WordPress NYC Meetup Group

Community is vital to any open source ecosystem. It jumpstarts projects and careers, gives us encouragement, and helps us keep pushing forward together. And in open source communities, shouldn't the events platform be open too?

Mike Auteri decided to do something about it. He brought the idea to the WordPress community and spent years building GatherPress, while navigating the very real challenges of adoption across a global community. Along the way, GatherPress has found its way into communities well beyond WordPress.
Now the WordPress Foundation is building its events platform on GatherPress, and that work is moving quickly. Mike will share the story of how we got here, what the team has learned, and where we go next.

Update: Pizza and drinks will be provided.

6:00–6:45 PM — Snacks and mingling
Grab a bite, meet other folks in the community, and settle in.

6:45–8:00 PM — A Case for Open Community
Mike shares his story about building community in the open.

Please let us know beforehand if you need accommodations for accessibility or food allergies.

You’ve read the contributing guide. You’ve joined the chat. But some of the most useful things about open source aren’t written down anywhere: how to get your first contribution noticed, how people grow into bigger roles, and what counts as contributing when you don’t write code.

This Meetup is an evening of trading advice with contributors from across open source, whatever project you call home.

The conversation draws on Words Worth Knowing, a series for Workplace Fluency, adapted here to name the parts of open source contribution nobody teaches you. We’ll open with a few of those terms:

• Visibility vs. Presence: Visibility gets your name in the release notes; presence means people think of you when they need help.
• Shadow Portfolio: Your shadow portfolio is the reviewing, documenting, translating, and mentoring that never shows up in your commit history, and it still counts.
• Lurking: Watching before you contribute is how many people learn a community’s culture, and it’s a stage, not a failure.
• Trust Ladder: Every project has a trust ladder, and you climb it by showing up consistently.

What to expect
This is a conversation about your experience as a contributor, so come ready to share what you’ve learned. We’ll break into small groups, and each group will take on one of these questions:

• How did your first contribution get noticed?
• How did you find your team or your role?
• What contributions are easy to overlook, and how do they get recognized?
• What do you wish someone had told you in your first month?

We’ll close with each group sharing its best advice.

Who should come
Contributors to any open source project, in any role: code, documentation, design, translation, testing, support, events, or community. Newcomers and longtime contributors are equally welcome, and the evening works best with both in the room.
No prep needed. Bring one question you’ve always wanted to ask someone who’s been around longer than you.