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- Issue #120 Loop WP
Hi, friend. 👋
Welcome to Issue #120 of Loop WP!
Last week, we discussed WordCamps’ dramatic decrease year over year. What problems do they face, and what could be changed to improve WordCamp growth?
This week, I was going to discuss “Accessibility”, but I will move that to a later issue.
Instead, I wanted to share some community resources that address awareness around event promotions (e.g. WordCamps and Meetups) within the WordPress Community.
Let’s go! 👇
WordCamp Cape Town
Before we look at the resources, last week’s issue was inspired by the unfortunate cancellation of WordCamp Netherlands, which was sad to hear.
Since then, the good news is that reading about the first WordCamp Cape Town in five years was wonderful, and the momentum building was impressive.
🎉 Massive congratulations to Jonathan Bossenger.
This image is copyrighted to WordCamp Cape Town.
Some Quick Event Updates from WordPress
🚨 Julia Golomb proposed changes to the Venue Policy for WordCamps and Meetups. After community feedback, those changes are now being implemented.
🧠 After last week’s newsletter, I discovered an article by Isotta Peira on WordPress Meetup Trends at Make WordPress.
WordPress has also published the latest Community Update. The stats for WordCamps aren’t as good as Meetups, but overall, there is some positivity. 💪
WordCamp and Event Resources
⚡️ I mentioned in last week’s newsletter that one of the things WordPress and WordCamp could do was improve their marketing around WordCamps.
One of the biggest improvements WordPress could make is to make it easier to find all of its announcements and information about events.
(🤷♂️ Look at the links above and the Meetup section later in this newsletter; you will see announcements and resources are very scattered.)
However, some excellent resources in the Community already do this in a much better (and complimentary) way than WordPress.
I wanted to draw your attention to those, especially if you're going to attend a community event. 👇
The WP World
Marcus Burnette, who created the WP World, has some big plans for the site, which is brilliant for finding a WordPress community near you and more.
🌍 The WP World has grown over the last couple of years and changed dramatically while constantly adding new features to make finding a local WordPress even easier.
(It also has a convenient Event Archive.)
The WP Weekly
The WP Weekly is a weekly newsletter about WordPress from Davinder Singh Kainth. It has an “Upcoming Events” section at the bottom of each newsletter.
📰 The WP Weekly website has a Community Tools section with many resources, particularly the “People Focus” section.
(Some links in this section of the WP Weekly need updating.)
Honourable Mentions
It’s worth quickly noting a couple of other resources in the WordPress community. 👇
WP Speakers
The Repository
The Repository is another weekly WordPress newsletter with a dedicated Community section in the newsletter.
🤓 It also has a great blog, and the most recent post about WordCamp Europe 2024
Post Status
Post Status has a dedicated WordPress Community section, which is very informative.
⚡️ Our following resource is from WordPress itself.
Meetup
ℹ️ Meetup is the official platform for organising and attending WordPress events, and there are a few specific pages you should check out.
Beginning with what Meetups are and how you can apply to host:
Then you can find WordPress events in your area using the links below:
That’s it for this week 👋
⏭️ I mentioned last week that I might not send a newsletter this week as I am off on holiday, but if I did, I would talk about Accessibility.
That didn’t happen; instead, we talked more about WordCamps and Meetups.
I’m unsure if I will talk about Accessibility next week (as I’m waiting on some sources of information). So, let’s leave it as a surprise. 😉
Weekly WordPress News & Tips
WordPress News & Tips are back, offering excellent and insightful content this week!
Where did it go? - Woo Express “seemingly“ disappeared without warning, but this is what happened. (WooCommerce)
Free Mockups - Amazing High-Quality Mockups For Your Websites For Free. (WP Tuts)
New to Me - Site Speed Test – SpeedGuard. (Sabrina Zeidan)
Theme JSON - Unleashing the power of theme.json: customizing your WordPress theme like a pro. (Kinsta)
Raising Prices - WordPress Inflation Is the New Reality. (The WP Minute)
Ooh, Shiny - WP Mayor has a new look, and it’s wonderful. (WP Mayor)
Perplexing Partners - Why WordPress.com is partnering with Perplexity AI. The short answer is: “You’ll be eligible for a piece of the pie, plus increased traffic to your website”. (WordPress.com)
FCP - Arguably, this is one of the most important metrics in terms of perceived performance (how fast it feels). (The Admin Bar & Brian Jackson)
Must Watch - Watch Matt Cromwell and Katie Keith’s ultimate guide on how to build a product business. (WordPress.tv)
Redesign - A Brand-New Way to Learn WordPress. (WordPress.org)
💡 This section isn’t quite back to where I want it to be yet, but it’s getting there.
✅ If you have any news you’d like to contribute friend, reply to this email and let me know.
If you have a question about this email or WordPress, reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.
👋 Until next time,
Simon