The WordPress community team announced today that the next Community Summit will be held in Paris, France at WordCamp Europe 2017. Last year the Summit was held at WordCamp US in Philadelphia and the event’s website published a post requesting that those interested save the dates for June 2017 in Europe.
The Summit brings together leaders who are active in the WordPress project and community to discuss and work on issues in small groups over the span of a couple days. In the past, many of those invited to attend were not able to travel from overseas due to the financial burden and, for some, the inability to get a visa. This is the first time that the event will be held outside of the US.
“Organizing the Community Summit along WordCamp Europe 2017 is a privilege and an honor,” lead organizer Paolo Belcastro said. “I hope it will enable many people who haven’t been able to attend before to be able to attend next year for the first time.”
Jenny Beaumont, who is leading the WCEU team on the ground in Paris, said that she has never attended a Community Summit but is excited to host one in Europe.
“I find it very validating for the global WordPress community to have this summit ‘go on the road’ as it were,” Beaumont said. “A new venue, a shift in perspective, new ideas, new contributions, new dialogues. I don’t have the advantage of past experience, but it seems to be an only natural progression toward an accessible, open discussion around community, not just about international implications/needs, but also of culture and thought process.”
As the Summit is still 11 months away, dates and details have not yet been finalized but will be posted to the Make/Community blog.