Category Archives: Contributor Day

Tips for First-Time Contributors at WordCamp US

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If you’ve never been to a Contributor Day at a WordCamp, you might be a little nervous to make your first appearance at WordCamp US. The name on its own, Contributor Day, can sound like it’s an exclusive club for only those people who have given a lot of time or provide a high level of expertise. I went to my first Contributor Day with very little experience and few expectations for what would happen that day.

What I remember is that it felt like everyone in the room must know everything there was to know about WordPress; otherwise why would they have gone to a Contributor Day?

Here are some pointers for handling the excitement of attending your first Contributor Day:

  1. Open Source takes all sorts – WordPress is an open source project. It’s built, from top to bottom, by the people who offer their time. You don’t have to have a grand plan in order to help. All you need to know is what your skills are and find the team that needs your skills.
  2. Everyone is an expert at something – Don’t measure yourself by the skills of the person next to you. Not only does our community need people with lots of different skills, but even experts started out not knowing anything.
  3. You’ve just finished up two days of WordPress inspiration – Why not round it out by practicing with people who are just as excited about all of this as you are?
  4. Find a buddy – Buddies are easy to find in the WordPress community. If you didn’t bring a friend with you, introduce yourself to a new friend at the table!
  5. Vote with your feet – We have a lot of ways to give back to the WordPress project. With as many teams as we have, it can be hard to know which one will fit you best. If the team you started with doesn’t fit the skills you know you have, wander on to the next one. But don’t discount the awesomeness of learning something new!

As with all WordCamps: Have questions? Just ask! There are helpful volunteers and attendees all around at WordCamp US. If the person you ask doesn’t have the answer, then chances are that they can point you in the right direction.

Contributor Day is included in the price of your WordCamp US ticket. It’s a chance to meet face-to-face with people you work with online or welcome interested new contributors to teams.

 

Join us at the Contributor Day

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Contributor Day at WordCamp US will be held Sunday, December 4. Lots of people have already indicated interest in attending when purchasing a WCUS ticket, so if that’s you … keep reading for details!

What is a contributor day?

A contributor day is an event dedicated to giving back to the WordPress project, often paired with a WordCamp. It’s for both seasoned contributors and people making their first foray into getting involved.

We had 334 contributors at the inaugural WordCamp US contributor day and anticipate easily surpassing that this year.

What: WordCamp US Contributor Day

When: Sunday, December 4. Doors open at 9am for a 10am start. Lunch will be provided, and we’ll finish up at 5:00 p.m.

Where: Pennsylvania Convention Center

Here are some of the things you’ll be able to do:

  • 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
  • And more!

Teams

We will have 12 different teams represented at Contributor Day this year: Accessibility, Community, Core, Design, Docs, Flow, Marketing, Meta, Polyglots, Support, Theme Review, and Training.

To find out more about each team, including early set up information and team leaders, check out the Contributor Day page.

If you’re new to contributing to WordPress, we’ll send out information soon about how to get set up for each team, so you can hit the ground running on the day of. Some initial setup done in advance lets us spend more time actually contributing!

Sign up, pick your team, or edit your previous selection!

Screenshot of WordCamp US ticket confirmation email with edit link

You can edit your team selection to attend (or not) by following the link in your WCUS ticket confirmation email.  (A WCUS ticket is required to attend Contributor Day.) If you want to attend and have already purchased your ticket, please go to the link in your ticket confirmation email and select which team you want to join.

You must select a team to confirm your attendance at Contributor Day.

What’s next?

If you plan to attend, check out the Contributor Day page for descriptions of the participating teams and their respective leads. Once you’ve chosen a team and updated your ticket, stay tuned for details on how to get set up in advance. And if you haven’t already, join us on the Making WordPress Slack in the #wcus-contributor-day channel.

A WCUS ticket is required to attend, so be sure to get your ticket now!