New Proposal to Update WordCamp Budget Guidelines to Attract New Attendees – WP Tavern
Automattic-sponsored International Neighborhood Crew Packages Supervisor Rocio Valdivia has revealed a proposal to allocate a portion of the WordPress Occasions/WordCamp finances solely for advertising and marketing and promoting. This alteration goals to draw extra newcomers to WordPress occasions.
Rocio Valdivia defined, “The Neighborhood Crew’s purpose for upcoming occasions is to warmly welcome extra first-time attendees. We goal for over 50% of members to be newcomers whereas celebrating returning attendees. To realize this, occasion organizers ought to give attention to attracting new members by way of well-planned occasion design, messaging, and advertising and marketing methods.”
The brand new proposal reads: “A portion of the WordCamp finances could also be allotted for advertising and marketing and promoting, topic to the approval of a Program Supervisor throughout your finances assessment and funded by the International Sponsorship grant.” The quantity can vary from $50 to $400 based mostly on components just like the organizers’ expertise, price of residing, and the dimensions of the area people, and it needs to be utilized to maximise the occasion’s attain and impression.
Traditionally WordCamps have solely very hardly ever included promoting bills of their budgets.
Rocio has additionally shared some options and suggested that “Promoting funds needs to be used strategically to draw new attendees and lift consciousness.” Her recommended methods embrace itemizing occasions on on-line calendars, tech boards, newsletters and publications, collaborating with influencers and native companies, distributing posters, flyers, and banners in strategic areas, operating social media Adverts and utilizing conventional media to advertise the occasions.
This proposal assumes significance in mild of the latest stats exhibiting that the variety of new attendees has declined regardless of the variety of occasions growing throughout the Neighborhood Crew’s re-engagement mission. Automattic-sponsored Neighborhood Engagement Specialist Julia Golomb said, “This decline underscores the significance of deliberately attracting and welcoming first-time attendees. They carry contemporary views, new vitality, and potential for long-term progress of the WordPress group and consumer base.”
The proposal has sparked a number of responses and options from the WordPress group. Taco Verdonschot, group supervisor at Yoast, has recommended making a subteam of PPC specialists within the advertising and marketing/PR staff to run campaigns and likewise drew consideration to the search engine optimisation points of internet sites on wordcamp.org. “If we’re able to spend cash on promoting, perhaps we are able to additionally spend some cash/sources on optimizing our websites and website construction for on-line advertising and marketing.”, he mentioned.
Joost de Valk, founding father of the Yoast search engine optimisation plugin, additionally echoed Taco’s sentiments: “I don’t want cash. Simply want permission to put in an search engine optimisation plugin on these websites.”
group members can share their feedback on the proposal earlier than August 19, 2024.
This proposal comes after the Neighborhood Crew updated the WordPress Events venue policy final month to allow the usage of venues with non secular affiliations. The brand new coverage advises avoiding venues that preserve political affiliations, function non secular iconography, host non secular worship, or have interaction in any type of proselytizing to organizers or attendees.
By the way, WordCamp Netherlands was rescheduled from September to November 2024 attributable to low ticket gross sales. Hopefully, these adjustments will enhance the success of WordCamps.
(I’ve survived the Starvation Video games 🥳. Please bear with me as I stumble round and discover my method right here.)
