Rocio Valdivia 2:17 pm on May 31, 2024
Tags: 2024-goals, challenges, discussion ( 10 )

Current challenges of WordPress Events. Shaping the future

In the Big Picture Goals 2024 post, Josepha called on the WordPress community to focus our energy on attracting new users to WordPress. Historically, our 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., WordCamps, and Flagship WordCamps have been instrumental in bringing in new WordPressers by fostering connections, sharing knowledge, and encouraging them to contribute. However, the Events program has seen significant challenges bringing new users and new attendees in recent years due to many factors. To that end, this conversation aims to examine the events program’s current state and explore what changes attract fresh users to the WordPress Project.

The Current State and Challenges

In recent years, the Community Team has revitalized the events program by encouraging experimentation and fresh event formats through Next Generation WordPress Events. However, the statistics show that while the number of events has increased significantly during our re-engagement project, the number of new attendees has also declined.

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./WP Events	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Num. Events	107	126	144	144	34	19	26	70	22*
Unique attendees	33,907	38,264	40,936	41,697	32,830	5,582*	11,088	22,637	6,425*
Tickets sold	46,794	53,048	56,234	57,892	40,939	20,930	13,149	26,090	9,821*
First timer	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	4975*	2,576*

*Partial numbers because we started tracking this in the middle of the year, the year has not finished, or due to other technical issues

Meetups	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
New groups	127	118	113	90	39	9	35	72	14
New members	136,192	107,455	71,280	36,143	20,019	3,812	5,532	7,299	5,240*
Events hosted	3,703	4,677	5,894	5,961	4,507	3,178	3,123	3,889	1,464*
RSVPs	72,043	103,915	135,524	127,502	116,046	70,853	68,971	77,246	27,824*

*Partial numbers because we started tracking this in the middle of the year, the year has not finished, or due to other technical issues

Adding to this decline in new attendees, the Global Community TeamGlobal Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. routinely hears the following from event participants:

While innovative events, like WordPress School Day and WordPress Web Challenge, have been held, most WordPress events still follow the same “one size fits all” strategy. The pandemic has altered people’s behaviors about in-person events, attendees want clear purpose and distinction in event formats and types that deliver value towards meeting their goals.
Organizer burnout has become increasingly prevalent. Organizing large events is an immense and time-consuming challenge.
Sponsorship for events is increasingly challenging to raise, despite an increasing demand. Also, there needs to be clear value or additional benefit to sponsors.

While this may sound worrisome, never fear! WordPress community members still report enjoying the experience of participating in WordPress events, and there is a strong desire to continue having them. However, change is necessary to sustainably support organizers and sponsors, to meet users where they are, and to ensure that participation in events is purposeful and conducive to achieving personal and collective goals.

Let’s Discuss!

Addressing these challenges will require collective effort and input from the entire WordPress community. Our events program has immense, untapped potential to attract attendees and bolster WordPress’ visibility. Here are a few questions to inspire some thoughts, but feel free to share whatever comes to mind!

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?
If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?
What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)
What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

We encourage you to discuss and share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences in the comments below before June 28, 2024. Your feedback will be invaluable as we work together to shape a bright future of WordPress events for our global community.

Thanks to @chanthaboune @angelasjin @nao @juliarosia @devinmaeztri @courtneypk @sarahglenn @harmonyromo @peiraisotta @kcristiano @monchomad @unintended8 @samsuresh @nukaga @chaion07 @mpc @patricia70 for helping with this post

#2024-goals, #challenges, #discussion

Jos Velasco 3:20 pm on May 31, 2024

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

Connect with my peers. At that time, the online community was very small, so I didn’t even know I could register the event officially. I was hoping to find bigger customers for my development agency.

If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

It is important to choose the right hour and day; some people won’t attend if the location is too far, the topic is not clear enough, or simply the weather is bad that day. There are topics more interesting to offer than others. Fewer people will attend too technical talks.

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

I’ve seen them do much work talking to other communities to promote the events.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

Free workshops in which you could learn how to build or optimize your website but more like a club in a long-term format.
Chris Reynolds 4:45 pm on May 31, 2024

I think you recognize this but I think it warrants being restated that how and when people choose to attend events fundamentally changed with the pandemic. I don’t have a solution to this problem. But I know that, after spending a year plus avoiding going anywhere with more than 10 people together in a group, I have personally developed habits and default behaviors that make me less inclined to go to things “in person” than I once did. At the same time, many virtual events were attempted during the pandemic (also before and after, but this was often the only option for a while) and I am far more likely to blow off, to register and never join, to only half pay attention to a virtual event than I am an in-person event. I am less engaged and whatever it is I am doing in the moment feels definitely more important, so remote-first events are not necessarily an alternative to physical, in-person events.

That said:

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

My first WordPress event (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. Utah) I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I had recently started heavily using WordPress and didn’t even know that WordCamps were a thing. When I learned I could get a free ticket for volunteering, I signed up to be a volunteer and worked a couple hours at the “Genius Bar” (later renamed to the Happiness Bar) and met Matt long enough to give him directions to the bathroom.

Mostly, having just started freelancing, I was looking to learn about what I could be doing, what I could be doing better and learning from others. But ultimately, that event led me to hanging out with the founders of Event Espresso which turned into an actual job opportunity.

If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

I haven’t organized since 2018, but the best turnout of new-to-WP attendees we had were from when we reached out to not-specifically-WP groups (student tech clubs, Girls Who Code, etc) to invite them (or give them discounted/free tickets). We benefited quite a bit from “accidental” or serendipitous attendees when we were at the University of Utah just by being on-campus. (I know there’s been much discussion elsewhere about the challenges of working with higher ed venues.)

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

Non-WP-specific topics. Things about workflows, developer tools, etc. I get the most (now) out of talks/presentations (or blogs) that talk about things that are adjacent to WordPress (like GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ actions or Composer or PHPCSPHP Code Sniffer PHP Code Sniffer, a popular tool for analyzing code quality. The WordPress Coding Standards rely on PHPCS. than I do about purely WP-centric topics (but also, I’m no longer in the demographic of “new to WP”, so I recognize that most of the time I’m not the audience at events).

But that also speaks to the value of a hard coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., very technical WP-centric event. I thought LoopConf (while it existed) was incredibly valuable. Every talk at LoopConf was speaking to me specifically, rather than a normal (even flagship) WordCamp, where it’s maybe one in every four.

On the non-technical side, I learned probably the most at an event when I went to AlterConf (when that was a thing). It was completely (or, at least, mostly) non-technical, but hearing about other people’s experiences as individuals working in tech from marginalized groups opened my eyes in many ways and changed my perspective to empower me to be more conscious of my own words and actions and how to be a better ally.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

Inclusivity! I know we try (and try hard). I have still heard feedback from friends that feel like WordCamps aren’t for them or would be welcoming. As a community that strives to be inclusive of people from all backgrounds, this is something I consistently see us falling short on. I would love to see WP events that were modeled after AlterConf as a means to combat that.

I would also love for us to learn from non-WP events that have historically bubbled up in the community (thinking about things like LoopConf, Pressnomics, Day of REST, etc) — highly technical (or, in the case of Pressnomics, highly embedded in the business around WP) that offer content that speaks to a specific audience (which, again, I think you recognize this).

Finally, I think that WordCamps perhaps have a particular association made about then by the fact of being referred to as “camps”. Historically, calling a WordCamp a WordCamp made sense. They were smaller, less formal, community-focused. I don’t think that applies to WordCamps anymore. WordCamps tend to be (at least somewhat) polished, larger (>100), with formal talks prepared in advance. This is especially true for flagship events.

Speaking from the perspective of someone who now works at a company with a deep history in the Drupal community (where DrupalCon and DrupalCamps serve very different purposes) calling WordCamp US/EU/Asia/etc a Camp is perceived very differently from any event with the word “Con” in it. I have been asked “but what large WordPress-specific conferences are there?” by event marketing staff. This is the large WP-specific conference. It doesn’t help that the difference between something that calls itself a “con” and a WordCamp also includes the difference of at least $100 or more per ticket (lower prices make it seem like a less “important” event to outsiders). Why don’t we have a WordCon (or PressCon, or WPcon or whatever)? Flagship events do not (or should not) serve the same audience as regional/local events.

I’ve written a lot so I’ll be quiet now, but this is something I’ve been thinking a lot about since the pandemic.
evimisscurls 5:02 pm on May 31, 2024

Hello, community! Hi, Rocío!

I think this is a super interesting topic to discuss. I’ll share my biased and personal opinion.

My initial motivation was multifaceted:
1. Meeting experienced people locally: I wanted to connect with local experts I could trust for collaboration, project referrals, questions, and learning. I was new to the cities where I participated.
2. Learning from others to improve: I wanted to see how other professionals used WordPress to enhance my own skills.
3. Connecting with influencers: I wanted to meet people I followed online and see if the knowledge in the WordPress community was truly democratized.

Few people attend events completely alone. It’s a social fear, even in movie theaters, it’s unusual to see someone without companions. I know this is reinforced in communities, but at large events, the possibility of connecting becomes complex. I see that many groups are formed by people who already know each other.

That’s where, I think, the organization should step in with active dynamics to encourage people to introduce themselves and connect. I love approaching people I don’t know and asking them questions. You should get many contacts from a WordPress event, not just knowledge from the talks, which is one of the main draws.

Furthermore, it’s essential to increase diversity in events. I don’t know if there are metrics on this, but the percentage of women speakers at 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 is always much lower.

In the last ones I’ve attended, I’ve been able to meet other cultural, ethnic, and racial profiles… More diverse people. But the norm remains that, for example, it’s more difficult to attract women speakers.

Why? Because of the bias of the event attendees themselves.

If I don’t see myself represented in the program lineup or the type of audience attending, why would I go? Not everyone is willing to leave their comfort zone.

I have experience in other communities where we started events only for women or diverse events, where we trained and empowered these people to foster their communication skills, making them see their value, reinforcing their self-confidence, and then inviting them to give talks at events. I’m very happy that these topics are already being addressed in the #diversity 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 of WPEspaña.

Giving visibility to local speakers and showing how they’ve grown thanks to WordPress can inspire newcomers. These “pro” profiles should share more about how they started and grew thanks to WordPress.

Personally, if WP and its community didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be working as a designer today; that’s why I like to go to events to give back knowledge, what the community has given me.

Regarding sponsorship, we need to rethink how companies present themselves at events. I think we need to go a step further and allow, even in 5-minute sessions between talks, for sponsors to explain what they do and why they’re in the community. We leave all the trust in the flyers added to the bags, but this really ends up in the trashTrash Trash in WordPress is like the Recycle Bin on your PC or Trash in your Macintosh computer. Users with the proper permission level (administrators and editors) have the ability to delete a post, page, and/or comments. When you delete the item, it is moved to the trash folder where it will remain for 30 days..

The most important point for companies at these events is branding, amplifying their brand’s reach. Mainly because many don’t have specific conversion data. So, let’s make it possible for them to get to know each other in a more open, natural, and ecological way (and offset the carbon footprint of events with pro-planet actions).

I think there can be talks sponsored by different companies, associations, or communities, as long as they are declared. I believe we should adopt protocols where each speaker declares their conflicts of interest. Instead of avoiding mentioning sponsors, let’s have transparency in which entities pay the speaker and which entities they collaborate with.

For example, I was part of the association Dietética Sin Patrocinadores in Spain, where we adopted this model because the food industry always sneaked into events in a hidden way by paying speakers.

I think it’s very legitimate for people in the community to work for the companies that sponsor, I think that brings the sponsor closer and humanizes them. That’s why I think it would be healthy to declare financial and non-financial conflicts of interest in all talks.

Having a bigger or smaller table shouldn’t be a problem, we should make sure from the organization of the events that everyone knows all the sponsors; and do it with direct actions.

I would like us all to have a more open mind. Let’s see how, why, and what resources would be needed.

I see professional profiles pointing to WordPress in a derogatory way because it has managed to democratize website creation. But we have to show them that we go much further, the possibilities of the tool. This is not just for implementers, although fortunately we have made it possible for anyone to start.

And in education, I also see a clear bias, most development courses in my environment don’t even mention WP in the curriculum. That’s why last year we brought the tool closer to young people with WordPress School Day. We have to knock on the door “toc,toc” to other more formal scales (town halls, companies, etc.). We have looked for the most motivated users, the early adopters of WordPress, those who are not afraid to take risks. Increase the late majority, who trust when their friends have tried it.

I think other event models could be interesting:

1-1 mentoring programs at events: pair experienced users with newcomers to provide personalized guidance.

Real-world projects: tell me how you’ve done it, not just how I should do it. Learning, for a long time, has been a teacher explaining something to us. We need feedback, active participation, not just 5 minutes for questions after a talk.

Beginner-focused workshops: offer hands-on sessions that teach the basics of WordPress in a step-by-step, accessible way.

Networking events: create dedicated spaces for informal conversations and relationship-building.

This is all I can think of right now. Thank you so much for opening this discussion so we can make better events. <3
- Chris Reynolds 5:57 pm on May 31, 2024
  
  The most important point for companies at these events is branding, amplifying their brand’s reach.
  
  Lack of a viable ROI is why my company (Pantheon) has avoided 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. sponsorship (as opposed to DrupalCon where, not only are they a sponsor, but they send a huge team there and book (literally) hundreds of meetings with potential customers).
Benjamin Evans 1:11 am on June 3, 2024

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

I learn new things from interacting with other tech stacks or communities at events. It would be great if there were a collaborative event where multiple 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. CMSs and communities go together to share and learn from each other.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

The Training Team has been testing a cohort learning program, and we’re seeing great engagement. We could have similar skill-development events, but in-person, too. For example, “Learn to code your first WordPress blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. in 2 days” or “2 day event: learn everything you need to know to recreate this famous website with just coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. WordPress”.
- tekNorah 4:03 pm on June 5, 2024
  
  I wholeheartedly agree with this. Especially because there are so many layoffs in the tech industry recently, people are looking for ways to upskill. Providing training opportunities at WordCamps not only provides a clear value proposition for attendees, you can also charge more (add-on) for training, which will go back into the coffers to help fund the events and offset loss in sponsorships.
Vijayan 10:04 am on June 3, 2024

IMO, if all events were hybrid i.e. local people can attend physically and long distant people can attend online, then it will attract more people to the event. Which is convenient per se.
- tekNorah 4:10 pm on June 5, 2024
  
  Hybrid is a great option. Though, keep in mind that they require some extra work and potentially venue expense to do well. A volunteer will be needed for each separate track/room to monitor and run the online portion.
  
  Also, for on-site participants, you might need to consider a portable microphone or have the on-site facilitator ask people to walk up to the podium to ask questions so that the online participants can hear the questions that are asked.
Aditya Kane 3:28 pm on June 3, 2024

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

I think I would do this very differently now than how I went about in 2013. The world is more connected and we have also had the whole Covid-19 experience.

So my reasons might not resonate much for the new people we want to include in the community to drive growth.
I think post-covid we are in a different sort of world. And we are still struggling to adjust to it.

Now a lot of people learn, network and even find communities online rather than in-person, since pre-covid.

We all were forced to do this for 2-3 years and now it’s something everyone seems to have become well accustomed towards.

I think we need to look at online resources as not rivals to in-person events but as something that is an add-on.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

We need new WordPress users to thrive in our communities. They need high interactivity at in-person events. Majority of the things they really want to look up heuristically are already online and that has 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) to such learning online, has just taken off after 2020.

Here are some ideas that I think can work and won’t need radical changes to our program.

Learning – learn.wp.org should be a big driver for community growth and events. I don’t have data but it does seem like a lot of WP training has become very accessible online.
Eg: some of the stuff Pootlepress does on their channel.

Having Fun – People having fun attracts other people — organizers, volunteers having fun, playing games at events (like we are trying something in Pune as come and build a landing page in 90 mins competition between 4-5 folks) is a big driver to people to get involved and participate.

Online muti-city events – We can think of in-person events as nodes and the online events as thread that allow people to interact regularly with each other. Maybe a Happiness Bar like online events for 2 hours once a month that gets people from several cities help each other. We did one in Pune last month and had some folks from as far as Karachi, Pakistan who showed up and we all shared our experiences about starting out as freelancers. It was brilliant.

Back to the bloggers – I also wonder if as a community as a whole are we forgetting the bloggers, writers and creatives? I do not see a lot of WP related events that center around creatives, writers and designers these days as they used to be 5-6 years ago. People who blog really are the best advocates of community growth, because they are literally running a community on their blog or social media accounts.

Local Schools – WordPress is a great place for young people to start their interaction with open-source philosophy, writing online and building things. I think a few 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. partnered with schools could really be useful. I also wonder if we could user test WordPress with under 15 children from school — who might be very well versed with computers but are not as well versed with WordPress and we could get great feedback on usage from an audience that will be the future of WordPress.
Patricia BT 12:29 pm on June 4, 2024

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. events:

Where are the numbers “new members” coming from? Meetup.com?
Consider this:
(disclaimer: it’s only what I know from the groups I attend and co-organize, so it might be a local point of view only)

Meetup website was still “a thing” in 2016. I saw a recent statistic that 60% of traffic to Meetup .com is from the USA. It feels a bit irrelevant in some other places.
We never saw most of the so called new members over the years, and no traction with the Meetup built-in newsletter
I was also guilty of joining as a member in many non-WP groups in my area (such as business, theatre, public speaking, English conversation) “just in case/interesting” and never showed up to any of their events. I suspect many people did the same with WP groups. Now less, because Meetup is probably much less used than in 2016 overall.

For this last reason, I would not consider 2016 (136,192), 2017 (107,455), 2018 (71,280) etc, as “new members” if they never showed to a WP event (unless you counted those who attended even just 1 event? in that case it counts).
Maybe it should be correlated to overall new users on Meetup (as a percentage) so we would see it’s normal that there are X% less new members to our groups if Meetup itself has X% less new users overall. Furthermore, Meetup lost 2 years of statistical data so are we sure of these numbers? We do not control our users data on a 3rd party proprietary site.

Nowadays, new people coming to our Meetup events learn about them mostly because either they saw it in their WP dashboard, or when we shared on social networks (and they have then to register to Meetup because we “force” them to do so in order to attend), not like before, like 10 years ago, when people discovered WP via Meetup when it was more used (please tell in a reply to my comment if it’s the same in your area).
Also in my city, Meetup is sometimes more seen as “something for English-speaking expats”, and less for locals.

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. events:

Organizers fatigue and too demanding WPCSWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation, created specifically to be the financial and legal support for WordCamps, WordPress Meetup groups, and any additional “official” events organized within the WordPress Community Events program. rules!
To be the lead of a WordCamp is demanding a lot of time, and for non-sponsored contributors it’s often not possible to do it alongside our day jobs, agencies, clients etc. (where being part of the organizing team without being the lead seems more doable to some people).

One of the rules is to not being able to be a lead-organizer more than twice, but then what if no one else want to be a lead?
Note: I had to “beg” a friend in Lausanne to be the lead in 2018, as I couldn’t do it, living in another city, another rule (50km and attending the Meetup every month none the less), but I helped him doing the work.

I suspect that some cities have no WordCamp anymore because there was no lead organizer to be found, and that the ones who are willing to do it are not allowed by those rules. I understand the rule to avoid gate-keeping, but then this is the result!

Difficulties as organizers:

The WordCamp multisiteMultisite Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core.https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network. has some flaws, especially about the forms, about Camptix, and not being multilingual for WordCamp events which need it (Switzerland cc @markhowellsmead, Canada cc @tantienhime, Netherlands and many others). There are workarounds and potential solutions but well, this is for +make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress./ WordCamp.

For organizers, it means more struggle, more time spent on workarounds, more time spent on attendees’ listings, communication, etc. with the results of potentially not wanting to do it again!

And I’m talking here about local/regional WordCamp events, not even the flagships where managing big numbers of attendees, sponsors and speakers could benefit another system. cc @malgra

So that struggle + the fact that we pay as everyone else for our travel expenses to get to the flagship event can be hard on non-sponsored organizers.

Attendance at WordCamp events:

I cannot really comment on this as it has been stable numbers for us locally (WordCamp events in Switzerland).
About WordCamp Europe, this year we are over Porto’s number of ticket sales, getting close to Athens’ and only a few hundreds less than Berlin in 2019 (highest number with 3258 tickets sold) and still selling 1 week before the event (maybe @unintended8 can comment further on that). And a lot more people would attend if they didn’t have issues to get their Schengen visa. I really don’t feel a trend down here.

All together:

Pandemic related: it changed people, priorities changed, people got used to do online and less in-person, especially for monthly Meetup events.
Non-pandemic related: yes there is a trend down for monthly events, and number of WordCamp events, for some of the reasons I mentioned above and probably many more I did not think about.

Now your questions:

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

I believe circumstances in 2013 were very different, I was hoping to meet like-minded people and learn about WordPress. Nowadays people can learn all online for example learn.wordpress.org is a great resource as well as many Youtube channels. If they are not the “social type” they might prefer that way (again, the pandemic made some people prefer to stay at home now).

If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

This is an issue, I feel we are always seeing the same people, and not many new ones.
There is also an issue for local WordCamp events: on a 200 attendees WordCamp, a third of them are organizers, volunteers, speakers and sponsors, not simple attendees.

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

In non-WordPress events, I see they are mostly organized by paid professionals, full time!
And marketing! I commented on one of the +make.wordpress.org/media-corps/ posts about a young attendee of the Switzerland Community Day, saying that having influencers on short video social media would be a gamechanger! That’s where the younger generation is and where competing platforms are!

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

The Nextgen events pilot, and the result with doing all kind of events is great and I think focused events might gain a growing interest and attract new people. Maybe people are fed up of the similar format, thus events for professionals might bring companies to events with focus on topics such as marketing, SEO, agencies, hiring, etc

Thank you for addressing this topic in this post!
Mustaasam Saleem 2:13 pm on June 4, 2024

My experience running local 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. aligns with the challenges mentioned. We had a good number of first-timers, but retention was low despite varied topics and a welcoming atmosphere.

This must be because they (attendees) are already familiar with and working with WordPress.

To attract new people, how about we focus on collaboration with educational institutions? We could co-host workshops or guest lectures at design schools, coding boot camps, or even marketing/business schools. This would introduce WordPress to new people.

However, a one-off class might not be enough. To keep them engaged, we can extend the learning journey.

Our meetups could offer follow-up workshops that build on the introductory material, providing a reason for newcomers to return and develop their skills.

By focusing on student interests, creating a beginner-friendly environment, and showcasing career opportunities in WordPress, we can transform these meetups into a valuable stepping stone for new users.

Partnering with educational institutions and conducting follow-up workshops can further strengthen this approach.

I believe this strategy has the potential to attract new users and cultivate a thriving WordPress community within our local area.
- ateeq625 7:43 am on June 6, 2024
  
  My experience running local 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. aligns with the challenges mentioned. We had a good number of first-timers, but retention was low despite varied topics and a welcoming atmosphere.
  
  This must be because they (attendees) are already familiar with and working with WordPress.
  
  To attract new people, how about we focus on collaboration with educational institutions? We could co-host workshops or guest lectures at design schools, coding boot camps, or even marketing/business schools. This would introduce WordPress to new people.
  
  However, a one-off class might not be enough. To keep them engaged, we can extend the learning journey.
  
  Our meetups could offer follow-up workshops that build on the introductory material, providing a reason for newcomers to return and develop their skills.
  
  By focusing on student interests, creating a beginner-friendly environment, and showcasing career opportunities in WordPress, we can transform these meetups into a valuable stepping stone for new users.
  
  Partnering with educational institutions and conducting follow-up workshops can further strengthen this approach.
  
  I believe this strategy has the potential to attract new users and cultivate a thriving WordPress community within our local area.
  
  Absolutely! Partnering with educational institutions is a fantastic idea to attract new users to our meetups. Co-hosting workshops or guest lectures at design schools, coding boot camps, or marketing/business schools can introduce WordPress to a fresh audience. To ensure engagement, we can offer follow-up workshops that build on introductory material, providing newcomers with reasons to return and develop their skills. By focusing on student interests and showcasing career opportunities in WordPress, we can create a beginner-friendly environment that nurtures a thriving local WordPress community. Partnering with educational institutions and conducting follow-up workshops can further strengthen this approach. I’m excited about the potential for growth with this strategy!
Lidia Arroyo Vargas 7:20 pm on June 4, 2024

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What did you hope to gain or experience?

I came to the community because I was looking for a course on WordPress, I wanted to learn and I stayed contributing because I knew it was the best way to learn and meet people with the same passion as me.

Throughout this journey, I’ve seen people attending for different reasons: looking for a job, learning how to manage their site, making connections or using what they’ve learned in their business.

If you’ve hosted an event in the last couple of years, what relevant feedback have you received from attendees new to WordPress?

WordPress, people attend events because they want to learn about WordPress, tools for entrepreneurs, but there is also a small group of people who want to learn more about development.

What unique value or benefit do you find in other non-WordPress events that you think would bring value to our WordPress events (for attendees, organizers and sponsors)?

More relaxed events, few talks, lots of networking and very timely topics. There is an interesting group of entrepreneurs or professionals who don’t know how to manage their social networks or the facilities to have a website and how to manage it. How to have a presence on the internet.

What kind of event or new content do you think would be great to attract and keep new WordPress users (of any level) at WordPress events?

It would be interesting to bring basic WordPress talks or tools for entrepreneurs to events at: Chambers of Commerce, Professional Colleges, Universities, Colleges, Entrepreneurship Fairs. Get out of the WordPress Event box and tell other professionals not necessarily in technology how to make and manage their website. Don’t wait for users to come to 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. or a new generation event, but bring talks to other trade events.
ateeq625 5:48 am on June 5, 2024
It’s clear from the data shared that there are significant challenges facing the WordPress events program, but also opportunities for improvement. As someone who values the WordPress community and its events, I’m eager to contribute to this discussion.
1. Motivation for attending: My first WordPress event was driven by a desire to connect with like-minded individuals, expand my knowledge of WordPress, and learn best practices from experienced users. I was hoping to gain practical insights, discover new tools and techniques, and forge meaningful connections within the community.
2. Feedback from attendees: As an organizer, I’ve heard from new attendees that they appreciate events that offer diverse formats, such as workshops, panel discussions, and networking sessions. They value interactive sessions where they can actively engage with speakers and fellow participants, rather than just passive listening. Additionally, they seek clear objectives and tangible takeaways from events, ensuring their time is well spent and their goals are met.
3. Learning from other events: Non-WordPress events often excel in providing specialized tracks or focused sessions tailored to different skill levels or interests. Incorporating similar strategies into WordPress events could attract a broader audience and cater to diverse user needs. Furthermore, offering opportunities for hands-on learning, mentorship programs, or industry-specific content could enhance the value proposition for attendees, organizers, and sponsors alike.
4. Innovative event ideas: To attract and retain new WordPress users, we should explore innovative event formats that blend education, inspiration, and practical application. For example, hackathons focused on solving real-world challenges, industry-specific summits featuring expert speakers, or community-driven initiatives like mentorship programs or peer-to-peer learning circles. By diversifying our event offerings and embracing creativity, we can create more engaging and impactful experiences for all participants.
I’m excited to see how the WordPress community comes together to address these challenges and shape the future of WordPress events. Let’s leverage our collective expertise, creativity, and passion for WordPress to ensure that our events remain inclusive, informative, and inspiring for years to come.
Kharis Sulistiyono 7:02 pm on June 5, 2024

Hi Rocio and Community Team!

Thanks for facilitating this discussion!

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

Learning directly and boosting self-motivation from inspiring speakers and generous, dedicated organizers and volunteers. Plus, networking.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

Looking back at the local 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. I organized, I don’t have any new content to suggest right now, but I’m open to exploring new ideas as I learn from all the comments posted here.

For the time being, I prefer sticking to the regular format while supplementing it with a few new elements to keep people engaged.

I’m wondering if asking speakers to share their biggest motivations—like why they’re still building with WordPress, why they contribute to it, and why they plan to use it in the future—could help drive more audience retention. This might make people more curious and eager to learn directly from community members at our WordPress events.

I think we need to put more effort into promoting stories from WordPress contributors and professionals, both before and after the event, to show our new friends why they love WordPress so much. We might need more local design and marketing volunteers to amplify these stories on various social media channels whenever possible.
tekNorah 9:11 pm on June 5, 2024

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

Despite being a software developer and technical project manager for WordPress for over a decade. I have not yet attended a WordPress event. But, hope to attend this year in Portland and

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

Collaborative activities often bring great value to attendees:
– Unconference: day-of sign-up, voted, chosen, assigned to a table, discussed, reports back; more like a controlled burn
– Birds of a Feather: topics are scheduled prior to the event, assigned to a table, first come first serve, discussed, reports back; more about solving a problem
– Themed Breakout: after a short lecture, a list of questions are provided by speaker/organizer to entire audience, audience breaks out into groups of 4-6, discusses each question, reports back; can be used as a ice breaker or focus group

Lightning talk: day-of sign-up, 15 mins limit, may include slides, no restrictions on topic, some of the best ones are things not directly related to tech, but about hobbies or altruism. Good to do at or near the end of the event as a closing activity. Can also be a passion project or a product pitch.

Director/Executive Dinner: Special ticketed dinner where purchasers get exclusive access to mingle with leaders in the space.

Safe/Quiet spaces: While it may not be used often, just having it available often will provide perceived value.

Premium sponsor level office spaces provide a place for sponsors to have a separate space to store extra materials or conduct a private meeting.

Being that I haven’t attended a WordPress event, it is difficult for me to know if these or something like these are done.
Rocio Valdivia 12:16 pm on June 6, 2024

For the record, as several people have asked about it:

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. / WP Events table shows totals, which means, that flagships’ numbers are included there.
Steve Mosby 4:49 pm on June 27, 2024

I hate being up close to a deadline, but glad I could add some comments now that I’ve just abouts recovered from a very busy week in Torino 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. Europe! I found it exciting to see that from our data this year, around 42% of attendees were at their first ever WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event.. With nearly 3,000 tickets sold and 96 countries represented, it shows the global reach of our flagship events.

There’s a lot of exciting knowledge, networks and friendships which come from our events (not just flagships) – but there’s also a lot of background work, organising, planning, running and evaluating – and this is usually by a team of very dedicated volunteers.

I totally agree with the burnout statement above and this year this has been a talking point within our organising team. When you’re an organiser, there’s a lot of pressure to run the event and try and put on an amazing experience for everyone. We all try and give it our best – however despite our best efforts (and people must remember we’re nearly all volunteers and trying our best with what we can do/have available to us), occasionally there is direct criticism towards teams when someone isn’t happy with what we’re trying to achieve, or may have done something differently, and this can be demotivating when you initially joined to try and make things better to be called out. We welcome applications from anyone who wants to try and improve WCEU (and our call for 2025 organisers is currently open…).

Time is a large, generally unpaid, commitment: Attendance at meetings on a weekly basis, along with doing any of the activities needed for the event take up a lot of time, and for flagships, we have several site visits to see the venue and scope/plan the layout of the event – and many people self-fund this. For me, it cost around €850 each time for Torino to visit the site and help with logistics. For our next event in Switzerland, we’ve our initial lead organisers’ visit in a few weeks’ time, and again this has cost around the same for a few days attending onsite in Basel.

However, I don’t want to sound negative through this experience as organising WordCamp Europe is something I really enjoy. If I didn’t, this wouldn’t have been my 5th time organising, and the ‘rewards’ which are intangible are difficult to put a price on. I have met some amazing friends and connections which I didn’t have before. I know who I can nag with WooCommerce issues, someone who works on a specific pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party which I use all the time – and equally, I can provide my knowledge and experience to help others along the way.

I think that we could share more between organising teams (where possible). I know that my colleague @crixu has posted here about a proposal to how Sponsors work with organisers, and the idea of forming a CRM system or connection to understand everyone’s links with sponsors – it avoids ‘cold calling’ or speaking with different people when things could be certainly centralised.

To keep on topic and help with some of the other items, here are some responses to the questions!

1. What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

I personally didn’t get involved in WordCamps until Covid. Although involved with WordPress since the mid 2000’s, I never saw the business value of the events. However once I’d volunteered to help organise during Covid, I was hooked – and then continued to apply (and be accepted) to organise future editions.

2. If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

We found that attendees really value the networking opportunities. And this year at WCEU we reduced the number of talks and workshops to accommodate more ‘hallway tracks’ and had gaming zones, a larger expo and plenty of seating for people to meet, discuss and network.

3. What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

Many do have a larger budget (partly from increased ticket prices) and have adapted into more of a ‘festival’ style approach, with talks and workshops but also interweaved with larger networking zones and themed areas. I think we started with experimenting with this in Torino and would like to see this going forward. A space for people to meet/discuss and chat is essential to foster new connections, and I know of a colleague who has been recruited to a role thanks to meeting an organisation (sponsor) at WCEU.

4. What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

I think something to target our younger generation of WordPressers is essential for us to continue to grow. I feel after nearly 20 years of using the system, I’m more of the older generation – and that younger members are going to direct the next approach of the project, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.
wcorner 9:33 pm on June 27, 2024

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

In 2014, I was working as the sole web manager in my company, responsible for designing, building and maintaining our WordPress sites. I had a sense of the wider web design and development community through online resources and podcasts, but attending my first few in-person WordPress meet-up events in London was the first meaningful chance for me to network with like-minded people and learn about subjects relating directly to my work and professional development.

If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

New attendees to WordPress Norwich have given the most positive feedback when they have been able to ask questions to or seek advice from the group. These might be more general questions to clarify their understanding rather than specific issues with their site: often something they didn’t quite understand ‘clicks’ (e.g. how different themes might work, how template hierarchy and archive pages work). Our catchment area means that some people have a long journey from surrounding towns and villages, so we have had requests to continue online access to in-person events. Currently, we are trying a hybrid approach where we have an in-person event with time for chat/networking but we live-stream the main discussion topic or talk.

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

The bigger events in my city (Norwich, UK) tend to focus on marketing, strategy, networking and pitching and usually have one or two local businesses organising and sponsoring. There has been some interest among local WP 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. members in events targeted at developers and web development agencies (e.g. front-end development or javascriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/.-focused meet-ups), since we don’t have any of those running locally at the moment. There is definitely a space for events focused on digital/web design, since we have quite a big local Art School and I know they have run some workshops with local digital professionals. I get the sense that our WordPress meetup is still treated very much as a ‘niche’ thing by the local digital/tech community. I’ve had people from 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. and SEO agencies express interest but not turn up. I realise I could do more to communicate and collaborate with local businesses, but sometimes I struggle to find time.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

I think workshops targeted at developing particular digital/web skills might be useful to bring newer people in (e.g. students), especially if they are relatively small groups where people can get feedback. This could be WP-specific, e.g. getting the most out of site editing, building custom blocks or more general topics related to digital/web which could bring in people adjacent to but currently outside of he WordPress community (web design, UX, development, digital marketing etc.).
Juan Hernando 10:23 pm on June 27, 2024
Hello team! Thanks for bringing this discussion!

I’m going to try to stick to the questions because you know this is a topic I could write books and books about… Still, because of previous mentions, I wanted to make three notes first:
- I agree that the figures are worrying, not so much in terms of 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. members (before the pandemic, there was a boom of events, and the tool worked to give us visibility; now it doesn’t) but in terms of the number of events and attendees in general.
- WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. is still growing but at a slow pace. I have always thought it is a true reflection of what is happening in local communities in general (but with everything at a logistical level multiplied by twenty).
- We need to create templates for events, more extensive checklists, beautifully and professionally designed material to use on our websites and social media, examples of CTAs that work, tips on how to manage a small marketing budget on the social media where our target attendees are, how to make videos more attractive, more preparation for mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is 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.… These resources should be designed to make the volunteer organisers’ tasks easier and more fun, not a hassle.
It is as essential to reach new users as it is to take care of the people who will get us there, which is a lot of volunteers.

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

My first event was 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. Cantabria 2015. I took a friend with me so I wouldn’t go alone. I didn’t know there was a WordPress community; I didn’t know anyone in this world, although I had been using WordPress since 2008. I saw the schedule and thought there were some talks I could use to improve my skills. It was an hour away from my house, and I went along without the slightest idea of what would happen in the next few years of my life. It also caught me at a time when I was starting my freelance career and needed to mature (contacts, learning, clients, partners), so it was good timing. If I had gone younger, I would have kept some of the info, but I wouldn’t have connected with the people as much.

If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

I help organise monthly 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., an annual local WordCamp and a flagship event like WCEU. And the feedback is different from one to the other:
- For those new to the meetup, the surprise often lies in the fact that they didn’t know the group existed before, indicating a potential for increased reach. They come for the talks and tend to stay for the networking, which provides them with valuable connections, help, support and insights.
- Newcomers to the WordCamp are often amazed by the event’s cross-thematic nature (they think it’s going to be a technical event at first), which allows them to meet people from diverse backgrounds. They find this aspect, along with the learning opportunities, to be highly beneficial and exciting.
- Newcomers to WCEU are often surprised by the dimension of WordPress in such an event and the amount of companies and businesses that are there (so yes, they can make a living with WP like so many others). And many leave inspired to foster relationships in their local groups.
What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

I love the philosophy of Mozfest, “come with an idea, leave with a community“. Many of their talks are meetings of a few people (10-20) with a common goal and a desire to contribute and collaborate. It’s like small Contributor Days around an idea or project someone proposes. In addition, in each session, there must always be some actionable elements for afterwards: what are the next steps after what we have talked about, how are we going to keep in touch, and what do we want to achieve now? Finding people that care about the same as you is really powerful.

There are still many online events that work, and (although I admit that I am the first to shy away from webinars and prefer a drink in person) we are not copying anything from all this reach, engagement, training, and followups that can be done online and in hybrid events.

Also, job search areas, spaces for demos, or looking for new, more collaborative formats so that even more people feel part of the events seems fundamental to me.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

We need specific niche-oriented events that are easily replicable or, at least, do not involve reinventing the wheel from scratch for the organisers. For example, if we called them ‘Whatever with WordPress’, we could have:
- University with WordPress. Events aimed at teachers in different faculties (technical, communication, art, design… with students who will use WordPress in their daily lives) to help them train their students: learning guides, resources, videos, and even argumentation to add more training to the official curriculum.
- Rural with WordPress. Events aimed at people living in isolated areas, meant to give them tools to make a living with WordPress and teach them how to learn, create professional networks, contact potential clients, partners, etc.
- Agencies with WordPress. Events aimed at sharing growth strategies, professional business cases, the latest advances in the platform, examples of success stories, creating collaboration networks…
In general, this could be adapted to what we would like. Still, it would need a more straightforward way to be replicated and not be a success or a failure depending on the time, energy and previous contacts that the random organisers of the city X has.

In the end, we cannot reach 1 to 1 all the people who will be new WordPress users in the future. We need to target connector people and let everything flow again. But to reach them, we need to have a lot of events and a lot of organisers who are willing to keep dedicating their time.
taisa1984 7:25 pm on July 1, 2024

What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?

I work with WordPress so it is important to me to be updated and learn more, and also as I work alone, to socialize and also to have people where I can ask to colleages.

If you’ve organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?

I recently started, and they didn’t knew about this kind of events. Lots of people don’t know.

What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)

Have collaborators that help us distribute the event information.

What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?

Events for Universities or young people.
María Valeria Di Donato 11:55 pm on July 1, 2024

Maybe it sounds a bit cheesy, but I love WordPress. Everything related to it motivates me to participate. I joined years ago, although unfortunately, I couldn’t attend in-person events in previous years because I lived in a remote area, making it very difficult to travel during the week. That’s why today, noticing a stagnation in the Community, especially after the pandemic, we have decided to organize 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 events again.

The expectation is to have that much-needed space to learn and network, as well as to attract new members. How? Through talks at different types of institutions, including workshops to engage new participants. We also like to develop surveys to understand what participants want. We have considered debates and more informal gatherings to chat without a specific lecture.

The type of events will depend on each Community, the interests of the members, and the availability to travel. In my specific case, I speak about and enhance Personal Branding, which indirectly leads to creating your own website, as well as Digital Marketing strategies. Often, starting with these topics leads to community engagement and generates new users.

Also, organizing other types of events in the name of WordPress can be a first contact, for example, celebrating a specific event. Here we celebrate Student’s Day, which coincides with the first day of spring. Or organizing a gathering for a socially relevant date.

Very interesting content provided by Rocío, and it’s always good to have metrics to evaluate actions. We must also adapt to changes, and there have certainly been many since 2016. We have a great challenge ahead, but together, with ideas, we can move forward.

Here in Argentina, although WordCamps have been held, it was a long time ago, so our main goal today is to bring the Community together again, as the previous co-organizers did an excellent job, and now it’s time to revive it. We are working on that with great enthusiasm!

I appreciate those who have shared their opinions because it’s valuable to see other experiences. That’s what the Community is all about: sharing, evaluating, experiencing, and learning.
Luis Miguel Climent 3:15 pm on July 2, 2024
Let’s not fool ourselves, the keynotes at 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., WordCamps and WordPress Events are, in general, becoming more and more predictable: someone talking on a stage and passing slides. Talk and slide, talk and slide, talk and slide, talk and slide…. Even online or recorded and streamed talks have become infected by this increasingly predictable and – dare I say it – boring scheme.

Today I want to propose a radical and absolute change in the presentations of our Events: the transformation of talks, lectures and conferences about WordPress to a more theatrical and spectacular format. In an environment where the attention of the public, especially young people, is increasingly fragmented by the omnipresence of social networks, adopting a more dynamic and immersive strategy may be the key to better communicate content and attract new audiences.

Traditional WordPress presentations often focus on technical and detailed aspects that, while important, can be tedious for the general audience. Text-filled slides and lengthy technical explanations can quickly lose the interest of attendees, especially those young people accustomed to short, visually appealing and highly interactive content on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Theater has been able to capture the attention of audiences for centuries thanks to its ability to tell stories in an impactful and emotional way. Incorporating theatrical elements into our WordPress presentations can:
1. Increase Emotional Connection: Stories and dramatization can make technical topics more accessible and exciting.
2. Improve Retention and Interest: Movements on stage, changes in tone, and audience interaction can keep attendees hooked.
3. Facilitate Comprehension: Complex ideas can be simplified and made more understandable through storytelling and visualization.
Some of the most memorable talks on platforms like TED have adopted these theatrical principles. Speakers not only inform, but also entertain and excite their audience. A great example is Ken Robinson’s talk on how schools kill creativity. His storytelling ability, humor and stage presence have made this one of the most watched talks of all time.

In a world where competition for attention is fierce, standing out and capturing the interest of audiences, especially young people, requires more than just data and graphics. Adopting a theatrical approach to our WordPress talks not only enhances the communication of our content, but also creates a memorable and meaningful experience for the audience.
- Luis Miguel Climent 3:20 pm on July 2, 2024
  
  Sorry… (This is an automatic translation from Spanish with Deepl)
Rocio Valdivia 3:31 pm on July 5, 2024

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful feedback and insights! This is extremely valuable for shaping the future of WordPress events.

I’ve prepared a high-level summary of all comments and I’ll close them after this recap, we’ll review all feedback one by one we’ll follow up about this in future posts.

Summary:

1. Key Insights and Motivations from WordPress Event Participants:
– Attendees are primarily motivated by a desire to learn and stay updated with WordPress developments.
– Networking opportunities are highly valued, especially for freelancers and those working alone.
– The community aspect is crucial, providing a sense of belonging and support.
– Participants appreciate events that offer a blend of educational sessions, networking, and practical skills enhancement.

2. Unique Value from Other Events:
– Events like Mozfest are praised for their collaborative format, where participants engage in actionable discussions and leave with tangible outcomes.
– This model emphasizes community building and ongoing engagement, which could enrich WordPress events by fostering deeper connections and collaborative projects.

3. Suggestions for New Event Formats:
– There’s a call for niche-oriented events tailored to specific groups, such as educational institutions (University with WordPress), rural communities (Rural with WordPress), and professional agencies (Agencies with WordPress).
– Replicability and ease of organization are emphasized to ensure that these events can be implemented widely without requiring extensive resources.

4. Actionable Recommendations:
– Focus on targeted outreach strategies to universities, schools, and other educational institutions to attract new users and contributors to the WordPress community.
– Utilize ambassadors or community connectors within these niche groups to facilitate outreach efforts and enhance participation.
– Implement feedback mechanisms such as surveys to understand the needs and preferences of potential attendees better.

These insights and recommendations reflect a comprehensive approach to enhancing WordPress events by focusing on community engagement, and innovative event formats tailored to diverse audience needs.

There are several insights and suggestions related to industry or more professional-oriented events within the context of WordPress:

1. Professional Development and Networking:
– Participants value events that offer opportunities for professional growth, such as learning advanced techniques, discussing business strategies, and sharing success stories.
– There’s a need for events that cater specifically to agencies and professionals working with WordPress, providing them with relevant industry insights and networking opportunities.

2. Success Stories and Case Studies:
– Highlighting real-world success stories and case studies from agencies or businesses using WordPress effectively can inspire and educate attendees at professional events.
– Sharing practical tips and strategies for business growth and client management within the WordPress ecosystem is highly appreciated.

3. Innovation and Future Trends:
– Professional events should focus on showcasing the latest innovations, trends, and future developments in WordPress.
– Discussions around emerging technologies, best practices in web development, and digital marketing strategies specific to WordPress are crucial for keeping professionals informed and competitive.

4. Collaboration and Partnerships:
– Encouraging collaboration between agencies, freelancers, and businesses through networking sessions, collaborative projects, or partnership opportunities can enhance the value of professional events.
– Creating platforms where professionals can form partnerships, share resources, and collaborate on projects can foster a stronger and more interconnected WordPress community.

5. Educational Content and Practical Workshops:
– Professional events should offer a mix of educational content, including workshops, hands-on training sessions, and deep dives into advanced topics.
– Practical sessions on topics like scaling WordPress installations, optimizing performance, security best practices, and advanced theme/pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party development are highly sought after.

Overall, insights suggest that professional events within the WordPress community should focus on providing high-value content, facilitating networking among industry peers, showcasing innovation, and promoting collaboration to support the growth and success of professionals working with WordPress.