Hello everyone! As a follow-up to Matt’s mention of our Diversity work in the State of the WordState of the Word This is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/. yesterday, I wanted to share some data and more detail around our  accomplishments this year.

#WPDiversity Results December 2020-November 2021

In 2021, the Diverse Speaker Training Group (#WPDiversity) expanded from one to three programs: Diverse Speaker program, Allyship program, Diverse Speaker Support program.

Our group and the community held 26 #WPDiversity events this year.

146 participants from at least 66 cities in 16 countries attended these events from December 2020 – November 2021.

People who took at least a portion of our Diverse Speaker workshop reported an increase in self-confidence by 20%.

People who took our Allyship for WordPress Event Organizers workshop reported an increase in preparedness to hold an inclusive event by 52%!

In the Diverse Speaker Support program, as of November 30, 2021, 49 people have joined it so far. 50% (25) of these are people from underrepresented groups who are looking for speaking opportunities at WordPress events.

Testimonials

Testimonial for Diverse Speaker workshop:

“I felt like you were reading my mind on some of these points about what holds us back from speaking. And the brainstorm prompts are all really, really good. I walked away with a ton of ideas and newfound confidence. I’m excited to talk now. This workshop works!”

– Erika Lewis, WordPress Dev, Washington DC

Testimonial for the “Hold Your Own Diverse Speaker workshop” train the trainers:

“I’m excited to replicate the Diverse Speakers workshop in my beloved country, Mexico, and use it to help more women learn the right tools to communicate on stage and in meetings, and be more confident about their skills.”

– Maryl Gonzalez, Co-Founder @ The App Chefs, Guadalajara, Mexico

Testimonial for Allyship for WordPress Event Organizers workshop

“I loved taking the “Allyship for WordPress Event Organizers” workshop along with other organizers and hearing what they’ve done. The checklists in the workbook are helpful in terms of tracking what I have done and what I can still improve. I’d love to see ALL THE ORGANIZERS go through this. This felt like a great complement to other material that WordPress has about not disparaging people; the focus of the Allyship workshop was on how to be actively welcoming.”

– Sallie Goetsch, organizer, East Bay 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.

Get Involved in 2022

Want to get involved in this inspiring initiative that makes a tangible difference? Comment on this post or pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” @jillbinder 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:

• Attending an “Allyship for WP Event Organizers” workshop or a “How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events #WPDiversity” (aka Diverse Speaker) workshop
• Having us hold a “How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events #WPDiversity” workshop to bring in more diverse speaker applications for your Meetup 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.
• Being a workshop facilitator
• Being a workshop 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. or background administrator
• Being a Translator
• Joining our #diverse-speaker-support Slack channel (open to those interested in speaking, speaker 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., and event organizers)
• Joining our Diverse Speaker Group #WPDiversity to help out with things as needed
• And more!

I will reply to your message in the new year.

Have great holidays, everyone. Let’s make 2022 our best year yet!