Qualifications
Right now, only those Event Supporters, Program Supporters, and Program Managers who have been the successful lead of a WordCamp from application to conclusion in the last 5 years qualify to mentor WordCamps.
Getting Started
Once you’ve finished mentorship training, you will be able to choose an available WordCamp to mentor. If there’s a particular WordCamp you would like to mentor, let us know. You can mentor more than one WordCamp, but we don’t recommend taking on more than 2-3 at a time.
Next, you will be introduced to the lead organizer via email. You and the organizer will determine how you would like to communicate and if meetings will include just the two of you or the entire organizing team. At this time, schedule a 30-minute meeting to get know each other and decide how often you’re going to meet. Generally these meetings begin at once a month and move to every two weeks as the event gets closer. We’ve found that a video chat goes faster, but a text chat is also fine.
Remember, regular check-ins are important. They help keep planning on track and for all involved to see problems before they grow bigger.
Planning Checklist
To help you and your organizer know what planning stage you should be at, there is a Planning Checklist in the dashboard of each WordCamp website. You can access the Planning Checklist under the “My Site” sidebar menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I communicate with the organizing team I’m mentoring?
Currently our mentors use their personal email accounts to talk with their organizers. Your preferred email account will be shared with the WordCamp organizer in the email introduction. You can also chat either in the individual WordCamps Slack channels or the Making WordPress Slack channels.
Remember, the more public your communication is, the more others around you learn as well, and can be available to step in if you can no longer continue mentoring.
OK, I met with the organizing team I’m mentoring. Now what?
After you meet with the team you’re mentoring, please write a short summary of your check-in as a comment to the current Monthly Update posts on make.wordpress.org/community so that the whole team can keep up to date on each WordCamp’s progress.
Your summary could read something like this (more detail is better):
Checked in with WordCamp Narnia. They posted their call for speakers and sponsors last week and are setting a date for a speaker training event for the meetup 3 weeks from now. They have made a list of potential local sponsors, and each team member will take 3 companies to contact within the next two weeks. Logo design is in process, and they’ll review options in their next organizer meeting, which is this Monday. They hope to have the site design launched in the next two weeks.
What happens if the WordCamp organizing team I’m mentoring asks a question I can’t answer?
No one expects you to have all of the answers. If you don’t know how to advise them, ask for help in the #community-event-supporter Slack channel or email support@wordcamp.org.
This lead organizer cancelled our biweekly meeting and hasn’t replied to my emails. What should I do?
If the WordCamp organizing team you’re mentoring hasn’t been able to meet in more than a month, immediately alert the Community Team so we can reach out and see what’s up. You’re not getting anyone in trouble – you’re helping us find out what the problem is 🙂