Talk given at WordCamp Baltimore 2016 Always wanted to contribute to the community but think you have to be a developer? WRONG! Contributing is within reach of everyone. Learn about the available projects, meetups, and communities. Find the perfect place to get started and have fun.

1. CONTRIBUTE TO WORDPRESS
GET INVOLVED

2. HI!

3. IS THIS YOUR FIRST
WORDCAMP?

4. YAY! WELCOME TO THE
WORDPRESS COMMUNITY!

5. WAIT, WHAT? YOU ARE NOT
PART OF THE COMMUNITY?

6. LET’S CHANGE THAT

7. MAKE.WORDPRESS.ORG

8. MAKE: CODE

9. MAKE: CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A DEVELOPER
▸ Core
▸ Themes (review team)
▸ Plugin (developers)
▸ Mobile
▸ Meta

10. MAKE: CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A DEVELOPER
▸ Core
▸ The core team makes WordPress. Whether you’re a
seasoned PHP developer or are just learning to
code, we’d love to have you on board. You can
write code, fix bugs, debate decisions, and help
with development.
▸ Themes (review team)
▸ Plugin (developers)
▸ Mobile
▸ Meta

11. MAKE: CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A DEVELOPER
▸ Core
▸ Themes (review team)
▸ The Theme Review Team reviews and approves
every Theme submitted to the WordPress Theme
repository. Reviewing Themes sharpens your own
Theme development skills. You can help out and
join the discussion on the blog.
▸ Plugin (developers)
▸ Mobile
▸ Meta

12. MAKE: CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A DEVELOPER
▸ Core
▸ Themes (review team)
▸ Plugin (developers)
▸ If you are a Plugin developer, subscribe to the
Plugin review team blog to keep up with the latest
updates, find resources, and learn about any issues
around Plugin development.
▸ Mobile
▸ Meta

13. MAKE: CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A DEVELOPER
▸ Core
▸ Themes (review team)
▸ Plugin (developers)
▸ Mobile
▸ The mobile team builds the iOS and Android apps.
Lend them your Java, Objective-C, or Swift skills.
The team also needs designers, UX experts, and
testers to give users an smooth experience on
every device.
▸ Meta

14. MAKE: CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A DEVELOPER
▸ Core
▸ Themes (review team)
▸ Plugin (developers)
▸ Mobile
▸ Meta
▸ The Meta team makes WordPress.org, provides
support, and builds tools for use by all the
contributor groups. If you want to help make
WordPress.org better, sign up for updates from the
Meta blog.

15. MAKE: NO CODE

16. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ Support Forums
▸ WordPress TV
▸ Polyglots
▸ Accessibility
▸ Documentation
▸ Training
▸ Design
▸ Flow

17. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ Support Forums
▸ WordPress TV
▸ Polyglots
▸ Accessibility

18. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ If you’re interested in organizing a meetup or a
WordCamp, the community blog is a great place to
get started. There are groups working to support
events, to create outreach and training programs,
and generally support the community.
▸ Support Forums
▸ WordPress TV
▸ Polyglots
▸ Accessibility

19. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ Support Forums
▸ Answering a question in the support forums or IRC
is one of the easiest ways to start contributing.
Everyone knows the answer to something! This
blog is the place for discussion of issues around
support.
▸ WordPress TV
▸ Polyglots
▸ Accessibility

20. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ Support Forums
▸ WordPress TV
▸ The TV team reviews and approves every video
submitted to WordPress.tv. They also help
WordCamps with video post-production and are
responsible for the captioning and subtitling of
published videos.
▸ Polyglots
▸ Accessibility

21. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ Support Forums
▸ WordPress TV
▸ Polyglots
▸ WordPress is used all over the world and in many
different languages. If you’re a polyglot, help out
by translating WordPress into your own language.
You can also assist with creating the tools that
make translations easier.
▸ Accessibility

22. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Community
▸ Support Forums
▸ WordPress TV
▸ Polyglots
▸ Accessibility
▸ The a11y group provides accessibility expertise
across the project. They make sure that WordPress
core and all of WordPress’ resources are
accessible.

23. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Documentation
▸ Training
▸ Design
▸ Flow

24. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Documentation
▸ Good documentation lets people help themselves
when they get stuck. The docs team is responsible
for creating documentation and is always on the
look-out for writers. The blog has discussion
around the team’s current projects.
▸ Training
▸ Design
▸ Flow

25. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Documentation
▸ Training
▸ The training team creates downloadable lesson
plans and related materials for instructors to use in
a live workshop environment. If you enjoy teaching
people how to use and build stuff for WordPress,
immediately stop what you’re doing and join our
team!
▸ Design
▸ Flow

26. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Documentation
▸ Training
▸ Design
▸ The design group is focused on the designing and
developing the user interface. It’s a home for
designers and UXers alike. There are regular
discussions about mockups, design, and user
testing.
▸ Flow

27. MAKE: NO CODE
CONTRIBUTING AS A NON-DEVELOPER
▸ Documentation
▸ Training
▸ Design
▸ Flow
▸ The Flow team patrols flow across the entire
WordPress ecosystem on every device we have at
hand. We test, document, and report on the
WordPress user experience.

28. MAKE SLACK TEAM

29. MAKE SLACK TEAM
JOIN THE COMMUNITY CHAT
▸ Open for everyone
▸ 70 WordPress Channels
▸ 12,800+ members
▸ Friendly user interface
▸ Asynchronous conversation
▸ Lurking is okay :)

30. SPEAK YOUR STORY

31. SPEAK YOUR STORY
PLACES TO SPEAK
▸ Meetups
▸ Safe space for first time speaking
▸ Try out a new idea or two
▸ Get feedback from supportive audience
▸ WordCamps
▸ Formalize thoughts into a polished talk
▸ Gain visibility as a person in your field
▸ Give back to the WordPress Community

32. SPEAK YOUR STORY
POSSIBLE TALKS = ANYTHING TRUE
▸ Communities and The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense
▸ How Your Worst Clients Make You Better
▸ 7 Typography Rules I wish I Knew Before Designing a
Theme
▸ Community Spark: How to start a discussion on
community engagement
▸ Collaboration Not Competition
▸ Code is Poetry: A Musician’s Tale
▸ Finding and Maintaining Your Blog’s Voice
▸ Tracking Design Time

33. WORDCAMPS

34. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
(YOU’RE HERE!)

35. WORDCAMPS
WORDCAMPS NEAR YOU
▸ Baltimore
▸ Philadelphia
▸ Lancaster
▸ Pittsburgh
▸ Lehigh Valley
▸ WordCamp US

36. WORDCAMP US
PHILADELPHIA PA

37. DECEMBER 2-3

38. TICKETS AVAILABLE!

39. CONTRIBUTOR DAY

40. WORDCAMPS
CONTRIBUTOR DAY
▸ Contribute your first
patch to core
▸ Fix bugs
▸ User testing
▸ Translate WordPress
or WordPress
plugins or themes
▸ Write
documentation
▸ Help out on the
support forums or
IRC
▸ Get involved with
accessibility
▸ Review themes
▸ Edit copy
▸ And more!

41. WP MEETUPS

42. WP MEETUPS
MEETING LOCAL WORDPRESS PEOPLE
‣ The Baltimore WordPress Group
‣ WordPress DC Meetup

43. WP COMMUNITY

44. WP COMMUNITY
WORDPRESS COMMUNITY “GUIDELINES”
‣ Be Respectful of Other People’s Differences
‣ This includes economic or social status, race, color, ethnic
origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex,
sexual orientation, marital status, age, or disability
‣ Research Your Problem Before Submitting
‣ Remember that everyone’s time is as precious as yours
‣ Give Out Compliments and Honorable Mentions by Name
‣ Giving credit where it is due helps everyone feel the love
‣ Be Yourself
‣ Unless you can be a Unicorn, then always be a Unicorn

45. “THE WORDPRESS COMMUNITY IS
ABOUT BELONGING, NOT JUST
ACCEPTANCE AND INCLUSIVITY”
Liam Dempsey (12pm Today)
WP COMMUNITY

46. COURTNEY OCALLAGHAN
FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
@COURTNEYDAWN
Kiyosu Bridge by Kawase Hasui 1931