WooCommerce Meetups are designed to benefit the local WooCommerce community by offering great opportunities for education and engagement. Meetups are casual gatherings, usually featuring 1-2 speakers, that are organized by local volunteers, and sometimes sponsored by WooCommerce partners (or us).
- WooCommerce Meetups are for the benefit of the WooCommerce community as a whole, not specific businesses or individuals. All actions taken as an event organizer are with the best interest of the community in mind.
- Membership in the local meetup group is open to all who wish to join, regardless of ability, skill, financial status or any other criteria.
- Meetups are volunteer-run with volunteer speakers. In cases where a modest attendance fee might be necessary, this fee should only cover the costs of the meetup and shouldn’t be used to pay speakers or organizers.
- Meetup groups allow events to be organized by any reliable/trusted member of the community.
- All meetups must adhere by the Code of Conduct.
Starting a Meetup.com Group
We’re looking to start WooCommerce meetups in areas that already have a strong WordPress community. A large WordPress community in your area may be a good indication of a strong WooCommerce community.
- WooCommerce pays any dues from meetup.com and is listed as the primary group organizer. Organizers are listed as co-organizers, as are any existing co-organizers. WooCommerce “owns” the meetup.com account, and everyone running events is on equal footing.
- We’ll send you WordPress and WooCommerce swag to kick things off.
- We’re working on covering costs such as venue rentals when donated space can’t be found, and will be working with meetup organizers to determine what costs and/or supplies could be provided by the central account to make organizing events easier.
- We ask that you remove any requirements to join. WooCommerce meetup groups are open to all who are interested. You can still ask those questions on the regular “join this meetup” form.
- We ask that any member of the group be allowed to organize events rather than the organizers acting as gatekeepers. If someone wants to organize a Saturday morning coffee shop get-together that only 5 people attend and you want to organize a more formal presentation for 80 people, both of those are valued by us.
If you’re still interested, send us an email at partners@woocommerce.com to learn more.
What does it take to be an organizer of a WooCommerce meetup?
- You will be responsible for finding a donated venue that is appropriate for the number of people and location of the attendees.
- If a speaker is needed, you’ll be responsible for finding one that relates to WooCommerce. It does not need to be specific to WooCommerce but it does need to relate to WooCommerce in some way. For example, a talk on eCommerce marketing.
- You may need to find a sponsor to cover costs of the venue, food, and drinks.
- A company can host a meetup as a sponsor but the meetup is organized and run by an individual. This should be clear in the event meetup.com page.
- We ask that only one meetup group exists per city and that events are created within the meetup.com group. If you need permission to be added as an organizer to include your event on the WooCommerce meetup group, let us or the co-organizer know to get you added.
Planning Your Meetup
- Consider inexpensive finger food and not seated meals. Pizza, sodas, beer, sandwiches, chips, and cheese plates work well.
- 2 hours is common but expect 3 hours if everyone is having a good time. It’s entirely up to you.
- You don’t need a huge venue. Start small like at a small coffee shop.
- Consider your location. Find something central and easy to go to with parking nearby. Clarify how attendees can get to your venue and where parking is located.
- Have at least one speaker but it should not take up the entire time of the meetup. Set a small amount of time for the talk while the majority of the time for eating, networking, and asking questions.
- It may help to bring nametags and a marker to break the ice.
- If you can, take photos and post them to the event page on meetup.com.
Adapted from WordPress.org Meetup Guidelines.