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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.
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If you love WordPress and want to help us do these things, join in!
Mary just published the 2026 Big Picture Goals for the project, and we wanted to share what this means specifically for our Community Team work this year. Education-related goals will be discussed in their own context, so this post focuses on the major priority that affects us directly: revamping 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..
Why meetups matter more than ever
Meetups are explicitly called out as the primary front door to the WordPress community. With WordPress Credits and Campus Connect scaling quickly, we’re going to see more new people looking to get involved. Meetups need to be ready to welcome them and, critically, turn that curiosity into active participation.
As the post highlights:
“Meetups are where people build confidence, relationships, and momentum. When they work well, they turn curiosity into commitment.”
Building on what works
Many meetups are already doing great work bringing people together. In 2026, we want to expand and strengthen what’s working by adding more opportunities for active participation alongside the presentations and social gatherings that meetups already do well. This means:
Adding issue-focused sessions where attendees work together on real WordPress problems
Expanding hands-on learning opportunities tied to actual WordPress needs (complementing presentations with practice)
Providing clear next steps that move people from 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. participation into contribution on Make teams
Exploring new topics together: As AI tools become more common, meetups are natural spaces where people can learn together how these tools fit into WordPress workflows
What we need to do
This evolution requires support from us as a team. Here’s what we think our priorities should be for Q1 and beyond:
Immediate actions (Q1-Q2 2026)
Review and strengthen current meetup resources
Audit the Meetup Organizer Handbook to ensure it supports this broader approach
Identify what additional guidance organizers need for running hands-on, issue-focused sessions
Connect with our meetup organizer community
Review all existing meetup groups to understand current activity levels
Reach out to organizers to share these goals, learn about their challenges, and offer support
Contact groups that haven’t met recently to explore options: finding new co-organizers, revitalizing the group, or respectfully closing inactive chapters
Create practical resources for organizers
Templates for hands-on session formats and issue-focused meetups
Suggested workflows for connecting meetup attendees to Make teams
Sample “next steps” pathways for different skill levels
Guidance on facilitating learning sessions about emerging topics like AI tools in WordPress
Highlight and share what’s working
Identify meetups already running successful hands-on or contribution-focused sessions
Create ways to showcase these examples to inspire other organizers and 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.
Develop a system for celebrating and amplifying innovative meetup formats
Mid-term work (Q2-Q3 2026)
Enhance organizer training and onboarding
Update orientation materials to include guidance on active participation formats
Include resources on mentoring new contributors who attend meetups
Strengthen the meetup-to-contribution pipeline
Work with Make team reps to ensure they have clear onboarding for meetup attendees
Create better visibility of “good first issues” that meetup groups can tackle together
Improve coordination with Education programs
Establish clear pathways for WordPress Credits and Campus Connect participants to find local meetups
Provide organizers with context on what these program participants will need
Success metrics
We should be tracking:
Number of meetups incorporating hands-on/contribution-focused sessions
Growth in meetup activity and attendance
Organizer feedback on new resources and guidance
Success stories we can share with the broader community (meetup attendees who became contributors, innovative session formats, community impact examples)
How you can help
This is a team effort. We’d love to hear from you:
Organizers: What would help you add more hands-on, contribution-focused elements to your meetups? What’s working well right now that we should amplify?
Program and event supporters: How can we better support organizers as they expand their meetup offerings?
Everyone: What examples have you seen of meetups that successfully move people into contribution? Which groups should we be highlighting?
Drop your thoughts in the comments or pingPingThe act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” us on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. (#community-team). If you are able and willing to help with specific tasks (updating handbook content, creating templates, coordinating with Make teams, or reaching out to organizers) let us know.
Next steps
We’ll be scheduling a team discussion in the next couple of weeks to break down these priorities and assign ownership. In the meantime, if you’re organizing or mentoring meetups, start thinking about what one hands-on session could look like in your community, or share an example of something great that’s already happening.
2026 is about momentum. Meetups are where that momentum begins. Let’s make sure we’re ready to support, celebrate, and grow together.
Howdy Community Team and our hardworking WordPress Campus Connect Organizers!
To date, WordPress Campus Connect (WPCC) events have reached students across 9 locations worldwide, including Kolhapur, Zamboanga, Kathmandu, and more.
We’ve collected organizer and attendee feedback to help improve future events and scale WPCC’s impact. Here’s what we learned:
What’s Working Well
Hands-On Learning Drives Engagement: Students built live WordPress sites, explored hosting, and learned career opportunities in WordPress — particularly impactful for first-time learners.
Skilled Facilitators Make a Difference: Facilitators were highly rated for expertise, helpfulness, and ability to answer questions effectively.
Institutional Partnerships Matter: Schools with prior event experience saw smoother execution and higher participant engagement.
Community Growth: WPCC continues to reach students unfamiliar with WordPress, helping expand the ecosystem globally.
Challenges & Patterns
Technical Infrastructure: Internet speed, local installations, and domain claiming caused delays in multiple events. This is a recurring issue across regions.
Content AccessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (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): Beginners found some sessions fast-paced; more scaffolding is needed for first-time learners.
Event Messaging & Participation: Some local communities didn’t fully understand the event’s purpose, leading to lower participation.
Post-Event Follow-Up: Students expressed interest in long-term engagement, such as monthly 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., campus clubs, and multi-day workshops.
Next Steps & Action Items
To make future WPCC events even stronger, we should focus on:
Technical Preparedness: Mandatory pre-event tech checks, minimum infrastructure standards, and alternative setup guides.
Better Planning & Timelines: Shorter approval timelines and clear scheduling guidance to avoid conflicts with academic calendars.
Enhanced Participant Experience: Beginner-first content, more hands-on time, competitions, and improved physical setups.
Community Engagement: Clearer messaging for students, educators, and local WordPress communities to boost attendance.
Post-Event Continuity: Developing follow-up roadmaps, WordPress student clubs, and pilot multi-day events.
Key Takeaway: WPCC continues to deliver strong educational value and community impact. By addressing recurring technical and engagement challenges, we aim to turn these events into sustainable pathways for students to explore WordPress and the wider open-source ecosystem.
Thank you to all organizers, facilitators, and participants who make these events possible! Your feedback is invaluable in shaping the next round of WPCC events.
If you feel you have the bandwidth to tackle any of these follow up tasks, please feel free to comment on this post or reach out to Destiny directly in the Make WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
Thank you to everyone who participated in the nominations process for the 2026 team reps! It’s now time to cast your vote to decide who will take on this important role this year. (view @webtechpooja‘s nomination post here).
What do Team Reps do?
Team reps act as facilitators. They serve as communicators, helping the team stay organized and connected with other parts of the WordPress project. They guide discussions, support contributors, and make sure the team is aligned with overall project goals.
How to vote?
Voting is anonymous. Please use the form below to send your choice:
When voting, you vote for up to 2 of the nominees. Voting Open: 9 February 2026
Right now, we discourage product-specific talks at 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. or WordCamps. Even though most people use WordPress through these products. However, I think if a company is engaged with the community at the Global Sponsor level, which right now is 180k/yr (but will probably be more in the future), their product should be fair game for meetups 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. talk topics. If they’re selected as a Global Sponsor, it means they’re in good standing in the community and that their investment reflects their importance to WordPress users. Let’s make sure that the folks screening talk submissions understand this.
TL;DR: An experimental one-week burst-fire promotion for 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. Asia increased traffic and engagement but did not meaningfully change ticket purchasing behavior. The strongest results came from the WordPress News post, followed by Showcase entries and cultural blog content, while contributor stories and standard announcements underperformed. Future event marketing should prioritize well-timed News posts, showcasing sponsors and local WordPress sites, and cultural content.
Hello, Make/Community readers! @bjmcsherry and I have been actively involved in the promotion and marketing of flagship WordPress events (WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, WordCamp US, and State of the WordState of the WordThis is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/.) for the past few years, ensuring that the official WordPress marketing channels (social, email, blogs, livestreams, etc.) deliver relevant event information. We also aim to provide event-to-event recommendations in a world where each event may be in a different location and have a different set of contributors.
While our well-established, long-term drip of event content has effectively garnered attention and engagement, we recently experimented with a burst-fire strategy for WordCamp Asia (WCAsia) to increase urgency, break through the online noise more effectively, and drive additional ticket sales and sponsorships.
Our tactical goal was to make WCAsia content unavoidable by saturating the official WordPress marketing channels, generating conversation online and through word-of-mouth. To avoid completely exhausting our audience and their awareness, the experiment ran from Wednesday, 21 January through Wednesday, 28 January 2026, to maximize our use of mid-week engagement highs. We took the following tactical actions:
Increasing our social posting cadence to 3 posts per day across all platforms (including video shorts), filling all empty slots (those not taken by other announcements) with WCAsia content.
We encouraged others to get in on the excitement, further expanding our reach to other social audiences.
Social profile banners were updated to highlight WCAsia.
A reminder email was sent to global 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. participants.
Reminder emails were sent to past WCAsia attendees.
The following data is from Wednesday 21 January through Thursday 29 January 2026, and sourced from Jetpack and the internal ticket reports on asia.wordcamp.org/2026/.
Views: 15,406 (+46%)
Visitors: 5,408 (+83%)
Tickets sold: 49
Insights
Here is what we observed on the course of the experiment:
Overall impact, while comparatively impressive (visitors up 84%), was minimal in absolute terms (roughly 2.4k more visitors). Similarly, while there was a spike in ticket sales (49 tickets sold) compared to recent weeks in January, average weekly ticket sales since October were 69/week. We did not radically shift purchasing behavior.
Standard announcements (calls for organizers/volunteers, ticket announcements, etc.) and contributor stories did not perform well, and in fact performed below baseline performance for content. The poor performance of contributor stories also aligns with that of the now-discontinued People of WordPress series.
The channels driving the most traffic to the site were, in order: Search, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. Compared to the previous week, LinkedIn and X were the standout platforms during this experiment.
Social engagement rate dropped, as expected, but total engagement did increase, suggesting that we were not algorithmically punished for the increased posting cadence during this experiment.
Actions
Here is what we’ll be recommending to organizers of flagship WordCamps in the future:
Saturating our channels had little impact, so we should maintain our typical posting cadence (I.e., posting more will not meaningfully increase ticket sales; event awareness is not holding event attendance back).
Attention and contributor time are limited resources. I recommend that unpopular content, such as contributor stories, be adapted or dropped. There may be an opportunity or audience for this content if we shift focus to the work/contributions rather than the individuals.
I suggest that attention be directed to timely, broadly appealing content, such as the cultural blog posts and relevant Showcase entries. These should be produced early (months ahead of the event) and promoted often, communicating the spirit of the location and the event. Calls for volunteers and organizers can be bundled, rather than released in stages, and then announced in a WordPress News post.
For WordPress News, there should 2 News posts in the lead up to the event: 1 post calling for organizers, volunteers, sponsors, etc. early in the planning process, and another post sharing the event, calling for attendees and filling any gaps.
While much discussion has been held around marketing these events, our thinking should be shifted toward producing a marketable event. What performed well here suggests that we should lean into packaging and promoting the venue/city/culture, education/career opportunities, and sponsor/business connections.
venue/city/culture: Cultural posts have repeatedly been well-read, which is understandable given the number of travelers attending the event. These posts create excitement around visiting the host city. It would be worth exploring what kind of relationships could be built with local restaurants and businesses. Marketing not just the event, but the entire experience (inside and outside of the venue), shows promise.
education/career opportunities: The growth of WordPress education initiatives and the performance of WordPress content on LinkedIn reinforce WordCamps as a place of learning. Adapting the messaging around speakers and talks to focus on their educational value (What will I learn from this speaker?) will likely entice further ticket sales.
sponsor/business: We’ve seen both Sponsor Hall content at past WordCamps and local showcases perform well. These are strong indicators that sponsors bring not only cash, but life and engagement to the events. Sponsor and comms/marketing teams should be more closely integrated. Rather than simply announcing sponsors, we should be celebrating them.
Other data
As we continue experimenting with how to promote flagship WordCamps, and WordCamps in general, I’ll share more info here. Once some learnings and practices are well-established, this information will be moved to a more permanent handbook. In the meantime, please use the comments to ask any questions about this experiment or make additional suggestions.
Thanks to everyone who makes these sorts of experiments possible (too many to list). Without all the contributors, organizers, content authors, and designers, all of this wouldn’t be possible.
The Community Team chat takes place on the first Thursday of every month in the #community-team channel on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
This meeting is meant for all contributors on the team and everyone who is interested in taking part in some of the things our team does. Feel free to join us, even if you are not currently active in the team!
Asia-Pacific / EMEA friendly meeting:Americas friendly meeting: You will find a preliminary agenda for the meeting below.
If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the team reps: @adityakane, @Arthur, @Shusei, or @webtechpooja. It does not need to be a blog post yet, the topic can be discussed during the meeting nevertheless. We use the same agenda for both meetings.
Check-ins: Program and Event Supporters / Contributors
What have you been doing and how is it going?
What did you accomplish after the last meeting?
Are there any blockers?
Can other team members help you in some way?
Highlights to Note
Here are a few things everyone should be aware of.
Check out these new and ongoing discussions needing review, feedback, thoughts and comments.
Reporting
Open Floor
This is your chance to discuss things that weren’t on the meeting agenda.
We invite you to use this opportunity to share anything that you want with the team. If you currently have a topic you’d like to discuss, add it to the comments of this post and we will try to update the agenda accordingly.
Hope to see you on Thursday, either in the Asia-Pacific / EMEA (12:00 UTC) or Americas-friendly version (21:00 UTC) of the meeting!
In the past two years, the WordPress Community has launched a handful of education initiatives. These initiatives are designed to help introduce, onboard, and educate students into 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.
Programs like Campus Connect and WordPress Student Clubs offer students the opportunity for hands-on learning with WordPress, through workshops or ongoing 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. on campus. WordPress Credits, a contribution-focused initiative, offers onboarding and mentorship that helps learners satisfy academic requirements while directly contributing to WordPress.
Since their launch, these initiatives have grown from the community’s dedicated efforts, whether that’s organizers bringing Campus Connect to their local communities or experienced contributors sharing their knowledge as 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. in the WordPress Credits program.
Connecting with educational institutions
There are a number of ways to get involved with these programs, including program support and mentorship. Additionally, spreading the word to other educational institutions is an excellent way to help raise awareness and expand outreach to students.
If you’re interested in supporting the education initiatives through expanding their reach, here are some ideas to consider:
If you already host your local 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. or 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. on a school campus, consider sharing these programs with your contact. These programs are flexible and designed to help accommodate new organizers and small teams.
Are you connected to a school or other educational institution? Whether a teacher or an active alum, warm introductions can be a helpful way to help start any conversations around bringing these programs into the classroom.
Explore ways to integrate student participation into existing local events, whether that’s sharing an upcoming meetup with your local college or inviting student volunteers into your community events. You never know who you will inspire to create the next student group!
I want to help, but what should I say?
A good place to start is with the WordPress Education page, which offers a helpful overview of all community education initiatives. You can also use the template below for inspiration:
Hi [Name],
[Insert a short summary of your connection to the institution and why you wanted to reach out.]
WordPress is an open source software that powers roughly 43% of the web. The WordPress community recently launched several education initiatives that focus on providing students with hands-on learning experience in WordPress. These programs include:
WordPress Credits – a contribution-based program where students from partnering institutions receive onboarding, mentorship, and guidance as they directly contribute to the WordPress project.
Campus Connect – a hands on, on-campus workshop event or series led by experienced WordPress contributors or faculty.
WP Student Clubs – student-run WordPress meetups that regularly host on-campus events, providing ongoing education and leadership experience for students.
Each of these initiatives provide great opportunities for students to grow their WordPress experience, while also building transferable skills in a global open source community. If you’re interested in any of these programs, let me know and I can help connect you to the right teams to talk about next steps!
Let’s connect!
If you’re interested in helping to connect these initiatives to other institutions, reach out in the comments or in the wpcredits or campusconnectMake Slack channels with any questions. Together, we can chat through ideas on the best way to approach educational connections and brainstorm ways these programs might fit into your local schools, event series, or communities.
I’ve been going to WordCamps since 2014, and I genuinely enjoy them — they’re interesting and inspiring. The only thing that sometimes puts me off is the lack of practical, hands-on information. Admit it: you don’t see that much code, and there are very few screenshots or videos of admin dashboards in the talks.
One of the reasons is the ban on product presentations or product mentions, which I understand on one hand — but on the other hand, I don’t. As a web builder, I spend all day tinkering in the dashboard and working with well-known plugins like WP Rocket and WooCommerce. But when I’m at a 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., it suddenly becomes “taboo”. All of that made me think.. for years.
Another aspect is how passive the audience is during talks — which is of course logical, they are listening. 😃 But I’m convinced WordCampers want to see more proactivity. That’s why I’m so happy about the rise of workshops. Fantastic! Most workshops are tasks participants apply to their own situation: improving SEO or accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (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) on their own website. So everyone ends up working on their own little island… Also that made me think how i can get something common.
For years I’ve had the idea of how we could do this better: a concept that’s truly hands-on, proactive, and where everyone works on exactly the same thing.
And that’s how The National Championships Performance Optimization was born.
I built 24 identical sites and deliberately made them extremely slow. The participants’ task: transform this crappy site into a lightning-fast one.
At WordCamp Netherlands, I applied this concept — and the enthusiasm and results were even better than I had dared to hope.
In this blog post, I’ll walk through my approach, workflow, and pitfalls.
Approach:
Keep it light
First of all: the name of my concept, “National Championship,” is purely an idea. My time slot was early on day two of WordCamp — you know, the moment when plenty of people are still in their hotel beds. (Sleeping and waking up gently without kids around… I get it.)
On top of that, my session was scheduled opposite Joost de Valk. Yeah — up against a world-famous WordPress icon. So I had to come up with a grand, attention-grabbing title.
But at the same time, I want to keep it extremely light. Light and funny. When I was co-lead organizer of WordCamp Antwerp 2018, I did the intro while wearing a fries costume. That’s exactly the vibe I want to see more of. Not necessarily fries costumes — but that lightness, without stiffness.
Saving the world through code is interesting, sure. But most WordCamp visitors simply want to build great websites and shops. So just be chill — and every now and then, be a little weird.
That’s also why I made that crazy promo video.
Everyone is a winner
Attending a WordCamp is, for many people (including me), already a challenge to your imposter syndrome. There are so many smart people walking around. But with my challenge, I wanted to make sure everyone felt comfortable. Participating matters more than winning.
When you think of a prize, you might imagine a trophy or a medal. Nope. A WordPress teddy bear — that’s what you could win.
It was pretty funny (though I expected it): everyone went crazy for those WordPress teddy bears, either as a fun collectible or for their kids. I had 10 bears made.
In the end I had two winners. And the other bears? Every participant got a raffle ticket at the start. At the end, we spun the wheel — and the bears literally flew across the room to the lucky “alternative” winner.
Let everyone win — no matter their skill set.
Keep it short and interactive
To be fair: I did the challenge myself as preparation — and I found it pretty tough. After 40 minutes, I ended up with a Google PageSpeed score of 70/65 (mobile/desktop).
Here’s the time plan I used (tight, fast-paced, and with checkpoints):
10 minutes — Challenge briefing
5 minutes — Super quick performance training (including tips)
40 minutes — Participant challenge
5 minutes — Congratulate the winners
15 minutes — Review performance solutions, where both winners and participants could explain their workflow, share your learnings.
5 minutes — Raffle draw for the remaining teddy bears
The most surprising thing for me was that newcomers absolutely loved the challenge — even if their performance scores weren’t high. They still got to work hands-on, and they genuinely learned something by listening to how others had improved the site.
The more experienced WordCampers enjoyed it too, and said it was definitely something worth repeating. A lot of people told me afterwards that this was one of the highlights of their WordCamp. You honestly can’t ask for a better compliment.
Of course I’m biased, but the vibe and tension in the room… it had been a while since I’d felt that kind of excitement at a WordCamp. And that was also thanks to the incredible energy of the MC, and Marcel from Kinsta, who backed me up in case we ran into hosting issues. Both of them gave it 100%: checking in with participants, keeping time, and keeping the momentum and suspense alive.
images by Jeroen Rotty
Practical elements
Hosting was a crucial part of the whole concept. Since Kinsta sponsors a lot of WordCamps — including WordCamp Nederland — they were my first choice. Marcel Boostman was instantly super enthusiastic, just like we all know him.
The funny part was that my “crappy” site actually got pretty decent performance scores on Kinsta. So their support team received a question they’d probably never heard before: “Can you turn off all caching and make my website truly crappy?” 😅
In the end, everything ran perfectly — thanks to the near top-tier hosting package Kinsta provided for free. As i firmly believe in decent thank-yous, the sites had some Kinsta product-placements. Also their logo in my promo video. I know this is against guidelines of WordCamps and i take full credit for that. But Kinsta really delivered it (and more), and they we’re in fact a WordCamp sponsor. So i am reading between the lines here. As long as the outcome benefits waaayyy more joy, fun, hands-on learning, community mindset then commercial interest, i’ll go for it every day of the week – that is my personal opinion.
A few things I specifically wanted from the hosting setup:
the ability to duplicate sites quickly from the hosting dashboard
a rock-solid platform — because 24 sites + 40+ people unleashing crazy performance tweaks needs to be able to take a beating
I emailed all the (popular) WordPress tool makers and asked for a free bulk license. Almost every vendor agreed. That way, participants didn’t have to use their own licenses. And since all the sites were deleted the next day anyway, no data was retained.
For the scoreboard, my first idea was to measure performance myself via the Google PageSpeed APIAPIAn API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways.. But even with 10 API keys running in parallel, it still took way too long.
So instead, I built a dashboard using Lovable where teams could enter their own desktop/mobile scores — plus a screenshot as proof. Beforehand, I clearly emphasized that honesty mattered when submitting scores. Fun aspect: with every score submission, the scoreboard played for 10 seconds the national anthem. Hilarious.
Prize wheel: I built that entirely with Lovable too. Super handy — and I put it together in just 10 minutes. Embrace AI, and you can quickly set up fun little tools like this for challenges like these.
Talk to the WordCamp organizers: this concept isn’t ordinary. Organizers need to know in advance so you get a proper room, the MC is briefed, and everyone understands what’s expected. My very first ideas were even wilder, but after talking with the organizer, I realized it had to be designed in a simpler, more realistic way.
Other ideas for a group challenge?
In a performance challenge, hosting is the most crucial part. On top of that, it’s also harder to scale — for example, it’s not easy to run a performance challenge with 60–70–150+ participants at the same time.
One option could be to build “something” via WordPress Playground — where you let participants spin up a site using recipes and then run a design challenge.
And long live tool creation with AI. Think of a pixel-based measurement and comparison using AI: the participants whose result deviates the least from the original design wins.
Want to run a performance challenge at your 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. or WordCamp?
I’d be happy to help you get started. I can share the WordPress install, the Lovable scoreboard, and of course all the practical details.
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. Asia 2026 is getting ready to welcome contributors, creators, and community organizers from across the region. This year, we’re excited to highlight a growing focus on education and student engagement in the WordPress project.
As part of that effort, we’re piloting a WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship to support students who have participated in Campus Connect events and continued their journey in the WordPress community. We’re now looking for sponsors who would like to help make these scholarships possible.
About the WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship
The WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship is designed to:
Support student attendees at WordCamp Asia who were introduced to WordPress through Campus Connect events
Recognize students who have continued contributing or staying engaged with the community after their event
Provide an opportunity for students to attend WordCamp Asia who might otherwise be unable to join
For this pilot, the scholarship will focus specifically on WordPress Campus Connect event participants. Students will be nominated by Campus Connect organizers, rather than applying directly.
A small selection panel from the community will review nominations and select recipients based on:
Demonstrated enthusiasm for WordPress and contribution potential
Ongoing engagement after Campus Connect (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., contributions, student clubs, etc.)
The potential impact of attending WordCamp Asia on their growth and involvement in the project
What the Scholarship Covers
Final details will depend on confirmed sponsorship, but the scholarship is expected to support:
Travel assistance (e.g., regional economy airfare or equivalent transport)
Accommodation for the duration of WordCamp Asia
A WordCamp Asia ticket. We are aiming to support up to three WordPress Campus Connect students in this first year.
Sponsorship Opportunities
We are offering two lightweight sponsorship options, designed to be significantly smaller than standard WordCamp sponsorship packages, while still providing meaningful impact and visibility.
1. WPCC Scholarship Partner
Sponsorship amount: $3000 USD
Partner-level sponsors typically help fund one or more full scholarships, depending on final travel costs.
Recognition may include:
Logo and name displayed on the WordCamp Asia closing ceremony slide, alongside Diversity and Kim Parsell scholarship acknowledgments
Logo and name in the community blog post announcing the WPCC scholarship recipients
Recognition in Campus Connect/community updates related to the scholarship and student stories
Option to share a short, one‑sentence sponsor statement in the recipient announcement post (subject to WordPress community guidelines)
2. WPCC Scholarship Supporter
Sponsorship amount: $1000 USD
Supporter-level sponsors contribute partial funding toward one scholarship; multiple supporters may collectively fund one or more student recipients.
Recognition may include:
Name listed (text only) on the closing ceremony slide with scholarship acknowledgments
Name included in the recipient announcement post, as part of “This scholarship was made possible by contributions from…” acknowledgments.
All final sponsor benefits and presentation will follow WordCamp Asia and WordPress community guidelines and will be confirmed with the organizing team.
Why Sponsor the WPCC Scholarship?
By sponsoring the WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship, you will:
Help remove financial barriers for promising student contributors
Support the growth of new contributor pipelines through Campus Connect initiatives
Align your brand with education, mentorship, and long‑term sustainability of the WordPress project
Be visibly recognized during WordCamp Asia and in public communications about scholarship recipients
How to Express Interest
If your company (or you, as an individual) is interested in sponsoring the WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship for WordCamp Asia 2026, please:
Whether you are interested in being a Partner or Supporter
Any internal timelines/constraints we should be aware of
We’ll follow up with you regarding:
Availability of Partner/Supporter slots
Final sponsorship amount and details
Next steps in the WordCamp sponsorship process
Please note that submitting the form does not guarantee inclusion as a sponsor; final decisions will depend on timing, capacity, and alignment with WordCamp sponsorship guidelines.
Timeline
Sponsor interest period: open now, with priority given to sponsors who express interest within the next two weeks.
Student nomination & selection: handled separately through Campus Connect organizers and the scholarship selection panel.
Public recognition: sponsors will be acknowledged during the opening andclosing ceremony and in the recipient announcement post published shortly after the selection.
If you have questions about the WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship sponsorship, please let us know in the comments below or reach out to @anandau14 or @piyopiyofox on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
Thank you, @piyopiyofox, for planning and structuring the sponsorship plans for the WordPress Campus Connect Scholarship.
Welcome to the Monthly Education Buzz Report, your go-to source for highlights and updates on the WordPress Campus connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student club education initiatives within the WordPress community. This report aims to celebrate, promote, and inform individuals across the WordPress community and beyond about the diverse educational endeavors underway.
17 more events are currently in the planning stages! We are actively working to expand our global reach and bring more educational opportunities to students worldwide. Come find us in the #campusconnect Slack channel.
Event Highlights
WordPress Campus Connect continues to grow globally, with multiple successful events, new resources, and increased community engagement this month.
WordPress Campus Connect Cumilla Housing Estate School & College (Comilla, Bangladesh)
Organizers hosted WordPress Campus Connect – Cumilla, welcoming 60+ students to explore WordPress and 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..
The session covered:
An introduction to WordPress and open source collaboration
A hands-on “Build Your First Website” workshop
Contribution pathways and career opportunities in the WordPress ecosystem
A closing ceremony with certificates and recognition for top participants
Organizers reported that students were highly engaged throughout the event, showing strong interest in continuing their learning journey.
Campus Connect – Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET)
On 11 December 2025, organizers successfully organized WordPress Campus Connect – Rajshahi (RUET), with 95+ students participating.
The event focused on:
Open source contribution pathways
The evolution of WordPress and the role of GPLGPLGPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples.
Hands-on WordPress website building
WordPress in the age of AI
Ways for students to stay connected with the WordPress community
Organizers reported that the atmosphere was energetic and collaborative, with students actively engaging throughout the sessions.
Campus Connect Kathmandu (Nepal, 2025)
Successfully conducted across four local colleges in Kathmandu, engaging 350 students in total. Partner schools included Texas International College, Phoenix College of Management, Aadim National College, and Southwestern State College.
Activities included:
Interactive WordPress sessions and hands-on workshops
Building websites without coding
Learning about career opportunities in web development, UIUIUI 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./UXUXUX 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., QA, digital marketing, and open-source contributions
Community engagement, networking with 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., and practical guidance for contributing to the global WordPress community
Campus Connect Kaliro (Uganda, 2025)
Successfully conducted with 110 students, facilitated by @Stephen Dumba, @Ssebuwufu Moses, and @Mukalele Rogers.
Activities included:
Interactive WordPress sessions and hands-on workshops
Knowledge sharing and practical guidance for building websites and exploring open-source contributions
Community engagement, peer collaboration, and mentorship
Despite network challenges, the event was full of energy and excitement, with organizers stating that students expressed joy and enthusiasm, and many shared positive recommendations for future sessions.
This month marked several exciting milestones for the WordPress Credits program, reflecting continued growth in mentorship, partnerships, and student participation.
We successfully hosted our first WordPress Credits 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. Huddles, creating a new space for mentors to connect, share experiences, and strengthen support for students contributing to WordPress. You can read more about the initiative in the recap post: https://make.wordpress.org/community/2025/12/12/wordpress-credits-mentor-huddles-dec25/
The program was also spotlighted globally, with Universidad Fidélitas from San José, Costa Rica featured as a Spotlight of the Week (SOTW) 2025: https://wordpress.org/news/2025/12/sotw-2025/
Mentor capacity continues to scale. The program now has 50 active mentors, including 22 newly onboarded in the past month, significantly expanding our ability to guide and support students throughout their contribution journey.
Educational partnerships are expanding as well. Cracow University of Technology joined the program, bringing us to 7 partner institutions across 3 regions.
Student engagement remains strong, with 99 students actively contributing through the WordPress Credits course:
