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Destiny Kanno 1:24 am on April 24, 2026  

WordCamp Asia 2026 Community Booth: A Retrospective

We ran a Community Booth at 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. Asia 2026, a staple at past flagship events that hadn’t been present at WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event. 2025 or WCA 2026 until now. A huge thank you to everyone who showed up and staffed it: @gomp, @kel-dc, @karenalma, @clk87, @marutim, @sumitsingh, @raitissevelis, @chetan200891, @webtechpooja. 💙 Thank you as well to the 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. Events Team and WCA Organizing Team for helping make the booth an on-the-ground reality.

This post summarizes the team’s collective experience and feedback, with an eye toward making the booth stronger at upcoming flagships.

What Went Well

Despite setup and visibility challenges (more on those below), the booth delivered real moments of connection across every shift.

Contributor and program onboarding:

  • Kel brought contributors Sumit and Dilip to the booth during Maciej’s WordPress Credits slot. Sumit was already a mentorEvent 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.; Dilip signed up as a new one on the spot.
  • Sumit used his booth time to introduce several new folks to the Training Team and helped a contributor from the MiniOrange team get started with Polyglots support.
  • Kel also used her scheduled time to talk about the contributor dashboard and made several new contacts.

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. and community growth conversations:

  • Chetan had four visitors during his slot, each with distinct community-building questions: one wanted to start a meetup chapter in Tanzania, another in Indore, India, a third wanted to revive the inactive WordPress Delhi Meetup by becoming an organizer, and a fourth was looking for tips on sourcing speakers and venues (including free vs. paid options). All four walked away with guidance on starting chapters and applying as organizers.
  • Maruti spoke with a member from the Ahmedabad community about joining the WP Mentorship Program and is following up with them on next steps.
  • Maruti also had conversations with new attendees who weren’t familiar with what the community booth was — which turned into meaningful discussions about what the WordPress community is, how to contribute, and why staying engaged and attending more WordCamps matters.

Education and Campus Connect:

  • Raitis had two students come to the booth specifically to learn more about education initiatives — he guided them to the org site and pointed them toward the community panel.
  • Pooja connected with several attendees who showed genuine interest in Campus Connect and WordPress Credits, followed up with them on 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/ afterward, and started ongoing conversations. 🌟
  • Cheyne had a hallway conversation with someone who wanted to run a WordPress Campus Connect event and lit up when they heard the program existed.

Handling community inquiries:

  • Cheyne helped an attendee check on their pending Meetup application (now vetted ✅), directed someone whose 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. was flagged to the right Make WordPress Slack channel, and connected a sponsor-curious attendee to the global community sponsorship handbook.
  • The booth also served as a natural networking touchpoint, with LinkedIn connections made across multiple shifts and Automattic job inquiries fielded.

Challenges

Booth Setup and Physical Layout

The booth’s physical setup was a consistent limiting factor:

  • It was configured like a counter with a single chair, which is suitable for a sponsor’s quick pitch, but not for the open, two-way conversations the Community Booth is meant to host.
  • The booth was small and positioned at the end of a row, making it easy to miss and somewhat isolated from the flow of foot traffic. Maruti noted that being in a corner made it particularly hard for people to find.
  • A photo backdrop wall sat behind the booth, but unlike WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. 2025 Basel, where the Community Booth was centrally placed in the hall with a shared table, seating, and photo wall, WCA’s layout didn’t allow for the same open, integrated feel.
  • Showing content on a laptop from across the counter wasn’t practical; people ended up huddling on the booth side to see anything.
  • The booth appeared well-lit in photos but was noticeably darker in person.

Signage and Awareness

  • The booth was labeled simply “Community Booth”, but many attendees didn’t know what it meant or what they could get from stopping by.
  • There was no visible schedule or topic guide to help attendees know when to visit or what conversations were happening at any given time. Cheyne’s session focused on contributing to learn.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/, but without signage, no one engaged with the topic at the booth.
  • A few visitors came by while strolling the venue out of curiosity, but without context to convert that interest into a real conversation.

Staffing Gaps

  • Not every hour in the booth schedule was filled, and the booth was unattended at times, including on the second day and during high-footfall periods like breaks and post-talk windows.
  • Several staffers reported little to no engagement during their shifts, in part due to low visibility.
  • Maruti noted that on at least one occasion, multiple attendees came by at the same time, making it difficult to manage conversations alone; this is a case for having more than one person present during peak hours.

No Swag or Materials

  • The booth had no physical materials, screens, or printed resources for people to browse or take away.
  • There was no WordPress swag or stickers, and this was felt. Raitis observed that people visibly showed disappointment when they saw an empty table, and that even basic items like Wapuu stickers or pins would have served as conversation starters and a reason to linger.
  • At WCEU 2025 Basel, the community booth had exclusive swag drawn from the general event swag budget, which created real incentive to visit. Remaining items were passed to local organizers afterward.
  • Karen noted that the Career Corner used framed info sheets with QR codes to good effect and a format worth replicating.

Recommendations for Future Booths

The consensus is clear: the Community Booth is absolutely worth continuing — it just needs better planning and a more intentional setup. Here’s what we’d like to see for future flagship WordCamps.

  1. Redesign the physical space. Move away from a counter-style setup toward a table with seating on both sides, creating a space that invites conversation. Placement should be central and high-traffic, not at the end of a row or in a corner.
  2. Ensure consistent, overlapping staffing. Keep someone at the booth at all times, especially during breaks and between talks. Karen’s suggestion: staff people in 2 to 3 hour stretches as a baseline, with topic-specific guests layered on for highlighted sessions. Maruti echoes this, recommending two or three people at the booth simultaneously to handle multiple conversations without leaving anyone unattended. Pooja also recommends implementing a volunteer shift system to ensure there’s always someone present to engage with attendees.
  3. Add clear signage. Display a schedule of topics and who’s staffing the booth at each time slot (e.g., WordPress Credits, Campus Connect, Contributor Dashboard, Mentorship). Promote the schedule on social media and event signage in advance so attendees know when to come by.
  4. Bring materials. Framed info sheets with QR codes pointing to key programs (Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, contributor pathways, etc.) would give people something to engage with even when booth staff are mid-conversation.
  5. Bring swag. Even something small and exclusive to the booth drives foot traffic. Raitis suggests exploring a Wapuu sticker or pin exchange which is a simple, on-brand, and a natural conversation starter. Exclusive booth swag drawn from the general event budget has worked well before.

In conclusion

The Community Booth is a valuable community-building and direct-engagement tool; one that clearly resonates when the conditions are right. Nearly every staffer had at least one meaningful conversation: a new mentor signed up, a new Polyglots contributor onboarded, four meetup chapters set in motion, Campus Connect connections made.

With better visibility, consistent staffing, and a few engagement elements, this booth can be a genuine highlight of any WordPress event. Let’s make that happen. 👏 🙏

Get Involved

The plan is to continue Community Booth presence at future flagship events.

  1. To help make planning and execution better, I’ve drafted a Community Booth Planning Checklist that we’d love community feedback on!
  2. If you’re interested in staffing a future booth or have ideas on how to improve the experience, share your thoughts in the comments below.
Harmony Romo 7:16 pm on April 21, 2026  

Welcoming Bluehost as a 2026 Global Partner 🥳

We’re thrilled to welcome Bluehost to the 2026 Global Partners program at the Global Leader tier.

Last week, we announced the first cohort of Global Partners supporting WordCamps, 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 Campus Connect events around the world. For most of WordPress’s history, Bluehost has been part of how people would find their way into the community. Many of today’s organizers, contributors, and 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. regulars started out with a Bluehost account and a fresh WordPress install. Supporting the events where that community gathers is a natural extension of that history.

To everyone at Bluehost — thank you for investing in the community that grew up alongside you. We’re glad to have you with us for the 2026 program year.

A reminder for organizers: Please make sure Bluehost is added to your 2026 event websites. Handbook pages and Meetup group listings are being updated to reflect the addition.

Interested in sponsoring WordPress community events? Check out our sponsor page and apply today!

Juan Hernando 10:00 am on April 20, 2026
Tags: , meetup-formats, nairobi,   

Meetup Formats That Work: How WordPress Nairobi turned a meetup into a hands-on workshop

This is the first post in 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. Formats That Work, a series highlighting WordPress meetup groups that have experimented with new session formats, and what other organizers can learn from them. See the call for stories at the end of this post.

One of our big goals for 2026 is to help 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. evolve beyond the traditional speaker-led session: adding more hands-on learning, active participation, and clearer pathways into contribution. That vision is already happening in communities around the world.

WordPress Nairobi is one of them.

A facilitator talking about UI/UX during the hands-on workshop.

About the group

WordPress Nairobi has been active since around 2016, when the community began forming ahead of the first 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. Nairobi. They aim to meet at least once a month, and consistency has been central to their growth, especially after a difficult period during and after COVID, when attendance sometimes dropped to 10 people or fewer. Their most recent workshop brought in 41 attendees, and they’ve seen sessions with over 60.

That turnaround didn’t happen by accident. It happened because the organizers listened to their community and were willing to change how they run things.

The shift: from speaker sessions to workshops

The traditional speaker format was starting to feel repetitive. Attendance fluctuated, and participants expressed a desire for more interactive sessions. So WordPress Nairobi started experimenting.

Their UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing./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. Mastery Workshop is a clear example of what that looks like in practice:

  • The session opened with a short presentation on WordPress design to set the foundation
  • Attendees were divided into four groups, each with at least one organizer embedded to support participants, especially beginners
  • Each group worked on a pre-prepared website with intentional design issues, tackling one specific area: typography, mobile responsiveness, call-to-actions, or visual hierarchy
  • Groups then presented their solutions, followed by a Q&A
  • The session closed with open networking time

Total attendees: 41. Energy level: noticeably higher than a typical speaker session.

“What stood out most was how naturally participants collaborated. Even beginners felt comfortable contributing, and the group setting encouraged discussion, problem-solving, and peer learning.”
— Jesse, WordPress Nairobi organizer

WordPress Nairobi attendees in the hands-on workshop.

What it took to prepare

Workshops require more preparation than regular meetups. For this one, the team needed:

  • A pre-designed website with intentional design flaws built in
  • Clear problem statements for each group
  • Coordination among organizers to know who was supporting which group
  • A structured event flow, from introduction to wrap-up
  • More intentional thinking about group composition and time management

One thing that helped: refreshments. Not always possible, but even occasional coffee and snacks made participants feel more comfortable and welcome.

What didn’t go as planned

Some groups moved faster than others, and a few participants needed more guidance than expected. Having organizers inside each group (rather than floating) made the difference. They could adapt in real time and make sure every group reached the finish line.

The lesson: flexibility during the session matters as much as preparation beforehand.

Beyond workshops: a broader format experiment

WordPress Nairobi hasn’t stopped at workshops. They’re also experimenting with:

  • Themed meetups: eCommerce-focused sessions, beginners-only sessions, design-focused sessions, targeting specific needs rather than trying to serve everyone at once
  • Outdoor community events: including a community hike at Karura Forest, which created space for organic networking in a relaxed setting (with another one planned for May, this time contributing photos to the WordPress Photo Directory)

The insight behind the themed approach is simple: people engage more when a session is directly relevant to them. Instead of general topics, focused formats improve both engagement and retention.

WordPress Nairobi attendees in the hands-on workshop.

What you can take from this

If you’re thinking about running a hands-on session in your meetup, here’s what WordPress Nairobi would tell you:

  • Listen to your community first. Format changes work best when they respond to real feedback.
  • Embed organizers in groups, don’t just float. Mixed skill levels need active support, not just availability.
  • Prepare the materials, then stay flexible. The pre-built website with intentional issues was essential, but so was the ability to adapt mid-session.
  • Start with a focused theme. Trying to serve everyone at once is harder than designing a session for a specific audience.
  • Small touches matter. Refreshments, a clear structure, a good wrap-up… these signal that the organizers care about the experience.

Share your story

Have you tried a format that went beyond the traditional speaker session? A workshop, a hackathon, a themed meetup, an outdoor event, a contribution sprint… we want to hear about it.

This series exists to give other organizers real examples, not just theory. If your meetup has something worth sharing, get in touch with us. We’ll reach out with a few short questions and take it from there.

The more formats we document, the easier it gets for every organizer to try something new!

Jesse Mwangi

Props to Jesse Mwangi @aquila20 for sharing their experience (and photos!) and making this post possible. Jesse is a web designer and digital marketer based in Nairobi who has been part of the WordPress world since 2016, organizing meetups, speaking at WordCamps, and contributing to translation efforts in Kiswahili. Head over to his profile to learn more about his contributions.

#meetup, #meetup-formats, #nairobi, #workshops

JuanMa Garrido 1:31 pm on April 16, 2026
Tags: ,   

X-post: WordPress Core Dev Environment Toolkit: A Faster Path to Your First Core Contribution

X-post from +make.wordpress.org/core: WordPress Core Dev Environment Toolkit: A Faster Path to Your First Core Contribution

Harmony Romo 7:23 pm on April 15, 2026
Tags: ,   

🎉 Announcing our 2026 Global Partners!

We are thrilled to announce the initial lineup of 2026 Global Partners for the WordPress Community!

Please welcome Automattic (Jetpack + WordPress.com), Woo, and Hostinger as this year’s current line-up of Global Partners. 

Automattic and Hostinger will be our Global Leaders, and Woo is our Regional Powerhouse sponsor this year. If you’d like to know everything that comes with that, it’s all here.

These three organizations are the driving force behind a year full of WordCamps, 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., Campus Connect, and everything in between. Their support covers the real, unglamorous stuff that makes events happen: venue costs, catering, A/V, Meetup.com license fees for over 685 active groups worldwide, insurance, and more. In short, none of this works without them.

So: thank you. Genuinely. Every organizer who books a venue, every attendee who walks through the door of 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., every contributor who shows up to a 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., they’re all there, in part, because of what these partners make possible. That’s not a small thing.

Want to be part of the mission to expand WordPress access and education across the globe? Check out our sponsor page and apply today!

Here’s to a great 2026. 🙌

For WordCamp, Events and Meetup organizers: all 2026 event websites should display the 2026 Global Partners. For partners with multiple brands, please reach out to their points of contact to confirm which brand will be represented at your event.

The Global Sponsor information for the event organizers page and the rest of the handbook have been updated. WordPress Chapter Meetup group pages have also been updated to reflect this year’s Global Partners.

Please note that this year’s program runs from Q2 2026 to Q2 2027.

#global-sponsors #global-sponsorship

Matt Mullenweg 1:35 pm on April 11, 2026
Tags: ,   

X-post: Elevating Individuals

X-post from +make.wordpress.org/core: Elevating Individuals

Destiny Kanno 4:10 am on April 10, 2026
Tags: ,   

X-post: New AI-Powered Tools for Creating WordPress Learning Materials

X-comment from +make.wordpress.org/training: Comment on New AI-Powered Tools for Creating WordPress Learning Materials

Isotta Peira 8:21 am on April 8, 2026
Tags: make.wordpress.org/ai,   

X-post: Request for feedback: Guide to speaking at meetups and WordCamps about the Core AI projects

X-comment from +make.wordpress.org/ai: Comment on Request for feedback: Guide to speaking at meetups and WordCamps about the Core AI projects

Juan Hernando 11:33 am on April 3, 2026
Tags: , ,   

Community Team April 2026 meeting recap

This is a summary of the Community Team monthly meetings held on April 2, 2026. Both sessions followed the same agenda published on March 31. If you weren’t able to join live, this recap is for you, and we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

🗓️ Meeting chat logs

APAC/EMEA → April 2, 2026 at 12:00 UTC. Meeting host: @unintended8
View the chat log on Slack

Americas → April 2, 2026 at 21:00 UTC. Meeting host: @unintended8
View the chat log on Slack

👋 Attendance

We had participants from Spain, Bangladesh, Philippines, Germany, Switzerland, Serbia, Poland, Italy, India, Nepal, United Kingdom, Uganda, and Kenya, a good mix of time zones and corners of the WordPress world!

Thanks for checking-in @kafleg @malgra @mehrazmorshed @patricia70 @crixu @alicjamaria26 @noruzzaman @sunilkumarthz @onealtr @matteoenna @mosescursor @nilovelez @nazmul111 @r1k0 @tobifjellner @chetan200891 @aquila20 @unintended8

⚡️ Check-ins

It was great to hear from so many active corners of the community. Among the things people have been working on: mentoring 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. and 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. organizers, organizing local and regional events, sponsorship coordination, GatherPress development, WordPress Credits contributions, Campus Connect organizing, Polyglots work, and media partnerships.

A special welcome to @crixu from Germany, @r1k0 from Kenya, and @chetan200891 from India, who joined to explore for the first time, and to @alicjamaria26 from Poland, a student in the WordPress Credits program who joined at her mentorEvent 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.’s suggestion. Glad you all took the leap. 👋

🚀 Highlights

A few things worth noting from the agenda that came up during the sessions:

Community Team at WordCamp Asia 2026 (Mumbai, April 9). Devin Maeztri is co-leading the Community Team table at the Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/, and a few attendees expressed interest in volunteering on the spot. If you’re going to be in Mumbai, there’s still time to get involved.

WordCamps in Africa and around the world. @mosescursor and others shared updates on events held in Uganda and Nigeria. It continues to be exciting to see the African WordPress community grow. WordCamp recaps from Valencia and Bhopal were also celebrated, both milestone editions in their own right.

Campus Connect momentum. The program is reaching students globally. This month’s highlights included the first Campus Connect in Malaysia and a multi-campus program in Uganda led by @mohkatz (that was also around in the meeting!) that reached over 1,200 students. Remarkable scale for a still-young initiative.

📝 Open discussions

These were the two questions that sparked the most conversation.

Where should content live: 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., Make/Community, or organized chaos?

Several people weighed in (and “organized chaos” did get a vote or two). The most useful framing that emerged from the conversation came from @mohkatz, who suggested Make Community for general announcements and WordCamp Central specifically for event-related news. @nilovelez proposed that Central is worth preserving for event-specific content, with Make as the home for general team news, and that Central posts can always be linked from Make. @unintended8 floated a possible distinction: “general public” → Central, “learnings for organizers” → Make.

One thing everyone seemed to agree on: before we can make a real decision, we need to know where people actually read. Which platform has more reach? Which one drives more engagement? We don’t currently have a clear answer to that, and we probably should. One practical outcome in the meantime: it became clear that a spring cleaning of publishing permissions is overdue, nobody is quite sure who has access to write where.

The question isn’t fully resolved, what do you think? Leave a comment below.

How do we make these meetings worth attending?

This one hit close to home, especially for a meeting about meeting engagement.

@patricia70 suggested sending a direct message/email to the team reminding people that participating live and shaping the discussions matters. @unintended8 noted that many people have notifications off and may not even realize the meeting is happening, @aquila20 confirmed he’d missed it for exactly that reason.

In the Americas session, someone half-jokingly proposed a raffle among attendees. @tobifjellner offered a more structural take: with async channels available 24/7, the bar for showing up synchronously has to be high. He suggested that meetings might work better with slightly longer “open windows” (12 to 24 hours) where threads stay active and input gets collected before closing, rather than requiring everyone to be present at the same time.

There’s something worth exploring there. If you have ideas, this comment section is a good place to start.

📢 Announcements

  • 2026 Community Team Reps. Juan Hernando (yeah, me) joined the team as a new Team RepTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. for 2026, alongside the three continuing reps. The meeting was gracious enough to celebrate this, thank you all for the kind words. No pressure now 😅
  • Monthly Education Buzz Report – March 2026. Destiny Kanno’s latest report covers another strong month for the education programs. Notable highlights include ten new institutions joining the WordPress Credits program and the launch of a new Leading WordPress Education Programs course on Learn WordPress. Worth a read if you work in or near the education space.
  • Campus Connect–Specific Mentor Program retired. Its responsibilities are now absorbed into the existing Event Supporters program, simplifying the support structure for WPCC events.

🎤 Open floor

Three topics came up outside the agenda and both deserve their own follow-up.

Community Summit planning. @patricia70 shared a post she’d been working on for two months about scheduling a Community Summit alongside a flagship event in 2027 or 2028. The key point: this needs to be decided early, as it affects the host city call, venue capacity, catering, and the number of attendees. If you have any thoughts, head to that post and leave a comment.

Live captions and translation at multilingual WordCamps. @patricia70 raised the question of whether there’s a community-owned account for live captioning and translation tools, something WordCamp Switzerland would benefit from, as they plan to host speakers in English, German, French, and Italian. @unintended8 shared that WordCamp Asia is using Interprefy this year (while past editions of WCA and WCEUWCEU WordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. used Wordly AI) and that a conversation with the Central Production Team is already underway to explore a global account that multiple events could share. Switzerland and Canada were mentioned as natural early candidates apart from flagship events.

Where do declined applications go? @tobifjellner noted that there are many automated decline messages going out to cities and groups, and asked whether there’s a public resource listing the most common reasons, something that could even be linked from application forms. @unintended8 confirmed that no such resource currently exists (or if it does, it’s buried deep in the handbooks), but that the idea is solid. Common reasons include applications from people without an existing local group or wanting to organize everything alone. This might be worth turning into a proper handbook page.

💬 Join the conversation

If any of these topics sparked a thought (especially the meeting format discussion) drop a comment below. These conversations are better with more voices.

📅 Call for meeting facilitators

Community Team monthly meetings can be facilitated by any team member. It’s a great way to engage with the broader community. If you’re interested, reach out to one of the Team Reps: @adityakane, @unintended8, @thehopemonger, @webtechpooja.

⏰ Next meeting

Community Team meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month, with two sessions to accommodate different time zones, in the #community-team channel on 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/.

APAC/EMEA: May 7, 2026 – 12:00 UTC Americas: May 7, 2026 – 21:00 UTC

#community-team, #meeting, #meeting-notes

Destiny Kanno 1:00 am on April 3, 2026
Tags:   

Introducing the WordPress Facilitator Training Program

One of the most consistent things I hear from educators, community organizers, and WordPress professionals who want to bring WordPress education to their institutions and communities is some version of the same question: where do I start?

They have the knowledge. They have the motivation. What they often lack is a clear, structured pathway to go from “I could teach this” to actually teaching it.

The WordPress Facilitator Training Program is our answer to that question.

What It Is

The WordPress Facilitator Training Program is a free, open, community-powered program that equips people to teach WordPress topics to others. It is designed for anyone who wants to facilitate WordPress learning: campus educators, community organizers, freelancers, developers, designers, or anyone else who knows WordPress and wants to help others learn it.

There is no application process. No gatekeeping. No prerequisite credential. The resources are free, openly accessible, and built around the spirit of 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.: knowledge is not a scarce resource, and the more people who can teach WordPress well, the better WordPress is for everyone.

The program has three components:

  • Self-guided courses on Learn.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/ that build the knowledge facilitators need to teach a given topic
  • Facilitation guides that provide a practical, session-by-session framework for delivering 2 to 3 day workshops, written for people with no prior teaching experience
  • The WordPress Facilitator Training Program Playbook, which orients facilitators to the program, explains what is in it for them, and gives them everything they need to get started

What We Have Built

The first topic available in the program is Leading WordPress Education Programs: a 9-module, 41-lesson self-guided course covering open source foundations, WordPress basics, contribution pathways, and all three WordPress Education Programs (WordPress Credits, Campus Connect, and Student Clubs).

The course is now publicly available on Learn.wordpress.org at https://learn.wordpress.org/course/leading-wordpress-education-programs/ and is currently published and we welcome any and all feedback!

Alongside the course, we have developed:

Why This Matters

WordPress Education Programs are growing. Campus Connect events are happening at institutions around the world. WordPress Credits is bringing university students into the contributor community. Student Clubs are forming on campuses that never had a WordPress presence before.

Sustaining and scaling that growth requires more than a central team. It requires a distributed network of facilitators who are confident, prepared, and equipped to bring WordPress education to their communities independently.

The WordPress Facilitator Training Program is the infrastructure for that network. It is how we go from a program that depends on a small number of people to one that can grow wherever there are people willing to teach.

It also creates a genuine opportunity for facilitators themselves. Institutions, bootcamps, and companies increasingly need qualified people to deliver WordPress training. Facilitators who build a track record through this program position themselves for those opportunities. And as the WordPress ecosystem continues to develop credential pathways, such as the AI Leaders micro-credential piloted earlier this year at https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/ai-leaders-credential/, facilitators who complete the relevant courses will be positioned to earn credentials that carry real professional value.

Where It Is Headed

The topic library is just beginning. The first course covers WordPress Education Programs. Future topics will draw from the broad range of WordPress skills and knowledge areas already represented on Learn.wordpress.org, as well as new courses developed specifically for the facilitator program. Every new topic that gets a well-designed course and a strong facilitation guide is another topic that community facilitators anywhere in the world can teach.

If you have expertise in a WordPress topic and are interested in contributing a course or facilitation guide, the WordPress Training Team at https://make.wordpress.org/training/ is the right place to connect.

We Want Your Feedback

The Leading WordPress Education Programs course is publicly available now and under active review. If you explore it, we would genuinely love to hear what you think. A few questions we are actively looking for input on:

  • Is the course content clear and accessible for a beginner-level educator?
  • Are there topics or lessons you feel are missing or underrepresented?
  • Does the course give you enough to feel prepared to facilitate a workshop on these topics?

Beyond the course itself, we are also interested in feedback on the program structure:

  • What topics would you most like to see added to the facilitator program?
  • What would make this program more useful to you in your context, whether that is a campus, a 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., a bootcamp, or a company?
  • Are you interested in participating in an internal dry run of the 2-3 day workshop? If so, please note that we are actively looking for volunteers for this step.

Please share your feedback in the comments below or reach out in the #campusconnect channel on 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/ at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/

Get Involved

The WordPress community has always grown because people show up, share what they know, and help others do the same. This program is an extension of that. We are building something that should not belong to one team or one organization. It should belong to the community.

We are just getting started, and we would love to have you be part of it.

Thank you to @webtechpooja @devmuhib @peiraisotta @clk87 for helping review and provide feedback on various parts of the program.