WordPress now powers over 28% of the web, and it’s built and maintained by hundreds of contributors all over the world. There are as many ways to contribute to WordPress as there are dishes in a feast! In this talk, we’ll look at some recipes for successful contributions followed by people who’ve made a big impact on WordPress. There’s room for you at this table — join us!

1. WordPress is
a Banquet

2. WordPress Open Source Project
Global Community Team
@andmiddleton
Andrea Middleton

3. 28%

7. “Contributions are made by
people who show up.”
James Huff

8. 2004

15. “I learned most of what I know today because
I’d take on researching answers for questions
that I thought were really cool.” -James Huff
User: Can I display only one category on my
front page?
Me: Wow, that sounds cool! Let’s find out!

18. James’ advice to new contributors:
“Start by answering the questions you’re comfortable with,
things you have encountered or done before. If you just look
closely, you’ll find a lot, because everyone experiences
WordPress differently.
Don’t think that you don’t know anything. You’ll be surprised
by how much you do know, when you start to find others who
don’t know what you know.”

19. •patience
•willingness to help others
•dedication to the project’s
needs over your own
agenda
Support forums contributor,
main ingredients

20. “I think ultimately only
nice people become really
good contributors.”
Petya Raykovska

21. 2007

23. “There are things you never even realise are
there as a user, even as a dev to some extent.
But once you go through all the strings and
what's more — try to make sense of them
(because some dev specific language is very
hard to translate) — you end up learning what
WordPress can do and about features you never
knew were there.”
Advice to new contributors:

24. photo credit: Florian Ziegler

26. https://wptranslationday.org/

28. •curiosity
•respect
•patience
Translation team contributor,
main ingredients

29. “Trust the people who are
there and willing to
participate.”
Bridget Willard

38. “Use situational awareness; listen more
at first. Observe how people interact. Ask
questions instead of making statements.
Volunteer to do something with
somebody. Easy one: offer to take notes.”
Advice to new contributors:

39. •intellectual honesty
•open-mindedness
•start small and move
forward with whatever
you can do
Marketing team contributor,
main ingredients

41. patience
willingness to help others
dedication to the project’s needs
curiosity
respect
intellectual honesty
open-mindedness
start small
patience

42. WordPress Community Summit 2017

43. Join us!
make.wordpress.org