Cami Kaos 10:00 am on August 3, 2021
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Tuesday Trainings: If you deviate, communicate!

If there’s a question you’d like to see answered or a topic you’d like to see discussed, please share it in the comments or email support@wordcamp.org with the subject line Tuesday Trainings. Now onto this week’s topic.

This week’s question: What if I can’t follow through as expected?

I was talking with a colleague the other day about experiences we’ve had with people who couldn’t get done what they said they’d be able to get done in the amount of time they gave themself to do it. Not quite failing to do the thing, but certainly not doing a task in the timeline or manner that was expressed. Sometimes I can’t get something done when I say I will. Sometimes I just can’t get something done. And if my life experience has taught me anything, I’m not the only one.

And of course that can be frustrating for all involved, but there is a way to make it better. I just never had a catchy little phrase for it until I was talking with this colleague who is also a softball umpire. She said something in our conversation that I will never forget. One phrase that rang so true with me that I’m adding it to “I don’t know, but let’s find out” in its level of importance, simplicity, and usefulness. Today, I share her wisdom with you.

If you deviate, communicate.

It’s a simple statement. It’s an even simpler plan. If something isn’t going as expected, let someone involved  know. If you can’t get something done, let the stakeholders know. If you’re going to complete the project but it’s going to be late, let someone know. If something goes off track let someone know. 

We all get it. Sometimes things don’t work out as planned. There is nothing wrong with failure. There is something wrong with not communicating in the face of failure or change. Some folks are afraid to over communicate. I get that. Sometimes far too many words will just stream right out of me and before I know it I’ve said too much. That’s why this phrase resonated so much with me. Maybe it will with you too. 

Wrapping up

I said it before, but let me say it one more time, if you deviate, communicate. If you have tried and true suggestions for the best way to communicate when things go awry I’d love to see them in the comments.

And as always if you have any questions or topics you’d like to see addressed in this space let me know in the comments or by emailing support@wordcamp.org

#tuesdaytrainings

Timi Wahalahti 8:49 am on August 3, 2021
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Proposal: Updating Community Team meetings

Few weeks ago, @kcristiano, @angelasjin and I began discussing our Community Team meetings, and how they could improve to foster more discussions and connections.

The Current Challenge

In short, we believe that there are too many meetings taking place at the moment and the format of those meetings are not catering to the Community Team as well as they could. To give you a hint where the problem lies, here’s a list of current Community Team meetings (not including working groups):

  • Community Team meeting every first and third Thursdays of month. Repeated twice on the same day to cater different time zones. Takes place in #community-team 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. Meeting agenda consists mostly of going through published blog posts about current matters and important discussion.
  • Community Office HoursOffice Hours Defined 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. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Takes place in #community-events Slack channel. Opportunity for community members and event organisers to ask everything from community deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook..
  • DeputyDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. Office Hours every other week on Thursdays and Fridays. Repeated twice on the same day to cater different time zones. Takes place in Zoom. No agenda, more a space for deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. to talk about their work and related challenges face to face. This is a new thing that started in 2021.

The basic problem appears to be hat there are many meetings, but attendance and engagement is low. These meetings are mostly targeted for community deputies that are deeply involved with the team, and not for event organisers. That feels a bit skewed, as the Community team’s ultimate objective is to work to benefit the greater community.

The Proposal

To make Community Team meetings more interesting, helpful, easier to approach and attend, Angela, Kevin and I would like to propose updating our meetings! Instead of the meetings listed above, the Community Team would move to the following ones:

Community Team meeting

Once a month for anyone currently involved or who wants to get involved in the Community Team. Still repeated twice on the same day to cater time zones and taking place in #community-team Slack channel.

Shorter agenda, more open floor discussion and personal updates from community members. Highlighted blog posts at the end of the meeting instead of being in limelight and taking most of the time. We will encourage discussion in these meetings and link to the discussions on the agenda posts for those who cannot attend to review.

We are also hoping to record minutes for these meetings and post that to the 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/. as well. A volunteer is needed to take the minutes.  This role can rotate, one need to make a long term commitment (but we’d love it if you did).

Community Local Organiser meeting

Once a month for 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 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. organizers. Repeated twice on the same day to cater time zones. Taking place in #community-events Slack channel.

No formal agenda. The purpose would be to become a place where local community organisers can share how their community is doing, successes and challenges, and learn from each other. Ambition is to bring local community organisers closer to each other as well as the community team, strengthening the connections.

Deputy and MentorMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. Chats

Once a month for all active Deputies and MentorsMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.. Repeated twice on the same day to cater time zones. Taking place in Zoom. No formal agenda. Place for deputies and mentors to share their knowledge with each other and to talk about challenges encountered in our weekly work.

What do you think, would these new meetings make sense? Is there something that should be included in these meetings? Are some meeting types missing from the list?

Please share your thoughts and ideas by 2021-08-23 at latest.

#meetings, #team-chat, #team-meeting

WordCamp.org 4:00 am on August 2, 2021
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Weekly Updates

Hello to all our DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook., 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 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. 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!

Andrea Middleton 5:25 pm on July 30, 2021
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Invitation: help me test an idea for organizer skills development?

I apologize in advance for the short notice here! I am taking a vacation in August, but didn’t want to lose momentum on this idea.

I’m going to schedule a few times to try out this idea for an Organizer’s D&D / practice scenarios session. 

If you are interested, whether you are an experienced organizer, or someone considering trying to organize a group for the first time… please comment on this post with the time/day they could join!

  1. 2300 UTC on 2 August
  2. 2300 UTC on 3 August
  3. 1600 UTC on 4 August
  4. 1600 UTC on 6 August

This will be a video call, in which I will give the group challenging scenarios, and ask you to come up with ideas for solutions you would try.

My goal for these meetings will be to test whether this idea might help WordPress organizers feel more confident when organizing events or communities — anyone, no matter what experience level you have in organizing, is welcome to join.

I’ll follow up as soon as possible with those who requested to join at the most popular times, and share a video link. If you can’t make it next week, don’t worry! This is just a quick “test of concept,” and if it’s successful, I’ll invite more people to help plan out a way to make this available to more people with more time to plan. 🙂

#experiment, #meetups-2

jillbinder 3:00 pm on July 30, 2021
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Workshop August 19, 2021: Allyship for WordPress event organizers AMER/EMEA

Our inaugural Allyship workshop for the new Allyship program!
Thursday, August 19, 2021
5 PM – 7PM UTC / 1 PM – 3pm ET / 10 AM – 12 PM PDT

A 2-hour interactive watch party online to learn how to create welcoming and diverse WordPress 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 for your WordPress community.

This is not just for organizers, but anyone who wants to champion this kind of environment, now or in the future.

Do you run or attend WordPress events and notice only one type of person is attending? You’d love to see more diversity represented, but people are either not showing up — or they attend once and don’t come back. What can you do to be a good ally to foster, promote, and support diversity and an inclusive space?

We know that you have good intentions and really want to do things “right”, and therefore need a supportive space to talk through sensitive real-life challenges, so this watch party workshop will NOT be recorded.

This workshop was created by Allie Nimmons, Aurooba Ahmed, David Wolfpaw, and Jill Binder for 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. US 2019.

Read more and sign up now

Testimonials:

Continue reading →

#wpdiversity, #wpdiversityworkshops

jillbinder 7:35 pm on July 28, 2021
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Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) on July 28, 2021

Attending: @jillbinder @evarlese @onealtr @katiejrichards @danitto

Start: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1627491665326200

Summary and next actions:

We talked about:

  1. The new #WPDiversity programs that we launched this week

  2. Having everyone on the team join our 2 channels on the WordPress 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/. for our 2 new programs:

    – Diverse Speaker Support program: #diverse-speaker-support
    – Allyship program: #community-events

  3. Our two workshops coming up:

    – Allyship on Thurs, Aug 19th
    – Diverse Speakers a week later either on Fri, Aug. 27, run by @onealtr with help from @volkswagenchick. I will help out in the background.

    All on our team are asked to have attended each workshop at least once, please!

    Next actions:
    @jillbinder is creating the eventbrites and the community post for both workshops
    @evarlese and @angelasjin are inviting 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. to invite their communities to the Diverse Speakers workshop

  4. Small volunteer ask: Help with on-boarding August Diverse Speaker workshop participants onto #diverse-speaker-support:

    – An easy way to communicate how to join the WordPress Slack this on a workshop slide -> We could use help with this, still!
    – Be available to help people troubleshoot getting in -> @danitto volunteered

    Next action: Find someone to help with the first item, and help @danitto get onto Helpscout for the second item

  5. Small volunteer ask: Reach out to a list of people on our team who have qualified for the Community badge -> @katiejrichards volunteered

    Next action: Jill will send her the list of people and the message template

  6. Small volunteer ask: Reviewing and editing our new Handbook doc describing our new programs -> @evarlese and @katiejrichards volunteered. We could use more help, please!

    Next action: @evarlese and @katiejrichards get started looking at the doc. Jill reaches out to ask more people.

  7. Note on translations status:

    – Video captions: Spanish – the first video is complete. Ericka is starting the next video, and looking for 1-2 more people to help out. There are about 2 hours of video content left.
    – Video captions: Portuguese – we are looking for 2-3 people to help with this. There is 4 hours of video content.

End: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1627495261381000

#wpdiversity

Cami Kaos 6:51 pm on July 27, 2021
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Tuesday Trainings: What’s the deal with self care?

If there’s a question you’d like to see answered or a topic you’d like to see discussed, please share it in the comments or email me at support@wordcamp.org with the subject line Tuesday Trainings. Now onto this week’s topic.

Disclaimer: I’m not a mental health professional, I’m just a person who does a lot of emotional labor and cares deeply about the emotions and mental well being of others. I’ll do my best to share what is working for me and I hope you’ll share what works for you.

This week’s question: What’s the deal with self care?

Let me jump into this one a little differently. Usually these Tuesday Training posts are aimed at anyone in the WordPress community that is looking for the information I’m serving up, but this week’s post is something else. Many of the topics we bring up in this series of posts are near and dear to my heart, but this one especially is important to me. So while I intend this information for anyone who needs to read it, this post in particular is for the organizers out there. The 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. organizers, 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. organizers, the community organizers. This goes out to the people who activate teams of volunteers, who make our little corner of the internet a safer and more inclusive space.

This goes out to those who tirelessly give of themselves with active listening and engagement so that we can get to the root of issues when they arise or stop them in their path–before most people even notice. 

So what’s the deal with self care? Self care is important. I’m not just talking about getting a haircut, facial, or a manicure. Those are all forms of self care, sure. But I’m talking about the kind of self care that fills you up and fortifies you so you can continue to be the best you that you can be while supporting others in being their best selves. All of that allows us to engage in and build this project with authenticity and respect for one another.  

In community work we take care of other people. In order to be able to take care of other people we first must be taking care of ourselves. The clearest example I can share with you is that you can’t pour from an empty cup. Which means if you have nothing left to give, you can’t give it. That way leads to burnout. Exhaustion. Dissatisfaction. And sometimes calling it quits altogether. 

I don’t want that for any of you. I want you to continue to embrace, improve, grow, and uplift the WordPress community in the special way that you each do. So let’s talk about how to make sure our cup isn’t empty.

Say no mindfully

Be aware of your bandwidth and what you have to give; say no to taking on additional work when it isn’t the right thing for you. I never want to say no to helping others, but it has helped me to reframe it by reminding myself that when I say yes to one thing, it means there are other things I’m going to have no choice to say no to down the road. 

Ask yourself: In saying “no” to one thing, what am I saying “yes” to? Or vice versa.

For more on the importance of saying no, check out this past Tuesday Training post.

Ask yourself what you would tell someone else

I’m hard on myself sometimes. And that’s a choice I make. But sometimes I have to step back and look at everything on my plate, both professionally and personally, and realize that there’s too much. 

If I have a headache and a day full of meetings, it is my inclination to just find a way to power through. But if any of my teammates or mentees let me know that the same was happening with them, I would insist immediately that they take some time to rest and feel better. A headache or being physically exhausted or ill is an easy example, but it’s just as important to give yourself that break if you are upset, stressed, anxious, or just plain overwhelmed. 

Check in with yourself: How are you today? What would you tell a friend, teammate, or colleague? 

Give yourself the same grace you would give to someone else you care about.

Do something nice for yourself

It might be a haircut and a nice lunch out, or it might just be finding time to go on a walk, draw a picture, or straighten up your surroundings so you feel better about them and yourself. It might be sitting in a park watching nature. It might be drinking one more glass of water a day. Find something that you need to do for yourself that will help you feel better, or happier or less stressed and do it. Little things can count here just as much as big things. It might not necessarily be something you want to do. But maybe it’s something you should do. Like taking a walk, getting some exercise, having a side of veggies with lunch, or starting your day with a healthy breakfast. 

Think on it: What’s one kindness you can give yourself today?

Say something

People don’t always notice when others are overwhelmed, overworked, or burned out. Some folks handle their stress and workload silently and seem to carry it with such grace that others may not notice that they’re under stress. “Holding up” to stress doesn’t mean you should have more of it, it just means you’re good at fooling people into thinking the stress isn’t there. If you’re struggling say something. Ask others in the community to take over responsibilities that are causing the issues or aren’t right for you. Let folks know that you need a break. Ask for help getting some space or solving a problem that’s standing in your way.

Delegate: What is something on your plate that you might share with someone else to lighten the load?

Wrapping up

Taking care of oneself is absolutely a critical component of being able to take care of others and build a healthy community. I hope you all keep that in mind in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Each of us here is critical to the success of this project, and self care is critical to surviving and succeeding over all. 

If you’d like to share what helps you, I’d welcome your thoughts in the comments below. And as always if you have any questions or topics you’d like to see addressed in this space let me know in the comments or by emailing support@wordcamp.org

#tuesdaytrainings

jillbinder 6:21 pm on July 27, 2021
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Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Chat Agenda | Wednesday, July 28, 2021

The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 5-6pm UTC. The next meeting is tomorrow. It takes place in the #community-team 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.

We welcome new volunteers! Come drop in and see if you enjoy what we do.

Agenda

  1. The announcement went out and the new programs are live!
  2. Welcoming any new volunteers who come to the meeting
  3. Join our 2 channels on the WordPress Slack for our 2 new programs: #diverse-speaker-support and #community-events
  4. Our two workshops coming up: Allyship on Thurs, Aug 19th and Diverse Speakers a week later either on Fri, Aug. 27 or Sat, Aug. 28. We would like everyone on the team to have attended at least one Allyship and at least one Diverse Speakers workshop.
  5. Small volunteer ask: Help with on-boarding August Diverse Speaker workshop participants onto #diverse-speaker-support
  6. Small volunteer ask: Reach out to a list of people in our group who have qualified for the Community badge
  7. Small volunteer ask: Reviewing and editing our new Handbook doc describing our new programs
  8. Open discussion

If for any reason you cannot attend the meeting live but still want to be involved, please comment on the post to introduce yourself. Share a bit about your WP background and what area you want to help with.

Please leave a comment of anything else that should be added to the agenda for discussion.

Rocio Valdivia 2:06 pm on July 27, 2021
Tags: , in-person, ,   

Proposal: how to return to safe in-person WordCamps

DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. that have participated in this post: @_dorsvenabili, @angelasjin, @kcristiano, @sippis, @adityakane, @nao, @monchomad, @mpc, @sunsand187, @andreamiddleton 

Deadline for participating in the discussion: August 20th, 2021


Thank you to everyone who has participated in our many conversations about in-person events. Your input has helped to make the current guidelines for organizing in-person meetups.

This post is a proposal to discuss how the WordPress community can return to in-person WordCamps. Please read it carefully and participate in the comments by answering the questions below, thanks! 🙂

If you don’t want to read all of this post, here’s the tl;dr:

“The WordPress community team is discussing the return to in-person WordCamps, building on current guidelines for 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. (defined in this handbook page and image below) with additional guidelines described in the section below on “Proposal for further discussion”

In-person WordPress events this year so far

  • There are 752 WordPress 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. groups in the chapter program in 109 countries around the globe.
  • Since February 16, in-person WordPress meetups have been held in 3 countries: Taiwan, New Zealand, and Australia using the meetup safety checklist. 
  • Since the latest guidelines announced on July 9, in-person events have been organized in 6 countries: Russia, US, New Zealand, Uganda, Australia and the Netherlands

The discussion so far

Deputies agree that it seems unrealistic to immediately go back to how WordCamps were in 2019. Resetting expectations for WordCamps may be necessary, as the world has changed significantly. This is a great opportunity to rebuild the program by restarting locally, and then building back up to the levels we had in 2019. Before the pandemic, WordCamps came in different sizes and scales. As a reminder, the Community Team considers the “minimum viable productMinimum Viable Product "A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and to provide feedback for future product development." - WikiPedia” for 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. to be at least 50 people, in a room, for one day, talking about WordPress.

Additionally, the normal WordCamp application process requires that there be an active local community in place.  As the community has faced many changes this year, Deputies are thinking about how to handle this requirement. One possibility could  be more flexibility with WordCamp applications, allowing communities that had a meetup pre-COVID to host a WordCamp, even if they weren’t as active in the last year, to help build excitement and restart community activity again.

The deputies also agreed that organizers are encouraged to  experiment with format, content, and more! This is an excellent opportunity to innovate on WordCamps.

Proposal for Further Discussion

This is all new territory for the Community Team, and the input from the WordPress community is invaluable. At this time, the team is putting up for discussion a proposal for in-person WordCamps. Here are some ideas for discussion:

  • To organize an in-person WordCamp, the general guidelines would be the same ones approved for in-person meetups (you can read them fully detailed in the handbook’s page: “2021: Returning to in-person meetups”). 
  • Revise the guideline to allow all communities that had an active meetup before the pandemic host an initial WordCamp, even if the community wasn’t as active in the past year, to help re-energize the community. This new guideline would only apply to the first WordCamp back. Brand new communities would be directed to organize meetups instead of a WordCamp right away.
  • Financial: WordCamps in this transition period will need to be prepared to cover 100% of their expenses in order to happen. For greater context, the Global Sponsorship Program 2021 currently doesn’t include WordCamps, and the team currently does not have expectations set for the future of the Global Sponsorship program.
  • Venue: Venue fee should be fully refundable or should be able to be moved to a later date without penalty. 
  • Food: No buffets. If food is provided, it will be in individual portions (like box lunches).
  • Capacity: Limit in-person attendance or seating capacity to allow for physical distancing, or host smaller events in larger spaces, based on your local/regional health guidelines.
  • 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)/inclusion: Sessions should be uploaded to wordpress.tv and to be livestreamed when financially possible.
  • Mandatory registration, so attendees can be contacted in case of exposure.
  • Enable refunds for in-person WordCamp tickets, as many folks attending WordCamps could back out at the last minute due to potential issues. 
  • COVID-19 measures: masks, hand-sanitizer, etc., deferring to the guidance of the relevant local government.
  • Innovation: Organizers can try new event formats, for example: deliver WordCamp content entirely online, followed by an in-person social gathering/activities, outdoors sessions/activities, etc.

Additionally, the deputies proposed creating a standard operation process of handling COVID-related issues to further support organizers.

Please share your feedback!

It would be great to get some feedback on this proposal, specifically in the following areas:

  1. What do you think about the proposal? 
  2. Is there anything that you’re missing or that you’d change? Why?
  3. Are there any ideas listed above that you’d include as guidelines for in-person WordCamps in this transition period?
  4. What could the Community Team do to assist with easier and/or inexpensive WordCamp events?

Deadline: August 20th, 2021
**** Edited on Aug 16, 2021 for adding the deadline above.****

#community-team, #in-person, #proposal, #wordcamps

jillbinder 5:00 pm on July 26, 2021
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Announcement and Call for Volunteers: Expanding #WPDiversity to three programs

TL;DR The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) is launching 3 new programs:

  1. Diverse Speaker Workshops
  2. New: Diverse Speaker Support
  3. New: Allyship program

We have great opportunities for volunteers to get involved with all three programs.

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) in the WordPress Community Team is growing once again!

This group has been helping WordPress 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 attract and develop more diverse speakers since late 2017. In 2020 alone, we quintupled our impact by reaching 71 cities in 17 countries, and participants reported a 20% increase in public speaking confidence! (Check out our impact in our monthly reports.)

With your help, we will expand #WPDiversity to three programs to continue to work towards meeting the shared vision of diversity, equity and inclusion at WordPress events around the world.

We formed these three programs based on the community’s input on “Re-imagining the work of the Diverse Speaker Training group” for 2021.

1. Diverse Speakers Workshops:

Challenge

Often the speaker lineups of our meetups and WordCamps look alike and come from a similar background. There are many other voices that aren’t being heard as much: women, LGBTQIA+ individuals (which include non-binary, trans and genderqueer folk), people of color, people of different physical abilities, neurodivergent people, people who are older, etc.

Since the events of 2020, many meetups also haven’t had the bandwidth or confidence to run our workshops for themselves in their local communities any more. How can the WordPress Community Team support more diverse contributors, organizers, and leaders in WordPress?

The “Diverse Speaker workshops” from the Diversity Speaker Training working group (#WPDiversity) is a “stealthy,” highly effective way. We don’t ask people to be leaders. We bust through their impostor syndrome and help them find topics that people want to hear. Once they take that first step, many go on to do more.

Solution: Program 1 –  Diverse Speaker Workshops

The Diverse Speaker Training working group will continue to run the workshop for the global community directly, which we started doing in response to the pandemic in 2020. Now that the workshops are up on Learn WordPress, it is easier for more people to join our team and run our workshops for the global community.

We also support and encourage 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. 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 to run a live or watch party workshop for your local communities yourselves. We are happy to help you get set up.

“Before taking the workshops, I didn’t have the confidence for public speaking. Thanks to these sessions, I can relax, gather my thoughts, and proceed with my presentation. I would recommend this workshop to people of color in the WordPress ecosystem. You belong here; it’s a no-judgment zone where you can find your authentic voice.”

– TC, Learner Advocate, @codebrother1, USA

“LOVED the #WPDiversity Workshop! It really inspired me to bring this type of content to the WordPress Mexico community and bring more diverse groups into speaking at our Meetups and WordCamps. ¡Muchas gracias!”

– Maryl Gonzalez – Co-Founder / Lead UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it./UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. Designer | Scrum/Agile PM – The App Chefs

2. New Diverse Speaker Support program:

Challenge

With the loss of in-person events, the road between Diverse Speaker workshop and public speaking was challenged, as the number of local groups running the workshop to encourage speaking at their own events dwindled. As mindset-shifting and confidence-boosting as our speaker workshops are, the most change happens when someone gets up to speak and has a good experience. We want to help people get on stage as soon as possible.

Solution: Program 2 – Diverse Speaker Support

Our working group is starting up a new 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, #diverse-speaker-support, to provide continued support for our workshop participants. There will be mentorship, networking, and most importantly, support to apply for speaker spots in meetup and WordCamps!

3. New Allyship program:

Challenge

There were events in 2020 that raised awareness and discussions about global inequality issues and social justice. As a result, our event organizers are more aware of diversity issues, but at the same time, feel nervous about being good allies and creating inclusive events.

Solution: Program 3 – Allyship

Our working group is launching a new Allyship program. We will train our WordPress meetup and WordCamp organizers with the Learn WordPress workshop “Creating A Welcoming and Diverse Space.”

This program will be in quarterly cohorts:

  • Month 1: A private, supportive, hands-on, interactive workshop over Zoom. You will walk away with an action list to start making changes right away.
  • Month 2: Public Slack coaching on #community-events
  • Month 3: Public Slack accountability on #community-events

Once people have gone through one cohort, the WP Community would love it if they continue participating in the Slack coaching and accountability sessions in future quarters. People are also welcome to re-take the workshop at any time as well.

“As an organizer of a large event, we’re overwhelmed with many challenges and often overlook diversity. But building a diverse and inclusive event is at the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. of what makes an event extraordinary. This workshop helped me understand these benefits while also providing simple concepts that are easy to comprehend and implement step by step.”

—Eric H., New York

“Before I took this workshop, I thought to have done a good job organizing inclusive and welcoming events. Thanks to this session, I realized how far I am from that. This workshop gave me a lot of inspiring ideas to put in place! I would recommend this workshop to anyone looking to achieve more diversity in their events or communities.”

—Alessandro R., Italy

Call for Volunteers

In order to accomplish these ambitious goals this year, the Diverse Speaker Training working group would like to invite you to participate!

Why volunteer with our team?

  • Our work is inspiring and feels good.
  • We make a difference in the community — with tangible results to show it.
  • We are a highly driven group with high impact. We get the right things done.
  • You will learn a lot! You get great experience and training that you can use. Past volunteers have gone on to lead other groups or get job promotions. 🙂
  • We value your ideas and input.

Volunteers

What: Our working group has all kinds of roles, from helping us develop the new programs to maintaining our current program. Workshop trainers, mentorsMentor Someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues., translations, marketing, behind-the-scenes admin, and more. We also welcome people to just hang out in our meetings to participate in discussions and be available for small one-time contributions. Specific roles come up organically as we move forward, and you are also welcome to suggest creating a new role that inspires you and will assist the team in our mission.

When: You can participate as much or as little as you would like. We’d love it if you could attend meetings on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 5-6pm UTC. Not required, but very valued.

You’re a good fit if: You have a strong desire to bring more diverse voices into WordPress events, and you want to help shape how that happens. You do not need to have any prior experience, but a willingness to share ideas, collaborate, and help define and tackle tasks would be amazing.

Please Note

Our working group needs volunteers to help move this important initiative forward. If you have signed up for something, we are relying on you! We understand that things do come up, so if you commit to a task and are unable to complete it or fulfill your role, please tell us as early as possible. The sooner you tell us, the easier it is to make sure your task is covered.

Estimated time commitment:

  • Group meetings: 60 minutes every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, 5pm UTC.
  • Attend our Diverse Speaker workshop at least once (est 2 hours).
  • Attend our Allyship workshop at least once (est 2 hours).
  • The rest is up to how much time you would like to give.

If you’d like to take part in this working group, please comment on this post or come and attend our next meeting (2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, 5-6pm UTC on the #community-team Slack channel). I will then reach out to interested folks. If you have questions, please also feel free to comment on the post. I look forward to working with you and together creating something wonderful!

Thanks to @angelasjin and @evarlese for their feedback on this post!

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