Anjana Vasan 4:29 pm on January 14, 2022
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Meetup Organizer Newsletter: January 2022

Happy New Year! 

Welcome to the January 2022 edition of the monthly 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. Organizer newsletter. 

Last year brought many exciting updates and events to the WordPress community, from 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/. watch parties to the first in-person 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. since the pandemic—we have high hopes for 2022 as well. Read on to learn about the latest news and resources from the WordPress community, and share them with your local meetup groups!

Here’s what’s inside this issue:

  • Second release candidateRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. for WordPress 5.9
  • WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. 2022: Call for Speakers
  • WordPress events
  • News from the WordPress community

🚀 WordPress 5.9 is on track to release on January 25, 2022

WordPress 5.9 is nearing its release on January 25, 2022, with the second release candidate now available for testing. 

The 5.9 Field Guide has also been published recently. You can find a compilation of all the developer notes regarding 5.9 in this guide. If you’d like more information about the performance improvements in WordPress 5.9, head over to this page. 

As always, your support is appreciated. Please help spread the word about WordPress 5.9 by hosting a release-focused meetup or organizing testing sprints.

Share WordPress 5.9 with your meetup group!

Spread your excitement for the latest WordPress release by organizing a WordPress meetup highlighting the release features! Read the talking points for WordPress 5.9 to learn more.

Looking for inspiration? Check out the following WordPress 5.9 events from our community!

Upcoming events:

Previous events:

📣 WordCamp Europe 2022 needs speakers

With an eye on the rapidly evolving situation with Omicron, WordCamp Europe (WCEU) 2022 is still set to take place in person at Porto, Portugal—with solid safety protocols in place. 

WCEU recently announced its call for speakers. Organizers are looking for talks on various topics related to WordPress, such as technology, design, marketing, content, 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), and more. Have questions? Watch the Q&A session that took place recently to learn more about being a speaker at WCEU.

If you or someone you know is interested in being a speaker at WCEU 2022, apply now.

📷 Submit your images to the WordPress Photo Directory

The WordPress Photo Directory is a collection of high-quality, CC0-licensed images first introduced by Matt Mullenweg in State of the Word 2021. It’s also the only submission tool for Openverse powered by WordPress.

Although it hasn’t fully launched yet, you can now submit your images to the WordPress Photo Directory. You can also contribute in other ways, as there’s currently a call for volunteers.

🌍🎪 What’s happening with WordPress events

With the rise of Omicron, in-person WordCamps are cautiously scheduled for 2022. We strongly urge you to follow additional safety guidelines if you plan to attend a WordCamp or meetup. As a reminder, if you’re an organizer, learn about the legal protections available to you for in-person events. Don’t miss these helpful resources for organizers from our global sponsors!

Interested in widening your pool of Meetup and WordCamp speakers from underrepresented groups? Join the #diverse-speaker-support channel on the Make 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/. workspace.

WordCamps on the horizon

📚 Join the Learn WordPress initiative

Help make Learn WordPress the official resource on WordPress! Join in on the fun and share your knowledge with others by organizing a social learning space based on any of the Learn WordPress workshops. Meetup organizers can also use lesson plans on Learn WordPress to organize 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..

Attend some upcoming WordPress Social Learning Meetups:

Check out the latest Learn WordPress course, “Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing.”

🗞 News from the WordPress Community

  • GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ version 12.3 is out. This release includes three brand new blocks, more customization controls, and a coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. blocks reference, among other exciting features.
  • WordPress 5.8.3 is now available. This security release features four fixes.
  • The Polyglots TeamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/. announced that WordPress 5.9 is also ready to be translated.
  • The Core Team began a discussion on the release dates this year and the possibility of having four major WordPress releases in 2022.
  • The December 2021 edition of the Polyglots Monthly Newsletter is out.
  • The latest edition of People of WordPress featuring Collins Agbonghama from Nigeria was published recently. 
  • The Design Team summarized some of the key changes behind the Openverse redesign.
  • The following teams announced their team representatives for 2022: Themes, Support, Polyglots, and Community.
  • Version 19.0 of WordPress for Android and iOS is available for testing.

Listen to the latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast, “A Carol of Thanks,” with Executive Director Josepha Haden.

That’s all, folks!

If you have any questions, Community Team 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. are here to help. Please email us at support@wordcamp.org or join the #community-events Slack channel. Thanks for everything you do to grow and support the WordPress community—let’s keep sharing knowledge and inspiring each other with our contributions!

See you online soon!

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The following people contributed to this edition of the Meetup newsletter: @rmartinezduque @eidolonnight and @harishanker

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