![\"WordCamp](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2016.london.wordcamp.org\/files\/2016\/08\/Screen-Shot-2016-08-05-at-17.48.24.png?resize=604%2C409&ssl=1\")
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A massive thank you to everyone who made WordCamp London 2016 a success!<\/p>\n
It was a great team effort and without everyone\u2019s support, enthusiasm and time, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to create a WordCamp we\u2019re all super proud of.<\/p>\n
After the debrief, we identified some of the things that could have worked more seamlessly during the 2016 event, and I decided that I would like to lead the organising team for another year in order to polish some of these areas. I asked for the 2016 team\u2019s support and with their enthusiasm and dedication I\u2019m ready to apply for WordCamp London 2017.<\/p>\n
We’ve identified many roles that need more organisers behind them and before I can put in an application, I need to know who’s with me<\/strong>?<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t have lead WordCamp London 2016 without the team to support me, and share my dream of putting on an accessible event.\u00a0I believe that the organising team is the core of any event, and that the event is a magnification of the organising team. That is why it’s important to me that we have an organising team that shares the same values and vision.<\/p>\n To become part of the organising team you\u00a0don’t have to have any previous experience of organising a WordCamp, or even any general event organising experience. We welcome anyone with the enthusiasm, dedication and willingness to make this event work.<\/p>\n With this in mind, I\u2019d like to share my vision and plans for WordCamp London 2017, with the hope that you will be willing and able to spare some time to help turn this dream into reality.<\/p>\n Despite many people\u00a0telling me how seamlessly they felt the event ran, the reality is that there were many things behind the scenes that were less than ideal.<\/p>\n I think an achievable goal for 2017 would be to host a more polished event and reduce the stress placed on all the organisers.<\/p>\n All the 2016 organisers gave a debrief that I’ve collected into notes.\u00a0The debriefs were a great way of gathering\u00a0feedback, highlighting weak areas and getting specific about\u00a0all the details we could improve in future. The plans I have for 2017 come from these debriefs.<\/p>\n Ideally, I would have all the previous organisers back on the team for 2017, but we certainly need…<\/p>\n There were several people who took on lots of different roles last year, and while it worked, it\u2019s important for the cohesion and longevity of the event that roles are defined and broken down granularly into specific responsibilities. This will not only lessen the workload on \u00a0individuals, but also enable organisers to work more efficiently.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve spoken a lot this year about evening out the workload for organisers as well as integrating a new generation of organisers who can carry on the high standards we\u2019ve set in future.<\/p>\n For this reason, we\u2019ll be operating a new buddy system which requires\u00a0each team to\u00a0have at least TWO organisers (ideally it would be the organiser who previously ran that team and one other person). If you\u2019re interested in joining or continuing to be part of the WCLDN organising team, please consider who you might want to have as a partner in your team, or make suggestions about other people who might want to join the team.<\/p>\n During the 2016 closing remarks, I talked about the volunteers being much more than volunteers: they were the cavalry who swooped in on the day and turned the planning into reality.<\/p>\n Whilst we planned for the 2016 event, I noticed how many smaller tasks could have been assigned to a volunteer, so\u00a0I would like to test the idea of having pre-event volunteers otherwise known as Runners.<\/p>\n These would be volunteers who lurk in the public channel (almost all the WCLDN organising was done publicly in the UK WP Community Slack channel #wcldn) and would be willing to offer their time if there is a specific task that needs doing. Ideally, runners would also attend as many of the weekly planning meetings as they can to be kept up-to-date with the general status of things and notice if something needs to be picked up from an organiser.<\/p>\n This would be a great way to support the organising team without having to commit to organising the event ahead of time.<\/p>\n WordCamps are multi-faceted events that rely on many different areas coming together, and delegating tasks is one of the most important parts of planning for a smooth event. Below are all of the roles (and the number of organisers required in each team) we\u2019ve identified as being fundamental to putting on a good WordCamp, as well as what individual roles entail;<\/p>\n Just like in an orchestra, the role of the lead organiser is to ensure that the entire event organising team works in harmony. They should support the team and enable all the organisers to do their jobs.<\/p>\n They’re also the main point of contact to the WordPress.org global team.<\/p>\n On the day comms (x 4 volunteers);<\/span><\/p>\n The Swag Team\u00a0comes up with swag ideas that designers can turn into swag reality. We love swag, but it\u2019s not something we budget for; rather, we accommodate for swag as sponsorships come in and the budget allows.<\/p>\n As well as creating cool swag ideas for us to buy or produce, swag organisers can significantly lessen the financial burden on our sponsors by coming up with interesting ideas that could help our sponsors support us with branded swag.<\/p>\n Swag Organisers should;<\/span><\/p>\n On the day;<\/span><\/p>\n Designers are responsible for all the visual work. As well as working in conjunction with other teams to help with any design work needed, the design team has a specific list of responsibilities;<\/p>\n 1 x person whose sole job is to create the following required slides;<\/p>\n Required slides:<\/em><\/p>\n \u00b7 Slides for announcements & comms in-between sessions Sometimes the team working on the website are part of the design team, but it shouldn\u2019t be assumed that designers know how to or want to do CSS.<\/p>\n Contributor Day Organisers are front of house at the event. The role includes:<\/p>\n On the day;<\/span><\/p>\n General Volunteer Coordinators (x3)<\/strong> On the day;<\/span><\/p>\n Volunteer Organisers must be available on the day of the event as they will be the main point of contact for all volunteers<\/p>\n Social event organisers are responsible for organising all the fun after-parties and any\u00a0social events.\u00a0They should work closely with the general volunteer coordinators to ensure there is a smooth transition from the day time events and evening events.<\/p>\n Their role involves;<\/p>\n On the day;<\/span><\/p>\n On the day;<\/span><\/p>\n The Budget team should be made of two people ideally. Even though each person in the team will have a specific responsibility, the team should\u00a0work together to ensure that information is not stuck with one person. It\u2019s also very important that the Budget and Sponsors team maintain constant communication and keep each other up-to-date with developments and changes.<\/p>\n Works closely with the Treasurer to ensure ticket sales are recorded and updated in the main spreadsheet<\/p>\n The Treasurer’s main responsibility is to keep the books balanced and work closely with the Sponsors team to ensure budget is kept up to date.<\/p>\n The Accessibility and Q.A Organiser should have a keen eye for detail and spot any accessibility issues as they go out of the door.<\/p>\n Surplus organisers whose role is to support the other organisers and teams. They are expected to keep on top of organising decisions and help support the other organisers when they are available and if required.<\/p>\n Organising roles which don\u2019t have specific duties during the event (ie; the roles which are more involved with pre-planning) may be given other responsibilities to cover such as overseeing areas the volunteers are handling, or manning the control desk etc.<\/p>\n Since we\u2019ll be using the majority of the same vendors, I think we can dedicate the time saved to support a new generation of organisers to the front of each team.<\/p>\n The buddy system will only work if everyone plays their part<\/strong>. I know time constraints were a real burden for everyone last year, but I hope with the 9 months we have ahead of us, we can plan a lot more ahead of time which should spread the load and lessen the organising stress.<\/p>\n If you are interested in being a WordCamp London 2017 organiser, our only request is that you live in the UK and ideally, either in or a reasonable distance from London. We want to nurture organisers who are more likely to be able to help sustain and grow our community and give back everything that it has given us so far.<\/p>\n I think if everyone is ok with it, I would like to maintain weekly meetings on a Monday at 8pm. They should be short and kept under an hour as everyone should be posting reports before 7pm on the day to be reviewed by the team before the meeting. Please note this time and date is not set in stone and once we\u2019ve established the full organising team, we\u2019ll review this again and accommodate for any other requirements.<\/p>\n The current provisional date is 25th March 2017<\/strong>, but it\u2019s important to note that this is subject to the venue\u2019s availability and may change.<\/p>\n Yay! We\u2019re delighted you want to join us.<\/p>\n If you are interested in being part of the WordCamp London 2017 Organising Team in any capacity please let us know by filling in the form below and submitting it before the 25th August.<\/p>\n Thank you to all who submitted to be a WordCamp London 2017 organiser. This form is no longer available.<\/p>\n You can also get in touch with us directly with any questions you may have at london@wordcamp.org<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Weekly meetings will begin the first week of September, but if you are able you\u2019re welcome to start on any tasks in advance of this date.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in being an organiser but feel you may not be able to be there on the day (for whatever reason) we strongly encourage you to get in touch anyway. Some organising roles are required during the event, but other roles are really crucial during the pre-planning stage and much more flexible during the event.<\/p>\n WordCamp London is for the London WordPress community by the community. We would love to have you on board to help\u00a0create the 2017 edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A massive thank you to everyone who made WordCamp London 2016 a success! It was a great team effort and without everyone\u2019s support, enthusiasm and time, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to create a WordCamp we\u2019re all super proud of. After the debrief, we identified some of the things that could have worked more seamlessly … Continue reading Call for Organisers: WordCamp London 2017<\/span> Vision: Organising\u00a0a slicker version of the 2016 event<\/h3>\n
Plan: WordCamp London 2017<\/h3>\n
More hands on deck<\/h4>\n
Pre-Event Cavalry<\/h3>\n
Organising Roles<\/h3>\n
Lead organiser \u2013 x 1 Event Conductor<\/h4>\n
Communications Team \u2013 x 3<\/h4>\n
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\n\u2013 Ensures all internal planning documentation is updated as required, weekly meeting notes are kept and posted in p2 etc.<\/li>\n
\n\u2013 Documents how the organising team plans and creates the event; produces a full and comprehensive manual of how the event has been organised as a blueprint for the next organising team. Documentation should be written for different teams as they happen.<\/li>\n
\n\u2013 Responsible for all external communication; mainly in the form of posts on the website. They should be working closely with other teams to ensure the tone of the event is consistent and accessible. They should ensure any communication (on website, social media platforms etc) is kept up-to-date<\/li>\n\n
Swag Team \u2013 x 2<\/h4>\n
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Design Team\u2013 x3<\/h4>\n
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\n\u00b7 Rocket ground floor slides
\n\u00b7 Lunch room slides
\n\u00b7 Slides for any spare TV\u2019s (announcement & comms)
\n\u00b7 Slides for Happiness Bar
\n\u00b7 Contributor day slides
\n\u00b7 Slides for opening & closing remarks<\/p>\nWebsite Team \u2013 x 2 (required skills: CSS)<\/h4>\n
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Contributor Day Team \u2013 x 2<\/h4>\n
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Volunteer Coordinators \u2013 x 3<\/h4>\n
\nPre event:<\/span> The volunteer coordinators should imagine the amount of volunteers needed for all required tasks throughout the event. Before the event, their role will include:<\/p>\n\n
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Social Event Coordinators \u2013 x 2<\/h4>\n
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\n<\/span><\/li>\nSpeakers Team \u2013 x 2<\/h4>\n
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Sponsors – x3<\/h4>\n
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Budget Team \u2013 x 2<\/h4>\n
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University Communication \u2013 x 1<\/h4>\n
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Accessibility & Q.A (Quality Assurance) \u2013 x 1<\/h4>\n
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Runners x as many as we can get<\/h4>\n
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Other thoughts<\/h3>\n
Weekly meetings<\/h3>\n
WordCamp London Dates<\/h3>\n
How do I join the Organising Team?<\/h3>\n
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