Angela Jin 9:35 am on March 12, 2020  

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 April 8, 2020 at 12:00 UTC

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

Andrea Middleton 11:59 am on March 11, 2020  

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.

jillbinder 11:50 pm on April 22, 2020
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Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) on April 22, 2020

Summary:

I got the funding renewal! The new direction for our team for the next while. How the workshops went last week. I need a volunteer to make a notes document about the Online Stage Presence workshop. Upcoming events: Group coaching; All-women train the trainers in Latin America; TBD our group’s workshops & coaching schedule for the next few months

Continue reading →

#wpdiversity

Sandy Edwards 7:16 pm on April 22, 2020
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Youth Event Working Group Chat/Office Hours April 23, 2020

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

WordCamp.org 4:00 am on April 20, 2020
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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!

Mary Job 9:22 pm on April 15, 2020
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Community Team Chat Agenda | 16 April 2020

Hello Team!

Our bi-monthly Community Team chat is happening this Thursday, 16 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 16, 2020, 11:00 UTC

Americas friendly: Thursday, April 16, 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

Highlighted P2 posts

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

#community-team, #meeting-agenda

Angela Jin 8:34 am on April 15, 2020  

Meetup Organizer Newsletter: Online Events Edition

Hello friends,

We are happy to share with you 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. organizer newsletter, again with more information about upcoming virtual events and updates on resources for bringing your in-person events online!

Upcoming Online Events

Many people around the world continue to be in lockdown or are practicing self-isolation. As a result, there has been a rise in online events! We are excited to see the WordPress community continue to grow, connect, and support each other during this time. 

WordCamp Santa Clarita

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. Santa Clarita is back, this time as a virtual event on April 18th! Their full schedule is now available (all times listed in UTC-8) on their website, and you can register for a free ticket here.

WordCamp Spain

The Community Team proposed and approved some new guidelines for virtual events in 2020, including support for regional/country events. The first of these will be WordCamp Spain on May 6 – May 9! This WordCamp will bring Spanish speakers around the world together to create what is sure to be a memorable virtual event. The team is currently putting together the schedule, so for the latest updates, follow #WCES or their website. 

WordCamp Europe

After deciding to postpone WordCamp Europe in Porto this year, the organizing team decided to bring the biggest WordCamp in Europe fully online, including Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/.! The event will be on June 4 – June 6, and you can get the latest updates on their website, or by following #WCEU. Looking ahead, mark your calendars for June 3-5, 2021 for the rescheduled WordCamp Europe 2021 in Porto!

Diverse Speaker Workshop and Diverse Speaker Group Coaching

The Diverse Speaker Training Group (#WPDiversity) is hosting a number of workshops! We are in the middle of the first, three-part workshop, but you can still join for the last session tomorrow on Online Stage Presence (for more information and to register, visit this post). 

The next training will be a group coaching session on April 28th and April 30th. This event will help provide tips and guidance on anything related to public speaking at WordPress events, such as your title and pitch, practicing public speaking, answering Q&A questions you are worried people will ask, and more! If you are a member of a marginalized or underrepresented group in terms of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, age, etc, and are interested in participating, please register for the coaching sessions!!

Online Meetups

Local WordPress meetup groups around the world are moving online too! All the upcoming online events from WordPress meetup groups are shown on this page – times will be shown in your local time zone unless otherwise noted. Feel free to participate in any event to see what other meetup groups are doing!

Resources for Online Events

During this time, the Global Community Team has removed location limitations and reduced the planning process for events, and we continue to research tools that will best suit the needs of organizers and attendees. 

To help bring meetup events online, we have a page of resources and tips that offer some ideas and tools to use. If you are organizing a virtual Diversity Speaker Training Workshop, a virtual Contributor Day, or a virtual do_action event, you can now request use of a paid Zoom account for your event. For all events, don’t forget to indicate that your event is taking place online! This way, your event will be listed in the online meetup events page.

While we previously shared that we would be providing Crowdcast accounts for online WordCamps, we have determined that Crowdcast does not meet our needs for accessibility, and therefore is not a viable option for our community. We are now researching and vetting other platforms that we could recommend to community organizers. If you would like to help us identify, review and test possible platforms, please add your suggestions and comments to this spreadsheet. 

In addition, we are rolling out a new pilot program: production vendors for all online WordCamps! WordPress Community Support will be paying for the production costs of online WordCamps hosted in 2020. WordCamp organizers will be able to either select a production company from a list of recommended vendors, or request estimates from local vendors. This pilot program is brand new, so we want your input! Please share your thoughts on this post. 

Last but not least, the Global Community Team is also excited to share that we will soon announce training on various leadership and community topics, and would love to hear from you! If you have ideas or suggestions for topics we should include you would like to see, please email us at support@wordcamp.org. Otherwise, follow the Make WordPress Community blog to make sure you don’t miss this announcement!

If you have any questions, Community Team deputies are available to help. Please send an email to support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events 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/. 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!

Timi Wahalahti 7:12 am on April 15, 2020
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X-post: WordCamp Europe 2020 Contributor Day Update

X-comment from +make.wordpress.org/updates: Comment on WordCamp Europe 2020 Contributor Day Update

jillbinder 9:14 pm on April 14, 2020
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Diverse Speaker Group Coaching, April 28 & 30

The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) is adding a second offering in April to support diverse voices to share knowledge and stories at virtual WordPress meetups and WordCamps.

We will be holding two group coaching sessions. People from marginalized or underrepresented groups can get help on anything related to public speaking at WordPress events, such as:

  • your title and pitch
  • your slides
  • practising your public speaking
  • organizing your talk structure
  • answering Q&A questions you are worried people will ask
  • etc.

You are also welcome to attend to just watch and learn from others getting coaching.

The sessions will be held:

  • Tuesday, April 28 @ 4-5pm UTC (9-10am PT)
  • Thursday, April 30 @ 7-8pm UTC (12-1pm PT)

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. only.

If this is you, please register to attend!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Sandy Edwards 3:04 pm on April 14, 2020
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Youth Event Working Group Chat/Office Hours April 16, 2020

This week we have some people who had an idea to talk about at this meeting. An online KidsCamp! Let’s chat about what we would need to pull this off and who might want to be involved. This will take place for the first 30 minutes of our new 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

Sandy Edwards 2:17 pm on April 14, 2020
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Youth Event Working Group Chat/Office Hours Recap from April 9, 2020

You can follow along with the hours in chat here: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQC7RN/p1586466443111000

We started office hours talking about an idea @chriscct7 had about doing a virtual KidsCamp in May. @michelebutcher-jones and @camikaos and I all chatted about what that would mean.

Michele noted that we might want to limit the age range to 10+ as 7-9 may have a more difficult time with being online for an extended time.

Cami mentioned that we can think outside our normal box on these events as we do not have to do things all in one day or one session or event. We can make it a mini series of sorts. Here’s her comments:

I think one of the most important things about implementing this will be giving the kids and their families solid expectations leading up to this. When Sandy and I discussed previously I said I’d like to see a “worksheet” checklist for kids to have completed before the event and some follow-up “worksheets”  for after.

5:21I also think that we might be thinking too much inside the box of what we normally do.

5:22ordinarily we have these kids for so many hours on one day in one place. Right now families are really looking for content to keep their kids engaged. Especially those who are not used to homeschooling and suddenly thrust into it.

5:22This could be something we do once a week for 90 minutes for a month and really give the kids an opportunity to learn and grow into it working at their own pace and meeting back each week

5:23anyone have any thoughts or feels on those ideas?

So we shifted to talking about creating videos or content to fill this need as a team. Each person could do what they do best to fill this void for parents and kids including: blog posts, videos, webinars, breakout sessions, etc.

Michele mentioned this looking kind of like a WP101 of video tutorials that are easier to digest. That way everything is in smaller more manageable bits of information for the parents and kids.

We discussed Michele looking into a partnership with 4-H to see about getting those kids on board to test it and/or use it as a class.

Let us know your thoughts, comments, and feelings about this topic. I know there are a lot of parents looking for wholesome creative things for their kiddos to do. This could be a solid path for that. Leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.

And always feel free to reach out to @camikaos or myself ( @sunsand187 ) if you want to get involved with the Youth Working Group!

#kids-events, #youth-events

Cami Kaos 7:00 am on April 13, 2020
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Pilot Program: Production Vendors for Online WordCamps

Now that organizers and deputies have spent some time exploring the challenges and opportunities unique to online conference organizing, it’s time to explore ways to make life easier for organizers. At the same time, it’s important to help communities to continue meeting and inspiring one another during this global pandemic. With this goal in mind, I’m excited to announce a new pilot program for online WordCamps. 

Through this program, WPCS (WordPress Community Support, PBC) will pay the production costs of online WordCamps hosted in 2020 with the hope that this will result in more online WordCamps during this time of uncertainty and in-person disconnection. Removing the barrier to entry for online event production should help 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. organizing teams focus on the things that matter most: community, connection, and content. 

Online WordCamps will still need to go through the same approval process they normally would and will need to meet accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) expectations (just like other WordCamps).

How will it work? 

Once an online WordCamp is in pre-planning, organizers can contact a production company from a list of recommended vendors, or request estimates from a local online conference production vendor of their choice. In the budget review stage, if the team wishes to use a local vendor, the budget will be reviewed just like any other WordCamp budget. Once an online production company has been selected, the organizing team and production company will work together directly to stage the event. WordCamp teams will recruit speakers, sponsors, emcees, and live chat moderators, as well as handle site design and communications. The production company will handle the production of the stream & captions, and process the recordings.

Next steps?

This is where you come in. While our community of dedicated organizers and volunteers work through this pilot program, they’re bound to stumble upon more questions and brilliant ideas. Perhaps you already have some of those questions and ideas based on past online event experience. Do you have suggestions for making this pilot more successful? Any questions about details?

Please share your ideas, concerns, or questions in a comment on this post!

#online-events