New Proposal to Update WordCamp Budget Guidelines to Attract New Attendees

Automattic-sponsored Global Community Team Programs Manager Rocio Valdivia has published a proposal to allocate a portion of the WordPress Events/WordCamp budget solely for marketing and advertising. This change aims to attract more newcomers to WordPress events.

Rocio Valdivia explained, “The Community Team’s goal for upcoming events is to warmly welcome more first-time attendees. We aim for over 50% of participants to be newcomers while celebrating returning attendees. To achieve this, event organizers should focus on attracting new participants through well-planned event design, messaging, and marketing strategies.”

The new proposal reads: “A portion of the WordCamp budget may be allocated for marketing and advertising, subject to the approval of a Program Manager during your budget review and funded by the Global Sponsorship grant.” The amount can range from $50 to $400 based on factors like the organizers’ experience, cost of living, and the size of the local community, and it should be utilized to maximize the event’s reach and impact.

Historically WordCamps have only very rarely included advertising expenses in their budgets.

Rocio has also shared some suggestions and advised that “Advertising funds should be used strategically to attract new attendees and raise awareness.” Her suggested strategies include listing events on online calendars, tech forums, newsletters and publications, collaborating with influencers and local businesses, distributing posters, flyers, and banners in strategic locations, running social media Ads and using traditional media to promote the events.

This proposal assumes importance in light of the latest stats showing that the number of new attendees has declined despite the number of events increasing during the Community Team’s re-engagement project. Automattic-sponsored Community Engagement Specialist Julia Golomb said, “This decline underscores the importance of intentionally attracting and welcoming first-time attendees. They bring fresh perspectives, new energy, and potential for long-term growth of the WordPress community and user base.”

The proposal has sparked several responses and suggestions from the WordPress community. Taco Verdonschot, community manager at Yoast, has suggested creating a subteam of PPC experts in the marketing/PR team to run campaigns and also drew attention to the SEO issues of websites on wordcamp.org. “If we’re ready to spend money on advertising, maybe we can also spend some money/resources on optimizing our sites and site structure for online marketing.”, he said.

Joost de Valk, founder of the Yoast SEO plugin, also echoed Taco’s sentiments: “I don’t need money. Just need permission to install an SEO plugin on those sites.”

Interested community members can share their feedback on the proposal before August 19, 2024.

This proposal comes after the Community Team updated the WordPress Events venue policy last month to permit the use of venues with religious affiliations. The new policy advises avoiding venues that maintain political affiliations, feature religious iconography, host religious worship, or engage in any form of proselytizing to organizers or attendees.

Incidentally, WordCamp Netherlands was rescheduled from September to November 2024 due to low ticket sales. Hopefully, these changes will boost the success of WordCamps.

(I’ve survived the Hunger Games . Please bear with me as I stumble around and find my way here.)