As I said in my post over on the Moove blog, WordPress contribution comes in many forms. We have just see the first wpldn all dayer a WordPress Contributor Day held in London and it was a great day! I’m even more pleased to say that I’m not the only one saying this:
Had an hugely fun day at #wpldn — if you ever go to a contributor day, do BuddyPress if only because @pgibbs and @hnla are so lovely.
— JJ Jay (@tharsheblows) November 22, 2014
@miss_jwo @danmaby just wanted to say thanks for all your hard work on Sat. had such a fantastic time @ #wpldn contributor day 🙂
— Diane Wallace (@digidiane) November 23, 2014
Had a lovely time at #wpldn contributor day! Going to try reviewing a theme now 😀
— Jusna (@juweez) November 22, 2014
The Contributor Day would not have been possible had it not of been for several great people: Alex at City University (the venue) was incredible. He went over and above at every stage and wpldn could not have asked for a better partner when it came to the venue. Jenny Wong at Human Made was not only a passionate co-organiser but inspirational. The team leads John Blackbourn, Siobhan McKeown, Tammie Lister, Paul Gibbs and Petya Raykovska all did a fantastic job keeping us all on track and the event would have been nothing had it not of been for the attendees who created an incredible buzz though out the day. A special thank you also needs to be said for the sponsors: Campaign Monitor, SiteGround, Human Made and Moove.
Generally Contributor Days are run in conjunctions with a WordCamp, the wpldn all dayer was the second Contributor Day held in London and the first outside a WordCamp in the city. It was a risk that, happily, paid off. With almost 50 people, submitting a number of patches in the Core Team, almost a fifth of the group working on BuddyPress, a new member added to the Theme Review Team, documentation written, UX testing undertaken, the London and wider community discussed at length and two new languages added by the Polyglots team.
The intention was for wpldn to run one additional Contributor Day a year to compliment the one associated with the London WordCamp Within the wrap-up discussion among the attendees more regular contributor Days were requested. I am happy to announce that through wpldn I am now looking at the logistics of running three additional Contributor Days a year, allowing for one per quarter within London.
Want to see the wpldn all dayer in pictures? Check out Tammie’s great collection of pictures.
Organising a WordPress Contributor Day doesn’t need to be complicated and shouldn’t be daunting. Here are a few quick tips:
Venue:
You’re going to need somewhere to host all your lovely contributors. A local university, college or school is a good starting point.
Catering (optional):
This part is totally optional and by cutting it out it will reduce your workload. Just be aware that if people have to find their own food there is a chance you will loose them to the pub at lunchtime! to make you life easier I’d recommend you try and incorporate catering with the venue, word of caution; this can be more expensive but using in-house caterers makes your life a lot easier.
Sponsorship (may not be needed):
Depending on the two choices you made above you will now know if you need money to pay for it all. There are plenty of companies that want to get involved in WordPress events and I’d strongly recommend looking locally first. Failing that think about the group of people you are attracting to an event like this and the kinds of companies that are going to want to be seen are hosting and marketing companies as well as WordPress agencies.
Team Leads:
On the day you are going to want to split the group up into sub groups focused on key areas within WordPress. You will find all the info you need at https://make.wordpress.org/ for these groups. Get yourself on Slack and into the various channels to see if people will get involved directly or can recommend others to contact.
Speakers (This bit’s easy):
When I say speakers, all you actually need is an open speaker (probably yourself) to introduce the day. Let people know what the day has in stall, explain about the various groups, introduce team leads, discover how many people want to work in which team. During lunch at the wpldn all dayer each of the team leads were invited to give a 5 min. ’State of…….’ their various groups within WordPres. The day will then need to end with a ‘wrap up’, this should be more of a team discussion about achievements, proud moments and thanking anyone that has helped make the day happen (don’t forget the attendees, after all the day would be nothing without them).
Promotion:
Now all the hard(ish) work is done it’s time to enjoy the fun bit….tell everyone about it! Contact other local user groups, hit twitter, discuss the event everywhere. You’re going to need some way for people to register; meetup or Eventbrite are the perfect place to start.
If you have never contributed to WordPress before a Contributor Day is the perfect opportunity to get involved.