This is the home of the Make Community team for the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. project!
Here is where we have policy debates, project announcements, and assist community members in organizing events.
Everyone is welcome to comment on posts and participate in the discussions regardless of skill level or experience.
Get Involved
If you love WordPress and want to help us do these things, join in!
We are a working group within the WordPress Community team
Our mission is to create diverse speaker lineups and inclusive, diverse WP events for official WordPress MeetupsMeetupMeetup 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.
We have 3 programs for diversity at your WordPress Meetups and Wordcamps:
A 2-hour interactive Zoom workshop helping people from underrepresented groups feel motivated to start speaking at WordPress events, including overcoming impostor syndrome by owning our expertise and finding a topic.
Connecting underrepresented speakers with opportunities to speak at WordPress events.
Who it is for:
Underrepresented speakers
WordPress event organizers
Speaker mentorsEvent SupporterEvent 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.
Helping WordPress MeetupMeetupMeetup 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 WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. organizers create inclusive and welcoming Meetups and WordCamps.
We hold interactive speaker workshops for people from underrepresented groups in WordPress that bust through people’s obstacles to public speaking. Participants report a 30% increase in public speaking confidence.
Our material covers:
The Myths of Being a speaker (aka Impostor Syndrome)
Finding a Topic
Writing the Pitch
Creating Your Presentation
Becoming a Better Speaker
Creating Great Slides
We hold both live workshops and watch parties in real-time for people from underrepresented groups.
Closed group sessions help workshop participants open up about vulnerable challenges, and it gives people immediate feedback on their topics, pitches, and outlines. Both of these are key to helping people overcome Impostor Syndrome.
Benefits include:
300% increase in speaker applications from underrepresented groups.
500% increase in speakers from underrepresented groups.
More dynamic and interesting events and communities; when people see themselves represented on the speaker lineup, they want to come to your events!
“Before taking the workshops, I didn’t have the confidence for public speaking. Thanks to these sessions, I can relax, gather my thoughts, and proceed with my presentation. I would recommend this workshop to people of color in the WordPress ecosystem. You belong here; it’s a no-judgment zone where you can find your authentic voice.”
– TC, Learner Advocate, @codebrother1, USA
“The Diversity Speaker training workshops we ran at local meetups using this material were highly successful and helped us achieve an unprecedented 60% of women speakers that year. I highly recommend it to anyone who is conscientious of encouraging more women and other diverse groups to speak at WordPress events.”
– Nichole Betterley, 2017 WordCamp Seattle Speaker WranglerWranglerSomeone, usually a person part of event organizing team, who looks after certain things like budget or sponsors.
Question: “I have a meetup or WordCamp coming up and would love to have this workshop for my community. Can we do this?”
Answer: Yes! We would be happy to hold a workshop to help you get more diverse speakers for YOUR upcoming WordCamp. Or you can hold one yourself, and we’ll show you how. Reach out to the #diverse-speaker-support Slack channel.
Question: “But there are no people from underrepresented groups in my community!”
Answer: Time and again, we see people who have never attended an event before participate in this workshop and then start participating in the community.
Question: “I’m an organizer and I want to take this workshop myself. Can I?”
Answer: Most of our workshops are open to organizers as well. You can also watch one of videos online. They help you to get to know our work better, and they’re also one of the best ways to learn how to hold the workshop yourself.
We want to help community members get on stage (or screen) more quickly.
The #diverse-speaker-support Slack Channel offers a supportive space where speakers from underrepresented groups, WordPress event organizers, and speaker mentors can build community and workshop their talk ideas, pitches, and outlines. This Slack channel is for:
Underrepresented speakers looking for opportunities
Event organizers looking for speakers
Experienced speakers looking to share feedback and mentorEvent SupporterEvent 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. others
Anyone who wants to support DEI in WordPress
“I truly appreciate the existence of the Diverse Speaker group. Definitely wouldn’t have done a successful talk at WordCamp US without it. I guess I can’t say that I suck at public speaking anymore!”
– Ebonie Butler, Senior Software Engineer, Philadelphia USA
This workshop helps WordPress event organizers and contributors produce diverse, inclusive, and welcoming events. Past participants reported a 52% increase in preparedness to hold an inclusive event.
This is not only for event organizers; anyone who wants to champion a better WordPress community can attend.
We cover 5 topics:
Mindset shift
Community
Environment
Speakers and Leaders
Allyship
A month after the workshop, we hold a follow-up discussion on Slack for your questions and challenges.
You are always invited back to the workshop and Slack chats. This is ongoing work.
“I loved taking the “Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events” workshop along with other organizers and hearing what they’ve done. The checklists in the workbook are helpful in terms of tracking what I have done and what I can still improve. I’d love to see ALL THE ORGANIZERS go through this. This felt like a great complement to other material that WordPress has about not disparaging people; the focus of the Inclusion workshop was on how to be actively welcoming.”
– Sallie Goetsch, organizer, East Bay WordPress Meetup
There are many opportunities to help out from big roles to occasional help.
You’re a good fit if: You have a desire to bring more diversity to WordPress events around the world, and you want to help shape how that happens. No prior experience necessary, but a willingness to share ideas, collaborate, and help define and tackle tasks would be amazing.
If you have any questions, or if you are ready to volunteer, please reach out on the #diverse-speaker-support Slack channel.