Hugh Lashbrooke 10:24 am on December 1, 2020  

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jillbinder 6:10 pm on February 4, 2022
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Upcoming #WPDiversity Events: February 2022

Speaker Workshops

Does the thought of speaking at one of our 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. or WordCamps intrigue you? Do you think you don’t know or have anything worth speaking about?

Allyship Program

Cohorts 1 and 2 of the Allyship for WP Event Organizers are officially invited. Other folks are welcome to watch and even join in and are encouraged to join cohort 3 in March (date TBD).

Open Invitation: Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Volunteers Zoom Call

Want to see if there’s a way you could help out with the #WPDiversity working group?

The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) is having a Zoom call for the group’s volunteers, and the call is open to all in WordPress who would like to learn more about what we do and who value a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming WordPress community.

February 23, 2022 @ 5pm-6pm UTC #WPDiversity Volunteers Zoom chat

#wpdiversityworkshops

jillbinder 4:02 am on February 3, 2022
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Open Invitation: Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Volunteers Zoom Call

Curious about what we do? Want to see if there’s a way you could help out with the #WPDiversity working group?

The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) is having a Zoom call for the group’s volunteers, and the call is open to all in WordPress.

Agenda:

  1. Past: Our impact since launching in 2017
  2. Now: The 3 diversity programs that we are working on now
  3. You: Opportunities for current and new volunteers / contributors
  4. Discussion: Open floor to chat about ideas for our programs, things you are inspired to lead or contribute, etc.

We welcome:

  • All who value a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming WordPress community 
  • All levels of experience
  • All planned levels of involvement – people just there to learn more about these WordPress diversity initiatives, people ready to jump in, and people somewhere in between.

Wednesday, February 23, 2022
5pm-6pm UTC
(12pm-1pm Eastern / 9am-10am Pacific)

Zoom registration: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqce-spjMsHtQiwjK-Q7ZpzPpsGU0MSHdp

Sam Suresh 12:00 am on February 3, 2022
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Community Team Meeting Agenda for 2022-02-03

Welcome to February, friends! As you know our Community Team chat is taking place every first week Thursday of the month. 

As you know, the meeting is meant for all contributors on the team and everyone who is interested in taking part in some of the things our team does. Feel free to join us, even if you are not currently active in the team!

You will find a preliminary agenda for the meeting below. If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the team reps: @harishanker or @samsuresh. It does not need to be a blog post yet, the topic can be discussed during the meeting nevertheless. We use the same agenda for both meetings.

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. / 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. / Contributor check-ins

What have you been doing and how is it going? What did you accomplish after the last meeting? Are there any blockers? Can other team members help you in some way?

Highlights

Updated Guidelines for In-Person WordCamps and Meetups 2022

Visual representation of the guidelines for organizing in-person WordCamps in 2022

The Community team has new, mandatory guidelines for all WordCamps and 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., which include following local guidelines, checking for vaccinations where legally permissible, and mandatory masks. The area must pass the in-person checklist in areas where the venue cannot legally check for vaccination status.

2022 Community Team Goals

We have already received several excellent suggestions for Community Team goals in 2022. We have compiled these goals in the Community Team Trello Board. Next week, we will be organizing a session where 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. and anyone interested are invited to discuss specific goals. 

  • What do you think about these goals? 
  • Comment directly on individual goals listed on the Trello board or discuss your points during our team chat.

Open Invitation: Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Zoom Call

Want to see if there’s a way you could help out with the #WPDiversity working group? The Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) is having a Zoom call for the group’s volunteers, and the call is open to all in WordPress. The call will be held on February 23, 2022 17:00. To participate, register here using this zoom link. The Diverse Speaker Training group is quite active – don’t forget to catch up with their meeting recaps to learn more!

Announcements / Newsletters

Open floor

Here is your chance to bring things into discussions that weren’t on the meeting agenda. You can also use this opportunity to share anything that you want with the team. If you have a topic in mind before the meeting, please add it to the comments of this post, we will update the agenda accordingly.

Hope to see you on Thursday, either in Asia-Pacific / EMEA or America’s friendly version of the meeting!

#meeting-agenda, #team-meeting

#team-chat

Hari Shanker R 1:52 pm on February 2, 2022
Tags: 2022-team-goals, ,   

Community Team Goals 2022: Open Discussion Sessions

Toward the end of last year, the Community Team opened a call for suggestions for the 2022 Community team goals. As you can see from the comments on that post, lots of great suggestions were made! 

2022 is a unique year for the Community Team due to the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which seems to have no end! Last year, the team was lucky enough to have some excellent suggested goals, but due to the challenging nature of the year, we were not able to get to most of them. With that in mind, in 2022, let us try to finalize a small list of high-impact goals that will support and empower our resilient community. As team representatives, @samsuresh and I are going to attempt a process to gather more information around suggested goals and finalize high-impact action items for 2022, in a collaborative way. 

At this time, all suggested goals have been added to a public Community Team 2022 Goals Trello board as separate cards. Everyone is invited to open cards and add additional detail to the goal, such as (but not limited to):

  • What makes the goal important/what kind of impact the goal will have if met
  • What kind of resources the team would need to achieve the goal
  • What historical context might be important to understanding the goal
  • Whether there are any perceived barriers
  • Whether the goal is both measurable and achievable in 2022

Help us finalize the Community Team goals for 2022

Along with this Trello board, some open discussion sessions are being planned. In these discussion sessions, 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. and community team members can join to chat, ask questions about specific goals, and add details to goal cards together. 

Two of these discussions will be held as text chats during the Community Team meeting in the #community-team channel of 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/., on February 3 (Thursday).

In addition to these discussions, we are also planning synchronous discussions over video on February 10, 2022, at the same timings:

All of you are cordially invited to join us for the Community Team goal discussion sessions! 

You can either join us in Slack during the Community Team chats being held on February 3 (if you don’t have a Slack account yet, please visit: https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ to create one) or participate in our video discussions on February 10th.

If you would like to join us for the goals discussion over video on February 10th, please comment on this post expressing your interest in participating. You can also DM @samsuresh or me to participate. Details of these calls are already available in the Community 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. calendar. 

Our Trello board will remain open until Monday, February 14, so that even if you aren’t able to participate in the discussion sessions, you’ll still have a few days to add your comments to the TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. board. By Friday, February 18, the 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. will summarize our 2022 Community Team goals in a new post on our team blog.

Have any questions on the process? Do you wish to participate in the goal-setting process? Let us know in the comments! 

This post was written jointly by @samsuresh and I (@harishanker).

#goals #team-goals #2022-team-goals #2022

#2022-team-goals

jillbinder 4:52 am on February 2, 2022
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#WPDiversity Report: Allyship chat January 2022

January 2022

Allyship Program

In our 3-month Allyship program, we hold support chats in 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/. #community-events channel in months 2 and 3. We invite the current and previous cohorts to attend (cohorts 1 and 2).

Allyship for WordPress event organizers AMER/EMEA coaching and accountability Slack chat, January 19, 2022

Month 2 of the three month program.

Facilitators: @alliennimmons @jillbinder

  • Number who attended: 14
  • From number of cities: 13
  • From number of countries: 7 (Bangladesh, Canada, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Philippines, UK, United States)

Thank you

A lot of people contribute to making our events successful. Thank you to each and every one!

Upcoming: February 2022

February 10, 2022 @ 8pm-10pm CEST: Switzerland – Underrepresented Voices: Confidence and Topics for Speaking at WordCamps

February 16, 2022 @ 6pm-7pm UTC: Allyship for WordPress event organizers AMER/EMEA discussion Slack chat on #community-events

February 23, 2022 @ 5pm-6pm UTC: #WPDiversity Volunteers Zoom chat – all in WP are welcome!

February 27: Pacific Northwest – How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events – Even though it will be lead by #WPDiversity, this workshop is open to all.


If you are holding a 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. or 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. this year, we would like to help you get more great speakers. Please get in touch with @jillbinder on the WordPress Slack and we will arrange #WPDiversity speakers workshop for you.

#diversespeakerworkshopsreports, #wpdiversity

jillbinder 12:30 am on January 28, 2022
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Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) on January 26, 2022

Attending: @jillbinder, @evarlese, @juliarosia, @katiejrichards, @onealtr, @mysweetcate, @wpfangirl, @patriciabt

Start: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1643216526145700

Summary

  1. Welcome new members

  2. Updates on what you’re working on (Green: On plan. No help needed; Yellow: Not on plan but I have a strategy to get there; Red: Not on plan, no plan to get there, I’m lost!)
  • Katie will be working on Marketing doc next week
  • Oneal is helping out with a number of items including upcoming workshops
  1. Our group zoom meeting in February
  • Likely the 4th Wednesday of February
  • To talk about the bigger picture about what we are doing, chat about creative ideas together for how to make our great new programs happen, and see where the interest lies for helping out
  • We will use it as an opportunity for more volunteer outreach
  1. Recent Allyship for WP Event Orgs coaching & accountability 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/. chat
  • It was another lively discussion. Very energizing!
  • We had: 14 attendees from 13 cities in 7 countries attend
  1. Upcoming Allyship & Diverse Speaker workshops in February
  • Wed, Feb 16: Allyship for WP event organizers accountability slack chat
  • Sun, Feb 27, 2022: Community Speaker workshop for Pacific NorthWest
  • Looking at dates for an Americas / Europe workshop in Feb or early March, particularly inviting upcoming WordCamps whose calls for speakers will still be open
  • @patriciabt let us know about the Geneva calls for speakers
  1. Taking a look at the first draft of our new volunteer kit – taking into account suggestions from @oneal and @heyyearl

End: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1643220130228200

#wpdiversity

Angela Jin 8:25 am on January 24, 2022
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Updated Guidelines for In-Person WordCamps and Meetups 2022

TL;DR: The Community team has new, mandatory guidelines for all WordCamps and 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., which include following local guidelines, checking for vaccinations where legally permissible and mandatory masks. In areas where the venue cannot legally check for vaccination status, the area must pass the in-person checklist. See “New guidelines” below for full details.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent proposal for updated safety measures for WordPress events in 2022. It speaks volumes of the WordPress community that so many of contributors shared their thoughts on this topic.

Some background

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Community team has worked to continually adapt 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. program — a formidable challenge in this dynamic environment. I am grateful to the 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., organizers, sponsors, volunteers, and attendees who continue to support this team. 

It could make things easier if organizers were simply asked to follow local guidelines when planning a WordCamp. In reading comments on the recent post, I am reminded that many local governments are in similar situations: at the whim of when and what the next variant will bring, and debating best approaches to safety. 

For the WordPress Community team, the priority since the start of this pandemic has always been the safety of community members. 

To be clear, the Community team is not recommending safety guidelines outside of official WordPress events. That is best left to health professionals to determine. For the WordPress Community, another important consideration needs to be the health of the events program. As you might imagine, the people who support this program really, truly, deeply want events that connect and inspire WordPress enthusiasts to continue! Moving forward with in-person events that risk the health of community members is unacceptable, and also poses risks to the program itself. 

New guidelines 

It is with all of this in mind that the following new guidelines will be mandatory for all WordCamps, and all Meetups that anticipate more than 50 attendees.

  1. Follow local laws and guidelines. If your locality has suggested guidelines on top of mandatory ones, follow those too. 
  2. If you are in a location where local laws or guidelines require or permit venues to limit admission based on a person’s vaccination status and masking, then WordCamps can only happen in venues that are willing to provide staff to check for vaccination status at the door and to remind participants to wear masks during the event. 
  3. If your area or venue legally cannot check vaccination status, your area must pass the in-person checklist at the time of the application, and again at the time of the event. Additionally, the venue must be willing to provide staff who will remind participants to wear masks and check for temperature during the event. Organizers in these areas must be prepared to move online or cancel if the region fails the safety checklist.

Here is a visualization of these new guidelines.

The Community team will also continue to support online events at this time. If your 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. has fewer than 50 attendees, you can move forward with your event following local guidelines/laws. The Community team recommends that you organize the event only for attendees who are fully vaccinated or recently tested negative (within 2 days). 

Next steps and feedback

These new guidelines will be added to all the appropriate places in the WordCamp organizers handbook, and a summarized version of this decision will be included in upcoming Meetup Newsletters. If you have questions, concerns, or feedback, please share them in a comment on this post.

Update (25 January) 

The WordCamp and Meetup Handbook pages have been updated to reflect these changes:

WordCamp Handbook

Meetup Handbook

#meetups, #wordcamps

jillbinder 12:45 am on January 15, 2022
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Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) on January 12, 2022

Attending: @onealtr, @devinmaeztri, @evarlese, @tantienhime, @wpfangirl, @mysweetcate

Facilitator: @onealtr

Start: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1642006813086500

Summary

1. 2021 celebrations – Our work was mentioned in Matt’s 2021 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/.! Our 2021 recap post: https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/14/diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-2021-year-end-report/

3. Thank you members of our group for filling in 2021 self reviews and anonymous reviews of Jill

4. Upcoming:

– Allyship for WordPress Event Organizers Wed, Jan 19

– Community Speaker workshop for Pacific North West Sun, Feb 27

– Possibility of Diverse speaker workshop earlier in Feb

5. We are thinking of holding a team zoom meeting in place of one of the two February 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/. meetings

6. Translations – Spanish Latin America translations are complete! We are looking for volunteers to help us finish off the final items for Portuguese BR.

7. Open floor

End: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1642010316129600

#wpdiversity

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!

#meetup-organizer-newsletter
#newsletter

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

#meetups

Hari Shanker R 11:30 am on January 10, 2022
Tags: , , safety-guidelines,   

Proposal: Mandatory Safety Measures for In-person WordPress Events in 2022

Last year, the Community Team opened up a pathway to return to In-person WordPress meetups, WordCamps, and do_action charity hackathons. In addition to following local laws and safety guidelines, the Community team’s current guidelines recommend that only individuals who are fully vaccinated, recently tested negative, or recently recovered from COVID-19 could participate in in-person WordCamps. However, 2022 has brought in new challenges related to the pandemic such as new variants that are more contagious, in addition to a spike in infection rates in many regions. 

To address the safety concerns around in-person events, 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. have been discussing potential, additional safety measures for in-person WordPress events. These safety measures include:

  • Mandatory masks for all attendees (even in regions that do not have a mask mandate at this time). 
  • More prominent messaging in 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. websites, emails, and social media posts about COVID-19 safety guidelines.
  • Mandatory temperature checks for all attendees at the event (if permitted by local authorities).
  • Accessible hand sanitizing stations in the venue.
  • Maintaining social distancing practices during the event (Larger meeting rooms and seating arrangements with good spacing can be a good way to implement this).
  • Having a plan for contact tracing measures in case of infections (can be done using WordCamp registration data, 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. are a bit tricker).

I propose that, for regions that do not pass guidelines on page one of the in-person safety checklist (but where vaccines and testing are available to everyone), these guidelines become mandatory for all in-person WordPress events, going forward.

In addition to these proposed guidelines, I also recommend that we remove our existing guideline of allowing recent-recovered community members from attending a WordPress event since new COVID variants like Omicron are known to cause reinfection.

Please note: These guidelines are in addition to any local laws for events.
For example, if a region requires mandatory vaccination proof for attending the event, organizers must be willing to verify the same, even though they are not a part of our guidelines. Alternatively, even if a region does not have a mask mandate, organizers must be willing to enforce the same for their event since our guidelines specify the same. 

To support organizers in these important safety measures, 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. is prepared to budget for additional safety measures such as free masks (providing masks as attendee swag for example), hand sanitizing stations, etc. The Community Team is also continuing to support online events, and encourage your community to explore multiple ways to connect online. 

Please share your thoughts

What questions or concerns do you have about the proposed guidelines? What more can WordPress Community Team do to support organizers in organizing safe in-person WordPress events? If you are planning an in-person WordPress event, what safety guidelines would you follow? Please respond in the comments with your thoughts by January 22, 2022. Based on your feedback, the team will finalize the guidelines and publish them in our handbook by early February 2022. 

This post was jointly written by: @angelasjin @harishanker @mauteri @mariaojob @mpc @samsuresh @sippis @sunsand187 @tacoverdo and @yoga1103 

#in-person #meetups #wordcamps #safety-guidelines