The WordCamp Incubator Program has selected Montevideo, Uruguay and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to host WordCamps in 2018. The program provides a jump start for new WordPress communities where meetups have not yet been well-established. Montevideo and Kota Kinabalu were selected from a short list of 14 communities that had been whittled down from 104 applications for the program.
WordPress Community Deputies will co-lead the events and mentor a local team that will organize a one-track WordCamp with approximately 50-75 attendees. The goal is to empower the new organizers and the fledgling communities to host more local events, ideally regular meetups and an annual WordCamp. Mentors will assist in finding speakers and sponsors. A global sponsorship grant will cover 100% of the events’ costs, relieving the organizers of the burden of local fundraising.
WordPress Community Team member Rocío Valdivia announced the program’s new cities for 2018 and said she anticipates the events will happen in the last quarter of this year. Local co-leads have been charged with starting a monthly meetup group before setting a date for the new WordCamps.
Round 2 of the WordCamp Incubator Program follows up a successful run in 2016 that brought WordCamps to Denpasar, Harare, and Medellín. Harare hosted its second WordCamp in 2017 and a 2018 camp is in the early planning stages. This particular African community, along with the neighboring Nairobi community (on the short list in 2016), are strong examples of how the incubator program can provide a boost in areas of the world where the WordPress community is not yet deeply rooted.
WordCamp in Malaysia is interesting. I’m in Vietnam, so it’s easier to go there than go to EU or US.