At the WordPress Glasgow meetup organising team, we are really chuffed about the feedback we get from people attending our events and at how the meetup has been growing since we started just under two years ago.
So what have we been doing all this time? For a start, since that first meet back in June 2016, we have got together a whooping 37 times.
“How is that even possible?”, you may wonder.
Two meets per month
Well, we started getting together every 4th Tuesday of the month but quite soon after, in November 2016, we introduced a second regular meet every 2nd Thursday of each month.
Where the Tuesday meet is structured, with a talk, workshop or show-and-tell, the Thursday meet is a community get-together and always improvised. What topics are discussed or troubleshooting done will depend on what people are working on or choose to bring to the table.
Some people may come regularly to the Thursday meet and only join the Tuesday meet when there is a talk or workshop of their interest, whilst others may do the opposite. In this way, althought the two meets have different formats, they help feed each other.
What is working for us
Community is a word you will often find in our event descriptions. One of the aims of the WordPress Glasgow meetup is to provide a platform for people to learn together and help each other stay informed and become better WordPressers. This approach means we all have space to grow and people feel comfortable asking questions if there is something they don’t know.
Make no mistake though, the group is full of highly skilled people.
Because of this, we try to encourage our members to give talks or workshops, if they feel ready. We are also starting to collaborate and build bridges with other Glasgow meetups, an experience that has been incredibly rewarding so far.
We also make an effort to keep the Tuesday talks and workshops balanced in terms of topic group (development, business or blogging) and difficulty (beginner, intermediate or advanced). In this way, there will always be something for everyone.
As a consequence, our membership and attendance has more than doubled in the last year. Whilst an average of 11 people came to our events between November 2016 and February 2017, for the same period one year later, the average actual attendance was of 24 people. More than double in just one year!
Just like the attendance, the meetup organising team has also grown in numbers. It currently consists of 7 people, with a nearly 50% gender balance, and a wide variety of ways in which we use WordPress. This diversity in our team helps us stay in tune with the needs and interests of our members.
What are our plans for the future
A bigger team also means we can also do bigger events. The team is currently discussing which shape this option could take and how to best go about it. We will keep you all informed when a decision has been reached!
Another great improvement as compared to last year is that we now have the support of 34SP, a great WordPress hosting company from Manchester, who have been sponsoring us since the end of October.
Whislt in the winter term we have used their sponsorship to cover food for 2 special events we held in November and January, in this coming Spring term, we are hoping to be able to put that towards a much needed new venue for the Tuesday meet.
This is, in fact, our main objective for 2018, to find a bigger venue in the Glasgow city centre that is accessible and has good, reliable wifi.
It’s proving harder than everyone expected!
Last but not least, we’d like to hear from you! Whether you attend our meetups or haven’t had a chance to join us yet, please let us know what has helped you, what we could do better and what we haven’t done yet that you’d like to see.
Thank you!
