, March 28, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Santa Clarita, April 3, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Turin (Torino), April 17, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Paris, April 17, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Atlanta, April 18, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Bilbao, April 24, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Bucharest, April 25, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Kansas City, April 28, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Soltau, April 30, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Chicago, May 2, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp San Diego, May 2, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Houston, May 9, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Buffalo, May 9, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Madrid, May 9, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Athens, May 16, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Košice, May 16, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Plovdiv, May 16, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Kathmandu, May 20, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Irun, May 23, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Calgary, May 29, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Kent, May 30, 2020 – Moved to livestream
  • WordCamp Montclair, May 30, 2020 – Postponed
  • WordCamp Europe, June 4-6, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Raleigh, June 6, 2020 – Cancelled
  • WordCamp Centroamerica, September 17, 2020 – Cancelled

Are you a WordCamp organizer and unsure of how to proceed? Here are a few helpful links.

New recommendations for event organizers in light of COVID-19

I’m sure that WordPress community organizers all over the world are keeping a watchful eye on the news related to COVID-19. Many organizers have received questions and recommendations from their communities about whether to continue meeting in person, in the absence of direct instructions from the public health authorities in their towns or countries. 

We are a team of people dedicated to bringing people together, and our community events are a labor (much labor!) of love. WordPress community organizers have carved out time from their busy schedules, sacrificed time with family/friends or that would have been dedicated to other causes, and taken on very challenging work (we make it look easy, but it’s not!) in order to plan community events. Naturally, we approach the topic of postponing or cancelling our events with deep reluctance and sadness. 

That said, one of our fundamental priorities must be to preserve the health and well-being of our attendees and communities. Making decisions that support the effort to “flatten the curve” — slowing the rate of infection so that health care systems are not overwhelmed — is both responsible and prudent. 

In cities or countries where the public health officials have restricted public gatherings, I trust that organizers will follow the advice of authorities. For organizers with events planned in cities or states that have not yet made public health recommendations, the decision is much more difficult. We have not trained organizers to assess risks like these, because our program has never had to adapt to a global epidemic of this scale. To support organizers in this difficult decision, here is the recommendation:

If you are planning an event scheduled between now and June 1, and there is any evidence of community transmission of COVID-19 in your area, we strongly recommend that you postpone the event until later in the year or 2021 and/or adapt to an online event.

Please review this handbook page for recommendations on postponement vs cancellation of 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., and procedures for both. This recommendation stands for both meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. events and WordCamps.

If your community has not yet seen evidence of community transmission of COVID-19, please take extra precautions with attendee health:

  • Discuss event details with local health officials and prepare to implement an emergency contingency plan based on their specific guidance.
  • Share and provide COVID-19 updates on your WordCamp site, and promote preventive health messages to your attendees and volunteers, such as:
    • Stay home when you are sick, except to get medical care.
    • Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve, then put the tissue a the garbage bin.
    • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
    • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. Clean frequently touched surfaces and objects daily.
    • Recommend that attendees minimize close contact (e.g., recommending no handshaking or hugging)
  • Encourage participants who are experiencing any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 to refrain from attending the conference. 
  • Make sure that every attendee has registered via purchasing the ticket or marking their attendance in meetup.com so that if someone gets sick, it will be easier for public health authorities to identify those at risk of infection.
  • Create refund policies or remote participation capability (such as arranging to live stream the event, if possible) that permit participants the flexibility to stay home when they are sick, need to care for sick household members, or are at high risk for complications from COVID-19.

It’s possible we will extend this recommendation past June, depending on what happens in April and May. Please expect updates on a monthly basis, if not more frequently.  

Support and training for online event planning is in the works. Next week I hope we can publish a handbook page with advice for temporarily adapting monthly meetup events so they can be held online, and the infrastructure and documentation to support organizers interested in holding WordCamps online are targeted for publication by the end of March.

I recognize that this is a terribly difficult time for many, and community deputies are available to help. Please email support@wordcamp.org with any questions or concerns, or share your concerns in a comment on this post.

Call for Participants: Diverse Speaker Workshop Online April 14-16

During this time of online events, the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) would like to facilitate more diverse voices sharing knowledge and stories in the virtual space. We are going to hold a 3-part workshop, one hour each day, to help people with:

  • Dispelling some myths about speakers/speaking (Overcoming the thought, “But I’m not an expert in anything”)
  • Coming up with topics and choosing one (Answering the question, “I wouldn’t know what to talk about!”)
  • Writing a meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. description or 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. pitch
  • Online stage presence (new!)

These will all be held at 6-7pm UTC / 2-3pm ET:

  • Tuesday, April 14: Who am I to be speaking? & Finding a topic that people would love to hear (No prerequisite)
  • Wednesday, April 15: Creating a great pitch (Prerequisite: Please come with an idea for a talk. If you don’t have one, then please make sure you attend Tuesday!)
  • Thursday, April 16: Online stage presence (No prerequisite)

You are encouraged to attend all sessions, but you are also welcome to attend only the sessions you wish.

Please note! This training is intended to train speakers who are members of a marginalized or underrepresented group in terms of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, age, etc.

If this is you, please sign up in the Registration form!

Everyone, please help us spread the word.

Register for the workshop session(s) now

P.S. Others who like to attend these sessions because you want to learn how to be good allies, please note that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion material is not covered in these workshops. If there is enough interest, we could hold a different workshop for you in the future.

Also, we have two documents for you: Building A Diverse Speaker Roster and Inclusive and Welcoming Events.

Community Team Chat Agenda | 02 April 2020

Hello Team!

Our bi-monthly Community Team chat is happening this Thursday, 2nd of April 2020. Meeting times are detailed below. We use the same agenda for both meetings in order to include all time zones.

Asia-Pacific / EMEA friendly: Thursday, April 2, 2020, 11:00 UTC

Americas friendly: Thursday, April 2, 2020, 20:00 UTC

Deputy/Mentor check-in

What have you been doing and how is it going?

P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. posts needing review/feedback

  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/20/taking-charity-hackathons-online/
  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/24/community-events-in-the-time-of-covid-19/
  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/25/recap-of-the-diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-zoom-call-on-march-25-2020/
  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/26/youth-event-office-hours/
  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/27/meetup-organiser-newsletter-online-events-edition/

Highlighted P2 posts

  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/12/latest-updates-on-changes-to-wordcamps/
  • https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/11/new-recommendations-for-event-organizers-in-light-of-covid-19/

Please add any additional items to this agenda by commenting on this post as needed.

#team-chat

Weekly Updates

Hello to all our Deputies, 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. organizers, MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. wranglers, and WordPress Community builders! You were probably hard at work this weekend. Tell us what you got accomplished in our #weekly-update!

Have you run into a roadblock with the stuff you’re working on? Head over to #community-events or #community-team in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. and ask for help!

Meetup Organiser Newsletter: Online Events Edition

Hi there folks!

Welcome to another meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organiser newsletter – in this edition we’ll be highlighting some upcoming virtual events and providing you with more info about taking your events online!

Upcoming Online Events

With much of the world either on lockdown or in recommended self-isolation, organizers all over the world are taking their events online. The WordPress community is no exception to this trend as many meetups, WordCamps, and other events in the community are being streamed online for the whole world to enjoy.

WordCamp San Antonio

As WordCamps begin to move online, the first to do so is 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. San Antonio taking place this weekend – March 28-29. You can see the full schedule on their site (all times in the local time zone of UTC-5) and book your free ticket here. Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll start to see many more WordCamps be presented as live streams. If you are an organizer who would like to get started with this for your community, then keep an eye on the Community Team blog as more info about online events will be published very soon.

WPBlockTalk

On Thursday, April 2 a virtual event all about the WordPress blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. editor will be broadcast live. WPBlockTalk includes speakers from all over the world and, after the live event, will be published on WordPress.tv for you to watch (or re-watch) whenever you’d like.

Online Meetups

It’s not only WordCamps and all-day conferences that are streaming online, but local WordPress meetup groups are also doing it too! You can find all the upcoming online events from WordPress meetup groups all over the world on this page – times will be shown in your local time zone unless otherwise noted. 

Resources for Online Events

If you would like to take your meetup online, we have some resources available to help you get started with streaming your expertly-crafted content to the world. First off, we need to note that for the time being, we won’t be approving or paying venue-related costs for meetup groups, even if it is in advance for when you do ultimately start meeting in person again. We don’t know what the situation will be once in-person meetings are possible once more and it is safer to only pay for those venues once we know how it will work.

In order to assist you with bringing your meetup events online, we have put together a page of resources and tips to provide with ideas and software options for this move. Additionally, Meetup.com has published information on how to indicate that your event is taking place online. If you follow their guide then your events will be listed in the online meetup events page that is mentioned above.

During this time, when everyone is connecting virtually with each other, people are joining forces with other local communities that speak the same language. The Global Community Team has removed location limitations and reduced the planning process to a minimum. WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. will provide Crowdcast accounts for these longer online events (more info coming soon!) and they will have free tickets for everyone around the globe to be able to join without any financial limitation.

If your community is interested, you can submit the WordCamp Organizer Application now!

Running Charity Hackathons Online

For the last few years, we have included the do_action Charity Hackathon event series in the WordPress community program, and there are some handy recap posts on the WordPress Foundation site all about how these events have been going. In order to keep these going, we have opened the event format up a bit to allow them to be run online. You can find more information about that in the announcement, and if you would like to organize a do_action event, you can apply for one here.

If you have any questions or concerns, Community Team deputies are available to help. Please send an email to support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events Slack channel. Please note that our Meetup.com inbox is not monitored, so please don’t reach out by replying directly to this message.

Thanks for everything you do to grow the WordPress community, let’s keep sharing knowledge and inspiring our 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. Community! 

We’ll see you online soon!

Youth Event Office Hours

In light of everything going on with COVID-19 and needing to move events to a remote status. We are changing our Youth Events Working Group meetings to be Office Hours. This is so that anyone can come to #community-events channel and ask any questions about how to help the kids at home during this time.

If you want to start a virtual meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area., get resources for your own family or just talk about things kids can do safely online our group is here to support it.

This will happen weekly on Thursdays at 2100UTC/5pm EST.

If anyone wants to help with more International Friendly times please reach out and let either @camikaos or myself (@sunsand187) know.

#kids-events, #youth-events

Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Zoom call on March 25, 2020

Today we had a Zoom call for our meeting.

Agenda:

  1. How are you doing during the crisis?
  2. Where are you at with volunteering for the group? What do you need?
  3. Changing our project for the crisis

1. How are you doing during the crisis?

People shared the challenges that they are facing and how they are feeling.

2. Where are you at with volunteering for the group? What do you need?

I prefaced this with “Due to the crisis, I understand that how you’re feeling about it today can change tomorrow, and change each day, so this is not a commitment. This is just a check-in for today.”

Those who were able to attend today said they have the time and motivation to be volunteering for the group, but felt like it may not be the right project for the community right now. One mentioned that either our project needs to change or they will find another project to volunteer for.

3. Changing our project for the crisis

The observation I’ve made is meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. and 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. organizers are in no position to be learning a new workshop right now, nor to be thinking about diversifying their speaker lineups.

However, I believe that individual WordPress community members are looking for things to learn at home, and so they are more motivated.

These are the first ideas that Andrea and I came up with previously:

  • Individuals are craving connection, content, and personal growth. We can hold monthly workshops for individuals. There could be extra content for having stage presence online.
  • The monthly workshops could still be meetup region-specific, holding a workshop for individual meetups
  • We could hold “stage presence online”-specific workshops
  • We could offer more one-on-one speaker mentorship
  • We could hold group, open speaker mentorship sessions
  • We could offer our “Creating a welcoming and diverse space” workshop for WordPress event organizers
  • We could host open discussions about diversity issues that WordPress event organizers face

We didn’t have the time for brainstorming more ideas as we spent a lot of time on the first item of the agenda, which was the most important thing today.

I would love to hear more ideas in the comments or dm on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. (@jillbinder), please!

A meetup organizer said that because she’s done the workshop before and had fantastic results, she feels comfortable to do it again this year, even online.

She also mentioned that meetup organizers probably only need a couple of months of figuring things out before they are ready for learning things like this again.

#wpdiversity

Community Events in the time of COVID-19

Community events are an important part of the WordPress project. Due to COVID-19 concerns, many organizers have had to cancel or postpone their 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. or MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area.. At this time, the Community Team is working hard to help organizers host virtual events so that the community can continue to connect with and inspire each other.

In order to facilitate successful community events during this global emergency, we would like to quickly revisit and adapt some of our existing community guidelines. We propose the following changes for virtual community events during this time:

  1. Approve regional/country WordCamps, Meetups, do_action events. We strongly believe that there is much value in local, in person events, and intend to maintain this guideline when we can all meet in person again safely. During this time, however, we propose to more readily approve country/regional events as long as the major meetup groups are involved in the organizing process.
  2. Skip the budget review portion of the WordCamp planning process. As virtual WordCamps won’t cost organizers any money, we won’t need budget reviews! WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. will be providing Crowdcast accounts to WordCamps, and since virtual WordCamps will be offering free tickets, there is no income either. One outstanding question here is how we can involve sponsors, as there is no financial component.
  3. Allow for shorter planning periods for community events. A virtual event tends to be faster to organize. We would like organizers to propose the date of their event, allowing for enough time between orientation and the event to find speakers, volunteers, and market the event.

These are changes that we would like to implement in response to the global emergency only. We hope to go back to in person gatherings with original guidelines for planning community events as soon as we can, as our in-person program has proven to empower more community leaders across a large number of local communities, and to reach more people within those areas.

Please let us know your thoughts on this proposal by this Friday, March 27th. We know this is a short period of time, but in the interest of enabling the WordPress community to start organizing events again, we’d like to move this forward quickly.

Special meeting for Diverse Speaker Training group (#wpdiversity) on Wednesday, March 25

It is a difficult time, and as such, I’d like to have a different meeting with the group.

Due to the crisis, some group members are likely feeling tapped out and some are itching to do extra. Also, our working group may need to change how we do things during this time.

Agenda for Wednesday @ 5pm UTC:

  1. How are you doing? How are you feeling? Let’s talk, let’s vent.
  2. Our team may need to pivot. Let’s brainstorm how we could serve the community now given the changed landscape.

Just a reminder that attending does not mean committing to doing anything! Even more so at this time when I fully understand that emotions are running high and for many, bandwidth can be low. Team members, please come regardless if you can so I know where you’re at and so that we can support each other. You’re also welcome to not talk but just listen.

This special meeting will be by Zoom rather than the usual SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.. You can get the link from the reminder that @miriamgoldman will be sending out on the #community-team channel just before.

This meeting is intended for current members of the team only, but if you aren’t in our group yet, message @jillbinder on Slack to figure out together if it’s appropriate for you to attend this meeting or wait until our next one. We meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 5-6pm UTC.

Diverse Speaker Training group (#wpdiversity) meeting
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
5-6pm UTC
Get the Zoom link just before the time on the #community-team channel
Current group members, please.

(All others, message @jillbinder to figure out together if you should attend this meeting or wait to join us on our next one on April 8.)

Weekly Updates

Hello to all our Deputies, 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. organizers, MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. wranglers, and WordPress Community builders! You were probably hard at work this weekend. Tell us what you got accomplished in our #weekly-update!

Have you run into a roadblock with the stuff you’re working on? Head over to #community-events or #community-team in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. and ask for help!

Taking Charity Hackathons Online

For the last few years, we have included the do_action Charity Hackathon event series in the WordPress community program, and there are some handy recap posts on the WordPress Foundation site all about how these events have been going. With the current need to go virtual with all of our events, we need to look at how these charity hackathons can be moved into an online format.

do_action events have had such a positive impact on so many organisations and people that it would be a shame to stop doing them in our current situation. With that in mind, here are a few ways we can modify the event format and things that you can try as an organiser to make these events possible:

  1. Organise a country-wide do_action event. Since these events are going to be virtual, it makes sense to bring in talents from the whole country, as well as reach more non-profit organisations that would otherwise be possible.
  2. Spread the work out over a few days/weeks. In order to give people the time to work on the websites for the non-profit organisations, allow them to work over a longer time period than just one day. A format I quite like the idea of is giving each team 1 week to complete their work.
  3. Provide virtual communication channels. Use your local WordPress community SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. group (or create one if you don’t have one already) and set up separate channels for each team to communicate. You could also use some of the tools we suggest for meetups to expand on the communication options.

So, if you’re planning on organising a do_action event this year then please don’t let the lack of in-person meetings stop you! You can fill in the application form to organise an event and we can discuss your plans from there. The suggestions in this post have been added to the organiser’s handbook.

Do you have any questions about the above suggestions? Or any other ideas that could help do_action events grow in a virtual setting?